Fr. Thomas Roh
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Every question in one place

The questions are spread across twelve topics; this page gathers them all. You do not need to know which topic holds the one you want.

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Is there a God?12 questions

  • 1Believe in a God nobody can see? Isn't that just imagination?
  • 2Isn't dragging in a Creator because the world is complicated a stretch?
  • 3Then who made God? Isn't that dodging the question?
  • 4If science explains it all, won't God end up unnecessary?
  • 5Isn't believing in the Big Bang and evolution while talking about creation a contradiction?
  • 6Isn't it just chance, with the word ‘design’ tacked on?
  • 7If God is good, why let even children suffer?
  • 8I pray and pray and get silence. Is God really listening?
  • 9With thousands of religions, isn't “only Christianity is right” arrogant?
  • 10There are more bad believers than good atheists, so what use is faith?
  • 11Isn't God a comforting fantasy made up by anxious people?
  • 12You can't prove it, so why are you sure God exists?

The Church's teaching and authority12 questions

  • 1You bow in front of a statue of Mary and say it isn't idolatry?
  • 2Why put “Father” on a priest when Jesus forbade it?
  • 3Isn't having to tell your sins to a human priest a form of control?
  • 4Believing the Pope is right no matter what — isn't that dictatorship?
  • 5Didn't Catholics slip extra books into the Bible to fit their doctrine?
  • 6Isn't this the religion that bought and sold heaven with good works and indulgences?
  • 7Doesn't the Mass sacrifice Jesus again and serve bread as God?
  • 8Women can't be priests and priests can't marry — isn't that discrimination?
  • 9The Church that even went after Galileo respects science?
  • 10You talk about poverty — so why are the Vatican and the Church so rich?
  • 11How can you believe in a Church that carried out the Crusades, the Inquisition, and sexual abuse?
  • 12If “outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation,” does everyone else end up in hell?

Other religions and religious freedom10 questions

  • 1“So Catholicism is the real one and every other religion is fake?”
  • 2“Doesn't that mean everyone in another religion ends up in hell?”
  • 3“Isn't mission just forced conversion with nicer words?”
  • 4“Catholics and Muslims believe in the same God?”
  • 5“Is trying Buddhist meditation or a traditional rite a betrayal of my faith?”
  • 6“Is it true that the Jews killed Jesus and were punished for it?”
  • 7“Aren't Protestants heretics who broke away from the Catholic Church?”
  • 8“Is shamanism or ethnic tradition a culture of the devil that has to be wiped out?”
  • 9“Isn't an interreligious prayer gathering really an event saying ‘all gods are the same’?”
  • 10“Religion has only produced war and hatred — wouldn't we be better off without it?”

The Church's failures and accountability10 questions

  • 1“How am I supposed to trust a Church that committed child sexual abuse?”
  • 2“‘The abuser was evil but the Church didn't know’ — isn't that dodging responsibility?”
  • 3“The Crusades were a religious war the Pope authorized — why make excuses?”
  • 4“Wasn't the Inquisition a system that tortured and killed people for not believing?”
  • 5“Missionaries arrived with the colonizers and destroyed cultures, didn't they?”
  • 6“Didn't the Church feed hatred of Jews for centuries?”
  • 7“Hasn't the Church silenced women and told them to endure violence?”
  • 8“The Church condemned Galileo — and now it says it respects science?”
  • 9“A Church that sold indulgences and abused its wealth — does it get to talk about poverty?”
  • 10“Is an apology really the end of it? Are we being rushed into trusting again?”

The seven sacraments28 questions

  • 1.1“A splash of water and your sins are gone? Isn't that magic?”
  • 1.2“A baby understands nothing — isn't baptizing one forcing religion on them?”
  • 1.3“Does everyone who wasn't baptized go straight to hell?”
  • 1.4“Does a baptism received in another church have to be repeated in the Catholic Church?”
  • 2.1“Isn't Confirmation just graduation from catechism class and a day for presents?”
  • 2.2“If the Holy Spirit already came at baptism, why is Confirmation needed as well?”
  • 2.3“Is it all right to be confirmed because my parents want it, when I don't?”
  • 2.4“Does Confirmation have to come from a bishop — is it fake if a priest does it?”
  • 3.1“Eating the body of Jesus — isn't that cannibalism?”
  • 3.2“Test it scientifically and it's bread — so isn't transubstantiation a lie?”
  • 3.3“Doesn't the Mass sacrifice Jesus all over again every time?”
  • 3.4“Isn't refusing someone Communion a punishment that discriminates against them in public?”
  • 4.1“Why tell a priest, when I can be forgiven by God directly?”
  • 4.2“Isn't confession a system where the priest digs out your secrets and controls you?”
  • 4.3“If I confess a crime, can I get out of being reported and punished?”
  • 4.4“I'll only sin again, so what is the point of confessing and doing penance?”
  • 5.1“Does receiving the Anointing of the Sick mean you are about to die?”
  • 5.2“If we have prayer and holy oil, is hospital treatment still needed?”
  • 5.3“If I'm anointed and still don't get better, was my faith not enough?”
  • 5.4“Who can receive it, when, and may it be received more than once?”
  • 6.1“Does Holy Orders make clergy a higher rank than lay people?”
  • 6.2“Women can't be priests — doesn't that come down to seeing women as inferior?”
  • 6.3“Is priestly celibacy an essential condition of Holy Orders itself?”
  • 6.4“If a sacrament celebrated by a bad priest is still valid, isn't the Church turning a blind eye to sin?”
  • 7.1“Is Matrimony a prison that won't let you out even of a violent marriage?”
  • 7.2“Isn't a declaration of nullity just Catholic divorce for people with money?”
  • 7.3“Can't a Catholic marry someone of another religion or none at all?”
  • 7.4“Is someone who divorced and started a new family finished as far as the Church is concerned?”

