#12920 What Is Clerical Celibacy? Conscientious Objectors and War - Jimmy Akin

0:00Buying or selling your home, real estate for life can connect you with a pro-life real estate agent. When real estate for life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic answers. Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Welcome back Catholic Dance for Slive Jimmy Akinar guests on this Friday afternoon and all the lines full. Probably going to be some groovy music coming up. We'll find out what's happening on Jimmy's podcasts and our old friend Devonte online in Odessa, Texas. I can't send him any more books because he's got all of our books. I'd Devonte. How are you doing? Very well. I'm sorry we kept you waiting so long. Go ahead with your question for Jimmy.

1:03All you're good. You don't have to send me any more books. Just saying Joe Hess, Mars, Jimmy, Akin and Trent Horn. Okay. We'll get them created up. I'm not too far away from me now, Devonte. It's great to hear from you. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for all your help and bringing me into the church. I pray the Lord would reward you handsomely. God bless you. Likewise. What can I do for you today? Yes, sir. I have a question about clerical celibacy. I have a brother who I commonly have spiritual conversations with praise God, but he's not Catholic. He had reached out to me asking about clerical celibacy. I don't know that he would describe himself as a Protestant, but still that very big word is an inscription. I said, brother, if you are explicitly looking for a verse that says, hey, priests and bishops, don't be married. You will not find them first.

2:07And so I have done a little bit of digging. So I've learned about it starting off in the West and in the fifth century related to priests and priests becoming abstaining from marriage because of administering the eukaryotes. But I don't know a bunch about it. And so I wanted to ask, because what does it mean for clerical celibacy to be a discipline as opposed to a doctrine of our being volunteers use that terminology? Okay. Well, so a discipline is something that is done as a matter of practice, but it is not divinely mandated. Like, for example, let's ask Psykielet. Psykielet. Yeah. I'm really involved today. Have you ever been to Great Britain?

3:08Only to the airport. I never left the airport in Great Britain. So not really. Okay. Well, let's suppose you did. Let's suppose you got a car, a rental at the airport, and you left the airport to drive around and see if you think somebody's going to get hurt in this scenario, Jim. If I drive in Great Britain, go ahead. Okay. Well, this may be part of why. If you leave the airport in Great Britain, what side of the road are you supposed to drive on? Oh my gosh. I think the right side, I got to figure that way. That's what you do in America. Wait, no, you drive. That's, this is why I'm never going to do it. I would say that I'm going to go with left side then, the left side of it. Okay. Yes. Very good. But we don't do that. Like if you're driving, if you're driving to Odessa, Texas to visit Devante, you would drive on the right side. I'm pretty sure I would. Yes. For most of the way anyways. Yes. So,

4:10um, so, uh, Devante, question for you. This drive on the right in, in America, but drive on the left in Great Britain. Is that something God mandates? No. No. Okay. So, but are you required to drive on the right in America and drive on the left in Great Britain? Yes. So, you will go to that. Yes. So, it's required, but not man, but not mandated by God. Well, that's an example of a discipline. It's something that's not mandated by God, but we are required to do it. And if you don't, you'll get disciplined. As you said, you'll get put in jail among other things. And, uh, and so that would be in a driving on the right or the left would be a good example of a discipline. It's different than a doctrine like God exists. Psych hell, you would agree God exists.

5:13I do. Yes. Okay. That would be an example of a doctrine. And does God mandate that we believe he exists, Devante? Yes, he does. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. Good. So, um, so God does mandate the doctrine that that that we believe he exists. That's why it's a doctrine. Now, there can be some overlap between that belief in God is a belief, but God can also mandate practices. Like, um, Devante, can you think of anything that God has mandated? We do maybe like right at the beginning of the Christian life. Baptism or thinking of baptism practices, it's full of rituals. Yeah. So, uh, so baptism, the the fact we need to do it, it's it, but it is mandated by God,

6:19means it doesn't go into that discipline category. It goes into the doctrine category. So, doctrine can be more than just things we're supposed to believe. It can also include things we're supposed to do, but discipline involves things we're supposed to do that haven't been mandated by God. But there can still be a good reason for them. So, um, in the case of driving on the right or the left, you know, you could there is a good reason for that. Um, so I kill it. Why do you suspect what do you think might be a good reason for drive on the on the left in Great Britain and drive on the right in America? What would happen if people didn't do that? Death? Death? Yeah. Head on collisions. Yeah. Okay. Now, it doesn't matter which side of the road you pick, but there is a good reason. Not a pick a side pick pick one side of the road. Right. And so, disciplines can have good reasons behind them.

