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Q: Does the church frown upon interracial marriages?
A: Marriage is allowed between any eligible man and any eligible woman-race is not an obstacle as all races are equal in the eyes of God. The Catechism states:
Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: All therefore enjoy an equal dignity. (CCC 1934)
Q&A from Catholic Answers, "Quick 5" (San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2001)
Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: All therefore enjoy an equal dignity. (CCC 1934)
Q&A from Catholic Answers, "Quick 5" (San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2001)
Q: What is World Youth Day?
A: World Youth Day is an awesome week-long youth-oriented Catholic Church event which is being celebrated at a different country every 2-3 years. Youth and young adults all over the world would gather together at one city to encounter with Pope to celebrate their Catholic faith. World Youth Day was initiated by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1985. The most recent one was held at Madrid, Spain in 2011. Check out this page for more info about the WYD at Madrid.
Q: Before we start reading a verse from the bible, we say "A reading from the book of the prophet Jonah" or "A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians". Is there a list of the proper introductions because some are not obvious?
A: The first and second readings are always announced as "A reading from the...". If it's an Old Testament Scripture than we use "book" instead of "letter" which we would use for a New Testament reading. The Old Testament is divided into four major parts: Pentateuch, Historical Books, Wisdom Books and Prophetic Books. If the reading is from the first three groups then we would just say "A reading from the book of (name of the book of the Bible)." However if the reading is from the prophetic books then we would add the title "prophet" in front of the name of the book "A reading from the book of the prophet Jonah. With the New Testament readings you have to know the name of the writer of the specific epistle (letter) of the reading. In the case of Ephesians the author is Paul and we would say "A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians" but when there are more than one letter written to the same community (i.e. Corinthians, Thessalonians) we would add the number of the letter and say "A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians" If the name of the New Testament reading is not a community but the name of the author then we would say the name of the author "A reading from the first letter of St. John" I know it sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it you'll see that it's not so bad.
Q: If we die in mortal sin, are we guaranteed Hell?
A: Provided that the sin was subjective, meaning the person committing the sin had knowledge of it and had done it freely then the person would be separated from God for all eternity and be in Hell.
Q: Is it possible for a protestant to go straight to Heaven?
A: It's possible for a protestant to go to Heaven, for all things are possible with God. It's possible even for non-Christians to go Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that "those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.". Now if it will be straight to Heaven or with a pit-stop in Purgatory is hard to say.