It is always better to root for someone than to root against someone. What you really hope for is your team’s success, not the opponent’s failure, even though the latter is a necessary consequence of the former. (An even better attitude would be to hope that the best team may win, but for many sports fans that’s too much to ask.) In any case, your question applies to healthy, friendly competition on the playing field. In that realm, as you’re perched on the edge of your seat lauding or lamenting, it’s okay to wish that every play go your way. It would be a sin to cheat or sabotage the game to put your team at an advantage. But just cheering for the outcome you desire is fine. And when the game…

It’s actually a misconception that the Church advises against the use of fertility drugs. The Church teaches that union and procreation are the twin purposes of sexual intimacy, and that sexual relations are reserved to a man and woman united in the sacramental bond of marriage. In evaluating a drug or technology, the question to ask is whether it helps a married couple to be united with one another and open to the gift of life, or, alternately, if it diminishes or bypasses that union or closes the couple to the gift of life.
Thus in Catholic teaching, the use of fertility drugs that stimulate ovulation is in fact permitted; these drugs can increase the possibility of a pregnancy resulting from normal marital…

The Church claims special authority to speak only about matters concerning faith and morals, but also asks Catholics (and all those of good will) to consider its arguments about other matters. Though it isn’t a question of faith or morals, the Church clearly and overwhelmingly sides with the scientists who argue that climate change is happening. Pope Benedict has written about this numerous times, and especially because of his focus on ecological concerns in Caritas in Veritate he is now being called “The Green Pope.”
On a moral level, the pope asks each of us to radically question our own consumerist lifestyles and have a concern for others first — and not just those that exist today,…

Many couples experience the heartbreak and disappointment of being unable to conceive a child. While the Church encourages research that may help them to conceive, it also notes that some medical interventions available today are contrary to Catholic teaching. In the understanding of the Church, procreation and union are the twin purposes of sexual intimacy; conceiving a child is uniquely and necessarily linked to the loving sexual union between its mother and father. Any procedure that disassociates the procreative act from the sexual act is in violation of Church teaching. This rules out artificial insemination, even when the sperm and egg belong to the married couple, because of the involvement of third…

According to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (nos. 328-29), all vessels should be made of precious metal; or, in the case of the United States, a durable material such as an ebony or hard wood. The reason why glass is discouraged is because glass can break very easily, and the sacred vessel should not be so fragile. However, despite the fact that glass is not mentioned as a suitable material for the Chalice, you will see some churches using glass for the sacred vessels.…

In the Gospel of Luke, when Mary arrives at the home of her cousin Elizabeth, Mary proclaims a hymn of praise to God (Luke 1:46-55). The first part of it focuses on the greatness of God and what he has done in Mary’s life, while the second part talks about how God brings down the rich and powerful and lifts up the humble and lowly. The hymn finishes with a reference to God’s promise to the Israelites. These verses are often called the Magnificat because in Latin the first verse is “Magnificat anima mea Dominum.” It is recited each evening as part of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official daily prayers of the Church.
The Magnificat also provides a glimpse into Mary’s faith, character, and spirituality. Pope John…

“And with your spirit” is the new way of saying “And also with you.” For a good explanation of the difference see this article about the Top Five Liturgical Changes (hint: “And with your spirit” is 1!).…

A few months back, the question of whether it’s okay to wear a rosary around one’s neck engendered a great discussion in the combox. In my article, I shared that I couldn’t find any formal prohibition against doing so, and readers contributed all sorts of fascinating insights about their personal feelings for or against this practice. (Commenters: thank you!).
So when I saw your question, I had to reflect on whether putting a rosary on the car mirror is any different from putting a rosary around one’s neck. And from a spiritual perspective, there doesn’t seem to be much difference. It all goes back to the vital question of why you are putting the rosary there, and whether you are treating the rosary as a sacramental…

Each liturgical season has a special color assigned to it that determines what color the priest and deacon’s vestments are and also to determine how the church is decorated. Here is a basic list of the colors:
White: White is used for all the feast days and during the Christmas and Easter seasons.
Red: Red is used on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Pentecost. It is also used when we celebrate the feast day of a Martyr.
Green: Green is the color of ordinary time.
Violet or Purple: Purple is used for both the Advent and Christmas seasons.
Rose: Pink (or Rose) is used only twice in our liturgical year, on Guadate and Laetare Sundays.…

Question: Was Joseph a deadbeat dad? What happened to Joseph after Jesus’ birth?
Though the Gospels don’t say much about Joseph in general, there is clear Scriptural evidence that he was very present in Jesus’ young life. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Mary and Joseph taking the baby Jesus to the temple to be presented, in accordance with the law of Moses (Luke 2:22-38). After that experience, Luke explains that the family returned to Galilee, settling in Nazareth (Luke 2:39-40).
The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the flight into Egypt, when Joseph takes Mary and the baby Jesus into Egypt to escape Herod (Matthew 2: 13-15). In this story, Joseph assumes the role of protector of his wife and child,…

