Blog

Perhaps the clearest teaching on the papacy is at the Last Supper. That may surprise some readers. After all, there’s an all too common misconception that the Catholic claim for the papacy boils down entirely to Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16:18 (“upon this rock, I will build my church”) and the identification of the rock with Peter himself. To be sure, we’ll cover that ground later, but it’s more important to start with the Last Supper. It’s there, after all, that we find the Twelve arguin …

CHALLENGE: If what is ultimately important is our faith in God, there is no reason for the Church to have sacraments.DEFENSE: Interior dispositions like faith are not the only thing that is important. We are also physical beings. The Church has sacraments because they correspond to human nature and thus Christ instituted them.Every religion has certain rites it regards as sacred. Such rites are a human universal, found in every religion, in every culture, which means they are rooted in human nat …

A Pew Research poll released last week showed that just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ.We thought it might be a good time to give a refresher on what the Church actually teaches.The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharistein, which means “thanksgiving.” It is the memorial sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood, presented under the form of bread and wine, which is offered to the Father for the forgiveness of sins. Af …

We've got something really special planned for the next issue of Catholic Answers Magazine. It's our first issue of 2019, and we've pulled out all the stops to give you a cornucopia of apologetic knowledge with the ABC's of apologetics - That's 26 articles that you can read...and use!Catholic Answers Apologist Karlo Broussard gives us a taste with an excerpt from E is for EucharistThe Catholic Church teaches that at the Last Supper Jesus changed bread and wine into his body and blood with the wo …