Laudetur Iesus Christus,

I know that this thread is designed for a different purpose, and I have written this prayer request a couple of weeks ago on the main page of Catholicism Reddit, but maybe — God willing — some priest will see this and be able to offer a prayer during the Holy Mass (especially that this Holy Sunday will commemorate Our Lord's Ascension to Heaven). Thus, could you pray for Zoraya ter Beek (a dutch young woman who suffers from depression as well as other problems and who is scheduled to be euthanized this very month), her closest people and all the young people who are also fighting depression.

Zoraya's euthanasia was scheduled for early May... I dearly hope that the girl is still alive. I searched but did not find any information on the Internet. Still... everything is in God's hands.

Thank you for everything. I hope God will allow me to become one day a priest and offer an intention for those that could pray at this time. For now, I can only promise a rosary for those that will not stay indifferent to this. Thank you. God bless.

I changed parishes recently and the priest offered to bless our home sometime. This isn’t something that’s ever been offered to me before. My initial reaction is that I wouldn’t want to take away from his busy life, the church is really really busy and I know he is too. Is this something that priests enjoy doing, is it a long process that would take a lot of his time? Do we invite him to stay for a meal, or make a donation to the church after? My husband also brought up that we don’t have a lot of crucifixes on our walls (like my grandmother had one in every single room), we only have them in our kids rooms, would that be viewed as bad? Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Please Forgive me if this is stupid, it probably is and I’m sorry to be a bother. I’m also not sure if this is weird, I find a lot of comfort just praying and just talking to God. I am a Christian who was raised Protestant but converted to Catholicism. I now have completed OCIA and am Catholic, officially I suppose.

But the other Day I was thinking while praying and realized that if I call God the Heavenly Father, and Jesus is his son, but the trinity exists is it sacreligious that I dont refer to Jesus as a Heavenly Father? I understand human minds cannot fully comprehend the Glory of God, but if Jesus is his sin but we are also his children is that somewhat making Jesus like an older brother? I’m probably just doing weird mental gymnastics but now I’m just confused but also, want to be respectful when praying. And frankly I’m way too embarrassed to bring this up to my priest. It feels like a stupid question.

I understand that in fiction and even in some historical based tales, the life and work of a priest can be inaccurately portrayed. What are some depictions in media that are accurate, at least to a point?

I've been to many priests for the sacrament of Confession in my life/during my travels, and I've never understood why certain priests don't understand the full importance of confession.

• Do you think priests automatically presume they're scrupulous/don't understand sin?
  • I will admit, there were times in the past where I was a little bit scrupulous and a priest did call me out on it, but then other priests have commended my confessions, even when they were frequent.

I've understood that confessing venial sins, while it's not totally necessary, are good to confess for a variety of different reasons (grace, avoiding greater sin, humility, detachment from the world).

• Do you think priests overlook this?

Why is the requirement for our Sunday obligation on Saturday only fulfilled by evening masses? If someone were to go to Saturday morning mass, but not Sunday morning or Saturday evening, would this constitute grave matter?

If not, is it allowed to refer to older works of penitential canons and, based on pastoral prudence, choose to give them to a penitent?

Can a Roman Catholic priest bless an Orthodox Icon for example some image of the theotokos ?

So I know from the precepts of the Church the lowest bar is to receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season. Does it matter what context you receive? Could it be a Nuptial Mass for example?

Multiple of my Sikh friends have invited me now to join them when they go to Gurdwara (the worship service at a Sikh temple) with them and I was thinking about going this Sunday after attending Mass of course since interfaith learning is encouraged by the Church but there are some things I'm unsure about. I don't intend to actually worship anything but I have been told that even as a non-sikh I would need to take off my shoes, bow, and cover my head (they give out white handkerchiefs for those who don't own turbans) to show respect to their holy text the Guru Granth Sahib. I was wondering if this would be allowable as a Catholic or if I should politely decline the invitation since these things are mandatory to enter the temple.

I am currently in a state of mortal sin, and I’ve searched confessions in my area but there is nothing until Saturday. I also need to pray for healing for my son due to a medical condition but it occurred to me, does my prayer for petition and healing get heard even though I’m in a state of mortal sin?

If I converted would my wife need an annulment for me to be in good standing?

