Did you hear about the Doritos' ad that was planned to run during the Super Bowl that got pulled for being offensive to Catholics? It seems the premise of the ad was a pastor (priest?) needed money to pay his parish's bills. He uses Doritos' as a substitute for the Eucharist and Pepsi as a replacement for the blood of Christ to supposedly increase the crowds in his church. The ad agency that created the commercial claims that it was not meant to mock Catholics but what else would it mean? Thankfully it will never see the light of day although I am sure it is going viral on the web as you read this. There was an interesting article in a national newspaper that described a more recent phenomena about prayer. It seems that many protestant churches have begun to use the web to promote an increase in prayer. More than four in 10 Protestant churches with websites now invite people to post pleas to the Lord on the main church site so volunteers and staff can chime in on the soulful call, according to a new survey. Catholics have joined in on the "prayer for busy people" methods as well. It is the latest cyberspin on religious life, updating traditional prayer rooms and supplementing other familiar prayer request paths such as e-mail or social networks. I will close with the words of St James who says in 4:7, "So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
The twelve apostles chosen by Jesus formed the bedrock of the early Church , and their Catholic identity is deeply rooted in their direct relationship with Christ and the mission He entrusted to them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights this foundational role, stating that Jesus "instituted the Twelve as 'the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy'" ( CCC 860 ). These men were not simply followers; they were handpicked by Jesus, lived intimately with Him, witnessed His miracles and teachings firsthand, and were specifically commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations ( Matthew 28:19-20 ). Their unique position as eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and their reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, established them as the authoritative leaders of the nascent Church, a reality echoed in the writings of early Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, who emphasized the apostles' authority as repre...
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