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Today’s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. Ask A Priest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just search the topics below for an answer to your question! You can ask about anything – liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events. Our goal is to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question.
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“Ask a Priest: Can’t Confessions Be Speeded Up?”
Q: How should I manage my expectations in the confessional line? I have been turned away from confession on several occasions due to time restraints. In each case, the priest had spent an extended time (5 to 10-plus minutes) with particular penitents. I understand that each unique case requires certain attention. But as a busy mom it’s hard for me to find time to go and frustrating to be turned away after investing a half-hour or more. It makes me feel as though my sins are just not as important as the people in front of me. I understand a ...
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“Ask a Priest: How can I defend the Church’s teaching on mortal sin?”
Q: I am having trouble defending the Church’s teaching on mortal sin — specifically the idea that one can fall from grace through one act of disobedience. I am not having trouble defending this logically, but it just seems to many people to be a little rigid and mechanical, as ...
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“Ask a Priest: How Does the Church Want a Body Treated After Death?”
Q: My husband participated in a memorial for a fellow Knight of Columbus who recently died. The service took place at the nursing home; the Knights prayed the usual rosary. My husband said the member’s body was not present, since it was donated to a university medical school. To us, ...
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“Ask a Priest: Was Joseph Much Older Than Mary?”
Q: Some friends and I are having a discussion about this. It would appear that St. Joseph was much older than Mary when they married. Was he widowed with children? -J.M. Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC A: There is not much definitive teaching about the life of St. Joseph. ...
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“Ask a Priest: Is it harmful to have a voodoo doll?”
Q: My mother recently came back from New Orleans and brought me a voodoo doll for success and happiness. I decided to make a little altar for it and write down my hopes and wishes on it, which were not at all harmful or vain — things like: I want ...
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“Ask a Priest: We were born imperfect… How can I help others understand this?”
Q: I am engaged in graduate-level biblical study, but for personal reasons, I still pursue courses that might fall into the personal growth, self-help or New Age categories. I like to keep in touch with that world since this is what many people my age turn to instead of religion, ...
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“Ask a Priest: When does a person receive the anointing of the sick?”
Q: My dad is ill with cancer. My aunt wants his last rites done. I said it isn’t time yet since he doesn’t even know he has cancer. He is coherent, it hasn’t hit his brain, so we have time. Had she suggested anointing of the sick, I would have ...
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“Ask a Priest: Is our personal participation in debt considered immoral and sinful?”
Q: Pope Francis has called debt immoral. It is easy to see that we are to care for the poor — the others — and not be guided by the “me” consumerism of our day. My question: Is our personal participation in debt (i.e., borrowing money, credit cards, etc.) considered ...
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“Ask a Priest: Why are there not more miracles today as in the Early Church?”
Q: Scripture records how commonplace it was for miraculous healings to take place throughout the apostles’ ministries … even when the shadow of an apostle’s cloak passed over someone. Why is it only very rare to hear of physical healings in the Church today? Why has God greatly limited the ...
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