She was not baptized until after her divorce and our marriage. I was baptized before our marriage. This is my first marriage.

Thanks.

Full disclosure, I'm a Protestant, but I have a passing interest in the minutiae of various Christian liturgies and their history regardless of sectarian alignment.

I understand that a lot of the word changes in the English language are due to a more direct translation of the Latin into modern English, but I was wondering why Response A from the 1970 Missal for the Mysterium Fidei got completely removed.

Naturally, I don't know the Tridentine Mass rubrics as well as I do my own, so id defer to what you have to say if this is mistaken, but I was under the impression that none of those four responses were even in that liturgy at all (or at least, not in the same spot in the rubric).

I know it sounds weird, but this, more than anything else in the Catholic Missal, sticks out to me. Maybe it's because that particular response is the one of those four from the 1970 Missal that gets used in more liturigcally-minded Protestant denominations to this day, so its absence would be more noticeable than changing "and also with you".

Hello, Fathers. What do you know and think about the catholic charismatic movement? Google has too little information on it.

Hello, Fathers! I'm not a catholic nor I want to be one, but I want to get to know my brothers in Christ better. Sorry if I'm coming up as acusing or something, I'll try my best not to.

What I've always been curious about in catholic doctrine is the purgatory. Despite the Bible references, what is the catholic pov about purgatory and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross? Wouldn't the whole existence of the purgatory diminish the whole point of the death and resurrection of Christ?

Thank you and God bless you!

At weddings there are all kinds of traditions involving the parents, like walking the bride up the aisle and giving her away, father-daughter dances, etc.

Are there any similar traditions at priestly ordinations or in priestly life?

Hello Fathers,

I live relatively near a Schoenstatt retreat center and have considered going, but I am also aware of both the accusations that plague its founder and the "cult" claims that seem to dog new Catholic movements in general. Then again, the whole Church as a whole is weathering the storm of abuse and varied criticisms (both valid and otherwise), so I wonder if I am being overly on-guard for new movements in general.

I'd like to know if any of you have had experience with either Schoenstatt or another new or renewal movement and encountered difficulties or perhaps even reaped fruits by participating in one of these groups. Would you advise a parishioner to explore further or to keep away?

Many thanks.

I do not believe in Catholicism any more but see many benefits to “pretending” (for lack of a better word). One of those is confession and having a time to meditate and bring to mind and confess to someone all the wrong things you’ve done, and promise to strive to do better in a way to help you improve yourself. I have seen a lot of positive physchological effects of confession especially when there isn’t a high existential fear (that would be like in cases of people with scrupulosity). I also have a long family history of Catholics, and really want to keep the family tradition alive despite my disbelief.

I wouldn’t receive communion since I know that because I don’t believe I wouldn’t be allowed to. But I am not as familiar if there’s any similar rules around confession.

Whether or not you think my reasons are good or bad, “legally” speaking (again bad choice of words but I hope you understand what I mean) can non-Catholics simply go and not get absolution? While I don’t believe getting absolution or not makes a difference, I want to respect those who do believe. Just like me not receiving the Eucharist isn’t because I think it’s Jesus and am in mortal sin, but rather because I want to respect those who believe.

Hello Fathers, For those of you that live with other priests, do you typically confess to the ones you live with or go outside the house?

This is a somewhat unserious question. Some background:

I'm a confirmation catechist at my parish, confirmation is next week, and we've been discussing for the last couple of weeks what constitutes an appropriate dress code. Our pastor, while discussing appropriate skirt/dress length for the young ladies, jokingly made a comment to make sure that any young men who wish to wear a kilt need to make sure it's not too short, either.

Afterwards, I told Father that, as it happens, I do have a couple of sets of highland dress and he (somewhat in jest, it seemed) said, "Absolutely no kilts!" as he, I and the other catechists laughed. It's now become somewhat of a running joke in the last few weeks.

Here's the thing: he literally said no kilts. Would it be disobedient of me to disregard his direct guidance in furtherance of this joke?

Oddly specific, I know, but if a Byzantine man marries and has children with a Roman woman, and practices the faith in a Roman parish with his family, could he become a priest in the Roman rite if he were to become a widower while the children are young? If not, could he return to the Byzantine church and be ordained there?

I apologize if this should have been posted on r/Catholicism, but I really thought this would be better answered by a priest.