#12251 Catholic Teaching on Divorce, Communion, Suicide, and the Church Fathers Explained - Joe Heschmeyer

Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does Scripture say about Mary’s perpetual virginity and sinlessness? Is an annulment needed if a spouse dies after a civil divorce? In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, we explore these and other challenging questions about Catholic teaching and Scripture. Discover the meaning behind Jesus’ command to “take up your cross,” learn how to recognize mortal sin before receiving Communion, and understand the Church’s view on praying for those who die by suicide. We also discuss key Church Fathers to reference in conversations with Calvinists and explore the importance of forgiveness in light of Matthew 5:21–26.

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Questions Covered:

07:05 – Where in Scripture can the doctrines of Mary’s perpetual virginity and sinlessness be found or supported?
20:26 – If a person’s spouse dies after a civil divorce, is an annulment still required for the surviving party?
22:24 – When Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me,” was this a known expression at the time, or only understood after the Crucifixion?
29:20 – Which Church Fathers are most effective to reference in discussions with Calvinists?
42:24 – Is it worthwhile to pray for someone who died by suicide?
47:11 – How can someone know they are free of mortal sin before receiving Holy Communion?
50:16 – What does the Catholic Church teach about the need to forgive as emphasized in Matthew 5:21–26?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Buying or selling your home, real estate for life can connect you with a pro-life real estate agent.
0:05.2	When Real Estate for Life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic Answers.
0:11.5	Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Hello and welcome to Catholic Answers live.
0:33.4	Happy Monday, everybody.
0:34.6	Hope your weekend was a good one, a blessed one.
0:38.9	Happy belated feast of Corpus Christi to all of you. I hope that your Mass was edifying and that you received the
0:45.6	body and blood of Christ, as we do at every Mass, but especially on the Feast of Corpus Christi. I hope
0:50.2	you all had a very blessed weekend. Today we have a very special guest, you know, regular guests, but special nonetheless.
0:58.6	He's always special when he's on the show.
0:59.9	It's our very own staff apologist, Joe Heschmeier, author of books such as Pope Peter,
1:05.0	such as the early church was the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is really Jesus,
1:09.2	and he's here to answer your questions
1:10.9	about the Catholic faith. It's an Ask Me Anything show. The number to call is 8883187-884,
1:17.0	884, triple-8-387-884. That's the number to call if you have any question about the Catholic
1:22.9	faith that you want to ask Joe Heschmer. As I mentioned, we just celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi. Maybe you want to ask him what that's about. Maybe we want to ask him, why do we have a whole feast on the
1:31.9	liturgical calendar blocked off for celebrating the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Dial in and
1:36.7	ask that question. Maybe you want to challenge him on that belief. As I said, he wrote a book all
1:40.5	about it. So call in if you want to ask him about that or anything else. He has books,
1:44.8	as I mentioned, about the papacy, about the early church, anything along those lines that you want to ask
1:49.7	8883187-884 is the number to call. I am not Cy Kellett. Congratulations to anyone who
1:57.5	figured that out already. My name is Thomas Graff. Normally, I run the social media here at Catholic Answers.
2:02.2	I'm filling in for Sai today and tomorrow because Cy Kellett is currently on vacation,
	...

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