7:25And so, applying that to the question of clerical solbacy, Devonté, it's a discipline. It's something that is is commonly required at least in the Latin right of the church. Um, but it's not mandated by God. So, not all Catholic priests have to be unmarried. There that's what celibate means is unmarried. Um, there can there are various rights to the church that have married priests as a matter of course. And even in the Latin right of the church, there are some exceptions where there are there are at least a few married priests. So, it's a discipline in that it's something we do regularly. It's normally required. And there are good reasons for it. One of them is it frees priests up for mint for greater ministry. You know, it's easier to get a Catholic priest at 2 a.m. in the morning if someone's having an emergency compared to a Protestant pastor who's got a wife and family

8:29and things like that. So, there's greater liberty for ministry for those who are celibate. It's also recommended by Saint Paul as something for ministers. He tells Timothy um, not to become entangled in civilian affairs. And it also conforms the priest's mode of life to that of Jesus because Jesus was not married to a woman. He was mystically married to the church which is another way of talking about his ministry to the church and by not being married to a woman but serving the church, priests are also configured to the way that Christ lived his life. And it's also the way that we're all going to end up. You know, as Jesus pointed out, we're not going to be marrying and given in marriage in the resurrection. So, it also configures for celibate priests. It configures them to our final state. So, there are good reasons for this but it's not mandated by

9:36God that priests have to be celibate. So, that's why it goes in the category of discipline. Is all that helpful? Yes, sir, it is. You know, in my brief time in being Catholic, I'm starting to see that as it is with the Lord, you know, we dive in the scripture. The Catholic Church says that the sacred scriptures are the study of the sacred scriptures and the soul of sacred theology. But if you don't trust the church, when you hear the statement, oh, that's not mandated by God. I'll see there it is. Man made traditions because you don't believe. You don't think God's church has the authority so far. Yes, that all makes it. It just falls back on. Oh, God has trust the church. Are you going to say I don't see God in scripture? Yeah, that's part of why I wanted to go into disciplines like which side of the road you drive on or the different benefits of celibacy that I

10:37outlined to show that there is a rational basis for this discipline. But I'm glad that's helpful and I actually go into the doctrine discipline distinction more in my book teaching with authority. And since you're here in the in North America, we should be able to send that to you if you don't already have it. So Devonte, why don't you hang on the phone and we'll try to hook you up with a copy. Hang on Devonte, you're getting another book, uh, teach with authority. All right, we'll take a very quick break right back with more questions for Jimmy on Catholic Dance was live. Mrs. Show, make sure to catch up by downloading the podcast available online at Catholic.com. Underwriting for Catholic Answers Live is provided by Magnificat. Published monthly Magnificat features texts of daily mass, prayers, articles, meditations, art commentaries and more. In step with the liturgical rhythm of the church on the web at Magnificat.com. Underwriting for Catholic Answers Live is provided by a real estate for life,

11:37real estate for life, connects home buyers and sellers to real estate agents while supporting pro life organizations on the web at realestateforlife.org. The most original Catholic content is on EWTN Radio. Apparently our Christianity demands humility, a demands compassion, demands that you love and pray for your enemy. We don't like that too much either. Mother Angelica Live Classics. Every morning to Eastern on EWTN Radio. Welcome back. Catholic Dance was live. Jimmy Aiken, our guest. Jimmy, what drop today on Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world? I know each Friday we get a new episode. Yeah, well, we're now in the month of

