Question Corner: Leaving early and the paschal candle January 30, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner The final blessing is the official conclusion of the Mass, so — in that sense — once the final blessing is said, Mass is over and you may leave without technically missing any of the Mass.
Question Corner: Burning or burying sacramentals? And why use holy water? January 25, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner If you have sacramental objects which you no longer need but which are still in relatively good shape, the best and easiest thing to do is pass them along to someone else who could use them.
Question Corner: On Limbo and on silent prayer January 16, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Guest Commentary, Question Corner Limbo is not included in our Creeds and is never mentioned in our current Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Questions: Holy days of obligation, vegetarians in Lent January 9, 2023By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Guest Commentary, Question Corner It can be a beautiful practice to go to Mass on a feast that isn’t strictly obligatory simply to enter more deeply into the spirituality of our liturgical year.
Purgatory and the good thief/ Weddings during Lent March 15, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner It has been a clear and consistent belief of the church, “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”
Remain a Catholic?/ Holy Communion with Alzheimer’s disease? March 1, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner Would it be a mortal sin if I left the church? I believe in Jesus as my savior, and I look forward to receiving the Eucharist. Am I a hypocrite in staying?
Will Sister Ita Ford be a saint?/ Refusing Communion February 23, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner, Saints Sister Ita Ford was a Catholic Maryknoll Sister who grew up in Brooklyn. She served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador, working primarily with the poor.
Why is cremation OK now?/ Bowing to a priest February 9, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Cremation is now permitted for Catholics, so long as it is not chosen in denial of the Christian teaching on resurrection and the sacredness of the human body.
Duty of fraternal correction/ Why did Jesus say ‘tell no one’? January 25, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Is it not our duty to point out when a friend is committing a sin? Otherwise, if we don’t try to save the soul of a sinner, then we too can be found guilty.
Does Jesus free us from sin and death?/ Donating gambling winnings January 18, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, Question Corner We do sin, and we do die; but Jesus, by his own suffering and death, offers us the path to ultimate happiness.
Are silent prayers heard by God?/ Shouldn’t we ‘fast before a feast’? January 3, 2022By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner Q. I am an 88-year-old Korean War veteran with a question that is not earth-shattering but one that bothers me almost every day. I talk and pray to God, to Jesus and to the Blessed Virgin Mary out loud — every morning and at night before I go to bed. But there are also times when I pray silently — just in my head — especially if I wake up during the night. So what I need to know is whether those prayers — the silent ones — are heard.
Hosting unmarried couple/ Call no man ‘father’ December 17, 2021By Father Kenneth Doyle Catholic News Service Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner When grandchildren who have been living together for years without being married come to visit, do I put them in separate bedrooms? People laugh at me for this, but I have a real problem: Is living together no longer a sin? (Sorry — I can’t move on from my upbringing.) (City and state withheld)