Ask a Priest

5,028 Responses

Rebekah, on February 5, 2023 at 2:45 pm said:

My mother and her sister (my aunt) despise each other. They hadn’t spoken for years until their mother (my grandma) had to be put in a nursing facility. They were then forced to have some limited communication, and seemed to be on the same page. Let’s just say that a third family member got involved yesterday and completely severed what little bridge of communication that was there. It is now chaos between two women in their 60’s and I’m left holding the ball… I gladly would have moved her to my home and taken care of her. I suffer from a mental illness that sometimes confuses me. I need some guidance on, or just a Father to pray over the whole situation please. I am praying, trying to keep calm, and to stay on top of my medications. Bless you.

FATHER JOE: Family relationships can often be tense. It is said that we can choose our friends but we are given our families. Life is messy and sometimes there are no good solutions to life’s problems. The issue of caring for an elderly parent or grandparent is a common situation these days. Everyone has an opinion but the responsibility is often dismissed or passed off upon others. Nursing care and facilities are incredibly expensive. As the care becomes increasingly extensive and time-demanding, it can leave you with few options. One may have his or her own health or mental issues which compound the situation and are often serious. How do you take care of someone else when you are struggling with your own care needs? Continue to urge mature dialogue and peace in the family. I will keep you and the matter in prayer.
Skip, on February 4, 2023 at 1:48 pm said:

I am Catholic. And for a time period I heard this question asked to me by friends that left the Catholic Church , and honestly I use to not really know what to say. I wasn’t as deep into my faith as I am today. However, I will say, today now with technology and entertainment at the highest levels in history of man kind, our brain wants validation both intellectually and emotionally and it wants it FAST. If we can know something or feel something instantly based upon how the brain feels and processed based on the way we are attached to technology, then it’s either not true or we can’t believe it. It’s simple as that.

With that said, the Catholic Church offers us order. The greatest most deepest most intimate form of “Church” through the mass, the sacraments, the saints, and the full order of details of living scripture not based on how we feel, but the depths of belief. The depths of an intimate relationship with our lord.

I honestly think comparing is the first slip up we make as people as to think how we are to encounter salvation.

We can’t expect someone to believe that’s the only path to salvation. Many people on earth have no idea what Catholic is. So first off, I’d encourage you to rethink about your own belief. What do you believe? What do you have knowledge of? Do you believe in the mass, do you believe in the sacraments, do you believe in all the orders of the church.
If not, then it is your free will to choose how you believe in God.
HOWEVER, haha I think where we miss the mark and get confused is when we spiritually and intellectually know what we believe, but emotionally allow ourselves to not commit to that order of belief.
Lastly I see many people let one or two or even a few people of the Catholic Church which may make bad decisions or not as reversing as it should be in certain positions, and we allow that to take over our emotions and leave the Church.

So my best foot forward for the question of is the Catholic Church the only way to salvation?, the real questions is “what do you believe?”

We should not live two different beliefs in my opinion. That’s double minded.
However, I believe we must respect another’s belief and how the encounter through TRUE conscious Not emotions, how we receive salvation.

Peace be with you

FATHER JOE: Salvation is a gift and God sets the terms. We cannot merit it apart from Christ. If there were others ways to be saved then the redemptive death of our Lord would have been unnecessary. However, the Church has always taught that Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth. The gates of heaven closed by sin are opened by the Savior. There is an intimate communion between Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. While the Church is composed of sinners, the Church is holy because Christ is holy. Our Lord gives us the Church as the great sacrament of salvation. We encounter Jesus in his Church. The Mass is an earthly participation in the marriage banquet of heaven. It is also a re-presentation of the saving oblation of Calvary. Given this truth, those Catholics who have fallen away from worship are literally turning their backs to the gift of salvation and heaven. Those outside the faith need to be evangelized by believers. A failure to spread the word in fulfillment of the great commission is a failure to love as we should. Peace!
Jon, on February 4, 2023 at 7:14 am said:

Where does Jesus Christ stand in Christianity

FATHER JOE: He is Christianity and the head of the Church.