Q. I have two daughters with two children each. Sadly, the older daughter has been divorced now for about a year and a half. She has come back to the church and is receiving the sacraments and has not remarried. The younger one is separated and is heading for divorce. She would like to come back to...
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Q. I have some questions regarding a practice I observed as a child (in the 1970s). While they were passing in front of a church (either walking or in a car), I used to notice some people making the sign of the cross. I'm not sure whether this was just a personal custom or one endorsed by the churc...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On the feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal church and Jesus' earthly father, Pope Francis urged all dads in the world to stick by their children's side, teaching them, guiding them and loving them. "I ask that you have the grace to be very close to your children...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As leader of the universal church, a pope must direct his ministry in both of the ways traditionally described by the Latin terms "ad intra" and "ad extra": inwardly to the church itself, and outwardly to the rest of the world. Pope Francis has accordingly spent the first year...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Clevelander Alease Fleming is no stranger to prison. Having served three sentences totaling six years plus for theft, robbery and burglary by the time she was 34, she got to know what life is like on the inside and harbored plenty of anger at the world on the outside. But it was...
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Q. I have often heard priests encouraging Catholics to go to confession more regularly, and I'm wondering how often priests themselves go to confession. Is there a rule on this? And if there is no rule, what is the general practice? (Toms River, N.J.)    A. The church's Code of Cano...
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  VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' most frequent advice and exhortation to Catholics -- from laypeople in parishes to bishops and cardinals -- is "Go forth." In Italian, the phrase is even snappier: "Avanti." As the world's cardinals gathered at the Vatican in early March 2013 to discuss th...
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PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) – A seven-member team of medical experts convoked by the Vatican reported there is no natural explanation for the survival of a child delivered stillborn and whose heart did not start beating until 61 minutes after his birth. The survival of the child, James Fulton Engstrom...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Fertilization techniques that would create babies from the DNA of three or four people to prevent the transmission of inheritable genetic diseases are being questioned by ethicists and others who say the procedures fail basic ethical and moral standards. Chief among the concerns...
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Q. Why are pronouns referring to Jesus no longer capitalized? Using uppercase would add clarity to many passages when a reader is trying to determine whether the word "he" refers to Christ or to another person in the account. We have no compunction about capitalizing "I." Yet the name at which ever...
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