THE PADRE PIO PRAYER GROUP OF CLEVELAND
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I am a former Catholic who left out of annoyance at all the layers and structures in the Church. Would the apostles recognize the simple and humble Church they had, compared to the pompous and ceremonial church of today?

8/21/2019

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Well, I am not so sure. It's kind of like asking if Orville and Wilbur Wright would recognize the simple wooden and cloth plane they flew, compared to the modern jetliner of today. To some extent they certainly would see the basic structure, but they would also marvel at all the magnificent developments that their simple idea has ushered in. 
 
It would not be reasonable to assume that they would wag their finger and insist we go back to planes made of cloth and wood and gasoline motors. It seems more reasonable that they would admire the developments that have ensued, all of which built on the basic ideas that they set forth. 
 
I think it would be similar with the Apostles. It is clear that doctrine has developed over the years, as has liturgy and other necessary structures in the Church. But these things developed from the structures that were already there from the beginning. The seed of truth has become the mature tree. The hierarchal structure, established by Christ himself, has expanded to meet the needs of a now worldwide Church. 
 
You are free to consider things you don't like as pompous, but others see such things as dignified and appropriate. God, and the things of God, are rightly to be honored with some degree of ceremony and respect. 
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An organization has been sending me what they term "relics" of a saint. It is a small square of cloth encapsulated on a small plaque of the saint. I do not wish to receive these items, sent to solicit money, but I am reluctant to throw them in the trash.

8/7/2019

Comments

 
It sounds as though you were describing the third-class relic. A first-class relic is some part of the body of a Saint, usually a fragment of a bone or perhaps a lock of hair. A second-class relic is some article owned by a canonized Saint, usually an article of clothing, or some other personal object associated with the Saint. A third-class relic is something, usually a cloth of some sort, which is merely touched to a first- or second- class relic. 
 
One may serenely dispose of third-class relics. Most piously and properly, this is done by burning or burying it. Merely pitching such things in the trash is probably to be avoided, though there is no absolute Church norm related to the disposal of third-class relics. 
 
The practice of mailing, or placing these third-class relics in the hands of the faithful may, at times seem annoying. But here too there are no absolute Church norms forbidding such a practice, or of mailing third-class relics. This is quite different from first-class relics, wherein significant church norms and laws are involved.
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    The Padre Pio Prayer Group of Cleveland is a community of people dedicated to the devotion and works of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.

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