Spirituality

Banish worry and doubt, and totally trust in God

Take responsibility for your holiness, writes Father John Catoir. Train your mind to believe and to trust God. Don't live in the mental swamp of doubt and guilt.

Is the New Testament silent about homosexual acts?

Even as Father Ken Doyle replies to a reader with clear Scripture references on homosexuality, he points out the Church teaching for respect and sensitivity.

Does Scripture doom an illegitimate child?

A now adult child born out of wedlock cites a passage from the Old Testament leading to despair, but Father Ken Doyle points to the New Testament to show her value, and redemption.

For your summer reading, pick up the Good Book

Whatever is on your summer reading list, Michelle Francl-Donnay advises you to stir in at least one by the best-selling author, God.

Talking with God, not at him, means listening

Gina Christian tries to listen, but sometimes to avoid, the random conversations of a fellow parishioner. But the Psalms remind her of the wisdom of listening more than one speaks.

‘Lord they are not worthy;’ but as for me…

Father Ken Doyle advises a reader who thinks certain people should not receive Communion to focus on his or her own soul. He also tackles a question about music at a Catholic funeral.

Are parents’ sins visited on their children?

Not exactly, according to Father Ken Doyle in answer to a reader's question. But moral laxity might seep down through one's descendants.

Lessons in Scripture rise like life from the earth

Prepare the soil of your heart, former farm girl Effie Caldarola writes, but remember to give God, who mysteriously makes seeds sprout, control of your life.

Pope: If you let greed into your heart, all other vices will follow

"Wealth has the tendency to grow, to move around, to take a place in one's life and heart," and once it moves in, fanning the desire to always accumulate more, the heart becomes "corrupted," he said.

Son’s struggles breaking Mom’s heart

Father Ken Doyle suggests it is depression, not a "bad angel," to blame for the pain in one reader's family. Also, he addresses a question about how to treat former priests.