Question Corner: Does a married person need their marriage blessed or ‘convalidated’ once they become Catholic? May 15, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner A person does not need to be Catholic or even Christian to have a valid marriage, provided that in their matrimonial consent they committed themselves to a union that would broadly match our Catholic understanding of marriage: namely, as a permanent, faithful, and exclusive union ordered fundamentally towards children and family life.
Question Corner: Without a pope, how do we fulfill the indulgence requirement of praying for the pope’s intentions? May 7, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The general understanding among canon lawyers is that indulgences can still be earned during an “interregnum period” — meaning, during the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of his successor — because there does not need to be a reigning pope in order for the faithful to pray for the pope’s intentions.
Question Corner: What are my Easter duties? April 30, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Easter, Question Corner In broad terms, “the Easter duty” usually refers to a fully initiated Catholic’s obligation to make a good sacramental confession and receive holy Communion every year around the time of Easter.
Question Corner: How do God’s will and the Holy Spirit play a role in a conclave? April 24, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The solitude and isolation of the conclave is meant to foster almost a retreat-like atmosphere, which should make it easier for cardinals to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Question Corner: Can my friend’s annulment case be sped up so she can enter the church at Easter? April 16, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner We should keep in mind that the church sees the process of Christian initiation as a spiritual journey, not as an academic year with a deadline for “graduation.”
Question Corner: Why do we need confession if Jesus’ death cleansed us from our sins? April 9, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Worship & Sacraments We know that God is totally loving and merciful, and is always ready to forgive. And this is why Jesus left the church with the sacrament of penance, to provide a means for reconciliation after post-baptismal sins.
Question Corner: Can I attend a non-Catholic wedding? April 2, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner If a Catholic attends a clearly invalid wedding in the normal festive spirit, they are celebrating something which is, at least objectively “on paper,” a falsehood.
Question Corner: Are there any saints who had a difficult relationship with the church? March 26, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Saints There have been many canonized saints who were treated very badly by church leaders of their day, through no fault of their own.
Question Corner: How does a vegan senior citizen handle Lenten fasting? March 20, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Lent, Question Corner While a vegan or vegetarian already fulfills the law of abstinence by just sticking to their usual meat-free eating habits, it might make sense for them to consider adopting an additional penance for Lent.
Question Corner: Does the church grant annulments in cases of marital infidelity? March 13, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner If a person truly cannot remain faithful despite their desire to do so, this means that they were incapable of marrying due to a fundamental incapacity to assume a core duty of the vocation of marriage.
Question Corner: What are the different kinds of sin? March 6, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Not all sins are equally terrible, and the dynamic of how we come to fall into sin can vary depending on the circumstances.
Question Corner: Why can’t non-Catholics receive Communion? February 26, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Eucharist, Question Corner Under ordinary circumstances, the church does not allow non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion. But this discipline is not meant to “keep people away from Jesus.”
