Question Corner: Should girls be altar servers? January 21, 2026By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Some might point out the pastoral benefits of an all-boys altar server team in promoting priestly vocations, while others might appreciate how allowing female altar servers emphasizes our common baptismal priesthood.
Question Corner: Is confession required for obtaining a plenary indulgence if there is no mortal sin? January 14, 2026By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner It’s useful to observe that the Church presumes that one seeking an indulgence will already be in a state of grace, meaning free from unconfessed mortal sin.
Question Corner: Why is Mary’s perpetual virginity so important to Catholics? January 7, 2026By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marian Devotion, Question Corner Beyond the Gospel accounts, Mary’s perpetual virginity is something that has been continuously affirmed though our sacred tradition.
Question Corner: Why is New Year’s Day a holy day of obligation? December 31, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marian Devotion, Question Corner Jan. 1 is not a holy day of obligation because of the civil new year, but because it is the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.
Question Corner: What does the term ‘protomartyr’ mean? December 29, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Saints The martyrs always bear witness to the truth in the most convincing way of all, by dying for what they believed and staking their life on the reality of heaven.
Question Corner: Will the Catholic Church have women deacons? December 17, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner While we should not expect to see women literally ordained alongside male diaconate candidates, the question of deaconesses in general is a complex and multifaceted one with many positive implications.
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.
