Fun Catholic Facts

#1:   4 of the 36 Doctors of the Church are women. If you’re not impressed, think about this: zero of the United States’ 44 presidents have been women. And once you consider that, one of the most recent Doctors of the Church was a 19th-century nun—you know, back when most colleges wouldn’t even admit women — it becomes harder to play that “the Catholic Church hates women” card.






#2 All Catholics are expected to perform some act of penance every Friday, not just in Lent.The US Bishops recommend abstaining from meat. Turns out that didn’t go out with Vatican II.   


#3  

Franciscan Friar Roger Bacon,
Father of the Scientific Method

Catholic religious also invented the scientific method, genetics, and the university system. Because we hate science. And progress.










#4  

You genuflect on your right knee in church, not your left. The left knee is for people, the right knee for God. So ladies, if your good Catholic boyfriend goes down on his right knee when he proposes, accuse him of idolatry and storm off. Or something like that.





#5

Sunday’s first reading is always picked to match the Gospel. The second reading (in Ordinary Time, anyway) takes us through different epistles, giving highlights from each, and isn’t necessarily connected to the other readings. Still pay attention to it, though.  The real exercise is to figure out what the homily is based on: Gospel, First Reading, Psalm, or Second Reading...or maybe all three!    


#6 

All the liturgical vestments worn during the Mass and other liturgies have a meaning:

1. THE ALB

The alb is a long, white linen liturgical vestment with tapered sleeves. It is the basic garment (or robe) that is worn by almost everyone from Altar Servers to the Pope and everyone in between.Some folk call the alb, "Liturgical Underwear."    It is usually white or cream in color which symbolizes the innocence and purity that should adorn the soul of the wearer.  

 2. THE AMICE

The amice is a liturgical vestment consisting of an oblong piece of white linen that is worn around the neck and shoulders and partly under the alb.   Originally, the purpose of the amice was as a neckcloth to protect the valuable chasuble and stole from head, neck and shoulder sweat….I wear one for certain Albs I want to protect. The amice is associated with the "helm of salvation."

3. THE CINCTURE

The cincture is the cord used as a belt to gird the Alb. It symbolizes the virtues of chastity and continence it comes in many colors. 

4. THE STOLE

Roman magistrates wore a long scarf when engaged in their official duties, just as our judges wear a court gown. Whenever a priest celebrates Mass or administers the Sacraments, he wears the stole as a sign that he is occupied with an official priestly duty.  The Deacon wears the stole across the chest over the left shoulder; this is how the Imperial Roman Messengers were marked when doing official duty.   The deacon used to bring communion to all the satellite churches from the bishop’s altar back in the day.     It is a symbol of authority or official office. 

5. THE CHASUBLE

The chasuble is the vestment that the priest puts on over all the others during Liturgical services. The Chasuble symbolizes the virtue of love, and the yoke of unselfish service for the Lord, which the priest assumes at ordination.  “Over all these, put on love.” (Colossians 3:14)

6. THE DALMATIC

The dalmatic is an outer, sleeved tunic that came to Rome from Dalmatia, whence its name. It is worn in place of the chasuble, by the deacon during Mass.   It is also a proper vestment for the bishop, especially during ordinations.    It symbolizes the joy and happiness that are the fruit of dedication to God.   Because it has sleeves it is hotter in there than under a chasuble….just sayin’  

7. THE MANIPLE

Some of you old timers may remember the maniple it’s like a silk hanky vestment of colored silk worn over the left forearm of the priest or deacon. It symbolizes the labor and hardship the cleric must expect in his ardent apostolate.   Since Vatican II the use of this vestment has been suppressed….

#7 

No modern scientist has been able to explain how the image on the Shroud of Turin was made.   

Many rely on the Carbon 14 dating and feel the case is closed; it's a fake...even though there are a lot of basic issues with the C-14 dating.   

Say what you like about the dubious carbon dating. How are you going to tell me that’s a 14th-century forgery when you can’t replicate it with all your 21st-century technology?   No one can duplicate it today using any modern method......

#8
Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, was Catholic and the first book ever printed was the Catholic Bible.


#9
The sovereign nation of Vatican City has the highest crime rate in the world! It is about one square mile in size and has about 500 resident citizens....add to that 20 million visitors annually, and a culture where pickpockets and other petty offenses are common.   The Vatican crime rate is above 100 percent, per capita. 

#10
The Catholic Church spends more money than Apple Computer brings in. Expenditures by the Catholic Church, largely on charity, exceeded $170 billion in 2012, according to The Economist magazine. In that same year, Apple took in $157 billion in revenue.   The Economist also estimates that about 6% of that income is spent on operating costs globally...the rest is charity, hospitals, schools, relief etc......In fact about 15 percent of all hospitals in the United States are Catholic hospitals. In some parts of the world, the Catholic Church provides the only healthcare, education and social services available to people.

#11
All the Church requires of you is .65% of your life. Do the math: if you go to Mass every time you have to, that comes out to about 57 hours a year in the US. So all you give God is .65%? You can do better than that.

#12

Did you know that the Catholic Church was really the one to invent hospitals as we know them today?

Early hospitals (we’re talking 4th century) were called basilias—named for Saint Basil—due to his efforts to establish health care centers all over the Roman empire.

#13

The word cappuccino comes from the brown habits
worn by Franciscan friars.

(The hood was referred
to as the cappuccio.) 

#14

According to the Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, the Catholic Church is understood to be "a corporate body of Churches," united with the bishop of Rome, who serves as the guardian of unity. The other Catholic Churches are not merely Catholics with papal permission to use different liturgies. They were also founded by the apostles and are particular, autonomous Churches of their own rightful existence. Any individual Catholic may freely attend and receive the sacraments in any of them. After all, Catholic is Catholic.   The "Catholic Church" we think of is really the Latin Catholic Church.  There are in total 24 Separate Catholic Churches with the Pope as their temporal head.     Don't get confused, These "Eastern Churches" are Catholic even though some of them wear those dopey hats anyway.   Orthodox Churches are not Catholic, we're not talking about them at all here.

#15

The familiar local network technology known as “Bluetooth” is named for the first Christian King of Norway.  King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson was the Viking king that ruled Norway and Denmark from the year 958 to 986.   He was called Bluetooth because he had really bad rotting teeth that looked blue….pretty gross actually.   In spite of his poor dentition he united Norway and Denmark under the banner of Christianity.   Bluetooth was supposed to unite all local technology services together...get it?   In fact the Bluetooth symbol is a combination of his initials in runes….Harold Bluetooth: