As they share in a teen’s journey toward confirmation, sponsors offer their prayers, experience and their own faith example — as well as a lot of listening.
Archive for Category: "Faith"
With effort and creativity, sponsor relationship continues after confirmation
Sometimes it takes five calls to get a date on the calendar but Mary Pavek and her goddaughter Claire Sorteberg stay in touch despite their busy schedules.
Only ordained ministers can preach the homily during Mass
Lay preaching in the Catholic Church was the topic of a recent story in the StarTribune newspaper. The Catholic Spirit asked Father John Paul Erickson, director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship, to answer a few questions on the topic to clarify the church’s teaching.
RCIA: An end and beginning
When the 14 members of this year’s Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults class at St. Mark Catholic Church in Shakopee come together at the parish on Easter Vigil, April 23, for full initiation into the church, in some sense it will be the end of their journey, but in many ways, it will be just the beginning.
21st Century Stations of the Cross (multimedia meditation)
There is something powerful about revisiting the final moments of Jesus’ life as a human being. That’s what draws many Catholics to meditate on the Stations of the Cross.
Workshop to help prepare for use of new Roman Missal
Learn more about the upcoming changes in the prayers of the Mass published in the third edition of the new Roman Missal, during a “Mystical Body, Mystical Voice” workshop.
Gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is associated with a number of sets of gifts and fruits. The sacrament of confirmation “increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1303).
Confirmation continues to support our faith journey
Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments that belongs to a special group of three sacraments known as the sacraments of initiation. The other two are baptism and Eucharist. The sacrament of confirmation is administered only once.
The Genesis problem
How can anyone believe that God made the visible universe in six days, that all the species were created at the same time, that light existed before the sun and moon, etc., etc? How can believers possibly square the naïve cosmology of Genesis with the textured and sophisticated theories of Newton, Darwin, Einstein and Stephen Hawking?
Is your parish a “marriage-building” community?
World Day of Day of Marriage (Feb. 13) and National Marriage Week (Feb. 7-14) provide us with an opportunity to celebrate, reflect and give thanks for the gift of marriage; also to realize the uniqueness of this call and its importance for the good of society.
Bread and wine for the Body and Blood must be uncorrupted
The Catholic Spirit recently asked Father John Paul Erickson, director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship, to explain the church’s teaching regarding the elements of the Eucharist.
Eucharist – The source and summit of Christian life. Primer on the sacrament.
The Eucharist is one of the seven sacraments, and it stands above the others. While baptism is the gateway sacrament, the beginning of belief in Jesus as Lord, and incorporation into the Body of Christ, the church; it is the Eucharist that is the source and summit of the Christian life.
Will the real St. Valentine please step up?
Feb. 14 is St. Valentine’s Day, but which St. Valentine is commemorated on that day?
Project Moses promotes 10 Commandments
Can you recite the Ten Commandments? All of them?
Like many Catholics, you probably learned the Ten Commandments in grade school or Sunday school, and a few might have slipped your mind since then. (It’s OK, we won’t tell your Sunday school teacher!)
First of our 7 sacraments welcomes us into the Body of Christ
The New Testament describes the baptism of several individuals and some households. Other early church documents testify to the development of rites and celebrations surrounding the process of initiation in the early church.
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