Jon is alway short and to the point, I tend to just write on and on.

The confusion over Apocolypse does point out a common problem between divergent groups. We can use the same vocabulary but have widely different meanings for those same words.

An example would be a discussion group that I partiicpate in. I used to teach a series of Sacred Scipture Classes at an Anglican Seminary. They wanted me to round out the students understanding by presenting both the Catholic and Jewish understandings of the Scriptures, since I have both.

Some may know that there have been talks between the Worldwide Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church for several decades now. There are whole parishes and groups of Anglicans who after much discussion have become Catholic, some of the groups, (Anglican Use) have been allowed to preserve those aspects of their unique Anglican customs and ritual that do not conflict with Catholic customs.

Well getting to the point of vocabulary, I used a term on this discussion board that some of the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox clergy understood in context, but many did not. The discussion was about how many of the Anglicans on the list would remain Anglican, how many were considering becoming Catholic or Orthodox. I mentioned that some of my former students who are now Anglican and Episcopalian priests have said publicly that they wish to become Roman Catholics but hold an occult stance that they will not accept either the Immaculate Conception or the Universal Jurisdiction of the Pope. A few on the discussion list thought I was calling these Anglican priests “Devil Worshipers” because they were unaware of the older use of the word occult.

The word occult means hidden, only recently has it come to have anything to do with Satanism, or the Devil. When used to mean the latter, it is usually capitalized, and used in context. However the manner I used the word was clear to many that I was referring to the fact that these men were saying one thing in public but secretly (in an occult or hidden manner) they did not accept everything that they would have to if they did become Catholics, with their goal of being ordained as Catholic priests for the Anglican Use.

the term occult is also used in medicine, there are tests that look for “occult blood” an example would be when urine is examined for infections of the kindneys or the bladder, a lab will look for white or red blood cells that you cannot see with the naked eye. When found by a chemical reaction or under the microscope, it can be a sign of kidney stones, cancer or an infection, and lets the doctor know that there is a problem that needs to be looked into. In the science of Moral Theology, the term occult (small o) is used to describe a hidden sin, however it does not imply Satan worship, simply something that someone has hidden.

So it does point out that when Catholics and non-Catholics hold a discussion it is best to understand how the other is using vocabulary. There are many more differences in how people interpret words, some Anti-Catholic writers use this to their advantage, and mislead readers into making the Catholic Church seem to teach things it does not.