Question: Dear Father, I have my children in a Catholic school and have heard talk about the Leuven Project for assessing Catholic school identity. I don’t know anything about it. Can you enlighten me? The name Leuven is the Flemish name for the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. The university is perhaps better known by its […]
Author Archive | Fr John Flader
Fr John Flader: Latin never went, nor did the Vatican II fathers mean to eliminate it
Question: Dear Father, In the early 1960s I was received into the Church while studying in England. At that time the Mass was celebrated in Latin, and I have always enjoyed Mass in this language. When and why did the Church stop celebrating in Latin? While the Church has never stopped celebrating in Latin, the […]
Fr Flader: The Internal Forum is no substitute for the ruling of a tribunal on marriage
To clarify concepts, the external forum is the forum of public acts observable by others. In this forum, for example, a couple are married in the Church before a priest or deacon and two witnesses and they are deemed to be validly married until such time as one of the spouses dies or the marriage […]
Q&A with Fr John Flader: Where did our traditions around Holy Water come from?
Blessing ourselves with holy water has a number of different purposes and meanings. The first goes back to the Old Testament, where those engaging in various functions in the worship of God always washed themselves with water first in order to be purified for their spiritual function. We see this, for example, as early as […]
Fr John Flader: Pagan origins of ‘Easter’ and the Christian bent of building on culture
Before we enter into the origin of the word Easter we should remind ourselves that when we celebrate Easter, by whatever name we call it, we are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ and with it our Redemption. It is the most important feast day of the year for Christians and it is truly a happy […]
Q&A with Fr John Flader: What are we to make of the Francis pontificate?
Question: Dear Father, In the four years that Pope Francis been in office, I have heard all sorts of things about him: that he is a great Pope, a liberal, a heretic or even that his election was not valid. What should I think about him and how should I react to all this? I too have […]
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Fr John Flader: conscience is not a law unto itself, must be well-formed
Dear Father, I have often heard people say, “It’s up to you. It’s a matter for your conscience” as if we could do virtually anything as long as our conscience approved it. Somehow that doesn’t seem right to me. Can you please shed some light on this? You are right. Conscience is not a law unto […]
Fr John Flader: Forgiveness in the Eucharist? Yes and no
Dear Father, Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia says that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Does this mean that Communion actually forgives sins, even mortal sins, and that it can be given as medicine for those in mortal sin? The text you cite […]
Fr John Flader: God or His eternal absence – wanna bet?
Question: Dear Father, I remember hearing once about an argument for living as if there were life after death called Pascal’s wager. Can you enlighten me as to exactly what this argument is, as I have a friend who doesn’t believe in life after death? The argument, as you say, is called Pascal’s wager and it […]
Fr John Flader: evidence for life after death from purgatory and hell
Question: Dear Father, You said in a recent column that you were going to offer more evidence for life after death, besides Our Lady’s fulfilled prophecy at Fatima, near-death experiences in which someone met people in the next life, and the fact that the soul, being spiritual, must necessarily live on when the body dies. What are […]
Q&A with Fr John Flader: Why believe in life after death?
Dear Father, A colleague of work has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and we were discussing what happens after death. One friend says that after death there is nothing, that life is finished. How do I convince him that there is indeed life after death? Unfortunately there are many people who think like your workmate […]
What does Pope Francis say about divorce and remarriage in Amoris Laetitia?
Dear Father, I am confused about some things Pope Francis wrote in Amoris Laetitia concerning circumstances in which divorced and remarried people might be admitted to the sacraments. Can you shed some light on this? Much has been written and said about this apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, with numerous critics saying the Pope has departed […]