Q. There's a question that has occurred to me from time to time, and I would appreciate your answer. I was always led to believe that suicide is a mortal sin, so someone who takes his own life cannot go to heaven. It makes me wonder what fate awaited Judas when he hanged himself after turning Jesu...
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) – The precipitous decline in the number of women in religious life and what it means to the church has people thinking about how to prepare for the future.             Their actions stem from data gathered by the Na...
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Q. Luke's Gospel begins, "Several biographies of Christ have already been written." Why, then, are there only four Gospels in the New Testament, and how were they chosen? (Charlottesville, Virginia) A. First, just a comment on your quote from the opening verse of Luke. The text you offer comes from...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Carrying Pope Paul VI's pastoral staff and wearing the blood-stained belt of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Pope Francis formally recognized them and five others as saints of the Catholic Church.            ...
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Q. I would appreciate your help with a question I've had for a long time. When I am saying the rosary, should I be thinking of the words to the Hail Mary or about the particular mystery I am then on? (Morrilton, Arkansas) A. I think it's a matter of personal choice. Whatever best helps to make thes...
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Q. I am in my 50s and have now been divorced for three years. I was married in the Catholic Church and have always attended Sunday Mass regularly and received Communion. But I have begun to wonder whether I should still take Communion.  I asked a priest recently in confession, and he said that...
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Q. Did the resurrected Jesus have a human body? (Carrollton, Georgia) A. It is a fundamental truth of Christianity that Jesus rose from the dead in his physical body. (This differs from the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, who hold that the post-resurrection Christ was spiritual, not physical.) Chr...
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Q. I bring holy Communion to a local nursing home. Of the 66 Catholics there, many of them have no visitors. Those with dementia are asked whether they would like to receive the Eucharist, and if they say yes, I give them the host. It saddens me that Jesus suffered to give us his mercy in confessio...
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WASHINGTON – On Sept. 19, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Administrative Committee issued a statement in response to the recent sex-abuse scandals. The bishops pledge to “heal and protect with every bit of the strength God provides us.” Following is an excerpt from...
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Editor’s note – Sharon Burns, director of the Diocese of Evansville’s Office of Hispanic Ministry, will report on V Encuentro in the Oct. 5 issue of The Message. GRAPEVINE, Texas (CNS) -- The thousands of Hispanic Catholic ministry leaders who gathered in Texas for the Fifth Natio...
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