Can suffering or illness in our family be a punishment from God for our sins? In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Catholic Answers apologists address this difficult and deeply personal question before exploring a wide range of theological and pastoral topics. The discussion covers whether Catholics may hold the Genesis Gap Theory, how the Church can better evangelize people with disabilities, and why Catholic teaching on the death penalty has developed over time. Additional questions examine the extraordinary endurance of St. Paul, the purpose of offering prayer intentions with the Rosary, why Catholicism claims to be more than just another denomination, and why sacramental confession is necessary before receiving Holy Communion in certain situations. A thoughtful conversation on suffering, grace, Church authority, and the sacraments.

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Questions Covered:

•  01:12 – Is it possible that God punishes my continuous sin through my son’s disease?  
•  04:19 – Can a Catholic hold to the Genesis Gap Theory? Or is it heretical?  
• 12:41 – How can the Church evangelize to those with disabilities? What are good resources that can help me get started?  
•  19:28 – Can we in good conscience support the death penalty? I can’t seem to understand why the church changed this. In theory can’t the church’s teaching on this revert?  
•  28:37 – Is there a miraculous quality to St. Paul recovering from the stoning at Lystra or from all of the other beatings he suffered? It seems any number of the rods, stonings, etc. could have disabled him and made his long-distance travel impossible.  
•  32:49 – How does setting a prayer intention before praying a rosary differ from just praying for that intention directly without praying a rosary, does it have something to do with the merit involved with praying a rosary? Thank you!  
•  36:40 – Why can’t Catholicism be just another denomination among the denominations? I think Protestants see Catholicism as a Christian denomination, thus no need to make the move if they are already happy where they are.  
• 43:02 – If priests have the sacramental power to ordain, why has this actually happened so rarely in Church history?  
•  46:50 – Why is it mandatory to go to a priest for confession before one can go for Holy Communion. Why isn’t going to God directly sufficient for this?  If someone sits on his seat because he hasn’t gone for confession, everyone would see that he hasn’t gone to confession, it would elicit some kind of shame on this person.