Tag: ask a catholic

It's both spouses being baptized that makes a marriage sacramental.

Catholics don't tend to speak in the same terms because we think of being “saved” as a lifelong process, not a one-time event.

Some Catholics, in the face of the clergy sex abuse crisis, choose to give up on being Catholic, so deeply are they scandalized by this great evil. Understandably so. But I don't think this is necessarily the best or the most courageous choice.

At the same time, it is also a fact that many—probably the great majority—of Catholic moral theologians disagree and would advise a woman that she may, in good conscience, use an artificial method of birth control to avoid a life-threatening pregnancy.

The bottom line answer to your question is that God alone can forgive sins, so of course Catholics confess sins to God, even when they confess them to a priest in the sacrament that is called, variously, Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Conversion, Penance, or Confession.

As part of its "Ask" series FāVS is launching an "Ask A Catholic" column where readers can submit questions to local Catholic author Mitch Finley, who will answer the questions in a column here on SpokaneFāVS.com

Imagine a boy hits a baseball through the front window. He stammers an apology to his dad. “I forgive you, son,” Dad replies, as a tender smile breaks across his face. Dad turns slightly more serious: “But let’s talk about how to get this fixed."