Bread From Heaven Unlimited is an apostolate for educating the public about the Truths of the Catholic Faith using modern media-print and internet. It is our tiny effort to counteract the bad press about the Catholic Church and supplement the catechesis in many modern parishes. This apostolate is dedicated to Holy Mary. And our other patrons are St. Francis de Sales, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Josemaria Escriva, and John Paul II,
I am a Convert to the Catholic Church (1999) from a zealous Protestantism. I have been married for 32 years and we have seven children. The youngest was six when I converted. There are no Catholics in my family line as far as I know. My husband attends church with us but has not entered the Catholic Church, yet.
“There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church – which is, of course, quite a different thing.”
-Archbishop Fulton Sheen
I like your blog site so far. I will check back often.
How does a Catholic get to heaven? Is it true that you have to do good works, worship Mary and the Saints and do pilgrimages to be saved? What about grace? Is’nt that the whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth? He came to pay for our sins!
Dear Sam,
Catholics get to Heaven by the power and grace of God. We do not worship Mary that would be an abomination since she is merely a creature like ourselves. The good works that we do are in in obedience to Christ and in order to purify ourselves so that we can become holy as He is holy. But it is all of Grace. We cannot do anything worth while on our own.
Nice blog! I am a Catholic currently attending a Baptist Church. I’m not sure if that makes me a former Catholic but I believe my children will consider themselves Baptists. I believe God has led me down this path for a reason. After 35 years of Catholicism, I could not answer the question of how or if I am going to Heaven. Even when I ask friends and family now that same question (current practicing Catholics), I get answers like “I’m working on it”, “I think so”, “I hope so”, or “no, I’m probably going to hell”. Not ALL Catholic Churches are doing this, but the ones that I and these people have gone to have not delivered the message, the Good News. It took going to another Church and Bible study for me to realize that through faith in Christ and repentance from sin, Heaven is assured. I disagree completely with one of the comments on the blog here, that you can lose your salvation, but we can discuss that another day. I believe that this is the Catholic belief as well (that faith in Christ and God’s grace get you to Heaven), but somewhere that message is being overshadowed by side issues like Purgatory, Mary, Saints, etc. That may be an outcome of the attacks that the Catholic Church has withstood and continues to withstand over the years, I don’t know. I will always consider myself Catholic (although I wonder if they still accept me now that I go to another Church) and have a deep respect for the Pope and the hierarchy. I must, as you seem to be, and we all should, follow the path which God directs for us and allow him to give us a good whack whenever we stray from his path. All of us who believe Christ died for our sins to bridge the gap between God and man so that we can be together with him again in eternity are Christian brothers and sisters. I look forward to the day when we all come together, despite our differences, and worship in spirit in truth, whether that be in this world or the next. Take care and keep blogging!Peace.
I cannot understand how any realtively intelligent human can embrace catholic beliefs. You only have to read the Bible to discern that their practices and beliefs are entirely man made and far from what Jesus Christ and the Apostles taught.
David,
You can’t understand b/c you have only been exposed to Protestant teaching. Please prove to us using Scripture your statement:
Gary,
There are thousands of verses in Scripture that warn against falling away from the faith in various ways. Why would warnings be there if there was no danger of anyone losing their salvation. Just b/c Baptists answer the question about going to Heaven with a “yes” does not make it so. Catholics are more honest and realize they could sin in such a way to lose their salvation. But of course they could revive that through confession. I am sorry you were not taught this but the Catholic Church has been under attack by heretics in the Church for 40 years.
Excellent blog. Thank you!
Hi,
I didn’t know how to ask a question on a new subject, so I am doing it here.
What is the Catholic churches teaching on demons or evil spirits in regards to them giving us grief in our lives. I have a friend who is clairavoyant and she sees ghosts all the time. She has even seen small creatures that she says are demons, and they cause mischief. I’ve know her since childhood, and while she’s had the ability to see ghosts at an early age, her ability to see them (and demons) has increased with age (39 yrs old). She has seen a demon touch her husband while he was sleeping once, but she didn’t know what it was doing to him. I had gone to a Pentacostal church for a year, and they spoke of evil spirits attaching themselves to you to cause depression, fear, etc. I have also heard of spirits causing things to go wrong in your house. Are these evil spirits and demons one in the same? Does the Catholic church believe such things exist to cause us problems? I would think so since we believe in the need for exorcism. Thanks for your time and your resource.
