Spirituality
Confession is time to encounter God, it’s not a dry cleaners, pope says
While people must be honest and specific about their sins when they go to confession, they will miss the sacrament's key grace if they are "completely mechanical" about listing their sins, Pope Francis said.
A call to bury the 40-minute eulogy
If a long-winded eulogy overshadows the funeral liturgy itself, it's out of step with the message of the Mass -- the resurrection won by Christ, writes Father Ken Doyle.
Maturing in faith means not just asking God for favors, pope says
The journey of faith always begins a little selfishly, seeking from God healing or help with a problem, but Christian maturity is allowing oneself to be purified and to arrive at the point of recognizing Jesus as savior, Pope Francis said.
Finding the God of mercy through prayer
Effie Caldarola knew God loved her -- theoretically. A retreat on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius 20 years ago helped her to really believe God loved her. She is still working on it.
If husband is ‘born again,’ does he need to fix the house?
Father Ken Doyle answers a reader's question about the "rapture." He also clears up confusion regarding holy days of obligation falling on a Monday.
If your heart isn’t open to God, yoga won’t help, pope says
Courses in yoga, Zen meditation, even extensive studies in church teaching and spirituality can never free people enough to open their hearts to God and his love, Pope Francis said in a morning homily Jan 9.
Cheers in church? It’s not always wrong
The issue of applause during Mass reveals the Catholic Church's diversity, writes Father Ken Doyle, who also addresses annulments of non-Catholic marriages.
Only by loving, serving others can people come to know God, pope says
Only people who love, and love in concrete ways -- not just with words -- can know God because God is love, Pope Francis said.
Pray and make peace through small daily efforts, pope says
Peace is not just an absence of war, Pope Francis said, but the condition of a person who is in harmony with him- or herself, with nature and with others. "You don't get along with that person? Make peace. In your home? Make peace. In the community? Make peace. At work? Make peace."
The pope said what? It could be a Facebook mash-up
Father Ken Doyle finds the source of a reader's confusion: Words from two speeches by Pope Francis, pulled together into one unlikely statement on social media.