QUESTION CORNER Q: I read your column every week in our archdiocesan paper, and I have a question for you. What is the role of the parish priest at the time of the serious illness and death of a parish member? I recently lost my husband after a long illness, the last several months of […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Did the pope say there is no hell?
QUESTION CORNER Q: Did Pope Francis just say that there is no hell? (Chesapeake, Virginia) A: No. Pope Francis did not say that there is no hell. That misinformation comes from a March 2018 article in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The article — written by that newspaper’s co-founder and former editor, Eugenio Scalfari — […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Why did the pope celebrate Stephen Hawking?
QUESTION CORNER Q: Stephen Hawking died recently. As I understand it, Professor Hawking claimed to have proven that God does not exist. And yet the pope met with him and recognized his studies; why would the pope do that and celebrate an atheist? (central Virginia) A: Professor Stephen Hawking, the renowned British theoretical physicist, died […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Can I oppose DACA and be a good Catholic?
THE QUESTION CORNER Q: Recently I read an article in a Catholic magazine that suggested that, in addition to the Ten Commandments, we should use the beatitudes when examining our conscience before going to confession. This sent me into a tailspin, and I had to go and review the beatitudes to see if I even […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Shouldn’t the precious blood be offered?
QUESTION CORNER Q: My friend told me that in her parish, which is a large one, only one section of the church is offered the blood of Christ. Her pastor believes that adding more eucharistic ministers would create a traffic jam. If they are going to distribute holy Communion from the chalice, shouldn’t all be […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Distributing ashes on the sidewalk?
QUESTION CORNER Q: After receiving ashes at an Ash Wednesday morning Mass, I returned home and turned on the television news. It showed some priests in a neighboring town who were out on the sidewalk in front of their church marking with ashes the foreheads of any interested lunchtime passer-by. They were in priestly vestments […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Can a blessed auto be auctioned?
QUESTION CORNER Q: A recent picture in a magazine showed Pope Francis signing a car that had been given to him. The cutline for the photo said that the pope had signed and blessed the car before putting it up for auction by Sotheby’s in London, with the proceeds going to charitable work. But I […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Do we now go straight to heaven?
QUESTION CORNER Q: What does the church teach about what happens after someone dies? The reason I bring it up is that often when I attend a Catholic funeral, I hear the priest say in a homily that the deceased is now in heaven and suffering no more. But how does that fit in with […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Do priests have a three-Mass-a-day limit?
QUESTION CORNER Q: Recently I visited my home parish in Ohio (Diocese of Toledo). I was there to attend the 8:30 a.m. Mass on Dec. 24. Before Mass, the regular priest announced that there would be a substitute priest for that Mass because of the limit of “three Masses a day.” (The regular priest was […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Speaking of agoraphobia
QUESTION CORNER Q: I enjoy reading your columns in our diocesan newspaper. Recently you responded to a person who is concerned about missing Mass due to agoraphobia. (Editor’s note: Agoraphobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places.) As a psychiatrist, I wish you would have added that […]