Priesthood and vocation10 questions

  • 1“Isn't a priest a privileged class wedged between God and the laity?”
  • 2“Jesus forbade calling anyone ‘father’ — so why do you call priests Father?”
  • 3“A priest speaks for God, so do I have to obey him no matter what?”
  • 4“Isn't celibacy what causes the sexual abuse?”
  • 5“Women can't be priests — so Catholicism does think less of women, doesn't it?”
  • 6“There are married priests — so is celibacy God's law or a Church rule?”
  • 7“A sinful priest says Mass and hands out forgiveness — isn't that hypocrisy?”
  • 8“Priests take a salary and a house while preaching poverty — aren't they hypocrites?”
  • 9“Priests aren't supposed to talk politics — so why do they wade into social issues?”
  • 10“Do lay people just pray and pay while the priest makes every decision?”

Prayer and the spiritual life12 questions

  • 1Isn't prayer just a religious vending machine for wishes?
  • 2Why keep reporting the same things to a God who already knows everything?
  • 3People still die and still suffer no matter how hard we pray, so what good is prayer?
  • 4My mind is full of other things and I feel nothing, so aren't I just acting a part?
  • 5Isn't reciting memorized prayers just mumbling like a robot?
  • 6Isn't the Rosary just repeating the same words to brainwash yourself?
  • 7Isn't praying to the saints going to dead people instead of to Jesus?
  • 8It's already too late for the dead, so what good is praying for them?
  • 9Isn't it dangerous to block treatment by claiming that prayer cures illness?
  • 10Can being angry at God and arguing with him really be called prayer?
  • 11Isn't contemplative prayer escapism, or self-hypnosis?
  • 12Isn't praying and then doing nothing the easiest kind of irresponsibility?

Faith, doubt, and science12 questions

  • 1If there's no evidence, isn't faith just blind belief in the end?
  • 2How can a religion that frightens you into thinking doubt is a sin claim to speak the truth?
  • 3Doesn't faith change its story every time it collides with science?
  • 4I don't feel God at all — am I supposed to fake believing?
  • 5Isn't this just blaming depressed and anxious people for having ‘weak faith’?
  • 6Doesn't calling suffering a punishment for sin strike the victim twice?
  • 7Aren't church rules a device for controlling people with guilt?
  • 8You call it conscience, but doesn't it end up meaning ‘do what the Church tells you’?
  • 9Doesn't ‘just believe and you're fine’ become a license for bad behavior?
  • 10When believers are hypocrites, isn't that proof the faith itself is false?
  • 11I only inherited it from my parents — can I call that my own faith?
  • 12You claim to know every answer, then dodge with ‘mystery’ when you don't — right?

Miracles and discernment15 questions

  • 1Do Catholics believe anything strange that happens is a miracle?
  • 2Who on earth grants this “official Church recognition”?
  • 3When science can't explain it, aren't you just putting God in the gap?
  • 4Aren't beatification and canonization miracles fitted to a candidate already chosen?
  • 5Are Marian apparitions, private revelations, and recognized miracles all the same thing?
  • 6They say over 7,000 people were healed at Lourdes — so why are only 72 recognized as miracles?
  • 7How was the 70th miraculous healing at Lourdes actually investigated?
  • 8What exactly was recognized in the miracle said to come through Carlo Acutis's intercession?
  • 9What procedure did the canonization miracle of Josemaría Escrivá go through?
  • 10What does a miracle decree say, and what does it not say?
  • 11How far did the Church actually recognize the “Miracle of the Sun” at Fatima?
  • 12Are all those Eucharistic miracle photos and stories certified by the Vatican?
  • 13What happens when something called a miracle turns out to be an error or a fraud?
  • 14Why does God heal some people and not others?
  • 15If I don't believe an officially recognized miracle or apparition, am I a bad Catholic?

