Q. Here in Columbus, the solemnity of Mary (Jan. 1) is a holy day of obligation. I have sisters, though, who live in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in Los Angeles, and Jan. 1 is not a holy day of obligation in either place. Why would it not be the same everywhere? It seems this is such a serious ma...
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All afternoon I had been hunkered over my MacBook, perched above a frozen lake and watching the sun cast pink into the clouds. I was thinking about what lie dormant and all the possibility below, waiting to thaw. My task at hand: editing a cover story about three Catholic families who had taken rad...
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WASHINGTON – The Catholic Church will hold its annual celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2.  This celebration is a special time for individual parishes and the greater Church to celebrate the beauty of the consecrated vocation, highlight its various forms, and refl...
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Q. Can Catholics morally give donations to the Shriners Hospitals? Their ads are very convincing, but aren't the Shriners Masons? (Surry, Virginia) A. All Shriners are Masons. (The reverse, though, is not true. Shriners International began in 1872 as a spinoff of Freemasonry, with philanthropy as o...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) –  Those who stand up for the dignity of life in all its stages and want to see this respect for all life enshrined once again in U.S. law have friends in the Pence family and the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence told the March for Life crowd on the Nation...
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Q. Would you please explain the apparent contradiction in the verse in Matthew's Gospel (1:25) that says, "He (Joseph) had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus"? The use of the word "until" would seem to indicate that conjugal relations may have occurred after the birt...
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Q. Recently someone close to me said that anyone who does not believe in (and follow) Jesus will not go to heaven. References were made to John 14:6 ("No one comes to the Father except through me") and Acts 4:12 ("There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven g...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) – Just in time for the 2019 March for Life, an annual poll of Americans' views on abortion shows that 75 percent want "substantial" restrictions on abortion access – even as more than half of respondents describe themselves as "pro-choice."      ...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In today's climate of mistrust, rejection and nationalism, the world urgently needs peacemakers and politicians who protect and lovingly serve others, Pope Francis said in his annual message for the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1.        &...
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Much like Advent, engagement is supposed to be a time of joyful anticipation and preparation. "Supposed to" is the operative phrase. Most of the time, being engaged feels like what Advent felt like growing up: a long wait for something amazing that seems like it never ends.     ...
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