In the wake of Pope Benedict’s announcement that he is resigning from the papacy, I thought I would speak with the historian Dr. Andrew Jones about the history of papal resignations. While it hasn’t happened often in history, there have been popes who have resigned before, and their resignations (technically, their renunciations of the papacy) [...]
Canon Law
Like other liturgical seasons, Lent has its own special rules, and there are certain things that should not be done in Lent. Here are 6 of them . . . 1. Instrumental music with no singing In some parishes, instrumental music is used at certain points during Mass. A passage will be played on an [...]
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Recently I wrote about 9 things you need to know about Lent. It covered the basics of the rules of fast and abstinence in Lent, but it didn’t cover every possible application of them. Then, by email, I received this query, which deals with an application I hadn’t considered before: Is fasting and abstinence practised [...]
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Advent begins this Sunday. Most of us have an intuitive understanding of Advent, based on experience, but what do the Church’s official documents actually say about Advent? Here are some of the basic questions and (official!) answers about Advent. Some of the answers are surprising! Here we go . . . 1. What Is the [...]
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Sometimes atheists claim that God endorses rape because Deuteronomy says it’s okay to force women you’ve captured in wartime to marry you. Is that true? Let’s look at the issue . . . Captive Brides (NOTE: This post is part of a series on the “dark passages” of the Bible. Click here to see [...]
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You sometimes hear about people being asked to delay receiving the sacraments because they are not performed at certain times of year–like Advent or Lent or Holy Week or Good Friday or other days. There are a few restrictions on the times when sacraments can be celebrated, but not as many as people think. Recently [...]
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You sometimes encounter the charge that the Catholic Church wrongly “changed the sabbath” from Saturday to Sunday. This claim is often made by Seventh-Day Adventists, for example. But even if one isn’t accusing the Church of wrongdoing, the question can still arise: Why do Catholics worship on Sunday rather than Saturday? Here’s the story . [...]
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That’s certainly the impression you would get from some discussing a recent decree issued by the German bishops’ conference. It’s being characterized as a “pay to pray” policy, whereby the Church will deny you the sacraments if you don’t give it money. One news source headlined the story “German Bishops To Catholics: Pay Up Or [...]
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A reader writes: I am caught in the odd–maybe not uncommon–situation of my Catholic godson getting married in the Church to a non-Catholic, yet, based on reasonable presumption, not living a Catholic life, not attending Mass, not having anything to with the Church practically, etc. and presumably having no intention of doing so in the [...]
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The question of whether women need to wear head coverings (mantillas, chapel veils, etc.) at Mass keeps coming up. With the greater freedom to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the liturgy, it poses the question anew, since prior to the current rite of Mass head coverings were required for women. If a woman is going [...]
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