Love the church and I am right now a high school history teacher. I know there is a shortage of priests and I have e thought about it more and more. Just curious what I would need to do to join also have some more personal questions to ask. Can I still do martial arts? Could I continue to teach history to teenagers?

I know Exorcism is a sacramentental, and not a sacrament, which only priests can do. Perhaps this is at the discretion of the Bishop then to allow a particular woman to perform exorcisms?

Hello all! I am Catholic and my partner is from the COE (Church of England) or Protestant. He is not a practicing one however he agreed that we can have a Catholic Mass. Can you give me hymn suggestions for the Mass that both Catholics and Protestants know? Also what are bridal procession hymns allowed by the Church please? And how long does the mass last? Thank you

Fathers, please help me resolve this issue. I have heard many times that the scriptures were written towards the end of the first century. I also hear that these are first person accounts. Can you help me resolve these seemingly contradictory statements?

Hello,

I have a question if you don't mind. I apologize in advance if I am using the wrong terms, it is not my intention to offend anyone.

Today during Mass, our Priest was handing out the bread (during Communion) from two sources: the usual Communion Bread tray and from a Pyx. This Pyx had a few wafers that he was handing out to some people and not others. He handed out to my oldest son (12 years old). During the Communion, he ran out of wafer from the Pyx, he stopped giving Communion, and went to the Tabernacle to get more for this specific Pyx (he still has plenty left on the usual tray).

After mass, I asked the priest if there was any significance for that, and he did not want to go into details. He said he meant to give to another boy and not my son (apparently they look alike).

So I am assuming the Eucharist from the Pyx had some form of special "blessing" for specific people depending on what they need?

Thank you for your time and God bless us all.

Hey Fathers, I hope you’re having a great Sunday. I have a question. There’s a former coworker of mine that is going to prison and he’s in jail currently. I want to minister to him by writing him a letter. I just don’t know what to write in the letter. I need some inspiration from you guys maybe some Bible verses or just anything that could go into letter something that tells him that God still loves him even though he’s committed a crime any help would be greatly appreciated!

Would he be dispensed from saying mass if the environment was zero-G? could he still hear someone’s confession if he was using the communications device in a space suit?

I absolutely love icons- they are so wonderful. From what I have seen online, the only classes available are for orthodox Christian’s. Can Catholics even be iconographers? Would it be wrong of me to take a class on iconography more geared for orthodox?

Is it understood that priests don't hear their own family members' confessions? Or if you do, is it usually more enjoyable, or more awkward? Or is it just like hearing any other confession?

Some saints have said that Mary's actual role is to generate the new members of the body of Christ and that Marian Veneration is mandatory for salvation.

I did not find a church document regarding this topic, are this statements mandatory for a catholic to believe? And is there a church official document on this topic?

If it's possible elaborate on the reasons and it's sources.

Things go like this. Im Catholic, husband comes from a Jewish family but is an atheist. He agreed to get our son baptised, we did and he respects my religion, but since he was raised an atheist he has like zero knowledge of what is and isnt allowed in, well, basically any religion. Yesterday he went to a shabbat dinner at his friend's family house (I was also invited but couldn't make it due to a very nasty cold). His friend and their family are of course very religious and they gave my baby like a Jewish blessing for babies. He just told me this and I was like O_O. He told me he didn't know it wasn't allowed and honestly I don't know either! Is it OK to receive a blessing from someone from a different religion? Couldn't find anything on the internet about that. I dont think something like this will happen again but just in case I would like to know.

Or are you content that you are married to The Church?

I had a conversation with a friend who didn’t understand Catholicism because she thought it was unfair that a priest couldn’t be married… but my question is, do you deem it to be worth it to be married to the church instead? And in what ways?

Please delete if not allowed. This is less of a pastoral question and more of a personal one. When you were in your discernment process, did you mourn over the fact you were never going to be able to be married? I imagine some of you had girlfriends before you ever decided to enter into the priesthood, and either were not with them still or had to give them up. But was it difficult? Did entering the priesthood feel like the right thing to do, so you weren't feeling too badly? Or did you feel badly even though you knew it was the right thing to do for you?

We moved to a nearby town 2 years ago but still attend my parish where we’ve been going — it’s the church where I attended ocia and came home to the Church. & it’s only 20 minutes away.

But there is a smaller church in my local community about 5 minutes from my house. I have been going to confession there instead bc it’s more convenient and the times are better for me. Do I need to let my priest know that I do this? Or is it weird that I’m never attending confession at my parish where I’m registered?

I've had a traumatic experience with my former parish, but all the parishes in the area are run by the same priests. I need to talk to someone about it, but I don't know who. Would there be a department at the Diocese? Just call a church elsewhere and see if the priest will talk to me?

Hi Fathers,

I was just baptized last Saturday and in my parish there is a day of Reconciliation coming up where all the priests from the diocese take turns hearing confessions. I'm not totally sure if I'll need to confess or not. But on that day my parish priest has a time slot at a time I'm unavailable.

My question is this, is it most appropriate to make my first confession with my parish priest ( who baptized me), or can I just make my first confession to any priest if I need to during the Reconciliation day?

What I mean is I'm not Catholic I was raised Protestant and I'm young, so I want to learn more about Christianity in general, and maybe I might decide which branch I'd like to convert to. What can you tell me about Catholicism?

Hi! First, I do have plans to speak with a priest once I find a home parish. Just hoping for some additional insight on how to proceed. I'll try to be concise.

I'm in my 2nd marriage. I am 42/F

First marriage was to O. We were together 18 years. He is a baptized (not confirmed) Catholic, but not a Christian. Always open and supportive, and when I decided to go through RCIA to get Confirmed, he agreed to get our marriage convalidated.

