Quotes about Church

There is possibly nothing that can so radically change the Church and the lives of individual believers as having our criticisms changed into intercession

Jesus made it very clear in His discourse about the end of the age in Matthew 24 that deception and delusion in society — and even in certain sectors of the Church — will be the primary sign that we are near the end of the age.

There is no substitute for the Word of God — for the true power of the Gospel (see Romans 1:16). But neither is there a substitute for the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In fact, these two go together as one. If the Spirit's presence and power are removed, all that's left is orthodoxy and religious works. But religion will never raise the dead, cast out demons, heal the sick, or turn cities and nations to Jesus Christ!

What happens when the Church ceases to stand for truth or to live holy lives separate from the world? When that type of wrong doctrine gains ascendancy, it produces a weak Church so contaminated with spiritual sickness that very little power remains in it.

To bring the Church back to where God wants it to be will require great courage on the part of God's leaders, His spokesmen. They must be willing to acknowledge the present sad condition of large portions of the Church. Then they must rise up and both publicly and privately refute every form of deception with a steadfast stance on God's truth — regardless of the consequences to them personally.

After the cave was authenticated as the place of Christ's birth, Helena's son, Emperor Constantine, issued a decree for the first church building to be constructed on that site in the year 326 AD.9 That earliest church in Bethlehem was built directly on the land above the cave where Christ was born, and in 339 AD, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was dedicated.10

I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of politics from religion.

History shows that when the church accommodates culture, it weakens it.

But above all, fight by your very holiness of life; fight by becoming the saint that God wants you to be; fight by encouraging a decent young man to become a priest; fight by doing a Holy Hour every day for the sanctification of the Church; fight by coming to Mass regularly; fight by evangelizing; fight by doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The Church calls people to be not spiritual mediocrities, but great saints, and this is why its moral ideals are so stringent. Yet the Church also mediates the infinite mercy of God to those who fail to live up to that ideal (which means practically everyone). This is why its forgiveness is so generous and so absolute. To grasp both of these extremes is to understand the Catholic approach to morality.

Jesus has entrusted to his Church the means to apply this victory—the weapons, if you will, to win the spiritual war. These are the sacraments (especially the Eucharist and confession), the Bible, personal prayer, the rosary, etc. One of the tragedies of our time is that so many Catholics have dropped those weapons

What I want is a housekeeper. If I shaved every Sunday and went to church I'd get all the housekeepers I'd want. I'd be respectable then. But what's the use of going to church when it's all settled by predestination? Tell me that, Miss.