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• We Catholics are a scriptural people, but if we are asked by non Catholics to defend our beliefs, creeds, and practices using biblical references, many of us I'm sorry to say would be unable to do an effective job of it. How can we respond? Answer

• One of my favorite foods is fish.  I look forward to Lent since fish is more available in restaurants.  Avoiding eating meat is no hardship at all for me.  Would it be at all appropriate for someone like me to give up fish on Fridays and instead actually eat meat on Fridays as my "sacrifice"?   Or am I thinking way too far "out of the box"?  I have considered this for years, I feel it would be appropriate, but feel it would be awkward to explain to Catholic friends. Answer

• Why don't Catholics "finish" the Lord's Prayer like the Protestants do? Answer

• Why don't Catholics refer to God as "Jehovah?" Answer

• I was told by a non-Catholic that the reason for abstaining from meat on Fridays came about was the Catholic Churches attempt to boost the fishing industry back in the early ages. Could you please explain how it really came about and why it became a sin? Answer

• What exactly is “first Friday” Answer

• Someone gave me a brown scapular and said that if I wear it faithfully, I’m guaranteed to go to Heaven? What is this all about? Answer

• Author Rudolf Steiner believed and taught that Jesus was and ordinary man until at the age of thirty, when he received the Christ-Essence during his baptism. Can you please tell me what the Catholic Church teaches concerning this? It has always been my belief that Christ was fully human and fully divine throughout his whole life, even as a child. Not just an ordinary man. Would this be considered heresy for someone to teach that Christ was just an ordinary man until the age of thirty when he received the Christ-essence? I realize that Rudolf Steiner is a New Age teacher who teaches reincarnation. The reason I ask is that my brother is in to Rudolf Steiner. I myself am a conservative Catholic. Thank you for your time. Answer

• Can you please explain to me why the Bible teaches us not to practice divination and things like that in Deuteronomy 18:10-12, but Divination by dreams occurs in Abimelech learning that Sarah was Abraham’s wife in a dream, Joseph’s dream interpretation for Pharaoh and Egypt and the tribe of Israel, Gideon’s acting upon a dream to defeat the Midianites, Daniel’s dream interpretations, Joseph’s dream assuring him it would be okay to take Mary to be his wife, and again later to take the child Jesus to Egypt. Doesn’t the Bible condemn all divination as occult and a tool of the Devil? How is this discrepancy explained? Answer