Name:   MAJ USA RET - Subject:   Foolish dismissal of the Catholic Church Date:   12/18/2013 8:28:06 AM

Let us not forget… during the Medieval Period (Middle Ages), sometimes referred to as the “Dark Ages” (~ 476 to the 14^th Century Renaissance), only a very few people could read and write. Most kings could not. Everyone of any significant importance had a scribe who to do the reading and writing. The Visigoths had terminated the Roman Empire and its control (organization) of Europe.

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It was a time of unrecorded chaos… warfare between fiefdoms and cultures… sacking, plundering, and rape, and slavery… depopulating unfettered diseases… and very poor recordkeeping. The printing press had not been invented.

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During this time, the Catholic clergy, monks, and nuns kept alive the dim candle of Christianity. They accomplished this by transcribing and distributing the Bible… the word of God… and they did so in Latin.

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The term “catholic” means universal… for ALL people.  If you are Christian, you owe your faith to the Catholic Church as protected through the bleakness of the Dark Ages.  The morality and actions of the popes may be questionable. But, the simple monasteries operated in a culture of altruism to keep the faith… for you.