Dear Matthew,

Thanks for the questions:

You said:

1. My child has already been christened with our ancestral name. Is it mandatory to christen the child with a saint's name during Baptism apart from (his|her) original name?
   

For the sacrament of Baptism, Canon Law states:

That said, there is no reason why your child cannot be christened with both your ancestral name and the name of a well-known famous saint who they will have with them throughout there Earthly pilgrimage. In this culture, if you want what is best for your son or daughter, it would be wise to have a special Catholic saint praying for them all the time.

You said:

2. If so, why doesn't the Bible strictly mention it?

The Catholic Church is not a Bible-based Church; it is a Christ-based Church. This includes both the written and oral teachings that were passed down to us from Our Lord to the Apostles to the current day bishops, even before any Christian knew what books would make up the Bible.

You said:

3. Why doesn't the Church practice Baptism by immersion instead of only Baptism by sprinkling?

It does! Read the following posting:

• What specific Church and Biblical references do I use to rebut an anti-infant Baptism argument?

You said:

4. Why is Morning prayer and Evening prayer based on a written prayer book?
   

Because we pray as one Body in Christ, from one book, manifesting a unity in prayer toward the Lord.

5. Do you think those who recite prayers ever understand their meaning?
6. Why is this so artificial?

It depends on the maturity of the person praying. I'm thinking specifically about the Rosary. While we pray the Our Fathers and Hail Marys our goal should be to inwardly meditate on the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the twenty mysteries of the Rosary.

For many who do not properly understand the prayer of the Rosary, it can appear like it is very artificial and rote. What they can't see is the inward meditation while we are praying the prayers. The same can be said for one who is reading the Scriptures; a prayer more Catholics should be doing.

We also have to remember there are other forms of prayer as well:

• Prayer of blessing and adoration
• prayer of petition
• prayer of intercession
• prayer of thanksgiving
• prayer of praise

If you are interested in learning more about these forms, check out this part of the Catechism.

Hope this helps,

Mike

Matt,

One of the common misunderstandings that people have is that the Bible kind of dropped from Heaven in just the form they have it: 250 pages, leather-bound, red-letter, gild monogrammed, with table of contents, maps, etc. (I'm exaggerating a little bit.) The fact is, at the time of the Apostles, there was no such thing as a Bible, in the bound form you have today. What you had was a collection of scrolls. This is why we refer to books of the Bible, and why we say Scriptures (plural), because each scroll stood on its own.

The verses in Revelation you quote pertain to the book of Revelation and the prophecy therein.
It would be out of context to apply them to the whole of Scripture which precedes and includes Revelation, because it was many years, after Revelation was written, before it was placed with those books. In fact, Revelation was one of the last books to be put in the Bible; it was not accepted by many Christians for hundreds of years after it was written.

If that is not enough proof, Deuteronomy 4:2 says something similar about the Law Moses gave the Israelites.

• Are we to believe, then, that only the Law of Moses should be binding on us?

Undoubtedly, Christianity adds to the Commandments of the Lord which He revealed to Moses. Even the Jews added to the Commandments of the Lord in a literal sense; look at all the prophets and instructions to conquer and so forth.

Finally, there are words such as 2 Thessalonians 2:15 which command us to obey tradition, and words such as 1 Timothy 3:15 which says that the Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth which finally refutes the idea that we should only follow the Bible.

In summary, it is not only simplistic but a misinterpretation of the intent of these verses you quote, claiming that they only mean that we should follow the Bible.

Eric

Matt,

I just wanted to add to my answer. Vatican II, Dei Verbum #10 states::

We are Christ-based in the sense that fundamentally Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1, Revelation 19:13, 2 Peter 3:5, Hebrews 11:3), not the Bible (which is the written Word of God), and it is:

1. Christ whom we worship
2. Christ to whom we listen, and
3. Christ whose body we are. (See Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 26-27.)

• On what was the Church based before A.D. 50, when there were no New Testament books?

On Christ and His teachings, orally transmitted. Our Church predates the New Testament, which was written by our members. Still, it does not serve us, we serve it, but we can't be Bible-based because we were around longer than the Bible in its present form.

Hope this helps,

Eric