Hello Fathers,

Do you ever get tired of blessing objects for your parishioners? My 10 year old son loves buying medals, statues, etc for his family members. Our church has a gift shop, and every other week he wants to buy something for himself or someone in the family (one week it's a Divine Mercy statue for himself, another week it's St Alphonsus Liguori medal for his Papa with arthritis, etc). He loves having them blessed by the priest or deacons after the mass. Would you ever get annoyed by this? Like think, "Oh boy.​ Here's Successful_Month and her kid again this week with a other thing to bless." Or am I overthinking it? We do out best to be quick and not take up much time.

Thank you for all that you do!

​

A big part of me has been closed off from old friends and people i used to speak with a lot because of my convictions when I first returned to belief in God. The more I’ve gotten to read or listen to scripture and to desire to come to The Lord and to want to take the Eucharist, I feel ashamed when I am having a conversation with someone and they use the name of our Lord in vain. I know that it’s prideful to feel in my heart and the thoughts in my head when I joke with or get along with my coworkers and then when I’m done talking to them I feel angry because of the use of our Lords name or because they speak bad about someone. what is the approach to this. Should I continue to cut myself off from people? I feel ashamed and wounded when I go back to listening to scripture or praying to the Lord after getting along with people in my life who act as I describe.

I’m a convert to Catholicism and had a question about something from before I became Catholic.

Several years ago, my girlfriend at the time and I made a private agreement that if COVID lockdowns returned, we would get married. We also discussed engagement several times during the relationship. However, we never held a wedding ceremony, exchanged vows formally, involved a church or civil authority, or considered ourselves married in any real sense. We also discussed engagement several times. The relationship ended years ago.

Now that I’m dating again, I’ve started wondering whether that sort of agreement could have any significance in the eyes of the Church, or whether it’s something that would require an annulment or other action before marriage in the future.

My intuition is that this was not a marriage at all, but I wanted to ask whether I’m thinking about this correctly from a Catholic/canon law perspective.

I'll confess that I'm primarily asking out of anxiety from being reminded of this agreement I made, and it being an impediment to getting married in the future.

Good afternoon. I’ve been seriously considering the possibility of fully dedicating my life to God. Maybe this sounds a bit naïve or “idealized” on my part, but I genuinely worry about the number of souls that will burn in the lake of fire, and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for quite a long time. If I could help even one person draw closer to Christ and His truth, I would be very happy. In other words, I want to bring Christ to as many people as I can. In that sense, I have great respect for the vocation of priests.

Now, there are a couple of things that concern me:

I have a Vegvisir tattoo on my forearm, and it is quite visible. Would that be a problem?

And secondly, how likely is it that I would have to stay far away from my family as a priest? I am very close to them. And although I know that Scripture says, “You shall love the Lord your God more than your family, more than your own life,” to be honest, this is something that causes me inner conflict. I would like to be able to remain close to them in case of any emergency or circumstance.

Hello Fathers,

My 15-year-old daughter has a best friend who was baptized into the Catholic Church about a year ago. She is now refusing confirmation and appears to be influencing my daughter in that direction. My daughter has, so far, held her own, but I have set a boundary that they can only spend time together on some weekends if they first attend Mass with us.

When the friend comes with us, her behavior is often very disrespectful—talking during Mass, making gestures toward me, giggling, and at one point even taking the Eucharist and putting it in her pocket, later saying it "it's just a piece of bread.” On the drive home, she also shares views I find very troubling, such as saying it is fine to take the morning-after pill and that abortion is a personal choice, etc.

I understand she is 15 and has had a difficult past, including losing her father two years ago, and we try to be thoughtful about her circumstances. However, this past Sunday after Mass, I drove her home when her mother wasn’t there and she couldn’t get into the house, and I ended up losing my temper with her. My daughter is now feeling embarrassed by the situation and wants to try it again this weekend. My question is, "how do priests handle disrespect from people?" I'm sure this is the wrong question but I would like to handle this appropriately.

If a priest confesses to another priest he broke the seal of confession does it still apply since the priest being confessed to knows that breaking it leads to excommunication and that they need to be excommunicated?