12:39October and for this year only just for 2026, I've declared October Weird Questions Month. And that'll let me catch up on some scripts for coming months. But since we're now in October, today is a Weird Questions episode. A lot of weird stuff in October too because Halloween's coming. So, an excellent choice of the month. I thought of that when I decided that, although that wasn't the primary reason. Yeah, very good. And how about the Jimmy Aiken podcast? What are we getting this week there? Well, the most recent episode is about the Protestant Apologist William Lane Craig. And he recently attracted some attention because he put out a video saying that he does not believe or confess the nice scene creed as written. He specifically said he doesn't he doesn't believe or confess the eternal sonship of Christ, which is one of the

13:42things the nice scene creed teaches where it says that, you know, Jesus is begotten of the Father before all ages. That's a reference to his eternal sonship. And Craig doesn't believe that. And when Craig, you know, it's kind of a bold move to put it one way to put out a video saying, you disagree with the nice scene creed, you know, the most important expression of the Christian faith in all of history. If you're a Christian Apologist especially and you claim to defend the Christian faith and here you are saying, you don't believe the nice scene creed. Well, that's that requires some Hutzpah, which I've seen defined as the quality of a person who murders his parents and then begs for mercy on the ground that he's an orphan. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, Bill Craig displayed some Hutzpah in in as an Apologist putting out this,

14:52hey, I don't agree with the nice scene creed video. And he got pushback as you might expect with people accusing him of heresy, including other Protestants, accusing him of heresy. And he then put out a defense video where he tried to defend himself against those charges. And I didn't find his video that helpful. So the most recent episode, and I certainly didn't think it was successful. So I put out a video analyzing the question of is Bill Craig a heretic or not? And the answer is is at least a material heretic, but there is a strong argument that he's also a formal heretic. And it doesn't just apply to this point. It applies to several other points as well where he doesn't correctly understand the nature of God. So I think it's important because he's got a lot of fans, including some Catholics. I think it's important for people to aware, to be aware of

15:57the problems with Bill Craig. And so that's what the most recent episode of the Jimmy Akin podcast was about. We in this one that's coming out this next Monday, I'm going to be looking at Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant and how it fits with other messianic prophecies. And what it says to us about Jesus. Oh, very good. I had to say I said this to you before, but what impresses me or alarms me about the William Lane Craig thing is you virtually have never said yes to the question on heresy. I mean, not never, but you are not. I'm fearful about you. You're not easily moved to saying this looks like heresy. You're more likely to say this is an error or this is a confusion or this, I don't agree with this, but because you're so reserved about it, that does alarm me a bit about William Lane Craig. Yeah, well, unlike the Protestant community in the Catholic community, the term heresy has a specific meaning. And so what I do, and a lot of people either ignore it or

17:02don't understand it correctly, because they just go with their gut and say, I don't like this so it's a heresy. Right. But I go carefully through the definition of heresy in the video and show you here's the case that Bill Craig fits this definition. All right, check it out. Jimmy Akin's page on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, Jimmy Akin's mysterious world and the Jimmy Akin podcast on we go now to Florida, Daniel in Florida. Welcome Daniel. Go ahead with your question for Jimmy. Hi, Daniel. Hi, yeah, you're on with Jimmy. Hey, how's it going? Very well. Thank you. Hello. Great. And so I'm an active duty Air Force member. Came into the church this past Easter. And congratulations again. Thank you. Thank you very much. I've been struggling with participating in war and even the thought of even participating in

18:05a just war. So my question is I'm I've applied for conscientious objector status. And I'm wondering what does the church actually teach about conscientious objection and can a faithful Catholic be a pacifist and good conscience? Okay. Well, the church um recognizes conscientious objection as a now here we're not talking about conscientious objection to a specific use of violence like in a particular war. Um by conscientious objection, you mean to any use of violence in any war? Correct. Uh, yes, that's become my personal belief is that I just I can't participate in war. Okay. Well, if you believe that you can't, the church wants to see provisions made for um people who have that conviction and um and so

19:16the church now the exact status of that is doctrinally is going to be harder to pin down. But as a general matter, the church wants to see provision made for conscientious objectors. Um, the church does acknowledge that there are just wars. And you know, there has been some discussion recently, including by Pope Leo, that we may need to reevaluate exactly the conditions that apply you know, when it comes to a just war and um and uh and that may not be the best term or the best way to express it. But um but the church does acknowledge that certainly in its present teaching and in any future teaching that I can envision, uh, it acknowledges the existence of just wars.

