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A Grade 8 student asks: Is Confirmation the Last Sacrament?
Sometimes people refer to Anointing of the Sick as the “Last Sacrament”, but even with that sacrament, we receive it when we are very seriously ill OR nearing death. We also know that God decides when...
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A Grade 8 student asks: What responsibilities do I have in order to be...
Just like the last question, you’re responsibilities are what we might called “your mission”, that is with all your unique gifts, talents, who you are as a person – you are called to go make disciples...
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A Grade 8 student asks: Are we supposed to wear our Confirmation crosses at...
You can if you want or not. Now, I don’t wear any jewellery as a priest [even though I have a priest ring I might start wearing] but it’s not because I’m not proud of being a Catholic. I wear my “roman...
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A Grade 6 student asks: How can I learn how not to argue with my mom, we...
I’m glad you would consider asking this question to a priest, and wondering if you’re faith can help you because the truth is – it can. I used to argue with my mom a lot, and things only began to...
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A Grade 7 student asks: Why is the Catholic Church against abortion?
We just hear in the news the Catholic Church is against abortion, but there are many people Catholic and non-Catholic who are not in favour of abortion, but there is something greater than this to be...
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A Grade 5 student asks: Why are there Catholic schools and schools that aren’t?
Well, of course we’re not all Catholic, even in the Catholic school we’re not all Catholic. In the earliest history of Canada, many nuns and brothers came from Europe and started a school system, so...
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A Grade 7 student asks: Was Mary really married to Joseph? Is Jesus, Joseph’s...
Mary certainly was married to Joseph. We call Joseph, Jesus’ foster father or Jesus’ adopted father, because in the case of Jesus Himself He is the Son of God and the Son of Mary, in a very special...
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A Grade 8 student asks: Why don’t nuns celebrate Mass?
We all have different vocations, that is different things which God wants us to do. As people of faith, this is much more than a career or something we like. If we are called by God to be married and...
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A Grade 5 student asks: Why do other people kill Christians?
I’m sure this question arises from your reading the newspaper or watching the news, and good for you. It’s really important to do that, to be aware of what’s going on in the world. It’s also...
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Pope ‘deeply moved’ by train crash in Spain
Pope Francis is praying for the victims and families of the 77 people who have died in a train derailment near the Spanish pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday evening. During a July...
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A Grade 8 students says: I really struggle to believe in God in the hard...
Join the big club, my friend! Seriously, I ask God to give me the strength to turn to my faith in the hard times in my life, and I hope that I will. Even though I believe with every bit of who I am...
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A Grade 6 student comments: I don’t understand God’s stories
This is a big reason for coming to Church and for asking questions. The Bible accounts all have a reason for being there; each and every story in the Gospels, the rest of the New Testamentand in the...
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A Grade 7 student asks: We believe we’ll go heaven – what do others believe?
There are many things which others believe. Some believe in reincarnation, some in nothing after death, some in heaven but in a very different way than we do. There are many different end of life...
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Full text of the Pope’s address at the Way of the Cross
Dear Young Friends, We have come here today to accompany Jesus on his journey of sorrow and love, the Way of the Cross, which is one of the most intense moments of World Youth Day. At the end of the...
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A Grade 6 student asks: Is Jesus God or His Son?
A huge and amazing question! We say Jesus is God, but we also say He is the Son of God. The answer to this question is not something which is easy at all to explain, in fact, it really can’t be...
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A Grade 5 student asks: Where was Joseph when Jesus was crucified?
Great question! We think that Joseph had already passed away before Jesus began His ministry. We only hear of Joseph when Jesus is a child, and then we hear of Mary when He is an adult. We know and...
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A Grade 8 student asks: Why did Jesus never get married? Did He love someone?
Jesus’ whole life was spent in fulfilling His mission to bring about the redemption of God’s people, and to give us this faith of ours that has continued through our families for more than 2,000 years...
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A Grade 8 student comments: I find myself paying more attention to my friends...
I’m presuming you’re talking about at school. And even though as a priest, I love coming to you as Jesus went out preaching, away from the synagogue. But it’s very difficult to create the environment...
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A Grade 6 student asks: Are there actually saints buried in the Church?
There are not saints buried in every Catholic Church, but there are many churches with saints buried there. There is no saint buried at St. Patrick’s Parish Church nor any of the churches in Markham....
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A Grade 6 student asks: How old is the Hail Mary?
The Hail Mary prayer comes from the greeting extended to Mary by her cousin Elizabeth [John the Baptist’s mother] in Scripture. We can find that in Luke’s Gospel “Hail, full of grace”. Asking for the...
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