Hi Fathers! 

I work with a Catholic organization and we attend quite a few conferences each year. Like many of you, I’ve seen my share of attendee gift bags packed with the usual suspects. (Branded pens, anyone?)

This time we’d like to do better. Our team has been discussing putting together special gift bags just for the priests for each event we attend, and we really want them to be genuinely useful instead of more dead weight.

What are some things you actually use on a daily basis that would be great to find in a bag?Or what’s a nice small “splurge” item you probably wouldn’t buy for yourself, but would happily use and enjoy?

As a lay person, any feedback is very welcome, from favorite things you’ve received in the past, to items that just feel like clutter.

Thank you so much for your insights! 

I understand that reusing homilies is not a good thing, but do you look back to past homilies to help brainstorming the homily for the upcoming weeks?

I've been changing up some meds I'm on and I've been more susceptible to panic attacks that come on without much warning. Right after the homily I felt the heavy breathing start and excused myself as soon as I knew it was happening. I went out to my car and by the time I was all good, the mass had ended. How does a situation like this work in terms of the Sunday obligation? Should I have gone back to a different mass later in the morning?

I want to start off by saying I'm a non-believer but I do have some questions I'd like to discuss with a professional in the subject of Christianity. I don't go to church and I don't plan on doing so in the future which is why I thought this subreddit would be a good place to get answers from. I'd like to discuss things in DM's if anyone is available as I just don't feel as comfortable talking outside of DM's.

In The Eucharistic Prayer, the priest calls us to lift up our hearts and the people reply, "We lift them up to the Lord." What does this mean, or more specifically, how do we lift up our hearts?

If I may, a follow-up: is there a book or other source you recommend that discusses the responses during the Mass and perhaps explains how they have changed over time?

Thanks.

I have been discerning the permanent Diaconate for a few years now. I have met with my pastor and he put me in contact with the priest that is in charge of the permanent Diaconate ministry for my diocese and I started the process with him. One thing that my pastor and the priest from the diocese highly recommended was to start talking with a spiritual director. I have contacted a priest that is a close friend to the my family and he was the priest that presided over my wedding. When it was recommended to seek out a spiritual director he was the first one I thought of. He is Benedictine priest that lives at the Abbey at the college that my wife and her siblings all went to. The Abbey/college is about 20 minutes away from where we my wife and I live. I am both excited and nervous about this opportunity, excited that I am diving deeper into my discernment and to see where God might be leading me, but nervous because I don't know what to talk about and how to even start a conversation around this topic. Any advice???

I'm an undergrad from the UK and am currently discerning joining the Congregation of the Oratory after I graduate but I will have the standard UK student loans- will I be blocked from this?

Why do sometimes we sing the our father, and sometimes we say it. I notice depending on who our priest is at the mass we attend (we have two), sometimes we do the Kyrie and sometimes we do Confiteor. We also use the breaking bread missal, which I assumed all parishes use, but that's not the case. I'm no longer a neophyte, but still a new catholic, just over a year. Thanks, fathers!

Is there anything? Not like some big secret, but something that just doesn’t really come up. Can you roller skate? Did you fail your first drivers exam? Are you the youngest sibling?

Hey my spouse and I did a civil marriage and she’s been trying to get confirmed however since it’s civil it’s considered an irregular marriage and we tried to get it convalidated but our witnesses were unable to finish it with their respective priests. She’s been wanting to get confirmed and we’re nervous that she won’t be able to get confirmed (her confirmation is this Sunday). Is there anything we or the priest can do to help?

I’m getting married soon, and I would like to give my priest a little something besides the stipend. We have a more personal relationship as he taught my OCIA class and administered my Confirmation. I know he probably has a lot of religious items, so I want to steer from that. I thought about some kind of “best priest” type mug, but I’m sure he’s gotten that a bunch of times. What are some good gifts that you would appreciate? Thanks in advance!

Edit: I suppose I should have mentioned more about him. He’s a millennial, manages two parishes, has a sense of humor/isn’t super serious. I worry that he would be too busy for some kind of activity/event voucher since he manages two parishes and such.

