Ask a Franciscan
Pedophile Priests Protected
My wife and I do not feel comfortable discussing this with our parish priest and hope you can provide some guidance. As cradle Catholics, we find it very difficult to continue in our Catholic faith because of repeated reports of abuse of children by pedophile priests. Despite these reports, there is no definitive action mostly lip service. Pope Francis should declare these behaviors unacceptable and inconsistent with Christ’s teachings.
No Rides to Weekday Masses
I have a very rare and painful illness that has left me handicapped. I have trouble finding rides to doctors' offices and to church. Consequently, I feel very disconnected from my parish in which I once served as a catechist ...
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Why Does a Baptized Person Need the RCIA?
Why does a baptized adult have to go through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)? Such a person may already know almost everything about the Catholic religion, its prayers, and the Ten Commandments.
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Why So Few Catholic Bible Study Groups?
Why doesn't the Catholic Church encourage its members to establish small groups for Bible study? Aren't many Catholics joining nondenominational churches to go deeper into their faith and have a closer connection with other believers?
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Questioning God’s Plan
My wife and I are both seriously ill and have been since we married 14 years ago. Now her medications have stopped working, and we are meeting with the doctors. I'm currently very angry and questioning God's plan. I don't ...
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Where Do Prayers Go?
If you are praying for someone who may have gone to hell, where do those prayers go? Should you keep praying for them even though you don't really know where anyone goes? Only God knows for sure.
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Why Pray for Grandma Jones?
In your August 2018 column, you wrote that God does not have a vast, eternal plan that Grandma Jones had successful heart surgery last month. OK, why do I pray for her or anyone else? You prayed before her surgery ...
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