Jenna Marie Cooper Q: I have a question on discernment of private revelations. I don’t mean big ones like Medjugorje, etc., but individuals who say they ‘have had a word from the Lord’. Couldn’t this be just their own opinion interpreted as God talking? A: Yes, this is a concern. With these kinds of…
It is common to hear, ‘It’s a miracle’, for a sports comeback victory. Does the Church actually have a definition of a miracle?
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: When I was Evangelical, we were told Jesus wanted to heal us, every time; we need only ask “in his name”. If we weren’t healed it was because we lacked sufficient faith to “claim it”. I remember my Catholic Grandma saying though, that sometimes God heals and sometimes not, and…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: Is it always wrong in every case to lie? What about the so-called ‘little white lie?’ I’m thinking of situations where you tell a person something you know is false to spare their feelings, when they’re likely never going to know the truth anyway. A: Our Catholic Faith teaches us that…
Jenna Marie Cooper Apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes, along with mystical writings of various visionary saints such as St Faustina’s diary, are considered “private revelations”. This is as opposed to “public revelation,” which is the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture as it has been interpreted by the Church’s teaching authority down through…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: Regarding the people Jesus raised from the dead, where were their souls while they were dead? A: Among the many miracles Jesus performed as part of his public ministry, some of the most remarkable include his raising several recently-deceased people from the dead. In the Gospels we read of the raising…
Q: We’ve been wondering about the wording in the prayer used for those who attend Sunday Mass virtually. The phrases: “Come AT LEAST spiritually into my heart” and “I love You AS IF You were already there” don’t reflect good theology. Don’t we believe that the Bible and our faith assure us of God’s constant…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: My new parish priest’s wife died before he became a priest. He sometimes even talks about his grandchildren during the homily. Why is this allowed? He obviously wasn’t always celibate, and I thought priests had to be celibate? A: Latin (a.k.a. “Roman”) Catholic priests are indeed expected to be celibate.…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: I’m reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and have a question about ccc 460. Can you please fully explain the lines: “For the son of God became man so that we might become God” and “… might make men gods.” I am to become God? That doesn’t seem right.…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: How do we reconcile the story of Adam and Eve and original sin with evolution? A: We can say the creation story in the Book of Genesis – while being true – was not meant as a literal or technical scientific account of how the material world was formed. Although…