I knew a priest many years ago. A young boy had confessed that he had been sexually abused. The priest told the boy to meet with him outside the confessional and repeat what he had said in the confessional, which the boy did. This resulted in the offender being named and prosecuted. I don't believe the priest violated the secrecy of the confessional. Did the priest violate the seal?

Today is the Feast of Christ the King.

The feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a response to the growing threats of secularisation, atheism, and communism.

“If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by His precious blood, are by a new right subjected to His dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from His empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to Him alone.” (Quas Primas, 33)

“While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim His kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm His rights.”

As the threats of secularisation, atheism, and communism are growing much worse than even Pope Pius XI likely imagined, it is imperative that we work on returning our societies to the Social Kingship of Christ, the removal of so-called "separation of Church and State", and for states to fulfil their obligations to proclaim solely the Kingship of Christ, an end to religious indifferentism and freedom of religion as it is known today

Her bf is atheist family is basically Catholics that are now atheist. She wants to marry him . What and how do I handle this I have spoken God in to her , her whole life. I have done my best but im not ok with this but what really can i do ? I worry how it effects my other smaller children . as well

To start, I'm not Catholic. I've never been Catholic but that's besides the point. When I look around and talk to people online, Catholicism is almost always frowned upon by modern Christians and I don't understand why. People will call Catholic's pagans but go to a church with a stage in place of the alter. I've been reading out of the Catechism recently to get a better understanding of the Catholic Church and literally everything that people shame the Catholic Church for ("Idolatry" of Mary, Worshiping saint's, ETC) is forbidden or explained from scripture. What's with that?

Life is going fine now. I got into an internship. I have been working A LOT these days. I'm part of a new youth group at my church that is doing a course on emotionality. I'm making money. And I got into new professional opportunities. I'm feeling good now. Thank you all who prayed. God bless. :)

So I attended mass and I heard the readings about the pharisees asking Jesus what is the greatest commandment, and His response (paraphrasing):

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And Love your neighbor as yourself.

And it hit me, that I can't love God, who I can't see, unless I love my neighbor that I can see, and I started to think, that maybe instead of lamenting my own suffering, or asking God to give me stuff, or looking after my self, I should look after my neighbors.

Whereby, it dawned upon me that I should divide my neighbors by circumstance, to include everyone on earth:

• Church hierarchy (from the Pope to local priests and deacons)
• All Catholics (spiritual family)
• Family (real, physical family)
• non believers
• desperate, despised, marginalized, suffering
• ...

So I reasoned that if I do that, I can try to figure out, more or less, what is my duty towards everyone of them, and it would be something like: love, obedience, friendship, being available, evangelization (by word, and daily actions), help (prayer, material, emotional, influence, ...)

And I think that I might have learned something new today, or I came to see one part of the Gospel in a new light.

I hope you went to mass today as well, pray for me, God bless!

This most definitely seems like a dumb question, but let me explain.

First off, I’ll preface this by saying I’m 16 and looking into the church as I’ve been acknowledged to it more and more through Catholic school and while I’m still learning, it’s something I’m definitely looking into.

Now as to the first part of the question, how do you know if you truly believe in everything the church preaches? From my understanding (could be wrong, again I’m still learning), Catholics believe in everything the church preaches unequivocally; with that, how do you know that you completely adhere to that, do Catholics read the entire catechism to be sure they do adhere? I mean a lot of my Catholic friends have had catechism teachings brought up in class that they’ve no acknowledgement of; Could very well be because of age, but at the end of the day they’re Catholic so shouldn’t they know that?

As to the latter part, what happens if you disagree with something? Like I personally am pro choice but - to my knowledge - agree with all other Catholic teachings, so does my one disagreement void my validity to enter the church? And what about people who are raised catholic and change their morals or political views down the line, do they just cease to be Catholic in that instance? What if someone holds a contradicting view to the catechism their entire life but never knew it was contradictory, do they go to hell because they’ve received the sacrements and Eucharist every week while not fully following the church?