Hi Cecilia,
I certainly don’t pretend to be any sort of authority on this issue, but I am acquainted with some. A couple married friends of mine were having similar challenges to this friend of yours. They first sought help through our archdiocesan ‘expert’, and when he determined that an exorcism was not necessary, they subsequently went many other places. I don’t necessarily deny that she saw the evil spirits, or had issues with them, but I’m pretty sure the first priest was right in his diagnosis. We discovered later that she had been using drugs and being unfaithful to her husband the whole time. What she really needed was to accept the grace of repentance.
Hi Cecilia,
Though I might be a late to respond to this since I just found this blog very helpful. ESP are part of Preternatural gifts endowed by God + Supernatural Gifts at the time Adam & Eve did not commit sin. It is when they committed the sin, these gifts are lost (not totally) because preternatural gift has been closed. Demons are fallen angels and from what I read from a book of Fr. Syquia (Philippines – Exorcism) they have this preternatural gifts and since they are spirit they are not bind by time or space. Indeed, demons doesn’t have supernatural gifts.
What I can say here is that, exorcism in the Catholic Church do exist. I believe the Bishop in your place should decide who will be the Exorcist to assist them in this case.
Hope you would find this useful.
Thanks,
Mike
I don’t really have a comment as much as a question. Why do we celebrate Christmas when we do? Since no one really knows when Christ was born (biblical scholars seem to beleive it was in the spring), why Dec. 25th?
Tim,
There are two views but I believe that God has allowed His Church to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on the right day or very close to it. This is not mandatory or a matter of faith, but why doubt it without very good reason?
Argument for a late December Birth
The argument for assigning late December as the rightful date of the birth of Yeshua is based on the time Zacharias was told that Elizabeth would conceive a child.
1. Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, was conceived just after Yom Kippur and born 40 weeks later in (June/July).
* John’s father (Zacharias) was a Levite who was assigned to serve in the temple during the 8th and 34 weeks of the year. If the Angel’s announcement to Zechariah was the 34th week that would have been during the High Holiday of Yom Kippur.
* It is written that John was conceived shortly after this tour of duty (Luke 1:23-4), and Yom Kippur. Thus, John would have been born around (June/July).
2. Jesus was conceived in (Mar/Apr), six months after John the Baptist (Luke 1:24-27, 36) near Passover, and born 40 weeks later during late December.
3. Circumstantial Evidences:
o Church history since the time of the late first century has attested to a late December birth. Hippolytus, in the second century AD, argued that this was Christ’s birthday. In the fourth century,
John Chrysostom (347-407) argued that December 25th was the correct date. Chrysostom taught that Zechariah received the message about John’s birth on the Day of Atonement and John the Baptist was born sometime in June or July, and the birth of Jesus took place six months later, in late December (or early January). There was never a question about the period of Jesus’ birth either in the East or in the West; only in the recent years this date was challenged.
Early Jewish sources suggest that the sheep around Bethlehem were outside year-round. In the normal traffic of shepherds they move around and come near Bethlehem from November to March of the year. But then these were a special class of Levitical shepherds who kept the sacrificial lambs. They do not move around because they supply the lambs for daily sacrifice from whom people bought their approved lambs, which are blemishless. The fact that the Angels announced the arrival of the perfect sacrificial lamb to these shepherds indicates this. The climate near Bethlehem is more like Southern California, it is after all Mediterranian. It is not a Canadian or Russian climate.
Alfred Edersheim, a Messianic Jew, wrote, “There is no adequate reason for questioning the historical accuracy of this date. The objections generally made rest on grounds which seem to me historically untenable.”
Edersheim notes that Megillot Taanit states that the 9th of Tevet is considered the day of Christ’s birth, and that puts the birth of Yeshua sometime during late December.
Summary:
If Zacharias served during Yom Kippur and Elizabeth conceived shortly thereafter, we can place the date of Jesus’ birth during the month of Tevet, in late December.
