INTRODUCTION
class, no one could identify all ten of the Commandments. The best they
could do was six. I believe that in order to grow in faith and love and joy,
Many people view Catholicism (the Catholic faith, the Catholic Church)
as being nothing more than a bunch of rules – and arbitrary rules, at that
– designed to make sure that no one has any fun in life. Don’t do this,
don’t do that, you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Oh, and you’ll go to
in a faith like that?
This is such a skewed point of view. Heck, if I saw a church in that
light, I wouldn’t want any part of it, either. Where’s the joy? Where’s the
freedom? To be sure, I’ve met more than a few Catholics who seem to
have no joy in their lives. There are countless people of all religions, and
no religion at all, who lack joy. They are held in bondage, often because
they are so bound to the letter of the law that they forget about the spirit
of the law.
In Romans 8:21, St. Paul talks about “the glorious freedom of the children
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of God.” What is this freedom? And how does one attain it? For
me, the answer is simple: the Holy Spirit. Life in the Spirit. Christ has
purchased our freedom through His death and resurrection and has sent
us the Spirit to help us experience the abundant life.
Don’t get me wrong; rules are important, absolutely vital. Without rules
there is chaos. But how can we move beyond looking at rules as a list of
“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to
do what we ought.” Homily of October 8, 1995 in Baltimore
This book is to help you understand the basics of the faith. Before I go
further, let me give you a bit of history. A Minute in the Church started
over twenty years ago as I began to write radio spots on Catholic apologetics.
Originally they were 2 ½-3 minutes long. Then my boss told me
I had to cut them down to sixty seconds. Thus was born A Minute in the
Church.