How has the church traditionally dealt with political figures who have run afoul of the church, or at least of churchmen?
Sacraments
Posted inFaith, Features
Should politicians be refused communion?
When Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, was asked at a press conference in Rome on April 23 whether Senator John F. Kerry should be denied Communion, he responded: “The law of the church is clear. The church exists in the United
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Remembering First Communion
First Communion is a powerful church and family ritual; no one who has been present can miss its importance for the children taking part.
Posted inFaith
Ministers of Communion
Why do we need ministers of Communion? Why not just pass the eucharistic bread and wine and let people take it themselves?
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
The History Behind Celibacy and the Priesthood
Why and how did the celibate state became a requirement for ordination?
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Whatever happened to limbo?
Nowhere in the current catechism is there any treatment of a belief that was part of the common teaching of the church for over 700 years.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Walter Kasper: On the church
Cardinal Walter Kasper on the relationship between the universal church and local churches.
Posted inFaith, Features
Facing the Crisis in the Priesthood
A generation has elapsed since the close of the Second Vatican Council, and the church has underscored the council’s extraordinary ecclesial and historical significance by beatifying, this Sept. 3, Pope John XXIII. At the same time, however, the beatification of Pope Pius IX highlighted the ti
Posted inFaith, Features
How can the church improve the R.C.I.A. process?
From 2000: “Since R.C.I.A.’s reinstitution, the Catholic Church in the United States each year has drawn more new members than any other religious group in the nation.”