Catholicism

What are Catholics to think of the end of days? Did Jesus say that we can have no idea of when He will return, or did He warn us to be aware of the "signs of the times"? What are some of these signs that we can expect to see as we approach the end of human history? How many of these signs are already fulfilled? What are we to think of the antichrist? Should we hope to see peace in the Middle East?

This is the story of my return to the Catholic Church. I will attempt to explain how my walk with the Lord these past years has led me to this important and difficult decision, yet one that I make in peace and joy. It is addressed to my Evangelical Christian and Messianic Jewish friends in Israel, and particularly to those who do not believe that one can be a "true believer" and a Catholic at the same time. It is also written as a personal testimony for my many good friends around the world who may be interested in my walk of faith. To them I dedicate this essay and pray that it will help us to grow in unity in loving and worshiping the King of Kings.

We are a Catholic apostolate, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, of Jewish and Gentile Catholics from Israel and from the nations. In accordance with the teachings of the Church, we believe that God’s plan of salvation awaits the “Final Marriage” of Israel and the Church.

Salvation history from creation to the coming of the Messiah. Covers the Old Testament, New Testament, and the basics of the Christian faith.

Content outline: God, creation, man, original sin, God’s covenants in salvation history, messianic prophecies, Jesus and the New Covenant, the Trinity.

An introduction to the Catholic Church, and how the Church continues Jesus' work of salvation in history.

Content outline: The Church, revelation & authority, the papacy, Mary & the saints, sin, salvation & justification, grace, life in Christ, liturgy & sacraments, the family, Church history.

A general overview of the two parts of our Bible course:

From Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger's Book 'The Promise':"The Church appears in Jerusalem, after Pentecost, as an "assembly" kahal in Hebrew, ecclesia in Greek. it is unthinkable that she would claim to replace Israel. She is not another Israel, but the very, fulfillment, in Israel, of God's plan..."

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn says European Christians' support for Israel is not based on Holocaust guilt and Christians should affirm Zionism as biblical. Schoenborn said it was doctrinally important for Christians to recognize Jews' connection to the "Holy Land" and Christians should rejoice in Jews' return to Palestine as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

A compilation of authoritative Church documents pertaining to Jews and Judaism, from the 1965 Declaration Nostra Aetate to the 2015 The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable.

apostolic successionMay we come together to the fullness of that unity in the “one new man” where Messianic Jewish Catholics continue to testify to the faithfulness of the God of Israel in the covenant of circumcision and their commemoration of the Sabbath, and where both Jewish and Gentile Catholics celebrate together the breaking forth of the new creation accomplished in the Lord’s resurrection on the eighth day.

Learn and pray some of the most important Catholic prayers, including the Sign of the Cross, Act of Contrition, Apostle's Creed, Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, Memorare, and more.

The unconditional gift of the election of the Jewish people is the theological foundation of Catholic Zionism. Many New Testament texts support the notion that Catholics should endorse ­Zionism. Jesus himself was a Jewish Christian ­Zionist. Catholics accept that the Jewish people still have a providential role to play, and their return to the land of Israel may be part of the still-to-be-completed redemptive plan.

"We know that God gave Israel the land but there is no mention of his taking it back again forever. Can we Christians exclude that what is happening in our day, that is, the return of Israel to the land of its fathers, is not connected in some way, still a mystery to us, to this providential order which concerns the chosen people and which is carried out even through human error and excess as happens in the Church itself?"

The ever-dwindling Christian communities living in Palestinian-run territories in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment, an Israeli scholar said Monday.

The Christian population of the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has sharply declined in recent decades, as tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad. Those who remain comprise a beleaguered and dwindling minority. In sharp contrast, Israel's Christian community has prospered and grown by at least 270 percent since the founding of the state.

It's highly doubtful that Dr. Justus Reid Weiner's chilling forecast of the impending demise of Christian communities under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction will generate much outrage or uproar in Christendom. If, as expected, it fails to do so, it will be more than a shame. At the very least, Weiner's words of warning ought to ring powerful alarm bells among overseas coreligionists of local Christians.

Did Jesus Suspend the Observance of the Law? This article examines some of the Biblical arguments in support of the traditional doctrine that exempts, not only the Gentile, but even the baptized Jew from keeping the Law of the Torah. We will examine here certain episodes which have been interpreted to show that Jesus suspended the observance of the Law: Jesus and the kashrut dietary laws, Jesus and the Sabbath, and Peter's vision of the animals in Acts 10. 

On the one hand, as Catholics we wish to remain faithful to the Church's mission of evangelization. On the other hand, we also wish to be mindful of the difficult history of Jewish-Christian relations, and be respectful and appreciative of the Jewish faith, customs, and traditions as a God-given heritage that should be preserved and cherished.

"Having considered the close relationship between the New Testament and the Old, we now naturally turn to the special bond which that relationship has engendered between Christians and Jews, a bond that must never be overlooked. Pope John Paul II, speaking to Jews, called them "our 'beloved brothers' in the faith of Abraham, our Patriarch."

Ten basic steps outlining God's plan of salvation for us: God created us out of love and made a covenant with us; by sinning we have broken His covenant; God sent Jesus the Messiah to restore us to communion with Him; and He restores this communion through the Catholic Church He established and especially the seven sacraments.