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When my father was a Chemistry major at Notre Dame in the mid-1950s, he was required (as were all Notre Dame students) to take the core religion courses. Catholic priests with advanced degrees taught him that the main thing someone had to do to be a faithful Catholic was to take care of the poor (a teaching he took completely to heart, much to his credit). They also taught him that there was no devil and no hell. (God loves everyone too much for that kind of thing.) According to those priests, f …

One of the signs of a mature spiritual life is a stable view of happiness: an understanding of happiness that both corresponds to our experience and remains unmoved in the midst of the vicissitudes of life. Until someone reaches this understanding of happiness, he will be like “a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind” (James 1:6). True happiness is what really satisfies the human heart in every circumstance, not just for a time or in this or that circumstance. The greatest …

The book of Jude contains some of the most mysterious and intriguing passages in the New Testament.One occurs when Jude warns against a group of Christians who have given themselves over to immorality. After several metaphors illustrating their spiritual state and future judgment, he writes:It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all …

There is an idea among some Protestants that all sin is equal. Although tacitly recognizing that certain sinful actions are morally worse than others, they seem to get hung up on the idea that any sin is imperfection and any imperfection will keep someone out of heaven (this is why Jesus—who is perfect—must stand in our place). If this is the case, then any sin will send someone to hell, so any distinctions in gravity among sins is pointless. Therefore, all sin is equal. Sometimes they will quot …

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming Catholic, he should seek out a nearby Catholic parish and inquire about its RCIA program. RCIA stands for “the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults” and has always been present, in some form, since the beginning of Church history. Acts 8:26-40 describes how the apostle Philip taught a servant of the Ethiopian queen about Jesus before he baptized him. In the second century, St. Justin Martyr described the process of being received into the C …