Miscellaneous Questions and Answers


by visitors to Domestic-Church.Com

We receive anywhere from 5 to 25 letters a week here at the family office of Domestic-Church.Com. Some are (much appreciated!) "Hi, I love your site!" letters, but most are questions. Tough questions, too, usually. I have recruited a number of willing, knowledgeable volunteers to answer the questions that I can't. If there is anything here, or in the other Question and Answer sections of this issue, that you would like to comment on, answer for us, or argue with, please feel free to write and let us know.

St.Joseph Altars

I am interested in the Fancy Baking objects they put on display at the St. Joseph Altars. Do you have any info?

Thank you for your time. Audrey

Catherine Fournier answers:

Dear Audrey; My apologies for taking so long to answer your letter - I kept putting it off until I had more time to answer you properly. But I've put it off long enough.

The only information I have comes from 'Catholic Traditions in Cooking' by Ann Ball published by Our Sunday Visitor. It says:

"Some of the symbols often pictured on the Saint Joseph's altar are the monstrance, chalice, cross, dove, lamb, Bible, hearts, wreath, palms, lilies, sandlas, beard of St. Joseph, ladder and tools. A braided loaf symbolises the staff of St. Joseph, which according to legend bloomed with entwined blossoms to single him out from among all Mary's suitors as her spouse to be. Other traditional foods are also found on the altars. Mudica is a type of seasoned bread crumb for the pastas which represents the sawdust of Jospeh the carpenter. Pignollatti are fired pastries in the shape of pine cones. ...In addition to other fruits, there are generally grapes, olives and figs because these are groown abundantly in Sicily." Hope this helps!


Why Is There a Rooster On Top of Churches?

Hello, I am a web editor for a children's website in the Netherlands. This website is connected to a popular television program for kids. Kids can ask questions and they will be answered either on tv or on the website.

At the moment I am struggling with a certain question about catholic churches. Someone asked me the reason behind the rooster on top of the steeples of all catholic churches. These roosters also turn with the wind. I don't know if churches in the States also have these roosters, but I hope you know the answer anyways. I can't find it anywhere.

Thank you very much! Aafje van de Hulsbeek Web editor Willem Wever

Catherine Fournier answers:

Dear Aafje; Yes, I do know what the rooster symbolises.

The rooster is a symbol for the Apostle Peter, the first Pope. The symbol refers to the cock (rooster) crowing during the Passion narrative, the incident that causes Peter to realise his betrayal of Christ. Christ told Peter during the Last Supper that He would be denied three times before 'the cock crows', Peter denied that he would ever foresake His Lord, yet out of fear, he did.

So the symbol of the rooster stands as a reminder to all of us not to give in to our human fear, to remain faithful to Christ always.

Here in Canada, some churches have crosses on top, some have roosters - the roosters are more common in Quebec which still has a stronger French tradition.

I hope this answers your question. When you give the answer either on the web site or on the air, could you please tell people where you got the answer? and give them the URL to our website? I'd appreciate it.


Seven Sexes

Sometimes we get some very strange submissions....

SEVEN SEXES & THE ORIGIN OF MANKIND (www.sevensexes.org)
BEYOND 2000 PROPHECY, SPIRITUAL REVELATION & AMAZING EVIDENCE

The Editor Answers:

Dear ?;

Thank you for your letter to Domestic-Church.Com, we appreciate your interest.

But I have to admit, I have no idea why you sent an orthodox family-oriented Catholic website this message, or why you would ever imagine that we'd be interested. Seven sexes or not, the original two are the only ones who can conceive and raise a child.

The 'original two' are our audience, and the role of raising their children the focus of our website. It's enough to keep us quite busy. Thank you again,


A 'Typo' on Our Site

FYI - In the graphic on the Essays page for "The Only Gospel Some May See" the word "truth" is mispelled...

The Tech-Guy Answers:

Thanks for the feedback on on the misspelled graphic. We appreciate any help we can get from our readers on making the site better and more professional.

In this case however, the mispelling is not accidental. The graphic is taken from a Spanish site: http://cruzblanca.org/hermanoleon. The original in this case was misspelled to start with and we decided that the graphic was so good we'd go with as is.

We've changed the page now so that if you click the graphic the "Hermanoleon" clip art site is displayed in a new window. It's a really good source of Catholic clip art and their links page is top notch!I guess the occasional misspelling goes with being part of a Universal Church. Peace and blessings in abundance, Peter Fournier.

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