Category Archives: ASK FATHER Question Box

QUAERITUR: I am unsure about whether my marriage is valid.

From a reader: Can ones marriage be valid if it is clear that impediments listed in Canon Law were present at the time of the marriage (and continued to be as well) ? If not valid, then can the couple … Continue reading

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QUAERITUR: How should we approach a priest to ask for the Extraordinary Form?

From a reader: A group at my parish is planning on approaching our pastor to request Mass in the Extraordinary Form. I would like to be prepared to answer his questions about the “mechanics” of putting on this Mass: training … Continue reading

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged | 57 Comments

QUAERITUR: Can a pastor/liturgist force servers to receive Communion under both kinds?

From a reader with my emphases: Our parish liturgist has sent out the following to all Altar Servers and Acolytes who assist at the Novus Ordo mass. “Servers at Saint Mary receive both Species if they receive at all.  If … Continue reading

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged | 36 Comments

QUAERITUR: How to confess well? I worry I am not doing a good enough job of it.

From a reader: Hi. I am convert. [… S]ince being brought up in a protestant tradition and only becoming catholic as an adult, I was never exposed to the traditions, the formality. In our confirmation classes we was taught the … Continue reading

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A priest who ‘get’s it’ about how people receive Communion!

WDTPRS KUDOS to Fr. Lankeit! Here is the text from his 30 January bulletin of the Cathedral of Sts. Simon and Jude in , Very Rev. Fr. Fr. John Lankeit. Here is a link to the PDF if you want … Continue reading

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Fr. Z KUDOS, Just Too Cool | Tagged , | 33 Comments

QUAERITUR: What should members of a chant group wear?

From a reader: I am a member of a men’s Gregorian chant group, and recently a local priest whose parish we were singing at voiced reservations about our uniform (black cassock and white surplice).  He preferred we not look like … Continue reading

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged , | 27 Comments

QUAERITUR: Lay people decide on their own to have a Communion service, help themselves.

From a reader: At Mass yesterday morning, the substitute priest forgot to show up. Several members of the congregation took it upon themselves to have a “Communion Service” with all the readings, etc. One of the EMHCs opened the Tabernacle … Continue reading

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged | 32 Comments

QUAERITUR: Of subdeacons and tunics

From a deacon reader: I was in the middle of some research last night and discovered some new tidbits on vestments. More precisely, the difference between a dalmatic and a tunicle. I captured a number of my thoughts on my … Continue reading

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QUAERITUR: I haven’t been to confession for 10 years! I don’t know what to do!

From a reader: I haven’t been to Confession in 10 years, and I’ve only gone three times back when I was still in grade school. It’s possible I wasn’t catechized in the sacrament properly because I don’t recall requiring the … Continue reading

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QUAERITUR: What sort of candles can be blessed at Candlemas?

From a reader: If I bring personal candles to the EF mass on Candlemass, must they be made of beeswax? Can they be entirely made of non-beeswax (paraffin)? Not sure if the old regulations about things like this still apply … Continue reading

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