20:16And so well Daniel, let me put a question to you and this is one I don't know the answer to, but let's suppose now do you happen to have a family? Uh, I do not, I'm single. Okay. So let's imagine that you get married and and have some kids. So at this future point in your life, you have a wife and kids, okay? Okay. Okay. Now let's imagine that a serial killer breaks into your home in the dead of night and is just about to kill your wife and kids. Would you be warranted or would it be legitimate for you to use lethal force to stop the serial killer if that's the only way to do it? Uh, yeah. So first let me just say that's a really good question and the my application to the

21:18military to be a conscientious objector actually has to answer a similar question of, you know, what how far will you go to defend yourself or somebody you love basically? Uh, and my answer boils down to that um, you know, my objection isn't to the defense of one self or others. It's, in fact, I think that a nation or people if they are able to defend an innocent person should do so. It's more along the lines of um, basically nations acting on other nations in order to play out. Um, their, their will, I guess is an easier way to put it, but uh, yeah, my object that like I would totally defend myself or a loved one. Um, I just believe, you know, that I've seen for, I've deployed several times in the Middle East. I've seen firsthand the, the damage and the, the, the hurt it can cause innocent people and um, that's kind of

22:22where, you know, through my conversion and what I've seen is just, it's led me down to that path where I personally believe I can't participate in warfare as a, you know, in the military. Okay. Um, so that's helpful to me in answering the question because what we've established is you're not a pacifist in the extreme sense that would be opposed to all use of violence. You'd be willing to use lethal force as you said to defend yourself or your family or people like that. And once we've established that principle, the same thing is going to apply and the church also acknowledges that it's, um, the principle of legitimate self-defense. Um, when it's applied to yourself and it's proxy self-defense when you apply it to others like your wife and children. So the church acknowledge both, acknowledges both of those. Well, warfare considered in the abstract is the same thing on a broader scale. Now, um, where you just have more people involved.

23:28And so, um, so that doesn't mean every war or even most wars are moral. There can be loads of wars that are not moral. And in every war, someone is wrong, you know, because it would have been better to resolve whatever dispute is an issue in some other way. But that didn't happen if war exists. So there's a, um, so somebody has to be in the wrong in any given war. And sometimes it's not just one side. Sometimes it's both sides are in the wrong. So I want to, I want to acknowledge there's lots of wrongness going on in war. But certainly I would say that, and this is the insight behind the church's teaching on just war that warfare can be legitimate under specific conditions when it's necessary. As an example of that, I would point to World War II because if,

24:31you know, Hitler was determined to conquer first Europe and then America, he was going to kill millions of people. And, uh, and I would say that that fighting back against that and using lethal force to fight the Nazis was a legitimate thing to do. That was a just war on the part of the Allies, not on Hitler's part. How would, and we're going to hit a break and we can continue on the other side. But before we do that, Daniel, what, what would you make of that statement? Would you have been, would you think that fighting World War II was a good thing for the Allies to do? Yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I have, I haven't done a lot of research on just war doctrine. I know about it. I, you know, could do this, right? And, but I overall, I would agree that there are wars that can be justified. It's okay. My personal conscience has led me to believe that I can't participate. Okay. Well, um, like the good and, um, there's more to say about all

25:39this, but like I mentioned, we're about to hit the break. So I'm going to let Saikal it do his pre-break segue and we'll pick it up on the other side. Hang on, Daniel. We're coming right back to time now for my pre-break segue. We'll be right back with more Jimmy Aiken. Lots of people on the phone's forum and it's asking anything on Cathagand's life. Who was Jesus? It's the most important question in the world. Was he a great teacher, a religious myth, the Messiah and the Lord? In evidence for Christ, Apologist Jimmy Aiken builds a powerful step-by-step case from history, scripture and reason showing that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy and the risen Lord. Get your copy of Jimmy Aiken's evidence for Christ today at shop.cafec.com or at a good Catholic bookstore near you.

