Ask a Franciscan

A Scary Prayer for a Child

Pat McCloskey, OFM May 9, 2020

As a child, I was taught to pray: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” If this prayer hastened my returning to God, should I have been taught to say it?

What Advice Can I Give?

Pat McCloskey, OFM May 9, 2020

My daughter-in-law’s brother is in a committed gay relationship and is going to be the father of a child carried by a woman who will allow the two men to adopt the baby.

Withdrawing Food and Water?

Pat McCloskey, OFM May 9, 2020

Hospitals today really encourage people to have living wills. Is it permissible for patients to choose to have water and food withheld in case of very severe illness? I think this is suicide.

How Do the Saints Help Us?

Pat McCloskey, OFM May 9, 2020

Do you think that saints can help us out? Can you be sure that they are there and that sometimes they talk to you?

How Are Mass Readings Chosen?

Pat McCloskey, OFM April 29, 2020

A non-Catholic friend asked me how the Scriptures at Mass are selected. Who started this and when was the present system adopted? Vatican II’s 1963 “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” called for a wider selection of biblical texts to be ...

Person standing in front of a grave with flowers

A Deep Wound

Pat McCloskey, OFM February 26, 2020

How could God take my precious son at age 43 and yet allow rotten people who have stopped believing in God to keep on living? My son was a great Catholic and spent eight years in Catholic schools.

Father Stephen Saffron, parish administrator, elevates the Eucharist during a Tridentine Mass at St. Josaphat Church in the Queens borough of New York City in this July 18, 2021, file photo. The Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has responded to bishops' questions about Pope Francis' July document limiting use of pre-Vatican II Mass. Among the clarifications was that confirmations and ordinations are not permitted to be celebrated according to the older rites. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Why the Push for a Latin Mass?

Pat McCloskey, OFM November 27, 2019

There seems to be a push to return to the Latin Mass and all its implications. Our parish has become very divided when this was imposed on us with refusal of Communion in the hand, reintroduction of Communion rails, and ...