Both views can be seen HERE
Hello Sweet Friend,
Thought you might enjoy this(I put it on TBC, too so you may have already seen it!)
It is amazing and I pray it blesses you today!
Ally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmm-0-Rdxo8
Hi,
I’ve read about your story of conversion and I hope you’ve had a fruitful decade of being a Catholic. Would just like to say that it’s odd for me to hear/read of people converting into Catholicism as opposed to those who choose to leave. I came about your blog during a time of personal trials. I thank God that I’ve stumbled upon your works and I must say, they answered some of my own questions. I was born a Catholic, studied in a Catholic school for 12 years and have still become doubtful at times. But somehow I cannot see myself shifting to another denomination.
Keep up the good work and may God bless you always.
I’m so happy I found your blog. I had to search Catholic to find it as Catholics don’t seem to be in the religion section-just angry atheists..which…really drain a person.
Nice blog:)
Thanks Caroline.
God Bless Pam Forrester bfhu.wordpress.com
sorry, but if anyone preached a gospel to me , thats not in bible, they are a false church, catholic or any other cult, lets stop kidding on here , pope, and they teaching is lies, and half truths ,please if you are in a catholic church, get out, because a true catholic will never see heaven, and lies,mixed in with a little truth, add on works program for salvation , sorry people pointed hats and looking holy will not cut it, only christ, only christ, he died, not mary or pope on the cross, listen all catholics out there, your church is giving you mostly lies, so you can stay or leave,
Dear George,
Did you know that your assertion that if it is “not in the Bible, they are a false church, catholic or any other cult, ” is a tradition of men begun by Martin Luther.
There is no scripture that teaches what you are asserting. The fact is that you and many other good Protestants have been taught lies, half truths, and distortions of what the Catholic Church teaches.
For example: the “add on works program for salvation” Is one of those Protestant traditions. The Catholic Church does not believe that we can earn our salvation. Our salvation was accomplished by Jesus not by our good deeds.
Hi,
I’ve spent at least two hours on your site reading your posts and discussions in order to better understand how you view faith. I became interested in learning about Catholicism after reading the comments to a Time article about female priests.
I was seriously disturbed by the posts that people made to this article and in attack of these women. I was struck by how deeply committed people were to the idea that if the Pope said it, then it must be law.
Even now I don’t understand it. I get that the Pope is a representation of Christ and is the head of the Catholic church. But to me, he is obviously NOT the ultimate representation of God’s word.
If these women feel that they are being called by God to serve Him and to proclaim His name, isn’t it a greater sin to command them to deny the will of God and to submit to the laws set by man. Of course, there is the chance that they are not being called by God, but isn’t that up to them? If anyone says that God is calling their name, it should be up to them to follow that path. Who are we to decide otherwise?
Dear Joey,
Thank you for your question. We believe that Jesus instituted the office of the Pope, when He made Peter the head of His church. We do believe that the Pope is guarded by the Holy Spirit to teach no error to the Church. You may not accept that as true. You have that freedom. Jesus did NOT ordain any women to the office of priest or bishop. If He wanted to do so, surely he would have ordained his mother, Holy and Immaculate Mary. But He did not. Therefore, the Pope cannot do so either. It has nothing to do with interpreting the Bible.
The Church does not stop women from attempting to be ordained. They do it anyway. Of course it would be a sin to block the will of God but on what grounds can anyone be CERTAIN that it is God’s will to ordain women? Pride can insinuate itself into the life of the most devout people and make shipwreck of their lives. My question is:
Why do these women want to be ordained to the Catholic Priesthood when they could seek much greater honor by seeking to be a Saint. Men and women can be declared Saints. This is the highest honor in the Catholic Church, even higher than the Pope. But, it is much, much easier to study and get ordained than to live authentic holiness day in and day out without any reins of power and authority.
I cannot help but be suspicious of the purity of their intent.
Do Catholics believe that protistants will not go to heaven? Also, would I be right in assuming that as a life long protistant, from a cathlic perspective, no communion I have ever taken has been an actual communion honored by God?
Dear Liana,
Protestants are not barred from Heaven.
