What’s a Benefice? Eliminating Financial Corruption in the Church

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Cathy Caridi

Q: Can you please explain what exactly a benefice is, and how it works in the Church today?

…I recently endured a tirade from an anti-Catholic evangelical, who among a million other things was bashing the Church for its financial corruption.  He kept mentioning “benefices,” but I didn’t know what that term even meant, so I held my tongue.

Later I did some research online … I learned that a benefice is an ecclesiastical office with a salary.  But I don’t know why we Catholics never seem to hear this term today?  Is “benefice” synonymous with “office”?  Is the office of the pastor of a parish a benefice, for example?  I don’t understand why the evangelical was criticizing the idea that a clergy needs a salary to live on … [because] evangelical ministers must earn a salary too…. –Judith Continue reading →

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Can Laypeople Hold Top Vatican Positions?

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Cathy Caridi

Q: My husband and I are hoping that you can clear up our confusion about the significance of this article … about Pope Francis reorganizing the different offices in the Vatican.  It sounds to us like the Pope says that laypeople can now become heads of some Vatican offices, whereas in the past only priests could hold those positions.

Is our understanding accurate?  Is this a good change?  It’s hard for us to understand what this move means … [but] whenever Pope Francis changes something in the Church, we’ve learned to be suspicious…. –Marisol Continue reading →

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Leaving a Novice in Limbo

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Cathy Caridi

Q: Hello, I am a novice in [a religious institute in Rome]….  I have been a novice for ten years, and keep waiting for the novice master to decide that I can take my vows, but the time always gets extended.  I love this institute and want to become a member, but how long must I wait?  I don’t want to leave…. What can I do? –Renato Continue reading →

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Receiving Holy Communion Outside of Mass

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Cathy Caridi

Q: At my parish the priests will give people Holy Communion at any time of day, if they were unable for some reason to attend daily Mass.  I always assumed this was the norm.

But I was travelling this summer, and arrived in another city in the afternoon, after all the daily Masses had been celebrated.  I went to the parish office of the closest church and asked to receive the Eucharist.  A priest of the parish told me that “if you want to receive Communion, you have to attend Mass.”  He refused to give me Communion.

The practices at these two parishes are contradictory, so I assume they can’t both be right….  Which one is following canon law?  –Rebecca Continue reading →

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If My Marriage is Annulled, Why Aren’t the Children Illegitimate?

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Cathy Caridi

Q: I read “Marriage and Annulment,” in which you state that “children who are born of a valid or of a putative marriage are legitimate,” and that “a putative marriage is one into which at least one of the spouses entered in good faith.”  Could you please explain this further?  I’m in the midst of an ongoing discussion-dispute with a friend who left the Church because her husband got an annulment.  She insists it means the Church is saying her children are illegitimate, and she refuses to accept this.  I don’t know how to respond to this argument and could use some pointers… –Gabe Continue reading →

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