When you look at the Annunciation story in the gospel of Luke, you can see that the angel’s message is pretty astonishing.
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33).
I think that if most of us were in Mary’s position, it would take some effort to wrap our minds around what we had just been told. Moreover, as a virgin, Mary naturally has a hard time understanding exactly how she could become pregnant:…

The word “hex”, meaning a spell or curse, derives from a German word for practicing sorcery; the word “jinx”, meaning something that brings bad luck, may derive from the Latin name of a bird used in witchcraft in ancient times. Catholics do not believe in either, nor in the many similar superstitions abounding in popular culture. The idea of a supernatural being who can be called upon by a magic formula to bring harm to another belongs to a medieval world view. Today, we know that the mischief of Satan – the word means “adversary” or “accuser” – happens within. Human beings cause plenty of damage out of our own sinfulness without any outside help. Things like hexes and jinxes exist only on the pages…

The Hail, Holy Queen (known as the “Salve Regina” in the original Latin) is one of the most well-known prayers about Mary. It is a prayer of petition, asking Mary for her prayers on our behalf. Various sources place its origins in the eleventh or twelfth century. In medieval times, monks and friars sang it at the end of the day, and it is currently one of the four prayers to Mary that make up a part of the Divine Office (the official prayers of the Church that are prayed at certain times of the day). The Hail, Holy Queen is also prayed at the conclusion of the rosary.
The prayer is:
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs,…

It is always better to root for someone than to root against someone. What you really hope for is your team’s success, not the opponent’s failure, even though the latter is a necessary consequence of the former. (An even better attitude would be to hope that the best team may win, but for many sports fans that’s too much to ask.) In any case, your question applies to healthy, friendly competition on the playing field. In that realm, as you’re perched on the edge of your seat lauding or lamenting, it’s okay to wish that every play go your way. It would be a sin to cheat or sabotage the game to put your team at an advantage. But just cheering for the outcome you desire is fine. And when the game is over, be gracious, set…

Ordinarily in the Mass, the priest wears three types of sacred vestments:
Alb: This garment is common to both ordained and instituted members of the Church. The Alb is a long white garment that is worn over ordinary clothing. Often, a cincture is used around the waist so that the alb can fit properly.
Chasuble: This is a vestment that comes in many colors and the priest wears the particular color of the liturgical season. The Chasuble is worn over the alb and stole.
Stole: The stole is worn by the priest around his neck. It is a long, narrow rectangular vestment that will also bear the color of the liturgical season. (Please note: a stole is also worn by the deacon, but he wears it across his chest.)
For more information on…

The Gospels make no mention of Elizabeth as Mary’s midwife (nor do they mention any other midwife, either). There is a local midwife who appears in the Protoevangelium of James, the apocrphyal text written about 150 AD; this text, though, doesn’t have the authority of Scripture, so it’s hard to look upon it as a completely reliable source, especially when its account of the birth of Jesus diverges in several ways from what we find in the Gospel infancy narratives.
It seems fairly unlikely that Elizabeth would have been Mary’s midwife, given that she is not mentioned at all in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth. The Mary and Elizabeth relationship is given so much emphasis in the Gospel of Luke (see the…

Suffering and death are part of life, for humans and animals alike. We strive to eliminate unnecessary suffering brought about by cruelty and sin. But there is no such thing as a life without suffering, in spite of what popular culture promises. For human beings, suffering can be redemptive and lead one to a deeper commitment to Christ who suffered and died for us on the cross. For animals, the natural suffering of old age also seems to be a part of God’s plan for them as God’s creatures.
In an affluent culture, some people spend money on medical interventions to prolong pets’ lives in a way that would have been unimaginable a generation ago and that remains unimaginable in places where such sophisticated medical…

While the members of the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” consider themselves “Christians” very few Christians would recognize the Jesus that is taught by the LDS. While they use “Christian,” the same words that other Christians use, the meanings they attribute to those words are actually quite different. For example, they Mormons do have the same belief in the nature of God as Christians do. According to the Articles of Faith on their own materials, God is rather malleable is simply “exalted man.”
“We believe in a God who is Himself progressive, whose majesty is intelligence; whose perfection consists in eternal advancement — a Being who has attained His…

Even though Mary was the mother of the Son of God, she didn’t get a free pass in the diaper department. The Church teaches that Jesus was human in all things but sin. Thus, just like any other baby, he ate, digested, and yes, needed his diapers changed (or whatever passed for diapers in first-century Palestine). Unless Joseph was a dad who was radically ahead of his time, this stinky task would have traditionally fallen to Mary. It’s just one of the many ways that she, like any other mom, sacrificed her comfort to care for her child.…

In a word, yes. Our whole moral law rests on the great commandment given to us by Jesus: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. … You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (see Matthew 22:36-40). It is difficult to imagine truly loving our neighbors without attention to their needs, especially if they are poor. And one of the most beautiful and challenging implications of Christianity is that everyone is our neighbor. Just because someone looks different or lives on the other side of the world doesn’t mean that he or she is not my brother or sister. I still have a responsibility to any fellow human being in need.
That can be a daunting responsibility,…