On the feast of All Saints, a parish priest in Ireland offered a profound and truthful homily that was difficult for his congregation to hear — one in which he discussed the need for the faithful to avoid sin and remind their
A reader asks: “Are the living who undertake the requirements of a plenary indulgence, and gain the plenary remission of temporal punishment, rare? If so, it would seem as if Holy Mother Church is saying, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news
In this week’s Opening the Word, Father Joshua Whitfield looks at readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time in which Christ teaches the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. “In these famous parables,” Father Whitfield
In his usual tongue-in-cheek style, Bill Dodds explores our tendency to not fully take full responsibility for our sins. From Adam and Eve to … whomever … there is always someone else to blame. But Dodds gives readers three suggestions on how
OSV publisher Scott Richert shares in his latest column how gazing at a crucifix while praying the Our Father gave him a new perspective on the Lord’s Prayer: “By following the will of the Father, (Jesus) ended up on the cross. The
A reader asks: “In John 8:51, Jesus tells the Jews: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ Does this mean that non-believers will still go to heaven even though they still do not believe that
Writer Bill Dodds explores how our imaginations play a crucial role in our saintliness … or sinfulness. He writes: “Pipedreams. Daydreams. Mindful, mindless mental meandering. All in our head. Sometimes, far from what our imagination was created for. For example, there’s this
What does it mean to be pastoral? Dr. Greg Popcak suggests that this Lent, in order to become healed from the disease of sin, each of us must call on the Divine Physician. He writes: “We can’t cure ourselves of the tendency
A reader asks, “Why is it that many Catholics single out a raft of sexuality-related or so-called sanctity of life violations as being the only ones that disqualify one from receiving holy Communion?” In his latest column, Monsignor Charles Pope explains that
Monsignor Charles Pope addresses the moral culpability of getting vaccines that are made from aborted fetal cells. He explains that while we are never free to directly cooperate in evil, we do however, often find that we are linked to certain evils