All people will be judged by God. He is merciful and just. You will be judged on what you knew and how well you lived what was pleasing to God. We will not be judged on what we never knew. For instance, all the people living in North America for thousands of years before Christianity touched these shores. We do not believe they are all going to Hell just because they were not Christians.
Likewise every Catholic is not necessarily going to Heaven. We must die in friendship with God without mortal sin on our souls. But Catholics have the fullness of the teachings of Christianity and all of the sacramental channels of Grace to strengthen our souls for battle with Our Enemy.
All Protestant communion is merely symbolic. It is a pleasant ritual but the Real Presence of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity is not received by the communicant.
Therefore Protestants deny what Jesus said in John 6
Women priests? A lot of people think that the pope or church is given too much power to decide who can or cannot be priest. Far from the truth. The fact is that the pope or church is powerless to change God’s law even if she wants to. Unlike most if not all the Protestant churches which think that they can change moral and faith matters by a popular vote, the Catholic Church cannot betray her Master who is the only reason for her existence. That’s why she also stands alone defending life (abortion, euthanasia), marriages (between a man and woman, and divorces), etc. The Church is in the world, but not of the world.
Dear Pam
I enjoyed reading your testimony very much. It reminds me of my own experiences during the last several years.
I became a Christian in 1981 at a conference in Chicago where I met a man named Josh McDowell. He gave me a book he had written called, More Than a Carpenter. After I finished reading the book I prayed a prayer and accepted Christ as my Savior.
Over the years I have read the Bible extensively and have easily read over 300 books written by Christian authors. I felt pretty comfortable with what I believed until someone challenged me about the doctrine known as “once saved, always saved.”
I did an extensive, indepth two year study of the Bible and to my dismay discovered that the Bible does not actually teach this doctrine. Therefore, I rejected it.
As you know, once a person rejects the doctrine of once saved, always saved their salvation becomes suspect in the mind of many people.
I have come to see that John Calvin, (no offense intended) was a confused man. Once a person truly understands Calvin the absurdities become ever more apparent. If Calvin’s teaching on salvation were actually true it would not even be possible to know whether or not you are even saved. It has become apparent to me that the biggest barrier between Catholics and Protestants revolves around what each believes about how salvation is obtained.
At present I am not attending any church because I do not believe the Bible teaches predestinaton or even once saved, always saved.
I was taught from the moment I became a Christian that Catholicism is dangerous and evil so even the thought of becoming Catholic scares me. Ironically, I have discovered over the last few years that some of my favorite authors are Catholic. For example, Avery Cardinal Dulles wrote a great book called A History of Apologetics. I did find his middle name a little unusual. I later read his book called a Testimonial to Grace. I love Avery Dulles but continued to hate the Catholic Church. I reasoned he must be some kind of exception.
I am currently in a very confused state. My mind tells me that Catholicism might be true. But my emotions find it difficult to reconcile all of the terrible sin committed by Catholics over the centuries.
I continue to study and pray and I am determined to discover the truth. I am finding I am not as brave as I thought. Even the thought of telling people of my search for truth scares me. I have not had the courage to tell anyone of my search. Becoming Catholic is the scariest thing I can of.
A few months ago, by pure chance, I found myself at a place called Holy Hill inside the National Shrine of Mary. For some reason my wife suddenly wanted to go there. (She is not Catholic) That night I had a dream about the Virgin Mary. In my dream, Mary was inside of a large mansion and I went to her and told her that she had no right to be there. She excused herself for a moment and came back with a deed to the mansion. During the dream she never spoke, she just looked at me and let me examine the deed. The dream ended with me just staring at the deed and wondering how she acquired it.
Two nights later I had a dream about the Pope. I have always despised the Pope. I have always believed the Catholic Popes are corrupt. In my dream the Pope was walking up a hill and a large crowd was following him. I was watching all of this from a distance and then suddenly he focused his attention on me. We both prostrated ourself and ended up having a conversation while lying on the ground. He began talking to me and I apologized for not being a Catholic but he advised me to keep studying and to hear both sides of the argument before making a decision. I think that was the last thing I expected to hear him say.
