Question Corner: Can Catholics married outside the church take Communion? January 31, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marriage & Family Life Canonical form is an important concept to understand and be aware of because if a Catholic does not marry according to canonical form — say, if a Catholic decided to get married by a justice of the peace — this marriage would be considered not only illicit, but also invalid.
Question Corner: Why do Orthodox churches have a valid celebration of the Eucharist? January 23, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary Catholics and Orthodox not only share belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, but also a shared understanding of the sacrament of holy orders and thus the nature of the priesthood.
Why so much incense at Mass, and isn’t devotion better than obedience? January 17, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The smoke that rises from the burning of incense has for millennia been understood by the Christian community as a symbol of the prayers of the faithful rising up to God.
Question Corner: Why does the Christmas season end with Jesus’ baptism? January 10, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Jesus’ baptism truly is a major “turning of the page” in Jesus’ life, since, after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist his quiet, hidden life became one of public ministry, wherein he actively sought to make his saving mission and identity known and proclaimed.
Question Corner: What is church teaching on Protestant Communion and the Real Presence? January 3, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The Catholic Church does not recognize any Protestant denomination as having the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Question Corner: How accurate are the Nativity scenes outside our churches? December 20, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The point of religious art and imagery is not so much to give us a perfect, historically accurate picture of events that occurred in the life of Jesus.
Question Corner: Is there a big source that explains everything Catholic? December 13, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The catechism is meant as a summary of core Catholic beliefs and is widely available both in print and online — and there are a few searchable web versions of the catechism that make it fairly simple to navigate.
Can one Mass satisfy my Sunday and Christmas obligation in 2023? December 6, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Christmas, Commentary, Question Corner You cannot “double dip” by attending a Christmas eve Mass that happens to be on Sunday and have this one Mass fulfill two obligations.
Question Corner: Baptismal records, earthly sufferings and Purgatory November 29, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The diocesan chancery office would have access to maps of parish territorial boundaries, and would also be familiar with any “quirks” of local sacramental record-keeping.
Question Corner: What are the rules for Catholics and Christmas trees? November 21, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Advent, Christmas, Commentary, Question Corner There are no strict right or wrong answers as to when a Catholic should put up or take down a Christmas tree.
Question Corner: Why can’t the church use disposable plastic cups at Mass? November 15, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Because we believe that Jesus is physically, bodily present in the “sacred species” (our term for the bread and wine which have been turned into the body and blood of Christ), we have several laws and customs pertaining to the Eucharist that ensure a sufficient degree of protection and reverence for Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
Question Corner: Are demonic possessions just mental illness? October 31, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner most dioceses in United States have protocols which require an individual to have medical and psychiatric evaluations, to rule out potential natural causes, before they can receive a major exorcism.
