Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Father Kenneth Doyle: Is the death penalty out completely?

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  QUESTION CORNER Q: I have always been against the death penalty — since the prisoner is behind bars and removed from doing further harm to the public. But a recent piece in The Wall Street Journal included statements by criminals who said that they were not as aggressive with victims when they knew there […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: ‘Last rites’ for a comatose person?

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QUESTION CORNER Q: My daughter, who was 50 years of age, became deathly ill, spent six weeks in the intensive care unit, then entered hospice to die. When death was imminent, a nurse finally found a priest to administer last rites. (It was a Jewish hospice, and they weren’t used to calling a priest.) By […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: Why no prayers for Trump-Kim summit?

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QUESTION CORNER Q: How do we change those Catholic Church leaders who have political bias and anger toward our president? Mr. Trump needed our prayers and support for his dialogue with North Korean President Kim Jong Un. But neither at the Sunday Mass I attended nor in our diocesan paper was there any mention of […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: Who are the pope’s security detail?

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QUESTION CORNER Q: Who are the men protecting Pope Francis who are wearing suits and ties? Are they part of the Italian national police force, Swiss Guards or a private security firm? (They seem to protect the pope not only at the Vatican, but they travel with him on papal trips.) (Edison, New Jersey) A: […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: The pope’s answer ‘seemed shocking’

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QUESTION CORNER Q: In a recent issue of our diocesan paper, I read an article about a conversation that had occurred in Italy between Pope Francis and a young boy. The boy — who was both fearful and tearful, as he whispered his question to the pope — wanted to know whether his deceased father […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: Isn’t visiting the sick a pastor’s duty?

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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?

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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?

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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 […]