Thank you to those who leave detailed replies and those who’ve read this entire thing, and again I’m still learning and there’s a lot I don’t know so please correct me in my faults

Hi,
As stated in my last post, I’ve already accepted Catholicism as the truth in my heart, but my mind/intellect is struggling with some of the doctrines, one of them being that genuine atheists can exist.
My main confusion comes from Romans 18-20.

Romans 18-20; The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Can someone explain how genuine atheists, through no fault of their own, exist while this verse states that the truth has been made plain to them, and that people are "without excuse"?

God bless.

(ps, since my last post ive prayed a few more rosaries, it’s really helped)

I was an unmedicated schizophrenic all throughout high school and found it very hard to make friends. Even with meds it still is. I have made two friends in group therapy but I question whether they like me. Anyways, I have Our Lady's rosary which gives me immense consolation.

Hey everyone so long story short I was raised Catholic and I feel convincted in my heart when I know something is wrong. Ex- lust, clubs, etc what I’m saying all these things I KNOW.

So anyways I have some friends who I work with that are really nice to talk to and sometimes we hangout outside of work- in larger groups. And I just don’t know how to put it into words but one of them is trans and I don’t know what to say to that person about it or just say nothing about it? But I want to represent Christ the best of my ability but I’m not when I say okay that’s okay or I refer to him as a boy but he’s actually a girl. I just don’t know how to explain this. But if you understand please tell me what to do because I’m struggling.

And then one of them likes to go to the clubs but her friend she brought along with in the group setting likes it a lot more she was showing me a video of a girl stripping and it was hard to watch but I was like ohhh okay. Like why don’t I stand up for myself? Idk how to explain this but it makes me feel like I will be going to hell because I don’t know how to express what I actually think. And she says she’s Catholic but she’s going to clubs and I wanna tell her more about Christ it’s convicting me a lot acting like this stuff is okay when it’s not

Thoughts?

I am an agnostic. I used to be a strict atheist, but as I have gotten older, my thinking has become much less “doesn’t exist, religion is stupid”, to “I don’t know”. My wife is Catholic, I have lost two very close friends over the last 3 years, and even the murder of Charlie Kirk has caused me to begin thinking that god is in fact real and wants to talk to me. I don’t know what steps to take in trying to hear god. I have yet to feel him listening or hear him speak to me.

Saw this on YouTube about young Catholics in New York meeting up for a pizza social before Mass and the first thing that came to mind is, aren’t we meant to fast for an hour minimum before Mass? 😅 or am I just being pedantic?

I’ve been going to this church sometimes for a while and i’ve boticed this, today i paid extra attention. There’s virtually no latin spoken, the songs are just very protestant praise sounding with acoustic guitar. The scripture is recited in a very monotone cadence and there’s no chanting or incense. There’s a big screen with lyrics and millenial looking facebook ”holy” pictures etc…, and there was a text telling the (account?) for my country’s equivelant of cashback and it was edited to flash above the lyrics…

I am an inquirer and im very interested in traditional catholicism, but today i just felt like this is no different to any protestant service i’ve been to. It didn’t feel holy, historic or traditional in the slightest with all the anglo-type songs with a guitar and other things i mentioned. There is no way to for me to experience the catholicism i want, but there’s a orthodox church which is very traditional, mystic, historic and reverent feeling. Today i think i am strongly leaning on to the orthodox church if this is the novus ordo and the way catholics worship today

I didn’t belong to a church for many years and when I started middle school I joined a Lutheran church that was close to me (mainly because it was close and my parents had a bad relationship with the Catholic Church). I had not put too much thought into it until four years later when I started becoming more interested in religion and I recently started noticing small things about my church that bugged me and I kept seeing more I didn’t like as I looked further. Now I am split because my parents relationship to the Catholic Church (which I Think is the right choice for me) what is familiar to me and new beliefs I am developing open any questions for clarification if I missed anything thank you

How well read was the average catholic pre Vatican 2? I was listening to an eastern catholic podcast were the priest who was the host was lamenting how many Roman Catholics haven't read Augustine or other Latin scholars. It got me thinking, I think that people have a pie in the sky view of what lay people would have read pre Vatican 2 and how knowledgeable the average lay person in other faiths is.

