‘Question Corner’: What are miracles, and why do we need them? March 1, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Calling something like an unlikely sports comeback a “miracle” is using quite a bit of poetic license, since there is a readily discernible natural explanation for the victory (namely, the skill of the athletes, which the athletes acquired through their own human efforts).
Question Corner: Can laypeople ever absolve sins? Chanting in ‘Novus Ordo’ February 22, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Even in an emergency, non-ordained laypeople are not able to confer absolution; nor can Catholic deacons, even though they are ordained.
Question Corner: Infant communion and wandering minds February 15, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The difference in customs regarding the Christian initiation of infants amounts to a difference in emphasis between the broad liturgical traditions of Christian East and West.
Question Corner: Must I believe in and follow apparitions? February 7, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner No Catholic is obligated to follow any of the devotional “rules” accompanying a particular private revelation or to take on any of the prayers urged by the seers of an apparition.
Question Corner: Leaving early and the paschal candle January 30, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner The final blessing is the official conclusion of the Mass, so — in that sense — once the final blessing is said, Mass is over and you may leave without technically missing any of the Mass.
Question Corner: Burning or burying sacramentals? And why use holy water? January 25, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner If you have sacramental objects which you no longer need but which are still in relatively good shape, the best and easiest thing to do is pass them along to someone else who could use them.
Question Corner: On Limbo and on silent prayer January 16, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Guest Commentary, Question Corner Limbo is not included in our Creeds and is never mentioned in our current Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Questions: Holy days of obligation, vegetarians in Lent January 9, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Guest Commentary, Question Corner It can be a beautiful practice to go to Mass on a feast that isn’t strictly obligatory simply to enter more deeply into the spirituality of our liturgical year.
Purgatory and the good thief/ Weddings during Lent March 15, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner It has been a clear and consistent belief of the church, “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”
Remain a Catholic?/ Holy Communion with Alzheimer’s disease? March 1, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner Would it be a mortal sin if I left the church? I believe in Jesus as my savior, and I look forward to receiving the Eucharist. Am I a hypocrite in staying?
Will Sister Ita Ford be a saint?/ Refusing Communion February 23, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Saints Sister Ita Ford was a Catholic Maryknoll Sister who grew up in Brooklyn. She served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador, working primarily with the poor.
Why is cremation OK now?/ Bowing to a priest February 9, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Cremation is now permitted for Catholics, so long as it is not chosen in denial of the Christian teaching on resurrection and the sacredness of the human body.
