Questions Covered:

01:24 – I understand the Catholic Church bans membership in secret societies for many reasons, especially since historically since groups like the Freemasons were seen as anti-clerical. I was wondering how secret does a secret society need to be, I recall when I was inducted into the honor society Phi Beta Kappa, it was brought up there were secret rituals, but done away with during the anti-Masonic movement in the nineteenth century. So would it have been illicit for a catholic to be in something like this when the secrecy was in place. From my understanding lots of fraternity’s had histories like this, the only one to my knowledge that keeps the secrecy is Yale’s Skull and Bones- would that also be banned from the catholic point of view? 

07:20 – My friends have asked me to pray with phrases like “I bind Satan… in the name of Jesus, I bind all demons… for the sake of the Blood of Christ I bind … I cast out…” I am uncomfortable with the idea of invoking any power to bind or otherwise command evil spirits to do anything. The idea of addressing evil spirits is alien, repugnant, and even sounds occultic to me. However, some priests on the Internet pray in this way, and recommend that their viewers do likewise. Prayers are (or should be) addressed to God, and for the intercession of angels and saints before God in heaven. Among the things we can pray for our conversion and the conversion of sinners. When I mention this, I’m accused of neglecting the urgent need for spiritual warfare. Is there a charitable way to tell my friends that confronting demons in this way is highly not recommended? If I must be marginalized by the prayer groups that insist on these formulas, I’m ready for that. 

18:35 – I’m a budding Revolutionary War Reenactor in the Ohio Valley. The frontier of the US in that time frame. We’re Catholics even here during that time period? How would they fulfill their yearly confession and mass attendance obligation? I’ve always wanted to portray a Catholic, but I’m struggling to find any info. My husband prefers Civil War, so I also have kind of the same question about the same thing. What would a Catholic portrayal of a Civil War Catholic look like? Any resources for how to find actual people to base my portrayal on to honor the real Catholics that were here for those pivotal times in history? 

24:22 – My whole family loves Mysterious World. My son has a weird question. My son wants to know if it’s moral to kill vampire human hybrids. This question is inspired by the second Blade movie when the character Abraham kills all the hybrid fetuses. Assuming the theory of human evolution as popularly understood is correct, are we to assume that the human soul evolved alongside the growing capabilities of the human mind/body: ie. from vegetative, to sensitive, to rational? If so, at what point in human evolution would the jump have been made to each stage? And what would be the status of the souls of early proto-humans who died before people achieved the capacity for higher souls? In a related question, where do archaic human subspecies fit into this? Can we make any guesses on whether they had rational souls, and if so, can we expect to see Neanderthals and Denisovans in the hereafter? 

50:23 – In the early 90’s there was a sci-fi show called Quantum Leap, about a man named Sam who travels through time by “leaping” into other people. In one episode, he leaps into a priest right when he’s supposed to say “you may kiss the bride.” Later he tries to hear a confession, but gets interrupted. My question is, if Sam (who’s not ordained) actually carried out these sacraments while leaped into the priest, would they be valid and/or licit?

…