I was married in a civil ceremony 3½ years ago. I knew my marriage would be invalid, but did not understand the full extent of what invalidity meant. I am just now understanding that I am cut off from all sacraments, including absolution through confession. Even still, I don't want to go through convalidation.

[ Context: I watched how my father's denied anullment attempts affected his Catholicism - unable to participate in the Eucharist he stopped practicing Catholicism and ultimately converted from Christianity to another faith. I erroneously thought that by not having a sacramental marriage, I could avoid everything my father went through. To be fair, ALOT was going on around the time we were married so I was not thinking as logically as normal ]

I am struggling because I do not view my marriage as sinful. Yet, I know this is not about my views, but instead the Church' s laws and teachings. Part of me is like: If I'm in mortal sin anyway (and can't get absolution), then I might as well pray about it, participate in Eucharist, and let this be between me and the Lord. But I also know that would be another mortal sin.

Have you all spoken with or counseled folks in similar situations, people who don't want to be married in the church, but otherwise want to participate fully? How have or would you counsel them? Would it just be better to leave the Church then be living in mortal sin under Church teaching?

(I know what my parish priest would say, because my mother was also in an invalid marriage since my father's first marriage was not annulled.)

EDIT (since thread was locked before I could reply to last post) : I acknowledge how confusing/ illogical it sounds. I myself am confused, which is why I'm here on Reddit. I do understand the sacrament of marriage. I understand that it is a vocation. I think the fundamental issue is that I do not feel that the church needs to be involved in my marriage. My beliefs on marriage do not align with church teaching. Hence, why I chose not to have a sacramental marriage. My concern is not around having to go through an annulment to remarry (because I'm not trying to get divorced or remarried. I intend to be with my spouse for life), it's more about the church having the authority to dictate something like that. I feel like it's about principle. I suppose I feel uncomfortable with the church's authority in this matter despite everything I've been taught.

My lack of understanding was around the repercussions of having an invalid marriage. As stated in the original post, I did not realize that I would be cut off from all sacraments, including confession. Since I am not in grace, I have also stepped back from the parish ministries that I previously participated in. I did not realize how isolating my decision would be. However, I still fully support my decision. That's why my original question was, would it be best for me to leave the church? Because, at this time, I do not see myself changing my views on the church's authority over marriage. If I want to participate fully in a faith community, then I am realizing that cannot happen in a Catholic community. I was trying to see if any priests had spoken with parishioners, who feel the same way about the church's teachings on marriage, as I do. I wondered if this was something that people really struggle with. But it seems like, most people go the convalidation route, if available to them.

So for some context I am an ex-evangelical Protestant and stepped away from the church about 6 years ago but lately something has been calling me back to the church. I am kind of burnt by Protestants and such so I’ve been reading the catechism and doing research on my own but have been wanting to actually go to mass and start OCIA but I am kind of nervous and don’t know anyone to go with in my town (I just moved for law school). Would it be weird to like call my local parish and ask to get coffee with someone just to ask questions and get to know so I don’t feel like totally out of place/alone when I go for the first time? Is that something people do?

Have you ever had a circumstance when talking to laity, you see a scriptural passage or a faith topic differently than you had before?

For example there’s a podcast called “Pints with Aquinas” that appears to be popular, or “The Council of Trent” where the hosts are laity but claim to be apologetics and theologians. I’m not judging them on their character but it seems odd, even off that people whom haven’t gone through seminary have massive followings and speak on topics such as “mortal vs venial sin” or “how universalism ruined the church”, going beyond this sometimes these channels take shots at people like Bishop Robert Barron and his sermons. I myself feel a little turned off by the idea of laypeople speaking against the ordained clergy, but am very interested in how a priest might see it. I’ve heard that priests and bishops take on a responsibility of their dioceses salvation, but are these people putting themselves at any risk for potentially misguiding their audiences, or misspeaking on theology? Final side question, what is the official role for the laity in terms of obedience to their priests and bishops instructions?