What is a Catholic Patriarch?
By Günther Simmermacher – Question: The caption to your colourised photo of Pope St John XXIII’s funeral in your “History in Colour” item (June 2021) refers to...
Category: Question & Answer
Cremation and the Church
What is the Church’s modern view of cremating the dead, since in the past cremation was considered a pagan practice? Is cremation for the laity only?
Cremation: What’s Allowed, What Isn’t
The Vatican recently issued a document on cremation, outlining what is allowed and what should be avoided. Here are the answers to Frequently Asked Questions. In 1963,...
May We Scatter Ashes of Our Loved Ones?
We Catholics can so easily forget that we are a more tightly knit community than we think. The Church asks us to be particularly mindful of this when a loved one dies.
Did Jesus Rise ‘Again’?
By Father Kenneth Doyle – Question: I am confused about a statement which is in both the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. It says that Jesus “rose...
When Are Our Sins Forgiven?
Question: I cannot answer Catholics and others when they tell me they are forgiven for sin when they ask Jesus directly, for example, in the Lord’s Prayer....
Why We Baptise Infants
Many years ago when my first child was born, I was told by my parish priest that I would commit a mortal sin if I did not...
Will South Africa Get a New Cardinal?
Question: With Cardinal Wilfrid Napier’s retirement as archbishop of Durban, will his successor, Archbishop Siegfried Mandla Jwara, become a cardinal? Answer: That is entirely up to the...
Communion: Who May Come Up?
Question: At a funeral service, the celebrant stated that practising Catholics could receive Communion, but non-practising Catholics could not. He also said that practising non-Catholics could receive....
Why the title Mary, Queen of Angels?
Question: What is the biblical basis for our claim that Mary is Queen of Angels? Answer: The title Queen of Angels is only one of the many...
Are Anglican Confirmations Valid?
A Catholic boy I know was confirmed in an Anglican church. Was this a valid confirmation? Didn’t Pope Leo XIII state in his encyclical Apostolicae curae (1896)...
Communion for the Divorced?
There seems to be a lot of confusion and opinion about whether a divorced person may receive Communion or not. In 1970 my wife left me for...
