Monday, July 6, 2009

Fr. John Riccardo :- Common Ground

For a while now, I have been mentioning Fr. John Riccardo and some of his sermons. I was first introduced to him by a friend of mine in my RCIA class, through the video Common Ground. In Common Ground, Fr. John Riccardo is questioned by a Non-Catholic Pastor of Kensington Community Church Steve Andrews about different articles of the Catholic Faith. I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone and everyone - Catholic and Non-Catholic alike - who have any interest in dialogue across barrier that separates us.

Believe it or not, I was able to snag a promotion of this video from YouTube. If you can spare 4 minutes, please watch it. The style that Fr. John Riccardo uses to present the mysteries of our faith, is what drew me to him and his podcasts. You should be able to view the video here in the blog, or you can click this link.



God bless....

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if the video clip was supposed to present the Catholic Eucharist and Protestant Communion celebration as something common between us, but aside from the elements and possible similar scripture, there is a great difference between what they each mean.

“Roman Catholics are quick to say that the Eucharist is not a re-sacrifice of Christ. They want to make it clear that Christ was offered once for all and that the Mass is not a re-sacrifice but a "re-presentation" of the sacrifice. We certainly do not want to misrepresent Roman Catholic theology, but we must ask how it is possible for the Mass to not be a re-sacrifice of Christ when the Mass is called a divine sacrifice (CCC, 1068) that is done over and over again. We are told that "the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice"; (CCC, 1367); that it is an unbloody offering that is proptiatory, (CCC, 1367); that it can make reparation of sins, (CCC, 1414); and is to be considered a true and proper sacrifice (The Catholic Encyclopedia, topic: "Sacrifice of the Mass"). We must conclude that it is a sacrifice that occurs over and over again and since it is said to be a true and proper sacrifice that is propitiatory, then logically it must be a re-sacrifice of Christ. If it is not, then how can it be called a sacrifice of Christ? Also, how could it be propitiatory if it is not a sacrifice of Christ since it is Christ's offering on the cross that is itself propitiatory?”

Source:

http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/roman-catholicism/mass-and-sacrifice-christ

There is a more detailed presentation of the above summary at the link, as well as a Biblical response.

Carlus Henry said...

born4battle,

I don't know if the video clip was supposed to present the Catholic Eucharist and Protestant Communion celebration as something common between us, but aside from the elements and possible similar scripture, there is a great difference between what they each mean.

No. The video clip was meant to show the type of conversation that you can expect to see when you watch Common Ground. It was not supposed to be a complete explanation of the differences between Non-Catholic Communion and Catholic Eucharist.

Of course your post now requires a response, so here it goes:

we must ask how it is possible for the Mass to not be a re-sacrifice of Christ when the Mass is called a divine sacrifice (CCC, 1068) that is done over and over again.

It is because in some mystical way, it is not a new and different sacrifice, it is the same exact one. So therefore, it is not a re-sacrifice. We are not putting Christ back on the Cross, instead we are making present the events of Calvary.

No one can re-sacrifice Christ. He does not die again and again and again. That is not what we believe, and it is a misrepresentation of the Catholic faith for someone to say that it is.

Just to balance the resource that you used, let me show you the Catholic understanding, which is one that has always been in the historical Christian Church. You can read more about it at Is the Mass a Sacrifice.

I am very familiar with Matt Slick of CARM. There is actually a debate online with him, and a Catholic apologist. If you are interested in that, you can find it here:

Mark Bonocore and Matt Slick

The post was not meant to be a deep theological discussion on the Eucharist....don't worry, it is coming....instead it was meant to be an formal introduction of Fr. John Riccardo and how I came to appreciate his teaching style.

God bless...

Anonymous said...

sorry about that.....you usually have some sort of "come home to Rome poor separated brother' thing going on.

Willison said...

To be clear, you are wlcome to come home my poor seperated brother!

Sadeer said...

The Eucharist is NOT a re-sacrifice of Christ! We are just participating in that same Sacrifice every time we celebrate Mass. For example if you turn on your television you are not re-transmiting the television signal rather you are participating in the original television signal.