I lied to my priest about being open to life and was on birth control. O also never wanted children. Years later, I had a tubal ligation. Years later O and I had a very amicable divorce and are still friends.

I remarried M. M is not a Christian. M is also wonderful and supportive as I find myself wanting to return to Catholicism.

I am ashamed to have O know that I'm considering an annulment (does the other party have to know??) and embarrassed to ask M for a convalidation (mostly because he thinks organized religion is a bunch of malarkey). Regarding the sterilization, I have age and finances against me.

Realistically, what the HECK do I do?

Thanks!

Hello Father(s),

Recently, my parish did a 33 day preparation for Total consecration to the Immaculate. I did the daily readings, prayers, and reflections, and did participate in the Act of consecration. But reading through the prayers, one has stuck with me and trouble my convert mind (raised southern baptist/methodist, then spent 10 years as an atheist/agnostic)

The booklet identified the prayer as the "Supplication to Our Lady," by St. Maximilian Kolbe.

The prayer reads as follows:

Allow me to praise You, O most holy Virgin, with my personal commitment and sacrifice.

Allow me to live, work, suffer, be consumed and die for You, just for You.

Allow me to bring the whole world to you.

Allow me to contribute to Your ever greater exaltation, to Your greatest possible exaltation.

Allow me to give You such glory that no one else has ever given You up to now.

Allow others to surpass me in zeal for Your exaltation, and me to surpass them, so that by means of such noble rivalry Your glory may increase ever more profoundly, ever more rapidly, ever more intensely as He Who has exalted You so indescribably above all other beings Himself desires.

In You alone has God been adored beyond compare, more than in all His saints.

For You God has created the world. For You God has also called me to existence. For what reason have I merited this fortune?

Oh, allow me to praise You, O most holy Virgin!

My struggle is with that last bit before the ending. "For You God has created the world. For You God has also called me to existence."

This is hard to grapple with or even formulate the complete thought behind why it's making alarm bells go off, but it seems odd to say that all of creation, including us today, was created solely for the sake of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I trust that St. Kolbe, though fallible, had good reason to say and write this, but I'm struggling to find resources that discuss this prayer.

Are any of the priests present damiliar with this prayer?have there been any writings or analyses on this subject? And if it does mean exactly what it seems to on the surface, why didn't Creation end with Her assumption into Heaven?

I am working on writing an analysis of this prayer, a sort of starting point for diving into theological writing, but it feels like I've hit a bit of a wall.

Thank you in advance, Father(s), for your patience in reading this rant and also for any wisdom you may be able to pass to me. May God bless you all.

I always feel awkward when someone asks where someone is and I know they are at confession. Is it ok to say a person went to confession in general? I know some people may not want it shared but is it ok moral wise?

So I know the whole backstory of the weird syncretic organization that runs Monastery Icons, I agree we shouldn’t support them.

But the local Catholic store sells almost only Monastery Icons and I find their style to be really really appealing and they’re the perfect size for what I want to put up in my bedroom.

Is it immoral or unsafe to buy icons from a good store that gets them from a false religious organization? Should I have a priest bless the icons after I buy them? Should I tell the store about the history of Monastery?

Help appreciated, thanks brothers and sisters.❤️🇻🇦

I've heard some mixed things about the movie and was wondering in any Priests here had seen it and what they thought about it?

Possibly dealing with a kid who fears the confessional because his parents basically use that as the time to press him for information about all of the bad things he did so they could punish him for it, and he can't lie because he "just left the confession and would be right back in mortal sin if he lies."

That alone can create non-believers, but I want them to know what they're doing is not only ungodlike; it's demonic. I want to know if this is an excommunicable offense before I tell them so, because if the morality of it is not a bother to them, the ecclesiastical aspect hopefully will.

So last year was only my second Christmas as a Catholic. My wife and I wanted to gift our parish priest at Christmas but I think the way we did it was maybe...awkward? We wrote out a Christmas card and placed a monetary gift in it. After Mass we greeted Father on the way out, spoke for a moment and handed him the card. He seemed pleased but ended up having to hold it. I never thought about the robes having a pocket or not! So this year we are thinking we should mail the card and gift perhaps? Is there a "best practice" here, Fathers, or am I simply overthinking this?

when i serve mass at my parish, my Priest flicks holy water at me after he washes his hands in the glass basin. do you also do this? i find it funny 😆😁

Thank you for reading.

I was researching about the Gesture of Benediction used in the Catholic Church, and found that it was mainly used by the Popes and sometimes even the Bishops (usually when giving a blessing).

However, I attended a Mass a while ago, and found that the priest celebrating the Mass gave the Gesture of Benediction when giving the final blessing.

Would anyone know if priests are also allowed to use this Gesture to bless, or if it is only reserved to the Pope and his Bishops?

I know that Clergy are required to pray the Divine Office every day. My question is what parts of the office are required to be said?

Someone told me that when you go to confession and you forget some of your sins that even though you forgot to say them, they are still forgiven. Is that true?

Long story short, I am a cradle Catholic. Never got confirmed but I’m on my journey back into the faith and I’m looking into it. When I was Baptised, I had my father’s surname but then my parents got divorced, he wasn’t around and shortly before my first Holy Communion, my mother changed my name to her family surname legally so on any records including Holy Communion, I am under my Mothers name. Now I can’t find my Holy Communion record and my Church didn’t keep a record which is unfortunate but luckily I have my Baptism certificate with my old name. My question is, will the name change pose any issues for me if I decide to get confirmed? I would like any confirmation record under my Mothers name (my current name) which I’ve had since the age of 7 (27 now).

Edit: Also, I don’t see why this would make a difference but I’m from England and I reside in England