26:45The world has a lot of questions about Catholicism. It's a big faith and it deserves a big book of answers. Well, now it has two. Get the big book of Catholic answers volume two and have 300 clear, reliable Catholic answers right at your fingertips. Whenever something comes up at work, with friends or around the dinner table or to your copy of the big book of Catholic answers volume two at shop.cafec.com or ask for it at a good Catholic bookstore near you. Have you ever wondered about the mysterious, even obscure aspects of the Catholic faith? Dive into the Jimmy Aiken podcast where Jimmy brings together information from many fields as he pushes the boundaries of apologetics. Tune in today to the Jimmy Aiken podcast, Mysteries of the Faith, a highly entertaining, informative and at times humor a show that will help you grow in your faith. Visit Jimmy Aiken Podcast.com today to subscribe.

27:45Why do we baptize? Does it really do anything? In Baptism Now saves you, Dr. Carlo Bressard explains the unbreakable relationship between baptism and salvation, making sense of the church's teachings in a way that is easy to understand and ready to share. St. Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you. Discover what that means today. Order your copy of Baptism Now saves you at shop.cafec.com or ask for it at a good Catholic bookstore near you. Look at that Catholic dance with live Jimmy Aiken, our guest Daniel in Florida, active duty Air Force, a new Catholic and the conversation around pacifism and conscientious subjection and Jimmy I'll turn it back over to you. Okay, so so Daniel, we've as we mentioned before

28:46the break the church acknowledges that there are such things as just wars even if that teaching needs to be expressed a little differently which is up for discussion. But it sounds like you've also agreed that there are situations like self-defense or proxy self-defense of the family or even proxy self-defense of the nation like in World War II where where it is legitimate to use lethal force. But you've also said that you've decided that you personally couldn't do that. And so what I would say is you've acknowledged a position that is not pacifist in the strong sense, but I think there are other positions where one could describe oneself as a pacifist where one could say yes I would I would defend my own life. Yes, I would defend the life of my family. Yes, I would defend the life of my nation or even yes, I would defend the life of my planet. You know, being an Air Force

29:50officer you might someday be called upon to defend earth against the the goa old or the replicators or the ori or the rath. And if you're ever called upon to do that, I sure hope you will because earth is my favorite planet. It's where we keep it's where I keep all my stuff. I haven't said that. Are there positions that where one could say I just don't feel I could participate in a war? Sure, one would be if there's a physical limitation that prevents one from doing so. And that would be like if someone is quadriplegic, well they really can't fight in a war. They don't have the physical ability. Another would be if they have a psychological condition, like maybe they've got an anxiety disorder and they would freeze up on the battlefield or you know and have a panic

30:50attack. And there's and and well, okay, they they couldn't fight him. They wouldn't be suitable for combat either. Neither one of those have you cited though. And that leads me to think of a third position where one could justify not fighting in war in a general way. And that would be that to say it's an issue of trust that I don't trust the government that either I don't trust my own government to make moral decisions about the use of force and the use of lethal force. And so I can't participate for that reason. They're too quick to use lethal force. They use it in a or they or they use it in a way that's too blunt. So it ends up harming civilians in a way that's

31:54not necessary or something like that. That it's not that there's a problem with the idea of lethal force in war that's the problem. As illustrated by the Nazi example, it's the application of that. And so one would say I just don't feel like I could respond to orders to use lethal force because I don't trust the people giving them. They're not using them in the right in the right way. Would that be a description of the position that you would take Daniel? Daniel. Do we lose you Daniel? Well, if we did he won't answer. I'm not sure exactly what's going on there. He's up he's he's potted up and I've got him on the line. I it does sound like he's still there but it doesn't sound like we're hearing him. So I don't know which one to do Jimmy. You want to. Okay. Well, I'll just keep going then. So if that or

32:57something like it is Daniel's position that he does want to support America and he by being in the Air Force, but he doesn't feel he could use lethal force. Well, then there are other things that he could do. Like for example, serve as an administrator or he could do a desk job or he could serve as a medic and help save lives. Even if he thought that these people were being injured and killed because of bad decisions morally speaking, saving their lives can still be a good thing. So there are other roles and I could see a defensible position of I don't feel like I can use lethal force in general because I don't think the principles are being applied correctly. And that's a defensible position. And I think the church would support that. What I would have

