Pat McCloskey, OFM

What is the Catholic Church’s position on entering prayer? Is it New Age? Is it allowed for Catholics? Why or why not?

It is allowed, despite what some self-appointed guardians of Catholic orthodoxy are claiming on the Internet.

In a 2014 article in America (December 3), Sidney Callahan wrote: “The simple steps of the method are to choose a sacred word as a symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within. Then, settling comfortably, you introduce the sacred word and remain quietly attentive within God’s presence.

How does the Book of Revelation speak to 2018 Catholics? Should all its visions, images, warnings, cautions, advice, and guidance be applied to their spiritual and temporal lives?

The Book of Revelation, sometimes called the Apocalypse (from the Greek verb “to reveal “), was intended as a book of consolation for Christians who were suffering violent persecutions from pagan rulers in the last decade of the first century AD. Its affirmation that God’s power and justice will ultimately prevail continues to console Christians.

One of my high school students asked if someone with a prosthetic hand could be ordained. If so, would that hand be anointed? What if a man was born without arms?

I think that all the things you mentioned are possible. The Catholic Church has established various impediments to ordination, but it can also dispense from many of them.

At one time, a man blind in his left eye could not be ordained because that was his “canonical eye. ” The missal rested on a stand to the priest’s left at the altar.

During Pope Francis’ visit to Chile and Peru last January, he married a couple during one of the flights. Does Church law permit that?

Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriage, 41, and Paula Podest Reuiz, 39, had been civilly married for several years but not in the Catholic Church. They approached the pope about their situation, and after an extended conversation he offered to witness the wedding on the next flight during his pastoral visit.

What were the customs in Jesus’ day for young Jewish people regarding courtship, engagements, and physical intimacy before marriage? What about any children conceived or born before the wedding?

My daughter-in-law has told lies about me, disrespected my husband, and won’t let us speak to our grandchildren. My son totally believes what she says.

I cannot stop crying, and my heart is simply crushed. I realize that God knows the truth and knows what she is doing. I have been praying hard, but the hurt is very great. What can I do to open my son’s eyes without seeming as though I’m simply trying to cause problems?

Do you have any good reading material for my son who is doubting the need for the Church in his life? He specifically mentioned the seeming randomness of being born into a Catholic family instead of one of a different faith.

He asked, “How can it be that I am able to be saved because I was born here, but if I were born in Egypt (or any number of other places), I would not really have the same chance? “