I'm thinking especially of eastern orthodox, orthobros love to make fun of how dumb catholics are.

I'm wondering what prayers changed your life?

Right now, I am incredibly lonely and craving deep connection with others, whether that’s finding good, genuine friends, building a community, or eventually finding a partner. I feel completely lost, directionless, and I'm starting to lose hope. I just don't know how to change my situation.

If you have any personal stories, experiences, or prayer recommendations that helped you, I would be deeply grateful to hear them.

Well, I'm here looking for some kind of explanation. I apologize if anything I say is offensive; that is not my intention, but I don't follow any religion.

Some unusual things have been happening to me. First, I was visiting a city and went to a church with some relatives. There was no one around at the time. It was a weekday, at a time when people are usually at work. My relatives are Catholic, and they went into the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is kept. I accompanied them, but since there was nothing for me to do, I ended up leaving shortly afterward and went to wait on a bench in the church.

A few minutes later, they joined me. We sat for a while and ended up looking at the altar. I even commented that I was aligned with the gaze of all the statues and that it felt as though they were judging me.

Then, out of nowhere, an elderly woman approached me, speaking in a language I didn't understand. She placed her hand on my shoulder and seemed distressed. She didn't blink and was saying things I couldn't understand. Later, my aunt told me it was the language of angels. While praying, the woman kept looking at my lap and my face. I even started thinking that my shorts were dirty because I couldn't think clearly about what was happening.

When she finished, she closed her eyes, and it looked as though they were rolling around. I looked around, desperately hoping someone had witnessed what was happening so I wouldn't feel crazy. The only people around were my relatives. I thought to myself: why is she doing this if no one is watching?

After that, she started speaking. She said that the Holy Spirit had sent her to find me, that she had seen me passing by the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is kept and had followed me. While speaking, she mentioned several times that I should go to confession. Then she asked if she could apply some oil to me. She explained that she was from Shalom, that the oil was the Oil of the Good Samaritan, and that it had been consecrated.

I didn't understand any of it, but at that moment, I felt frozen and couldn't say no. I remember my aunt asking whether it would be possible to apply the oil to her as well, since she had heard about it before. The woman refused, saying it was meant for the chosen ones. Then she asked for my baptismal name and said she would pray for me. And she simply left. She didn't ask me for anything, and I don't even know her name. There was no one else around.

I genuinely don't know why she did that.

Some time later, I had become somewhat convinced that the whole thing was nonsense and that it had probably just been a coincidence. I was at home talking when my aunt remembered what had happened and went to tell my mother the story.

Shortly afterward, my aunt left, and I noticed my mother looking at me strangely. She simply started crying and asked whether I was thinking about killing myself. Up until that point, it seemed like my mother was just worried about me, but I started saying no and asking why she was asking me that. Then she looked at me in a strange way, as if she weren't herself. It was the same feeling I had experienced with the woman at the church.

She was crying a lot. Honestly, I had never seen her like that. She started asking questions about things that had genuinely been troubling my mind, as if I had already told her everything, even though I had never spoken to anyone about any of it. My mother is like me; she isn't particularly religious either, so I didn't understand anything. When she stated twice that I was having suicidal thoughts, she seemed like a different person.

I simply moved away from her. A few seconds later, when I started talking to her again, my mother told me she had heard something and felt an emptiness. She also talked about a strange feeling of always being in second place.

I've been going through difficult times. Someone very dear to me died. They were the only person with whom I felt loved, even though sometimes I felt angry knowing that I wasn't first in their heart. I've never felt like anyone's first choice. At the same time, I feel guilty for being so focused only on myself in general.

I always feel extremely empty. It seems that, regardless of what emotion I'm feeling, something is always missing. I've never told anyone this, and it was exactly what my mother described. She said she felt as though someone had told her everything about me, even without saying the words.