34:00more of an issue with would be to say I don't think anyone should ever under any circumstances use lethal force because that's a that's a position that's unsustainable. If if people adopted that as a principle, the problem would be not everyone's going to adopt it. And so the people who are willing to use lethal force would would simply conquer and possibly and oppress and possibly kill those who don't use lethal force. So every at least until Jesus comes back and we have a perfect world in this imperfect world, you have to be willing to use lethal force even if it's just the threat of lethal force in order to prevent massive human oppression and murder. And that's same function the police do. They're just doing it on a smaller scale and internally rather than an

35:04army. So I would say if someone has the I can't do this at all because it's wrong in all circumstances, well, I would say frankly to be a little blunt about it, that's a parasitic attitude. That that kind of approach is luxury because in that case, the pacifist, a pacifist by which I mean a pacifist of this type wants to live in a free society where he's not oppressed or murdered by foreigners who who or criminals, but in order to have that free society requires other people to be willing to use lethal force rather than do it yourself. It's a little bit like, well, I want to eat, but I'm not willing to work for it. And so I would say that's a bad position. So I would say

36:07thoroughgoing pacifism of the strict type is going to be a problem. But if and it's a luxury, you know, just like living in a welfare state where people can help you out or, you know, that's a luxury. Went in a survival situation, you don't have that luxury. And similarly in a survival situation when it comes to warfare, pacifism is a luxury you can't afford. So I would say as long as one acknowledges that there at least can be situations where lethal force must be used in warfare. Okay, that's that's a reasonable position. And if one has a personal view that I can't do this because I don't trust the decision makers that would be over me to make the correct moral decisions, but I'm willing to support in other ways, that's also a defensible position. So I would say that

37:11depending on on how Daniel understands the issue of pacifism, it can be defensible, but there are also forms of pacifism that I don't think are defensible. Daniel, I'm sorry, we weren't able to hear you if we if you were communicating with us, but I'm very glad we got that call. And I hope you will call again. We're going to take a very quick congratulations again on becoming Catholic. Welcome home. Yes, amen to that. And we'll be right back. Lots of calls still waiting for Jimmy Akin on Catholic Answer's Live. There's only one Catholic answer's live. The catacism defines evangelization as the proclamation of Christ and his gospel by word and the testimony of life. But what does that look like in real life? It looks like St. Paul street evangelists out in the public square sharing the good news. We're a Catholic non-profit that starts conversations by handing out free sacramentals. Then we employ our method of listen, befriend, proclaim, and invite. Catholic answers is supported in part by St. Paul Street evangelization. Visit streetavangelization.com

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39:29Jamaican, our guest, Catholic answers live asking anything. Phones remain full. So back to the phones we go this time to Northern Illinois. Caitlin in Northern Illinois. Caitlin, bless you for waiting so long. I'm sorry. It's been a busy day. No worries at all. How are you guys doing? Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead with your question for Jimmy. Yeah, thanks for taking my call. First of all, huge fan of you Jimmy, also Trent and Joe, huge fans of them. You guys have been awesome. I really enjoyed the Catholic Church's test Easter. Congratulations to you too. Thank you so much. Yeah. So my question is so basically since I've come into the church, I came from a very very Protestant family. So Protestants that they don't even call themselves Protestant and they are very much not borny converting. So it's been a bit of a journey trying to learn more about my faith but also

40:35deal with them and help them understand. And I guess the core of my question, I am looking into marriage with my boyfriend. We're getting close to engagement and they are struggling with the idea of a Catholic wedding. So my boyfriend is trying to get a blessing and it doesn't sound like we're able to get a blessing and they might not come to my wedding. And it's a big thing. I guess this is asking for some spiritual guidance, maybe some advice on how to navigate this in the most Christ-like way for us and also just to help them. And any advice would be great. Okay. So your Catholic, I need to also know what your boyfriend status is. Is he Catholic or non-Catholic? I'm actually Catholic as well. I was the one who converted for in a way and helped her come to the church. Okay. So yeah. So and by the way,

