Category: Know Your Faith

As a diocesan priest, upon my ordination I made two promises to the Archbishop and to the Church. The first is the promise of celibacy. The second promise obedience to the bishop and his successors. Celibacy is the promise that a priest will not get married or have children. It…

Very few of the saints have ever had experiences in which God speaks to them in a loud booming voice or even in a whispering voice. Often, in the Christian life, the voice of God is something that must be discerned… something that we must give quiet time and reflection…

After we pray the Our Father together,  the priest or deacon invites the people: “Let us offer each other the sign of peace.”   In the United States,  the custom of the sign of peace has traditionally been a handshake.  In other countries, it is often a slight bow or the…

When we go to confession, we make our Act of Contrition (also known as the prayer of sorrow). What exactly is contrition? The catechism defines contrition as “sorrow of the soul and hatred for sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.” Contrition is absolutely necessary for forgiveness…

The “Know Your Faith” series was originally published as a column I wrote in St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Omaha’s bulletin. I will slowly make some of the better ones available on this site. Our minds are not perfect, sometimes we forget things. What happens if one of these…