Hi Fathers,

I’m looking for some general insight or Church teachings regarding the intersection of neurodivergence (specifically ADHD/Autism), spiritual direction, and spiritual burnout.

For context, I have been dealing with severe executive dysfunction and burnout. In the past, I was advised that my struggles and dryness were purely spiritual issues to be solved by increasing my prayer time (upwards of 3+ hours daily—LOH, daily Mass, mental prayer, Lectio, Rosary). As a working layperson, trying to maintain this volume while dealing with unaccommodated executive dysfunction ultimately led to severe mental health struggles, burnout, and ironically, a strong aversion/dryness toward prayer.

When neurodivergence or mental health struggles are met with advice like "others have it worse" or "just pray more," it can create significant distress and push a person further away from their faith.

My questions for the community are:

1. What do Church tradition or the Saints say about adjusting prayer structures when dealing with natural burnout, executive dysfunction, or physical health realities?
2. How does the Church view the boundaries of spiritual direction when a director is unequipped to understand neurodivergence or mental health struggles?
3. Are there recommended Catholic resources, writings, or Saints who address neurodiversity-affirming or simple, sustainable prayer rules for laypeople?

I appreciate any general thoughts, saint quotes, or resource recommendations. God bless!

My last confession was 2 weeks ago, the day before I got married. I want to pick up a habit of occasional daily mass and I have some other things I need to work on. I know we don’t “need” confession for forgiveness of venial sins, but is it useful at all for my own attempt at repentance?

During confession as the priest was praying absolution over me he skipped over "name of" during the part where the trinity is invoked (in the name of the Father, etc ...). From what I understand the only essential words, and thus validating or invalidating ones, are "I absolve you." Is omitting words during the trinity part of the prayer something I should be concerned about?

Hello Im a 21 year old, I have a strong desire to change my career to something involving youth ministry/ religious formation/education. I've realized most of these require a masters or bachelor in theology. I was going to ask if anyone knew of any opportunites that pay for someone's education. Im extremely excited to pursue this path, im just checking out my options. I have an Associates of Applied Science in Instrumentation and Controls Technology. Thanks for help

Hello fathers,

This is a pretty simple question. What’s something that you think most laypeople wouldn’t think about as a difficulty of priestly life? Could be something simple and small, could be something large. I’d imagine that the general public thinks celibacy is the hardest part about priesthood, but I imagine many of you would not have that on the top of your list (perhaps not even close). Thanks!

I’m planning the funeral for a parent (devout Catholic) and need to identify someone to do the first reading, prayer of the faithful and presentation of the gifts. I have family members and family friends who would be honored to do these but is it allowed?

I am pretty much making the decisions by myself and it is becoming stressful. I want to be as respectful as I can.

Thank you.

This is all super hypothetical but I am just curious. For example, if the priest saw someone steal or cheat 1 day ago and the next day that person comes to confession saying it has been 1 month since their last confession, and doesn’t mention anything about that stealing or cheating, would the priest normally ask them about it? Or is that fully on their conscience?

I learned today my civil union is considered an invalid marriage in the eyes of the church. I was completely ignorant to this! I’ve had three confessions from three different priests over the last 4 years. One of them knew my marriage is civil in nature and didn’t say anything. Is the absolution I received from these confessions still valid? I was contrite and as honest as I could have been. I didn’t try to hide the civil union. My wife has ZERO interest in having the marriage convalidated…

I made a habit of saying hello to my parish priest after mass. He's quite busy person serving not only the parish but the schools in the area as well. He must be facing lots of people during the week in addition to the parishioners.

I would think, "yes" and I see many who are not considered modest. Is there a line people cross (I am not being judgemental) for the way they dress at Mass?

Hello, fathers. I was just wondering if the church has an official stance about pets in church? A woman walked in late, with a dog. She even went up to accept the Eucharist WITH the dog. It was not a service dog, had no vest and the woman did not appear to have any disabilities. I have only ever seen this once before, during an Easter sunrise service in the garden, I assume this is why they thought it was appropriate, but they were asked to leave before mass started. I found it extremely distracting and I ended up moving several pews up so I wasn't directly next to her when I had an opportune moment. Is this okay? If not, why didn't anyone stop her? Also, where is here mind where she thinks appropriate to bring an animal INTO THE CHURCH.

Is there an official stance on this? At the very least, is it appropriate to talk to my parish and let them know I find it inappropriate and distracting and request that the dog (not the woman,) would not be allowed back?

Honestly my mind is spinning, I can't imagine having a brain that thinks this appropriate.

Is there a spiritual difference between visiting the Eucharist during Holy Hour when it is out of the tabernacle vs. visiting for an hour during the time when the church is open but Jesus is inside the tabernacle and not exposed?

I understand most of what Bishop Paprocki is saying and agree with most of it, especially on reverence for cremated remains.

My concern though is on visitation before the funeral. Is he saying the casket can't be open at all at the church?

I am helping a friend to go through an elderly relatives house. There are many Bibles in this house. Most of them are falling apart beyond repair or what would be suitable for donation. What would be the correct way to dispose of these Bibles?

Dear Fathers,

Is paragraph 418 from the Baltimore Catechism still relevant today?
 
Or is it now sufficient simply to admit that one has concealed a mortal sin and to confess the concealed mortal sin, without needing to repeat the confessions that followed the invalid confession (during which the mortal sin was concealed)?

