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Jehovah’s Witnesses emerged in the northeastern United States during the 1870s, though at the time they were known as “Bible Students.” Under the direction of founder Charles Taze Russell, the Bible Students believed they had restored the true doctrines of the Christian faith that were lost after the death of the apostles. In 1881, Russell founded a printing company that was moved to Brooklyn, New York, where it became known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (hereafter …

What if someone has an active intention to receive baptism and yet still chooses to persist in or cling to a sin?Can such a person be baptized? The answer depends on what we mean by “can.” If by “can” we mean, “Will the person be validly baptized?”, then the answer is yes. Aquinas teaches that such a baptism would be valid insofar as it communicates the “seal” or “indelible mark” mentioned in previous chapters (cf. CCC 1 …

Grandparents often find themselves wondering if they are permitted to baptize their grandchild when his parent doesn’t want him baptized. And not just grandparents, but also caring individuals. I’ve had folks ask me this question countless times. It demands a thorough response. Let’s start with what we shouldn’t do: baptize the child in secret. The Code of Canon Law (CIC) states that “for an infant to be baptized licitly . . . the pare …

Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Souls are perishing now, so now is the moment.​​​​​ In sharing Jesus with others, we are far more likely to succeed if we first take the time to craft our own message. Later, we will have more to say about prayer and the sacraments in the life of the person who wants to talk with others about Jesus. But, here, at the beginning, we need to be clear that—although we are always open to the possibility that we will be aided in our evangelizing by miracles, …

During the early years of the Church’s mission in Mexico, there were few conversions among the natives; Christianity was the religion of the Europeans. Our Lady of Guadalupe, though, who appeared in 1531 to St. Juan Diego and requested a church to be built on the site of her apparition, was one of their own. When Our Lady appeared to a native man, an insignificant widower, she spoke to him in his native language, called herself his mother, and charged him with speaking for her to the …