You might not realise it, but our very own Fr John McDade is one of the most eminent theologians in the country. And he has agreed to answer any theological questions you might have and, what's more, to keep the reply short. Anyone familiar with the usual theological tendency to provide multi-volume answers to simple questions will regard this as little short of miraculous. So, to ask a question, please go to Fr John's entry in the 'Directory' and submit your query via email. He has a hundred word limit to his answers. Let's see if he can keep to it.

Question: where does the extra information about Mary that is not contained in the Gospels (such as that her mother was Anne and her father Joachim) come from?

Answer: the Protoevangelium of James and traditions of the Jerusalem Church (more to come).

Word count: 13.

Question: Why do we need sacraments?

Answer: For two reasons: Firstly, Because we are people of flesh and blood, material people for whom material things matter.  And our religion respects our need to express our relationship to God in ways that can be seen and heard: we do things – we use water, we use oil, we use bread and wine, we use gestures and blessings – in order to express our faith.  Our religion is not a private, internal matter in the privacy of our minds, but is social and communal and shared with others in ways that convey meaning and understanding.

Secondly, because Christianity is a religion of the Incarnation: the Word of God becomes flesh and makes known to us, visibly and humanly, the mystery of God.  And so the human and the created – the ordinary things of the creation – have the capacity to convey the divine.  A sacrament is an ordinary reality in the life of the Church that the Risen Christ uses to convey his love.

Word count: 163.