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.

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.

You cannot “double dip” by attending a Christmas eve Mass that happens to be on Sunday and have this one Mass fulfill two obligations.

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.

There are no strict right or wrong answers as to when a Catholic should put up or take down a Christmas tree.

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.

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.

Even though St. Peter was the first pope, his status as the “first among equals” among the apostles doesn’t automatically mean that writing was his personal strong suit.

We find a clear scriptural reference on the praiseworthyness of praying for the dead in the Old Testament’s second book of Maccabees.

St. Ignatius acknowledges the possibility that God might, in rare situations, make his will known in extraordinary ways, such as through locutions and visions.