Q1: We just moved, and our new parish doesn’t have set confession times. The bulletin says “confessions by appointment.” My wife doesn’t think that’s a violation of our right to receive the sacrament, since the priest will hear our confessions…

October 29th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q1: We just moved, and our new parish doesn’t have set confession times. The bulletin says “confessions by appointment.” My wife doesn’t think that’s a violation of our right to receive the sacrament, since the priest will hear our confessions…
October 15th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: I read Sheila Kennedy’s book about her annulment experience, and it sure sounds like the Boston archdiocese put her through hell! I heard later that she appealed to the Vatican and they overturned the annulment her husband had got…
October 1st, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: Our new next-door neighbors have a 14-month-old daughter. They’re Catholics, but I just found out that they still haven’t had their daughter baptized yet! When our own children were born over 30 years ago, we had them baptized when…
July 23rd, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: Our pastor seems to go on vacation constantly. This year, he already spent one week at a retreat house, left on numerous short trips to see his relatives, and now he’s going away for two weeks to Florida — and…
July 9th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: We all know that the bishop of the diocese where Notre Dame University is located wouldn’t go to graduation this year because President Obama was coming. But why didn’t he simply forbid the school to allow Obama to come?…
April 2nd, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: When I was a kid, everyone was required during Lent to make his “Easter Duty.” Every parishioner received a card from the parish. When we went to confession before Easter, we handed the card to the priest. By Easter…
March 19th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: My children go to a Catholic school that is run by nuns. Or at least I always assumed they were nuns. Recently I walked by the principal while she was talking to another parent on the street, and I…
March 5th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: Are we Catholics still supposed to be abstaining from meat on Fridays? Or has this definitely been done away with? –Vince
A: Lent has just begun, and we Catholics are well aware of the obligation to abstain from meat on…
February 19th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: We Catholics believe that marriage is a sacrament. So how is it possible for a Catholic and a non-Catholic to get married in the Catholic Church? Doesn’t that mean that somehow, a protestant or even a non-Christian is receiving…
February 6th, 2009 by Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: Why does it take so long for people who request marriage annulments to get them? I know a couple of different people who have been waiting for an answer for over a year! They’re not all from the same…