Spirituality
Closing Marian month, pope says Mary is always ready to help
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Standing before a replica of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes from France, Pope Francis told Vatican employees and other guests that Mary is a mother who never makes her children wait for a response to their prayers.
Jesus in heaven still holds our hand, shows us the way, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Although Christ ascended into heaven, he remains present in a new form through the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit in order to accompany and guide people in their daily lives, Pope Francis said.
Legionaries of Christ are not disbanded, but healing
A reader thinks the order of priests founded by an abusive priest had been dissolved, but Father Ken Doyle gives the background and current status of the order. Also, he responds to a perpetual question about Mary's perpetual virginity.
Catholic ex-husband’s remarriage more than bad form
A woman wonders whether her ex received an annulment, and what that means for her. Father Ken Doyle cuts through the canonical question, and fields another on whether a loved one anointed before death might be in purgatory.
Did that baptism 17 years ago really count?
A father wonders about his daughter's long-ago baptism but he should ask himself, "What does God think?", suggests Father Ken Doyle, who suggests the girl likely was validly baptized. Also, the priest dips into the issue of Communion by intinction.
God makes no one struggle with life’s challenges alone, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God is always by our side, never giving us more than we can handle, Pope Francis said.
Seeing, through art and nature, as a way of praying
Columnist Michelle Francl-Donnay reflects on St. John XXIII through the eyes of a local artist, and sees anew all that the hand of the Lord has made.
Jesus makes the church holy, transforms sinners into saints, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While it is true that the church is made up of sinners, it is also true that Christ has made the church holy and he can make sinners holy, too, Pope Francis said.
Why aren’t there as many healings today as of old?
Miraculous healings by God do still occur, writes columnist Father Ken Doyle. But there are also the graced moments that people experience, no less miraculous than a healing that does not occur.
Fight the blues with the Eucharist and Gospel, Pope Francis says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Receive Communion every Sunday and read the Gospel every day to keep discouragement and the blues away, Pope Francis said.