Columnists
Did Jesus feel abandoned?
Q: What does the Catholic Church teach about being saved? Do we also have to do good works to get to heaven? (Charleston, SC) A: All right, here’s a 400-year-old query! We’ve been working to […]
Columnists
Columnists
What’s in the Koran?
During the weeks after September 11, 2001, my religious community’s motherhouse hosted a series of evening prayers. Their culmination was a gathering of roughly 600 people to hear a Muslim imam and the local Catholic […]
Charleston Deanery
Incense as a biblical symbol; getting son back to Church
Q: Why do we have incense at Mass? Sometimes it makes it really hard to breathe. (Charleston, SC) A: Incense can be used for solemn occasions but it should be used with prudence and temperance. […]
Columnists
Thank God it’s Monday?
Travelocity.com likes me. That seems to be true even though I have used it only on those rare occasions when I needed an inexpensive flight to a meeting. At least once a day I face […]
Columnists
Turning the other cheek
Q: Does turning the other cheek mean I have to be nice to relatives who have been purposefully cruel or ugly to people I care about? That feels false, particularly when someone has been repeatedly […]
Columnists
People for sale? The problem of human trafficking
In the late 1990s, when I was living in a seminary faculty residence, I was jarred by a news item about something discovered in the northwest Detroit suburbs very near our campus. Two teenagers who […]
Columnists
Helping hospice patients ‘die like angels’
The summer before I officially entered my religious community, I asked if there might be a summer job available with the sisters. Religious communities like to make sure that their sisters (in training and otherwise) […]
Columnists
Asking for blessings
Editor’s note: This week The Miscellany introduces a new question-and-answer column written by Father Jeffrey Kirby of the Diocese of Charleston. He holds an M.A. in philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and a […]
Alison Blanchet
It isn’t all about the Benjamins
Waitressing was my primary source of income in college. Anyone who has taken an order, cleared a plate or rolled silverware for a job can attest that it is not easy work. Running drinks, serving […]
Columnists
Loving God before all else
If asked, most Christians would say we love God before everything else. But if we claim God is our first priority, how well do our actions support that claim? To examine our priorities, we should […]