I could never share these dreams with anyone that I know. I wish I knew what these dreams meant. In particular, I don’t understand what the dream about Mary meant.
This is my story. I was compelled to write after reading your testimony. Many of the things you said were very insightful and thought provoking.
Best wishes
Jeff
Jeff’s comments here have blessed me very much. i am responding to him privately.
I read your “Praying to Mary” blog and have received that explanation from Catholics. There is one additional piece to it, though, not answered and it’s the main piece that keeps me from accepting that ‘asking Mary and the saints’ to pray for us is ok. I understand and agree that Mary and the saints are alive with our Lord in heaven, as well as the idea of the strength of communal prayer. What I don’t get is that in order for Mary and the saints to hear all of our simultaneous prayers coming from all over the world at the same time, they would have to be both omniscient and omnipresent, both attributes ONLY God has. Therefore, we are making them mini-gods by assuming they can hear, process and react to all these prayers at the same time. How does the Catholic Church explain or answer this so as not to be mistakenly treating Mary and the saints of having powers that only God has? Until I understand this piece, I cannot accept that praying to them is anything but a violation of the first commandment… Thanks!!
Dear Sarah,
The Catholic Church teaches that Mary and the Saints are human creatures only. They are not omnipresent or omniscient. They are not mini-gods. That is how the Catholic Church explains it.
The Catholic Church can not explain anything in such a way as to prevent people from taking things wrong. That is why there are heresies. The fact that fallen creatures make mistakes about Catholic Doctrine is not the fault of the Church but the fault of our fallen sinful natures.
How the Saints are able to hear and respond to our requests for intercessory prayer is a mystery. But, we do know that all things are possible with God. And we do know that it is by the power of God that they are enabled to intercede for us. How is this humanely possible? I don’t know. How is it possible for God to be man? Some things just require faith.
I went on a Carmelite retreat last weekend and the priest told us that Satan has only one trick….Create doubt.
Pam,
My step-dad, Charlie Pinder, told me of your blog. I am enjoying reading it, and thank you for your learned research, and the sharing of what you have learned. Dad told me he spoke to you yesterday after Mass of me, and he suggested to me that I contact you.
Sincerely,
Debra Horton
Winston-Salem, NC
Dear Debra, I just read all the posts on your blog. I was so touched. It is bittersweet. You seem so at peace and at least on the sweet side of bitter now….sigh…Blessed be God and Blessed be His Holy Name. He is your Father and He did rescue you. I must remember to pray for you as you journey towards the Easter Vigil. XOXOXO
Peace Be With You, Pam Forrester bfhu.wordpress.com
This is certainly an intriguing blog, especially as I am in fact a practicing protestant. I appreciate the fervor and passion you show in defending Catholic beliefs and reasoning through the Catholic doctrine. I don’t wish to start an argument, but I thought it important you know that I feel you’re slighting protestants and sweeping us with a stereotypical brush. Statements like:
“This why [protestants] are constantly judging each other…”
“There is only contradictory Protestant teaching and interpretation…”
“Protestants never think of this…”
“You can’t understand b/c you have only been exposed to Protestant teaching.”
“Absolutely WRONG.”
both frustrate and hurt me. I understand that you are very familiar with protestant beliefs (I read your conversion story) and don’t want to spend this time convincing you of any error in your arguments, just that the way you argue comes across harshly and not altogether kind. I hope that this isn’t the way you intend; writing on the internet often comes across in ways we never meant. I do want to learn more about the defense of the Catholic church, but the fashion in which it’s presented here causes me to instinctively become defensive.
I will continue reading your blog and, really, thank you for the effort you’ve put into trying to counteract the Catholic Church’s bad press. Even this protestant appreciates it.
No, I do not mean to offend. Perhaps I should say, “When I was a Protestant….” instead of “Protestants” b/c of course not all Protestants are alike. I apologize. I do try very hard to be even handed but sometimes I am responding to the tone of the commenter. You are welcome to point out my offenses in the future.
Dilon,
Do not blame the converts, it is probably a remnant of Protestantism. Unlike cradle catholics, Protestants like to argue about the faith. However keep in mind, Pam is a great defender of the Church of the ages