ST Alphonsus

Why we will no longer be a welcoming church

We’ve decided to quit being a welcoming church. No kidding. We’re giving it up. Like so many congregations, we’ve sunk an amazing amount of time and energy into becoming a welcoming church. We changed worship styles, trained greeters and ushers, wore name tags, brewed coffee, went to workshops on hospitality and put our friendliest people …

Why Homosexuality Is Not Like Other Sins

Homosexuality is not the only sin prohibited in the Bible, but it is different from all the rest, at least right now. And we have really good news for homosexuals.

Seven Reasons Why We Should Not Accept Millions of Years

There is an intensifying controversy in the church all over the world regarding the age of the earth.

Why Are So Many Single Women are Leaving the Church?

A few years ago, I attended the Women of the World festival in London. Arriving late, I hurried up to a panel called ‘Faith and Feminism,” which featured a panel…

Church Decline: What if Your Church Disappeared?

The community grows, but your church declines. Does anybody know what you offer? If you church was forced to close its doors, would anyone notice?

What Jesus did Besides Go to Church

Sometimes Jesus gets a reputation for being boring. Probably because people who follow Him can be really boring. In one of my favorite videos of all time, Vintage 21 church pokes fun at our misconc…

Why We Need an Entrepreneurial Church

Chris Lowney on the church’s current crisis of membership, management, and Catholic identity, and what can be done

Is your parish creating new Catholics?

How parishes can better welcome the littlest Catholics

Parishes sometimes struggle at welcoming small children and their parents.

Why do Catholics call priests ‘Father’?

Given the ways in which they serve the community, it seems a natural and even holy development that we see priests as symbolic parents.

Can a priest withhold communion from a Catholic?

Catholics should not be denied communion except for a serious reason. However, in some situations, a priest can and sometimes must withhold communion.

Should your parish have a mission statement?

Can a mission statement make a difference for your parish? Take our survey.

‘Once a Catholic, Always a Catholic’?

Can you quit the Catholic Church? Can you be kicked out of the Church? Or is the old saying

When “Catholic guilt” gets in the way of Catholic faith

Taken to the extreme, ‘Catholic guilt’ can become an obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as scrupulosity.

A Complete Guide To The Catholic Rules For Lent

A complete and easy guide to learning and following the fasting and dietary rules and more for Lent

What Is Purgatory?

Popular images of purgatory are probably inspired by Dante and expanded upon by imaginative artists, often with an aim to thrill or horrify their audience. As a result, Catholics lose sight of what ought to

Why Choose Catholic kindergarten?

See all of the wonderful things that happen at our Catholic kindergartens.

Why Catholic kindergarten?

See all of the wonderful things that happen at our Catholic kindergartens.

What is the relationship between Catholics and alcohol?

Alcohol is, quite literally, at the center of the Catholic experience.