Question Corner: Are fairies and leprechauns demonic? And what happened to Barabbas? September 18, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The church does not have any current official teaching on fairies or leprechauns. However, in traditional folklore, fairies and leprechauns were not the sweet and playful creatures that they tend to be in our modern depictions, and they have an association with pre-Christian European paganism.
Question Corner: Is the annulment process just a way to get around the church’s prohibition on divorce? September 11, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marriage & Family Life, Question Corner In order to ensure that declarations of nullity are not simply “rubber stamped” or “cop outs,” the church has a specific process, carried out through the ministry of diocesan marriage tribunals, for investigating whether or not a marriage was invalid.
Question Corner: Who can wear a clerical collar and is it sinful to eliminate animal pests? September 4, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Some seminaries attach the wearing of clerical clothes to a specific stage of formation called “candidacy,” but candidacy can also occur at different times in different places.
Question Corner: Should general absolution be a more regular practice? August 28, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Worship & Sacraments If a parish is able to have at least a weekly Sunday Mass, then there would likewise seem to be enough of a priestly presence in that area to allow penitents to have their individual confessions heard within a reasonable time frame.
Question Corner: Is spiritual communion the same as sacramental Communion? August 21, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Worship & Sacraments While a spiritual communion might be a praiseworthy aid to one’s spiritual life, it is not the same thing as a physical, sacramental Communion.
Question Corner: What is the church’s position on cremation? August 19, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.
Question Corner: What are the steps to receive Communion after divorce and remarriage? August 7, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Eucharist, Question Corner This can be a hard truth, but it is good to understand that this inability to receive Communion is part of a consistent theological rationale, as opposed to being something arbitrary.
Question Corner: What level of involvement in abortion carries the canonical penalty of excommunication? July 31, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Respect Life Looking at the crime of abortion specifically, one meaningful phrase in the relevant canon is that the penalty applies to those “who actually procure an abortion.” We can read “actually procure” as meaning: “directly and intentionally bringing about an abortion in a specific instance.”
Question Corner: Is a parish required to provide a screen and kneeler in the confessional? July 17, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Worship & Sacraments While the church expects confessions to be heard in a designated confessional under ordinary circumstances, there are times when it would be permissible to celebrate the sacrament someplace else.
Question Corner: Why would Jesus curse a fig tree that was out of season for not producing fruit? July 10, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner I don’t think it would be wrong to see this episode as one more illustration of Jesus’ humanity — i.e., Jesus was hungry and then disappointed at the lack of figs.
Question Corner: What does ‘Ordinary Time’ mean in the church’s calendar? July 3, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The first few weeks of Ordinary Time occur during the winter, until it is interrupted by Lent and the Easter season. After the Easter season closes with Pentecost, Ordinary Time resumes and carries on through late spring until early winter with the beginning of Advent.
Question Corner: Why does the Catholic Church oppose contraception? June 20, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The church teaches that deliberately and purposefully seeking to separate the procreative and unitive aspects of the marital act is intrinsically wrong.
