Ask a Franciscan

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What About Sins of Omission? 

June 24, 2025
I cannot find an examination of conscience for sins of omission. Does such a list exist?
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St. Francis and His Time with the Sultan

October 7, 2020
How did St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil become friends?
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Who Informed the Biblical Writers?

September 28, 2020
How did the gentlemen who gathered together to write the Bible do so? Where did their information come from? The holy Bible is beautifully written. When was it written? How did they know all the details? Ultimately, God inspired them ...
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Who Wrote the Gospel of John?

August 27, 2020
I was surprised to read in an earlier “Ask” column that John the Apostle did not write the Gospel of John. Who did? We are not entirely sure. First, I should point out that only around the year AD 125 ...
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What Is the Kingdom of God?

August 27, 2020
Please explain in simple language the concept of the kingdom of God. What Jesus means by the expression the kingdom of God is accepting God’s values as trustworthy and enough, not needing any “improvements,” as we often describe them.
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Understanding Sins of Omission

August 27, 2020
I realize that I can sin by some action (for example, murder or theft), but I have never understood how someone can sin by inaction, by not doing something. How is that possible? Yes, sins of commission (such as the ...
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Missing Mass on Sunday

July 29, 2020
As an 80-year-old Catholic, I was taught that missing Mass through your own fault is a mortal sin that, if unconfessed and unabsolved, could send you to hell forever. I know friends and other Catholics who are good people but ...
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Do you have a question for Father Pat McCloskey, OFM? The author of St. Anthony Messenger’s popular “Ask a Franciscan” column is ready to answer your toughest questions!

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Do you have a question for Father Pat McCloskey, OFM? The author of St. Anthony Messenger's popular "Ask a Franciscan" column in ready to answer your toughest questions!

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