Question Corner: What is church’s teaching on transgender issues? October 23, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The church is against any “gender ideology” that would separate the concept of psychological gender from biological sex; or which would propose that one’s sex could be changed through medical or surgical means; or which would hold that one’s bodily sex could be somehow wrong or mistaken in light of one’s self-perception of one’s gender.
Question Corner: If most of us go to purgatory at death, are Catholics ‘saved?’ October 16, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Although purgatory is not exactly a “punishment” in the way we would tend to use the term today, traditionally purgatory has been understood to involve a degree of suffering.
Question Corner: What are ‘non-sacramental’ marriages? October 9, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner A valid marriage is essentially a marriage where the wedding “worked,” and produced a true bond. In contrast, an attempted marriage where one of these necessary elements was absent would be considered an “invalid” or “null” marriage.
Question Corner: Why did God send Lucifer down to earth? October 2, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner While the devil was cast out of God’s direct presence in heaven, this did not happen because God actively wanted Satan to have sway over his creatures.
Question Corner: Why do Catholics emphasize the body more than the blood of Jesus in Communion reception? September 25, 2024By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Eucharist, Question Corner It is the consistent traditional practice in Eastern Catholic churches to administer Communion under both kinds as a matter of course.
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.
