Ask a Franciscan

During Pope Benedict XVI’s August 2011 visit to Madrid for World Youth Day, he told seminarians gathered at that city’s Almudena Cathedral that he would declare St. John of Avila the 34th Doctor of the Church. Who is this saint ...

If St. James is Jesus’ brother, would James not also be God’s son? Were Mary and Joseph the parents of James?

Most members of our large Catholic community have been trying to rescue Our Lord from a tabernacle on a side altar. Some churches have kept the tabernacle where it belongs: in the center of the main altar.

My middle-aged daughter recently told me that there is no purgatory, that the Catholic Church made that up.

I am the youngest in a large family. Many of my siblings suffered physical or verbal abuse from our father when we were growing up. Although he has abused our mother verbally and continues to do so, she has stayed ...

In reading the Bible, I’m noticing numerous references to the number three or sets of three. For example, the three calls of Samuel, three temptations of Jesus in the desert, the Trinity, three days in the tomb, Jesus’ three-year ministry, ...