>> hello and welcome to mosaic. my name is chris and i am here to introduce you my guest today. today's show, we are going to talk about some of the more frequently discussed and believed in teachings of the catholic faith. i hope you enjoy the show. we are going to try to cover a lot of ground. i want to let you know at our website, you can click on the item that says, what we believe, to find a list of all of these things.

you can go to the page itself to find out more. here we go. i would like to introduce you to our guests, the vicar or administration. father, welcome. >> it is great to be with you again. >> chis: you have recently written an article . there is a great introduction to what we are going to talk about. >> i just point out that in secular society, we get a lot of our views. people tend to follow different trends. in a secular culture, it does not necessarily believe that everyone believes it. they can have an influence on

institutions, which can be positive or sometimes negative. i have a little example that i use that i think is good. it involves ice cream shops. over the past 40 or 50 years, you know that when you go into one of these shops, they have lots of toppings that you can have. that has been the trend. well, you can imagine that there would be one ice cream shop who says, we make good ice cream. that is what we want to stick to. so, they haven't really been popular. it is a small chain, the somehow they make it through. now, they feel it is time to emphasize the fact they have stuck to the basics. so, they renamed their chain and they call it, nothing but ice cream.

it is all that emphasis on ice cream. and people here at about it and they think, oh my gosh. that is something completely new . yet, they have been doing the same thing for 40 years. you can make an application to the church like that. a lot of things have changed in society. as far as institutions are concerned, it is pretty important to let people know the institution believes the same thing they did 40 years ago , 2000 years ago, it hasn't changed. >> chis: we are going to talk about some of those things, or example the four marks of the church. what does it mean when we say we believe in the chill presence of jesus? >> people often have questions

about the priesthood in life and our belief in life and how to live out a chaste life and all of the things connected to the essential teachings of the church. how do we live them out and why do we stand up, for example, 50,000 people walking down the street in san francisco, standing up for life, all based on one of sigil issue, our beliefs in life. we are going to talk about some of those details will we come back. you are watching mosaic and we will be right back.

>> chis: welcome back to

mosaic . father, i am going to go through the rest of this list. the essential teachings of the church are often confused. i'm going to read the rest of them and then we are going to go back and maybe you can say a few words about each one. priesthood, he believes in life, chastity, contraception, homosexual acts, homosexual orientation versus acts and the call to chastity for everyone. and marriage, the institution, the covenant, and what we as catholics believe about marriage and the civil law. and finally, reproductive technology in cloning. this is probably enough for a series of 13 shows, but we are going to be ambitious. in just a few words, the four

marks of the church. >> father: i will focus on the apostolic. that means that bishops functioning as bishops today are connected to the apostles, that there is an unbroken line that goes back to them. we believe that even the scriptures and their interpretation is linked to tradition. the bishops are the guarantors of that. >> chis: that leads us to magisterium. >> father: that refers to the leadership of the church. and often times teaching in an authoritative way. it is part of the gift given to the church. >> chis: a sample of a teaching that a magistrate might come out and declare. >> father: they have done it in the past, immaculate

conception was one. it would be possible to declare the sanctity of life and being against that through abortion, that that is evil. the church teaches that, but it hasn't chosen to to find that infallibly. >> chis: the magisterium has taught but not annette and valuable way. this is a topic that we can talk about or a long time. the true presence of jesus in the eucharist? >> father: that means jesus is truly present. i think this is an enormous challenge in american society. i see many young people who are good catholics, they just don't get the understanding of the eucharist. i think part of that is you have to kneel down and be focused on christ. it truly is the body and blood

of christ, it is the agent and current teachings of the church. >> chis: again we will give the website so you can read about these things. held in purgatory? >> father: the church has always said that held exists. it has never said that anyone is in hell. the reason they don't say that is in the new testament, jesus says, who are you to say who is good or bad? the reason it is so important is hell means that i truly have free choice and i can choose not to love god. i am not compelled, that is the way that he made us and that is the whole point of the story. purgatory means that if you are going to be in heaven, you cannot have all of these false. you have to be a completely nice guy. purgatory is the taking away of

and purifying to become part of the saints in heaven. >> chis: the priesthood? >> father: there are two types of priesthood, like me, i am a priest and we refer to that as the ministerial priesthood, but there is also the priest of the validity. in to some, right after you pour the water, you then do the am sure with a chrism and you say to the person, you are now priest, prophet, and king. it is that priest that we all offer to the sacrifice of the mass. everyone participates in that. >> chis: beautiful. we have talked about life, the belief of life begins at conception. >> father: all of this is now

supported by science. once you have the dna, the church's position is, once a woman conceives, if you do not intervene and there are no unusual events, that will result in human life. everything is programs by god from then on. a human person will develop into a baby and we have to respect that. >> chis: last one, chastity? >> father: chastity applies to both you and me. people often confuse it with celibacy, a chaste person means essentially that you look at the other person as a child of god, complete, so not just how pretty she is or if the guy is handsome. but, this is a child of god made in the image and likeness of god.

and that we have all of these sexual abilities and we don't use them until the appropriate moment, like in marriage. for someone who is single, they don't use them at all, but whenever they interact with another man or woman, all of that comes into play. >> chis: chastity is just living out the belief of each human. wonderful, we will be right back to talk more with father john. we are cruising right through some of the basic essential teachings of the catholic faith. we will be right back.

