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Everett Ferguson, a Protestant elder, biblical scholar, and Church historian, has written what’s perhaps the definitive work on the subject, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Ferguson spends hundreds of pages carefully combing through the evidence to expose the first five hundred years’ worth of Christians thought about baptism.His findings are neatly summarized on page 854: Although in developing the doctrine of baptism differe …

The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s preservation from original sin from the very moment of her conception. The formal definition of this dogma was given to the Church by Pope St. Pius IX in 1854:We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all …

Can you lose your salvation?Some Protestants believe in the doctrine of “Eternal Security” and would say no.Catholics take a different view.Apologist Karlo Broussard tells us Galatians 5:4 is a go-to text for Catholics when it comes to defending the belief that Christians can lose their salvation:You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.Notice that St. Paul says the Galatians were “severed from Christ” and that t …

Earlier in my priesthood, I pastorally ministered to a man who had cared for his adult son during his son’s battle with cancer. As I came to know the man, he shared with me the account of his son’s life and holy death. When the son was first diagnosed with cancer, no one realized how serious it was. As the medical team did more tests, it became clear that the cancer was terminal, and that the young man’s physical life was nearing its end. In response to this news, the father t …

The Leadership Roles in the Old Covenant In establishing his covenant with the Israelites, God also established three different leadership roles: priests, prophets, and kings. The role of the Israelite priests was to offer sacrifices as God described to Moses and his brother Aaron; Aaron and his descendants were to be the priests. The prophets were God’s spokesmen; he commissioned them to proclaim his laws and to warn the Israelites of the consequences when they violated these laws Beginn …