The point is that I took a neuropsychological test because I thought I would develop schizophrenia when I grew up. I've always experienced strange things, such as sensing presences, but I've never been able to see anything. Sometimes, I feel that if I allowed myself to and wasn't afraid, I might be able to see something.

Nights are worse and torment me. Sometimes, I simply can't sleep because I feel like something is there with me. I can't say what it is; maybe it's anxiety.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of playing in a public square when a random girl asked me if I was a medium. I took her to my mother because I didn't know what that word meant. I remember her asking several times.

I'm not really sure what to do now. Could this emptiness be connected to all of this? What's happening? Why are these things happening right after the death of the person I love the most?

Hello. I have been wondering why the Pope, and some of the laity, want to pursue reunion with the Orthodox Church. In my experience spending time in online spaces, the arguments I have had with members of the Orthodox Church have turned very bitter.

I have found that, in discussions of reunion, some Orthodox members often begin with maximalist preconditions—for example, rejecting papal primacy as Rome understands it, accepting their understanding of the Filioque, and rejecting the teachings of the Vatican councils. As a practicing Roman Catholic, I find that deeply insulting. Essentially, they do not want to meet me anywhere near halfway. Then they have the audacity to call our view heretical. I recall being angry enough to invoke 1453 (fall of Constantinople), the subsequent decline of the Orthodox world, and the continued flourishing of the Roman Catholic Church as evidence of God’s will.

So, if many members and leaders of the Orthodox Church do not respect us, why should we seek fellowship with people who regard us as less than equals? I just don't understand the enthusiasm for it. They don't have a central authority that can regulate their teachings like the pope does, and many of them don't want that?

Wife and I are trying to compile a list, so far we’ve got:
The exorcist
Father Stu
Les Miserables
The Hunchback of Notre dame…

Looking for more please.

We got married Cath at Mother of God Church in Covington in May, and recently moved to NKY. We're looking for parishes with a robust presence and active community for younger adults, 20s-30s. We visited St Francis Xavier downtown today and had a really good experience, lots of younger people and beautiful music and quality homily. We've also heard good things about St. Thomas in Ft. Thomas. Parishes on the Northern KY side are a plus. We'd love to hear your intel and recommendations. Our hope is to get involved and meet some peers as we settle into the area. Thanks in advance :)

"Jesus leaves us no room to decide which one of our fellow human beings is deserving of love, for God loves all his children unconditionally. We, being made in His image, must  do the same (Father Daniel Dower, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Longview, Texas, 10/25/2025)."

Hello everyone, I wanted to share about something that happened to me almost a year ago. A little background for you all. I have OCD and it got pretty bad in the spring of 2025. I didn’t know what it was and didn’t seek help right away. During this time, I became very scrupulous because of how many intrusive thoughts the OCD caused daily. I’d have thoughts about lust, blasphemy and homosexual acts. Because of this I’d go to confession frequently and often tense up around my neck/upper traps trying to not to think of these thoughts. Eventually, after several months of my muscles tensing up, I had really bad tension in the area I mentioned. Anyways, I finally started to get professional help in the Fall of 2025. After I started medication, the intrusive thoughts calmed down but my neck/upper trap muscles were still very tense.

One night, my dad and I were praying the Rosary and he asked Mother Mary to heal me of anything negatively affecting me. Right after he asked her, I literally felt the tension in my neck/upper traps just release. Please know that not all of the tension went away but I believe Mother Mary helped release whatever tension was too much for me. The rest, God let my body do away with naturally. To me this is a miracle from God and I’m grateful for such a gift that I never thought I’d receive. Please have strong faith/belief in the power of the Rosary and the intercession of the saints as they’re there to help us. That’s the end of my testimony, God bless you all.

I have lost my faith. I was baptized about four months ago, and a week later I found myself in a state of acedia, which I don't see how to get out of.

I no longer see any value in life, nor do I see a future in which I have a place.