Question Corner: When can Catholics sing the Advent hymn ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel?’ December 10, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Advent, Commentary, Question Corner The church does not have any explicit rule about when the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” can be sung. In principle, it’s perfectly allowed to sing this throughout Advent. However, I think I can guess why your choir director wants to hold off on using this hymn until later in the season.
Question Corner: Do Catholics give things up for Advent? December 3, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Advent, Commentary, Question Corner Catholics aren’t required to “give anything up” for Advent. And even while the practice of taking on an additional, personal Lenten penance is a well-established and praiseworthy custom, Catholics technically aren’t required to do anything extra for Lent beyond the usual fasting and abstinence from meat (see Canon 1251 of the Code of Canon Law).
Question Corner: Is it a sin if someone calls Mary ‘co-redemptrix?’ November 26, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marian Devotion, Question Corner A Catholic who stubbornly refused to accept the church’s teaching in “Mater Populi Fidelis” and continued to refer to Mary as “co-redemptrix” out of a willful disregard for the pope’s authority likely would be sinning.
Question Corner: Why does the church still have indulgences? November 19, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Those of us still on earth can actively strive for a deeper sense of conversion and detachment from sin, but the souls in purgatory can no longer help themselves in this way and are dependent on our prayers and penances.
Question Corner: How many vocations are there? November 6, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Vocations It’s important to keep in mind that the concept of “vocation” is ultimately not about sorting ourselves or others into boxes, but rather is about discerning and embracing God’s will for us in our own unique life situation — whether or not that fits tidily into one of the above-mentioned categories.
Question Corner: What do we mean when we talk about reducing specific amounts of time in purgatory? October 29, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Purgatory is indeed a state that exists apart from the linear time we experience in our lives on earth, and therefore we cannot truly speak about how long a soul spends in purgatory according to a literal measure of days, months or years.
Question Corner: Is there any way to know how long a person might be in purgatory? October 22, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Saints Generally, there is no clear way to know whether or not someone is still in purgatory.
Question Corner: In families involved in occult practices, does baptism free their infants from such things? October 15, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Besides the rite of major exorcism, the church also has several “minor exorcisms” in her treasury of prayers. A minor exorcism is a prayer for protection against and deliverance from evil spirits which can be prayed by any priest in scenarios other than demonic possession.
Question Corner: Does a married Catholic need their bishop’s permission to separate from their spouse? October 9, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner A person who willingly abandons their spouse for sinful reasons is probably not a Catholic who takes the faith seriously enough to be swayed by their pastor’s admonishments or to be concerned about the sacramental consequences of their actions.
Question Corner: Why won’t the church grant me an annulment after my husband had an affair? October 1, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The goal of the church’s nullity process is to determine whether there was some problem or issue at the time of the wedding that was serious enough and of such a nature so as to prevent a true marriage from ever being contracted in the first place.
Question Corner: Can parishes lock doors after a school Mass begins for safety? September 24, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Gun Violence, Question Corner A church building is a sacred space that is open to the public by its very nature. The faithful fundamentally have a right to join in the prayer conducted in a church building since it is, in a sense, their spiritual home.
Question Corner: Would a couple who had excellent marriage prep have a harder time getting an annulment? September 17, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marriage & Family Life, Question Corner It is possible that excellent marriage preparation could “work against” a couple seeking a declaration of nullity in some circumstances. But most of the time, it probably would not.
