Questions Answered – November 2022

Incomplete Consecration and its Consequences Question: At Mass yesterday, the parish priest forgot to bring wine in preparing for Mass. Instead of going to the sacristy to get some he remained in the sanctuary and consecrated the hosts — b … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – May 2022

A Priest’s Spiritual Obligations Question: Could you comment on the strict obligation of the Divine Office for priests (under pain of mortal sin) but no similar obligation for the offering of daily Mass? Answer: The answer to this q … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – July 2021

Why Jesus Is Called the “New Adam” Question: I am a bit troubled by so many people calling Jesus the new Adam. I think to do so gives the Jehovah’s Witnesses an advantage they can easily take, that is to prove Jesus is a creature and not th … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – July 2021

Real Philosophy for Real People: Tools for Truthful Living. By Fr. Robert McTeigue. Reviewed by T.S. Barbarossa. (skip to review) Catholic Parishes of the 21st Century. By Charles E. Zech, Mary L. Gautier, Mark M. Gray, Jonathon L. … [Read more...]

What Direction Does the Church Give to Homilists?

Every Catholic has an opinion about how homilies ought to be preached. And while such personal observations and insights can be helpful, they do not provide a solid foundation upon which to build a sound understanding of what the substance … [Read more...]

Questions Answered for December 2019

What Are Cardinals? Question: There has been a lot of controversy in the Church in the last year about how Theodore McCarrick could have risen to the rank of cardinal. What is the function of the College of Cardinals? Answer: Though … [Read more...]

Canon Law, Civil Law, and the Current Crisis in the Church

Reflections of a Civil Lawyer Studying Canon Law in Rome

Last fall I left my job as a corporate lawyer and began studying canon law in Rome. Explaining my rationale to my colleagues wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined. Whether they were practicing Catholics, fallen-away Catholics, not-yet C … [Read more...]

Marriage and the Juridical Relevance of Pastoral Language

The revised Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 (CIC-83) brought with it a definition of the consensual incapacity for marriage. This formula is a kind of juridical innovation given that it did not exist prior to the CIC-83 and literally … [Read more...]

A Case for the Sacrament of Marriage

Did God intend marriage to be a union between one man and one woman, a union that is both permanent and indissoluble? Is marriage at its very essence meant to be a covenantal bond between a man and a woman, or is it just as easily entered … [Read more...]

Renewing or Imperiling our Understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage?

In a recent essay, the canonist Fr. John Alesandro makes the bold claim that for hundreds of years “the Catholic church has simplistically “canonized” marriage, stripping down its sacred character as a covenant and likening it to a secular c … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question:  Since I was a child in school many years ago (I am now 67!), I have had a question I could not answer. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, we learned as children. We also learned about prehistoric man. Were our first … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question: What is the origin of female altar servers? Answer: Female altar servers are a fact of life in the Church since 1992. The ability of girls to serve at Mass is established by papal authority, so one must accept their possibility … [Read more...]

Briefly Revisiting Pre-1983 Canonical Practice for a Better Response to Marriage Issues

The juridical significance of mental illness and psychic anomalies in marriage has shifted over centuries from a description of an illicit act to one of invalid consent. Early pronouncements on insane individuals who contracted marriage … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question: Please explain why “even attachment to venial sin” prevents one from obtaining a plenary indulgence. It seems no one can receive one as we all are attached to, and even commit, venial sins. Answer: The answers to this question a … [Read more...]

Law and Freedom—“Do I Have to Go to Church Today, Mom!?”

I don’t do apologetics. I can do apologetics, I have a background in theology, from seminary formation, as well as Catholic graduate education. I do catechesis, I teach and do theology, my understanding of the New Evangelization is what the … [Read more...]