41:45assuming you all do get engaged and get itch, congratulations in advance. In terms of the mechanics of how to proceed, I guess the first step is to lay out what your legal options are. So you're both members of the Catholic church and as a result of that, you are required unless you get a dispensation to have a Catholic marriage. The dispensation would be from what's known as form. It would be a dispensation from the Catholic form of marriage. Now there are a few situations where where you automatically don't have to follow Catholic form. Like Caitlin, if you're soon to be fiancee, were in the military and he were about to deploy somewhere and there was no time to have

42:48a Catholic wedding. Well, then you could go ahead and get married and in a non-Catholic service. And that would be totally fine. The church would recognize that as a valid marriage. Same thing, if the two of you were taken a flight across the Atlantic and the plane crashed and you two washed up on a desert island with a couple of other people, you could get married on the desert island and the two people could be your witnesses. So you wouldn't have to have a Catholic wedding in that circumstance. But these are circumstances where a Catholic wedding is not possible either physically or morally. And so most of the time, if you want something other than a Catholic marriage, you're going to need to get a dispensation from form. And those are commonly granted if one of the parties is not Catholic. But that doesn't apply here. So you can apply for a dispensation from

43:53form. But my experience is would indicate that the odds of it being granted are pretty low. Are there other alternatives? Well, one of the things that they do in some countries is they have two weddings. They have one wedding at a civil registry office, the equivalent of going to adjust the piece. And then they have a Catholic wedding. And the reason they do that, they do that, for example, in Germany. And the reason they do that is because the German state does not recognize Catholic weddings. And so, and it's understood by the assuming the two Catholics who were getting married are educated about their faith, that first civil ceremony is for others. It doesn't really bond them in God's eyes. So they're not really married yet. And they can't live as husband and wife yet,

44:59not until they do the Catholic ceremony. That's when they really become married. So could you do something like that in the in the US? Well, here the state does recognize Catholic marriages. But there's not that I'm aware of a law forbidding this if the circumstances are serious enough. So so if the circumstances are serious enough, at least based on my present state of knowledge, I'd have to do further checking. But based on my present state of knowledge, a hypothetical possibility would be get married in a civil ceremony and live as brother and sister and your family could come to the civil ceremony. But live as brother and sister until you have

46:00a Catholic ceremony, assuming you don't get a dispensation. That would be the option that would allow you to not raise this issue with your family. And it would honor the it would honor God by continuing to live as if you're not married until you're able to get the real marriage, the Catholic one. So those are some options. Now in this situation that I've just outlined, the justification would be that the civil ceremony is for it needs to perform some good. The good might be maintaining because otherwise if it doesn't perform a good, just have the Catholic ceremony. That's the ideal situation. So the question would be, is it performing some good that would be worth doing it in addition and before or I could do it after the Catholic ceremony. The good would presumably be

47:07something like it's going to preserve relations with the family if we do it this way. But it would need to be justified by some good. On the other hand, you know, having your parents not come to or your family come to a wedding, well, that's something a lot of people have to face. So it's not an infinite bad thing if they don't come. And this really gets us into a judgment call area. I would also, if you did pursue that path, I would try to make the marriage, the civil marriage as small as possible so that you're not misleading more people by making them think this is the real wedding when it's not. And I would probably be clear with the family and say, and look, we're doing this to please you because we want it. We love you and we care about you. But we're also

48:10going to have a Catholic wedding. And we will regard that as our real wedding. So those are some of the parameters that occurred to me in trying to sort through this situation. Is that helpful, Caitlin, and hopeful future fiance? Absolutely. Yeah, that was really helpful. Our biggest thing is we're both very passionate about our faith. We're very thorough about our faith. And I'm pretty sure my parents are kind of still in a little bit of denial and hurt over me converting. So yeah, the biggest thing is just making sure they know like our boundaries that this is our belief. This is what we are firm on. But that showing them we love you and we still want you a part of this without hurting you. Yes. And it sounds like he's given some good advice on that. And just giving them make and I was going to say, making sure you tell them you love them and you respect them and whatever they decide you'll respect. But you're going to do what you need to