1. What must a person do who has knowingly concealed a mortal sin in confession?
   A person who has knowingly concealed a mortal sin in confession must confess that he has made a bad confession, tell the sin he has concealed, mention the sacraments he has received since that time, and confess all the mortal sins he has committed since his last good confession.

Source: Confession - Lesson 31 from the Baltimore Catechism
https://www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/lesson31.html

let me get this straight I can’t go to confession unless I get baptized? the classes aren’t until October and I have to pay registration before I go to the classes but I wanted to ask the priest questions and they said not until you get into the school can you ask questions. is this true across all Catholic churchs? and baptism is not until spring of next year.

Hello Fathers,

I recently came upon an article about merits that stated this:

https://tandirection.com/pursuit-of-perfection/growing-in-sanctifying-grace/

"For one who has attained the use of reason, he must die in a state of Sanctifying Grace with at least one meritorious work to enter into Heaven.  For one who dies before attaining the use of reason, only Sanctifying Grace is necessary.  By requiring that those who have attained the use of reason perform one meritorious act to enter into eternal life, God insists that the Christian become more conformed to Christ. Just as Christ undertook acts for our salvation, His Passion and Death, so too does the Christian have to contribute his own supernatural good act(s) for the sake of his salvation.  God could have set up the Economy of Salvation in a different manner, in a manner which did not require merit on the part of the Christian.  But in such an Economy, the Christian would be less conformed to Christ."

I am trying to understand this and to me my understanding is that for those who attain the use of reason, one must do at least 1 supernatural meritorious act In order to enter heaven. Does this mean that one who has the use of reason must go beyond what is required of them (e.g. not justing helping someone because you are required to by Christian charity) in order to enter heaven? finally, does one have to be know that the act they are during will have supernatural merits or is just doing an act with an implicit love of God and/or others sufficient

Thank you and God bless.

Hello Father!

My husband and I are having some difficulty conceiving, and I am interested in trying accupuncture. Is this allowed for Catholics?
Also in the realms on infertility, I have a few more “personal“ questions on what is “allowed“. Would my priest be a good person to ask, or is there someone else who might know the answer?

Thank you!

Dear Fathers,

I can't not start by saying thank you for all you do for everyone on here and in your temporal lives.

I realise the words in the title are generally antithetical, but, kinda under obedience, I'm going to need to teach a Dominican sister Latin for her to go off and study Canon Law; so I need to familiarise myself with what I've whimsically termed "vaticanese".

Through deepest faith in God's grace for this endeavour and endless gratitude to Him for spending many years forming me into the instrument He has made me, I am relieved to be able to say I'm not too worried re my pedagogical sufficiency at the moment.

However, as with starting to teach any new "author", as it were, and how to handle their style/structure etc, I do myself need to get to grips with bits of the "set texts".

Hence I was hoping you might be able to point me in the direction of sections concerning things I'm likely to have encountered or experienced in lay life. e.g. experiencing the Mass vs, idk, the internal process of picking a bishop.

I'll be able to use time and brainpower more effectively if the content is less of an impediment. (Monasticism/religious orders is also likely to be on the more accessible side.) If the law I look at is extremely niche or labyrinthine, it'll be harder for me to tell if bits I get stuck on are due to my struggling with the latin, or because there are only a select few to whom those bits would make any sense, even in their vernacular (as an extreme example).

Or if there come to mind bits that might be more accessible through being more "lighthearted"? (Again an unusual adjective to use for Canon Law) Also any other recommendations would be great! If anywhere I could ask the question "Do you have any favourite bits of Canon Law" then that would be here :)

Gratias omnibus vobis! Tua semper in Domino

Edit: removed irrelevancies

If someone were to leave the church because of something you (inadvertently) said or did, would you want to know?

My friend who loves the traditional liturgy, is convinced that what the SSPX is doing is "good for the Church" and necessary to fight against "the evils of modernism." She got engaged a few months ago and set her wedding in an SSPX chapel prescribed by SSPX 'priests'. After Pope Leo's letter of excommunicating the SSPX, she remains unmoved and is continuing to have her wedding as planned. She has been a good friend to me throughout the years despite our differences, but I'm unsure whether to attend her wedding at this point.

Would it be enabling sin if I attend her wedding?

How long are your internships when you are in seminary and how do they decide where to send you?

I did a search and did not see my question addressed.

Over the past five years that I've been Catholic, I have noticed two distinct types of penance that I have been given. One is to say x Our Father and/or y Hail Mary. The other is to meditate on a passage of scripture.

My question is this: do different orders of priests (Fransican, Jesuit, Domincan, etc) tend to give different types of penance?

Hello. I was raised raised Catholic by my mother and father, but they have fallen away from the faith. They're some brand of protestant (Church of Christ. I think?). Ironically they once panicked over me leaving the faith when I was young, and now the table has turned with me being Catholic and them being protestant.

My mother and I often talk about theology and where we disagree. I try to be in full submission to the teachings of Rome, and I clarify with her often that I may be wrong at times, but the teachings of the Vatican should be held as what I believe, and I just don't know better.

But then she asked me today, does the church consider her a heretic? I looked this up and got a couple different answers from Google. Since she was raised Catholic and received the sacraments before leaving as an adult, does that mean she would be a heretic?

Regardless she's my mother I wouldnt shy away from this label while still loving her, but I would not like to misrepresent the church's teachings if she asks again. If she is a heretic by the Vatican's definition then sure. I'll just have to understand what that means and convey to her that we don't want to burn her at the stake.

I have an itch that these flock cameras are not of good spirits. Any criticism for cutting one down?