Apologetics Q & A

Some sessions answer one question thoroughly; this one ranges widely across the questions Catholics actually ask. In this eighty-minute question-and-answer session, Robert Sungenis takes up a broad sweep of practical and doctrinal concerns, one after another, with an eye to how a Catholic reads, worships, and lives.

Among the questions addressed: Which Bible version should I use, and what about erroneous footnotes in the NAB? How does the Magisterium fit in, and what exactly is it? Do biblical scholars and the Catechism help? Does the Holy Spirit help me read the Bible, and what is the corrective role of the Magisterium? Are there ambiguous phrases in Vatican II? Was the Blessed Mother perpetually a Virgin? How available was the Gospel, how early were the Apostles sent, and what about door-to-door evangelism and the preaching of St. Paul?

On worship and the life of the Church: Should the altar face East, and is there precedent for it facing the people? Will there be a new translation of the English Liturgy? How much control does the Vatican have over the Mass, and what is the relationship between the bishops and the Vatican? What of altar girls, the precious vessels, and priestly vestments? He also takes up evolution and the forming of the earth's original population, why Mass attendance is so low and what is driving Catholics away, what is being taught in the new religious-education textbooks, what the Church should do for our youth, and what became of the Imprimatur and the Nihil Obstat.