My website provider since 1998 is retiring! I am in the process of migrating the website, stay tuned! Scott<<< ..read more

Who Remembers the Catholic Debate Forum? Well, when Yahoogroups shut down their email lists, I was caught a little off-guard. I thought I had a good backup of the users on CDF, but as it turns out – I didn’t. SO – even though I am still in school, I have decided to start CDF up again and have included several posts to get it started. If you were on CDF before, join in again! If you know someone else who was there, invite them! You can find the NEW Catholic Debate Forum here: https://catholicdebateforum.freeforums.net/ Currently there are no restrictions on posting to the forum – that will chan ..read more

Many of the links on the Indices Page were still pointing to the cathapol.blogspot.com site, which is now quilocutus.blogspot.com. I fixed those links (I hope I got them all!), some good conversations and debates there worth looking at ..read more

PENANCE “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19) Jesus gave the power to forgive sins to His apostles. In the above verse, He is speaking to St. Peter. He gave St. Peter the authority to forgive or not forgive.  What is forgiven on Earth is forgiven in Heaven. In a different incidence after ..read more

Recently it has been widely reported that Pope Francis said, “it is better to be an atheist than a hypocritical Catholic.” The actual quote, while similar, is not that – AND – he’s actually stating that OTHER PEOPLE say that when confronted with hypocritical or fake Catholics!  Here’s the actual quote, in context: “But what is scandal? Scandal is saying one thing and doing another; it is a double life, a double life. A totally double life: “I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this association and that one; but my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my workers a just wage ..read more

Well, some are critical of Pope Francis’ address to Super Bowl LI and while some of their reasoning is justified, and while I don’t agree with the manner in which this pope speaks some of the time – I find it a bit scandalous for “faithful Catholics” to be making their dissatisfaction public over what he didn’t say or could have said. Could he have addressed sex trafficking which allegedly hits a high on the night of the Super Bowl? Could he have specifically mentioned “Jesus” in his talk? Could he have talked about the dubia or other matters of concern for the faithful? Sure, but in this 50 ..read more

It must be recognized that the errors of Luther began before he nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, but it is that date, October 31, 1517 which is remembered by Protestants as the birth of Protestantism. The Lord, our God desires that we be one, just as He and the Father are One. Luther’s act set into motion a schism which continues to divide the Church to this day – AGAINST the Will of God! John 17:22 – Jesus said: “And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one.” The CathApol Blog is a portal to the ..read more

http://effectualgrace.com/2016/10/10/sola-scriptura-five-part-series/ (presentation of a 5 part series by James White posted by John Samson). SW: In listening to White’s recent presentation he does cover many things we’ve already discussed here on the CathApol Blog – and he freely admits, much of this ground is already covered.  The topic he believes no Catholic apologist has ever defended is the nature of Sacred Tradition.  Karlo Brousard, the apologist White is answering to in the above linked series, says, according to White, that there is a difference in the nature between Sacre ..read more

All to often we hear statements from our challengers which are more like slogans. Slogans are fine to get one to think about the deeper message of the slogan – but all too often we find in apologetics, especially among Protestants, they seem to embrace the slogan itself and not go any further.  Let’s examine The Five Solas, which are embraced by nearly all of Protestantism.  Not only embraced, but these are foundational to most Protestants, some saying that if fault can be found in even one of these – that they should return to Catholicism.  Hmmm.  Consider as well, these t ..read more

Is Baptism Something for Infants? It is indeed fitting that this article follows the previous one posted on January 1st, the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord.  Why?  Because baptism has replaced circumcision in the New Covenant!  St. Paul makes it clear that baptism is the “circumcision of Christ.”   “In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ:  Buried with him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised ..read more