Miracles you can still visit13 questions

  • 1Is there really thirteen-hundred-year-old flesh and blood at Lanciano?
  • 2Siena has a host that hasn't decayed in 296 years. Isn't that just well-dried bread?
  • 3Did the feast of Corpus Christi really begin with a miracle?
  • 4I heard Pope Francis recognized a Eucharistic miracle.
  • 5There have been Eucharistic miracles in Poland recently. Has the Vatican approved them?
  • 6Is the Guadalupe tilma a painting made by a human being?
  • 7Do people really get better at Lourdes? How many cures have been recognized?
  • 8Seventy thousand people saw the sun at Fatima. Why isn't there a single photograph?
  • 9The blood at Naples liquefies every year. Is it a miracle the Church recognizes?
  • 10When you see an incorrupt saint, are you looking at the body itself?
  • 11Were Padre Pio's stigmata wounds he made himself?
  • 12Is the Shroud of Turin a miracle the Church recognizes?
  • 13Do I have to believe angels carried the house from Nazareth?

How to read the Bible12 questions

  • 1Why call a book people wrote “the Word of God”?
  • 2Isn't calling only the uncomfortable verses metaphor a selective reading?
  • 3Hasn't modern science already shown Genesis to be wrong?
  • 4The Gospels don't say the same thing, so how can you call them free of error?
  • 5How can you call a God who ordered a massacre love?
  • 6Aren't the cruel God of the Old Testament and the Father of Jesus really different gods?
  • 7Is a Bible that records slavery and discrimination against women really a standard of morality?
  • 8After thousands of years of copying and translating, do you believe the original survives?
  • 9Aren't prophecy and Revelation a code book selling fear of the end?
  • 10Hasn't the Catholic Church kept people from reading the Bible themselves?
  • 11If Scripture is enough, why insert Tradition and the Pope?
  • 12Isn't opening it at random for an answer using the Bible as a book of fortunes?

Events in the Bible15 questions

  • 1Do I really have to believe the universe was made in six days?
  • 2Adam and Eve took an apple from a talking snake?
  • 3Why did God leave Abel to be murdered?
  • 4Was Noah's flood water that covered the whole earth, and did God kill everyone?
  • 5At the Tower of Babel, did God punish people by splitting their languages?
  • 6God tested Abraham by telling him to kill his son?
  • 7Wasn't the death of Egypt's firstborn a punishment of innocent children?
  • 8There is no archaeological evidence for the Exodus and the parted sea, so isn't it a myth?
  • 9Wasn't the conquest of Canaan a genocide carried out in God's name?
  • 10David took Bathsheba, so why is he still a holy king?
  • 11Do I have to believe Jonah survived three days inside a big fish to be saved?
  • 12Isn't the virgin birth a story copied from the myths of other religions?
  • 13Weren't the miracles of Jesus magic stories made up later?
  • 14Isn't it biblical to say the Jews are responsible for killing Jesus?
  • 15Wasn't the resurrection a stolen body or a mass hallucination among the disciples?

Faith and questions of society10 questions

  • 1“Isn't Catholicism a patriarchal religion that puts women beneath men?”
  • 2“Doesn't the Church call LGBTQ people sinners and hate them?”
  • 3“Isn't opposing abortion really about controlling women's bodies?”
  • 4“Opposing contraception as well — isn't that controlling a couple's bedroom?”
  • 5“If I accept evolution and the Big Bang, am I giving up the Catholic faith?”
  • 6“Look at Galileo and the censorship — isn't the Church a body that blocks inconvenient knowledge?”
  • 7“The Church sided with dictators and the powerful — has it any standing to talk about human rights?”
  • 8“A church with magnificent buildings and property is on the side of the poor?”
  • 9“Doesn't the Church teach that only human beings matter and not the environment?”
  • 10“Refugees, poverty, war — isn't that politics rather than religion?”

The Creed and core doctrine12 questions

  • 1Isn't the Apostles' Creed just a spell you recite without knowing what it means?
  • 2God is one, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three — isn't that a contradiction?
  • 3If you call God ‘Father,’ does that mean God is male and women matter less?
  • 4Is Jesus half God and half human?
  • 5If Jesus is God, then who on earth was he praying to?
  • 6If the Father forgave only by killing his innocent Son, isn't that cruel?
  • 7Does “he descended to the dead” mean Jesus was punished in hell too?
  • 8Jesus went up to heaven and sat at the Father's right hand — is he somewhere out in space?
  • 9Is the Holy Spirit something like a good feeling or the energy of the universe?
  • 10Does ‘the communion of saints’ mean secretly communicating with dead people?
  • 11If the soul goes to heaven, why does the body have to rise again on the last day?
  • 12If you're judged the moment you die, why is there another judgment on the last day?