49:13and then giving them some time to get used to the idea. That may solve the problem. They may not prefer you have a Catholic wedding, but they may accept it and be willing to come. Once they as long as they understand you still love them and you still respect them and they have a little time to process all of this. And that's really the ideal is having them on board. And you have in the Catholic ceremony, which is the necessary part. Caitlin and mystery man, I'm going to move on to try to let Jimmy answer one more question. But I'd love to send you Jimmy's book of daily defense. That way as family questions come up, you have a you have a reference to go to. And call again, we would love to talk with you again. Mystery man, you're welcome as well. Let me move on though. Emory is in Mesa, Arizona. Emory, thank you for waiting. Go ahead with your question. Up in there. Hi there.

50:13Hi, Emory. Hi, okay. So I actually have two, but I will make them very quick. I'm going through OCIH, so I'm very new. So this is what I found out. Congratulations. Thank you. My tongue kind of dumb. But so when during the mass, they are doing the Transubdantiation. When is the consecrated host that's in the tabernacle become consecrated? It already was consecrated at a previous mass. And the hosts that are stored in the tabernacle are ones that didn't get used in the previous mass. And then they need to be used at a future mass because the purpose is, you know, if Jesus is becoming present in the Eucharist is to be consumed in communion as a way of uniting himself with us. So what happens is since they're never sure what mass attendance is going to be from mass to

51:15mass, they won't know exactly. They tend to keep a certain amount of hosts that have already been consecrated in the tabernacle at all times. And then they make sure they get used before they spoil. But they've already been consecrated. So that's the basic answer to that question. All right, Emory. Perfect. And then the last one was, so I started doing a Bible study at the church and were just in Genesis and within the first couple visits. I've already realized that my understanding and interpretation that I've been taught is different in a few ways than the Catholic faith. And I was wondering, can you recommend any like kind of, I don't something to read alongside each book of the Bible that may reflect the beliefs or I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I know I've seen it online. I just don't trust with online for like the Bible guide. So yeah. Sure. So the first thing I'd say is the Catholic church does not have an

52:23official position on most the vast majority of passages in the Bible. There are a few exceptions to that, but there is no official Catholic commentary on the Bible. So there's a range of different views that are possible. What I would suggest is two things. The first is a book that I wrote called the Bible is a Catholic book that establishes a lot of the principles that I think would be helpful to you. And I understand we already have your address so we can send you the Bible is a Catholic book. When it comes to something you can read along, there are good commentaries, but if you get a multi commentary said it's going to be expensive. What I would suggest is getting a copy of the Ignatius Catholic study Bible, which will have introductions and notes that explore reasonable opinions. It's not the notes are not infallible, you know, and you don't have to agree with

53:28all of them, but at least there'll be reasonable opinions. And the opinions that you hear expressed in in class may be reasonable or not. I don't know. I don't know the class. But at least the at least the Ignatius Catholic study Bible will have notes that are reasonable and you can use them as a kind of compare and contrast with what you're hearing in class. It may be both what you're hearing in class is an acceptable opinion and what you read in the Ignatius Catholic study Bible is a reasonable opinion. It may be one is right and the other is not. But you're welcome to call back if you have questions about what's permitted on specific books or passages. Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Emory, no problem. It'll be there in a few days. The Bible is a Catholic book, Jimmy Aikens book. Thank you so much. Thanks to everybody who called. A few that we were not able to get to, but got to a lot. That was a busy day for you, Jimmy. And I thank you very much for it.

54:32Yeah, I'm encouraged by how many folks called in who were either just became Catholic or looking at becoming Catholic. That was great. I know. I know. And boy, have we been seeing a lot of that. And this is a good time of year, by the way, since Jimmy mentioned that, if that is you, you can go to your local Catholic parish and ask to enter the O CIA process. It doesn't require any obligation from you. It's an inquiry process. So a great time of year to go by the parish and ask if you are interested. Jimmy, thanks very much. We'll do this again before too long. Sounds great. And while all weekend heatwave, we'll see you next time, God willing. Our Catholic dancers live.