Can I pray to Satan in school?

petroglyph, I am indeed a Catholic priest and I am curious about why my post made you think differently?

Quote: FrGamble

For the vast majority of the time Christianity has existed on earth there was just one Church, the Catholic one. All that changed in the early 16th century [..]

It shouldn't be my place to teach you the history of your own religion, but long before the 16th Century there was the great schism, and long before that there were monophysites, and long before that there was the Nestorian Controversy, and before all that the early Christians first split off Judaism.

Quote: FrGamble

You don't need other words, in the definition of papal infallibility you quoted the Holy Spirit will not allow the Church err in its belief or teaching. This does not mean that members of the Church, even Popes, will be perfect..

The inevitable asterisk!

adjective: infallible

incapable of making mistakes or being wrong.
"doctors are not infallible"

never failing; always effective. Perfect.

I said there is no wiggle room, and there
isn't. The pope and church is infallible or
it isn't. No caveats, no excuses.

Well then, according to your definition it is pretty clear neither the pope or the church is.

The church has a different definition than
the one in the dictionary? When that idea
was thought up, they really did believe
the pope was infallible, or wanted the
people to. There were no public schools,
only the clergy was educated. Keeping
the populace dumbed down is always
a good idea if you want to keep them under
your thumb.

The Church talks about the infallibility of the Pope in a very limited way. It only applies to the teaching office of the Pope in regards to faith and morals. It does not, nor has it ever meant that all Popes are perfect. There were no public schools you are correct, only Church schools that taught everyone including women and the poor. The Church has always tried to educate all people and liberate them from ignorance. Apparently we still have lots of work to do.

Quote: FrGamble

petroglyph, I am indeed a Catholic priest and I am curious about why my post made you think differently?

I recall you made posts over at wov until you ceased and are here. I haven't read every post since wov began but I have read many here, and there. I have no formal religious background. When I see a post of yours I see FrGamble. I assumed it meant Friar or something like that? [Again, please excuse my ignorance] So After the post that I read, I went and looked at your bio here looking for a clue as to what FrGamble meant and it was as blank as mine is?

So then I read this;
"If your worried about stability look towards the largest Christian Church, the Catholic one. For the vast majority of the time Christianity has existed on earth there was just one Church,[hope that's not "out of context", there] the Catholic one". This is probably where the no formal religious background kicks in? Isn't there some hebrew church, Don't jewish worshippers have synagogues? Is that different than a church? I'm too lazy or something and don't want to go do a bunch of study on the matter, I was thinking it would be a whole lot easier for me if I just ask you, but I needed to establish what frg means? So what is it? Is it Fred, or Frank or Friar or some internet handle " like most of us"?

And this; "the only one by the way, that is over 2,000 years old". I know muslims are pretty new on the scene with their Koran, and there is what, the tora ? Thats pretty old, I think hindu's are old, I don't know how old? I realized you were a man of faith. Reading some of your posts, I disagree some, if only by semantics in some cases.

I've never read the bible cover to cover, just some. I liked John, it seems to be the most popular. I also like the show to a point "ancient aliens", where they try to tie chariots to ufo's and stuff. I got tired of the guy with the tall hair.

From what I can figure, Jesus is in the 3 big religions, Abraham, the same.[don't quote me on that] that part is not in controversy [outside the forum]. I don't know frg, this here bothers me some. I don't see the pope coming out much and complaining to the world enough about the Christians getting slaughtered in the middle east. Village, tribe, community and family. Saddam Hussein mostly left the Christians alone in Iraq. Assad is the last [secular]leader in all of MENA, there have been Christians since, being wiped out in Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and a great big one right now, Syria. The differing religions got pretty well along since b.c.e., where are the "Christian soldiers"? It pisses me off that he rides around in that armored golf cart waving while the Christians in Syria that have been there since the time of the resurrection are being murdered, one village after another. And the world doesn't notice. The pope has a billion followers and no one notices that the believers, the faithful, are being killed by every side in that conflict, and if this pope or the one that quit [where does he hang out now days?] don't rile the world into stopping this killing, then I can't go along with this guy, or the rest of the catholic organization. Only 3 news reporters get decapitated and look at the coverage from the msm. Where is the outrage, from the Christians being slaughtered? The pope has his own radio, tv, cable, and newspaper at his disposal, and still, there is next to no word.

I'd be pretty hard pressed to believe that, that lack of behavior is somehow representing God on earth. I may just not be looking at a big enough picture and those thousands of family's can be forgotten, while the world still believes that "Sharia" are the "bad" muslims and the "Sunni" are, our friends.

I truly don't mean to offend here, ok? But this is what I see. I gloss over clergy articles mostly in the volumes that I read, often because I disagree, but I try to realize the good that you do. Or for that matter, the good that the Baptists do.

I run into mental walls and want to ask questions like which of the commandments can we dis-obey, the one intrigues me most is the "Sabbath". So the pope can go around changing the "Sabbath" making saints and be the ceo of a multi billion dollar club, have his own army, and not do much to help these mis-fortunate believers in Syria and elsewhere. With the vast unaccoutable wealth that the pope controls, why doesn't he fund another "Knights Templar" and protect those suffering families? The Catholic church is a Lot bigger than ISIS, the Vatican is sometimes pals with Israel, the Queen of England banks at the Vatican bank, and still, still the carnage continues, what gives?

Quote: FrGamble

The Church has always tried to educate all people and liberate them from ignorance.

Actually that is not true.
For a long time the bible was strictly for those that could read Latin.
It was illegal to have the bible printed in other languages.

terapined that is true but I don't think it was to keep people in ignorance. The Bible was taught in the vernacular to everyone. Also artwork like stained glass windows told the story of the Bible for all those who couldn't read or understand Latin.

petroglyph, I don't think I understood 100% of your post but I did want to say just a couple of things. First of all my handle frgamble, stands for Father Gamble. Secondly, in my previous post I was trying to clumsily say that the Catholic Church is the oldest institution in human history that exists today. Christianity of course is not the oldest religion, even though as Nareed points out we are an offshoot of Judaism, which would make us pretty close. These other religions don't have institutions like the Catholic Church that have worldwide governance, clear structure, a leader, and universal teachings and practices. If they do they haven't been around for over 2,000 years. Finally, in regards to you criticism of the Pope not speaking out enough about the horrible persecution of Christians in the Middle East I think I disagree. He continues to speak out on a regular basis against all violence in our world and is obviously particularly concerned with the plight of persecuted Christians in Syria. You might have an exaggerated view of the Pope's influence in secular media and certainly about the resources of the Vatican. That being said there is always more not only he but all of us could be doing in support of those being so unjustly treated. I wonder about the silence from the White House and our government about these atrocities. Anyway, thanks and God Bless!