>> chis: welcome back to

mosaic. i am here today talking to father john about the essence of some of the basic catholic teachings. we have gone through a lot, father, how do you deal with sexuality? maybe a brief understanding of the concept of what the church believes about contraception? >> father: the basic notion is a man and woman coming together in marriage should be open to the gift of life. it is something given by god and they should be open to that. now, yes, they can be intimate with one another at times and it is less likely that the woman will be pregnant. but even in that situation, sometimes you have to be open to life.

>> chis: thank you. there is so much that we can talk about. here is one, homosexual acts. what does the church believe about that? >> father: acts always belong in a certain context. so, regular heterosexual acts should only occur in marriage. homosexual acts should not occur. the reason is that is not the way that our bodies are made. one can easily understand a man having an attraction for another man and wanting to become intimate, but just the way that our bodies are built, it is not possible that you can be intimate in the way that a couple in a heterosexual relationship can. >> chis: on a natural level. and then, through revelation and the church and the

procreative aspects of the gift of human sexuality and what we believe as catholics, certainly more we can talk about here. i urge you to study the theology of the body if you want to find out more about many of these things. let's talk about the church's ministry and the concept and differentiation between homosexual orientation and acts. >> father: the church accepts whatever orientation a person has. that orientation can be distorted. but, the church is still accepting the person as a child of god and a full member of the church. there is no attempt to push the person outside. what the church says is you cannot act on that. unfortunately, many of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters associate the

inclination to action. the church says no, we are all called to chastity. that is not the same. the inclination is distinct from the act. >> chis: i won it to speak about the inclination . i would say for our modern society, for most young people, their attitude to heterosexuality or homosexuality are all disordered. they are always thinking of the sexual component, the physical part, why is she so attracted to you? why am i attracted to him? it is going for one very small component. the church is saying no, we have to look at ourselves as complete and other people as

these complicated individuals for home we have to explore. so, i shouldn't identify myself as gay or heterosexual. i am a human person and i am trying to get to know other people. >> chis: the catholic perspective is really a healing remedy to the over sexualized nature of our culture. >> father: exactly . >> chis: so we are all called to chastity no matter our stay in life. >> father: that goes back to what we were saying before. i think this is a challenge for many people. we always have to look at the other person as someone who is in doubt and gives home we can relate to and we don't think of or act in initially or ultimately in a way inappropriate with their

commitments. now, if it is my wife or husband , then a sexual component is appropriate. otherwise, -- >> chis: even for a wife or husband, a guy cannot be married and looking at all these women, that would be against chastity? >> father: yes, jesus said that if you look with lust you have committed adultery. again, looking with a positive regard and wishing the best for the other person rather than taking. >> chis: this isn't going into the area of pornography, we are just talking about people who are married and the guy is interested in another woman.

you are already against chastity by engaging in something like that. >> chis: we are going to take a break. we are on the home stretch and talking about basic catholic teachings. we will be right back.

>> chis: welcome back to mosaic . we are going through some of the basic catholic teachings essential to our faith. we have gone through quite a few and are doing pretty well. the next segment, we are going to talk about marriage as a institution, covenant, and sacrament. >> father: marriage is an image of christ loving the church.

his body is imaged in the love of man and a woman. that love is supposed to remind us of the love of christ for his church. it is also an agreement or contract. that is the way the church understands it. the reason there can be annulments is in order for it to be a true contract you have to fully intend to promise to be married until death parts you. you have to do that freely. freedom is important. >> chis: the covenant aspect is wonderful. now, marriage and civil law, why the church is stronger about the perspective they are. >> father: and the united states now, every minister or

catholic priest acts on behalf of the government. you register with the government and as you know, the married couple brings a marriage certificate with them. depriest signs that and since then and then they get the official certificate. so, the charge is the official church witnessed and also for the state. now, because there are so many people who are changing their understanding of marriage and the definition of marriage, there are priests and ministers who are saying, we should change this. we should get out of the business of being officials of the state. we should separate these things. it happens in europe. there are a number of catholic countries in europe where you

want to get married, you go to city hall and get them to stem the thing. as far as the church is concerned, you are not married. the following day you go to the charge and you are not intimate with one another until the church. and so, a church wedding is distinct and the good thing about that is our concept of traditional marriage is very different from what civil unions are becoming nowadays. >> chis: that makes a lot of sense. last topic, reproductive technology and what the church believes about that and then human cloning. >> father: the charge is very sympathetic. there are many women who want to have children. they have tried and it is not working. they are inclined to think, i have to get this baby

inseminated outside of the womb . first of all, the way that happens is usually there are many eggs that are inseminated and only one is use. that is the primary reason. a secondary reason is you can think of it as a medical procedure, but in general this should be happening as a result of a loving acts. the church insist on that. you can see how important that is in our society. >> chis: thank you. what a great explanation. i am going to ask you folks if you want to hear or see what the church believes, you can go to our website where all of these are listed. we will be developing that as the weeks go by.

i really appreciate you father for being able to go through and give a little antidote about these things. thank you so much. >> father: i am delighted. >> chis: you have been watching mosaic. thank you very much. until next time, god bless.

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