The Mass and the liturgy10 questions

  • 1Isn't Mass a religious performance the priest puts on while the rest of us watch?
  • 2Why does Mass repeat the same words and the same order every week?
  • 3Isn't the Liturgy of the Word just the opening part, as long as you make Communion on time?
  • 4If I miss Sunday Mass once, is that automatically a mortal sin?
  • 5Why do we keep standing up, sitting down, and kneeling all through Mass?
  • 6Is a Latin Mass holier, with Mass in our own language a lower grade?
  • 7If Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter come round every year, are we re-enacting the life of Jesus?
  • 8With so many feasts of Mary and the saints, aren't the saints being put ahead of Jesus?
  • 9Do purple vestments, incense, and candles hold some special power?
  • 10Is watching Mass online or on television the same as going to church?

The Commandments and moral life9 questions

  • 1Aren't the Ten Commandments a list of prohibitions God made to take your freedom away?
  • 2If Jesus spoke only of love, don't we have no more need of the old Ten Commandments?
  • 3Isn't every act that breaks a commandment the same sin, no matter how big it was?
  • 4If you do one big wrong, does it automatically become a mortal sin and you're finished with God?
  • 5If I get angry or a bad thought comes into my head, have I already sinned?
  • 6If the goal is good, isn't a lie or a bad method all right?
  • 7Even if I was threatened or obeyed an adult's order, is the responsibility all mine?
  • 8If I didn't do the bad thing myself, am I responsible for nothing?
  • 9Isn't virtue a talent only naturally good people with strong wills have?

Mary and the saints10 questions

  • 1Does calling Mary ‘the Mother of God’ mean she was there before God?
  • 2Does ‘the Immaculate Conception’ mean the virgin birth of Jesus?
  • 3The Bible names brothers of Jesus — and you say Mary stayed a virgin?
  • 4Did Mary rise to heaven by her own power, the way Jesus did?
  • 5Wasn't Mary's “yes” obedience with no question and no choice?
  • 6Isn't calling Mary ‘Co-Redemptrix’ an even greater honor?
  • 7Do you have to go through ‘Mary, Mediatrix of all graces’ to receive God's grace?
  • 8Is my baptismal saint a little god in charge of my luck and my department?
  • 9Isn't venerating a saint's bones or belongings desecrating a body, or using it like magic?
  • 10A Church that exalts martyrdom — is it teaching you to go looking for death?

Death, dying, and funerals10 questions

  • 1If death frightens and saddens me, does that mean I don't believe in the resurrection?
  • 2When people die, do they become angels in heaven?
  • 3What am I supposed to say beside someone who is dying?
  • 4To respect life, do we have to try every possible treatment to the very end?
  • 5Aren't strong painkillers and palliative sedation just euthanasia that hurries death along?
  • 6Should a dying person be given prayers and sacraments even if they don't want them?
  • 7When there is a funeral Mass, is the Church declaring that the person went to heaven?
  • 8If someone dies by suicide, are they denied a funeral and any hope of salvation?
  • 9If a body is cremated, does that mean you don't believe in the resurrection of the body?
  • 10Can cremated remains be scattered at sea, or divided up to keep at home and in jewelry?

Grace, salvation, and the last things10 questions

  • 1Isn't it unfair to be guilty of Adam's sin before I was even born?
  • 2If grace does everything first, aren't human freedom and effort a sham?
  • 3If God decided in advance who gets saved, isn't life a script that's already finished?
  • 4Can I say for certain, “I am saved”?
  • 5If I commit one grave sin, is the road to salvation over forever?
  • 6If God wants everyone saved, does everyone end up in heaven automatically?
  • 7Is there a ‘secret rapture’ where only the good people quietly vanish before the second coming?
  • 8Who is the Antichrist, and is 666 a barcode or a chip?
  • 9When Jesus comes, will there be a kingdom on earth lasting exactly a thousand years?
  • 10If new heavens and a new earth are coming, can we throw this world away?

Church life and vocation10 questions

  • 1Isn't believing in Jesus on my own enough — why do I have to belong to a church?
  • 2If everyone baptized is already a priest, why do we have priests as well?
  • 3Is becoming a saint only for religious and unusually good people?
  • 4Does ‘vocation’ only mean a call to be a priest or a sister?
  • 5Do you find out God's call from a voice or a strong feeling?
  • 6Is marriage the fallback for people who couldn't become priests or religious?
  • 7Does being unmarried mean you failed to find a vocation, and is every single person living consecrated life?
  • 8If I have a talent, is that already a gift of the Holy Spirit, and should I be given a church office?
  • 9If I give little in the collection or in parish dues, am I a bad Catholic who can't receive the sacraments?
  • 10Do lay people really have a right and a duty to speak inside the Church?
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