Dear Father

Q: What can I say to my young relatives to encourage them to send their children to Catholic schools? 

Start by asking this question, "Is God part of my daily life or is He only allowed in my life on special occasions and on Sundays?"

Q. Why do we end Mass with the priest saying "the Mass is ended ..." and the people's response, "Thanks be to God"? To me it sounds like we're saying, "Thank God that Mass is over!" 

Q. Can you explain why the married Episcopalian priests can join the
Catholic Church and become Catholic priests, but our own priests, born
and raised Catholic, cannot be married?

Many Americans, perhaps most American Catholics, do not know that the Church allows married priests. But there have always been married priests in the non-Latin rites, such as Ukrainian Catholicism or Maronite Catholicism. These churches are fully Catholic, obedient to the pope, but they ordain married men, although they do not allow unmarried priests to get married.

Q. What is the Catholic Church's teaching on divorce? 

We can only teach what the Lord Himself taught and that is precisely what we do. Jesus condemned divorce in the strongest language. Let's take a closer look.

You're talking about your vocation. A vocation (from the Latin vocare, "to call") is a summons from God to serve Him in one of the traditional three states of life: married, single and consecrated (priesthood or religious life).

Q: How can I help my relatives return to church for more than Christmas?

A: Catholics Come Home focuses on our being a Catholic family. As a member of this family welcoming other members home, we are to model the attitude of the father in the parable of the prodigal son: an attitude of joy, embracing them for having come home (Luke 15:20).