Fr. William Rock, FSSP serves as Parochial Vicar at Regina Caeli Parish in Houston, Texas. He was ordained in October of 2019 and serves as a regular contributor to the FSSP North America Missive Blog and the TAN Direction Blog.

 

 

• For non-practicing Catholics or those returning to the Church, can you please discuss when to use or apply a novena versus a prayer? Also, when to use a Marian prayer vs. an Angelic prayer vs. Adoration?
• What are some good written resources for non-Catholics to understand the basics of Catholicism such as the reason for the sacraments, the role of the Priest, etc?
• Can you please explain the origins of some of the "famous" Catholic Lenten practices such as no meat on Fridays and the reception of ashes on Ash Wednesday?
• ​​I saw an interview today with a Catholic priest and he mentioned that he had been married, but he didn't mention what had happened to the marriage. Can a man become a priest if he has an annulment?
• Is it possible for someone to become 'too' religious to the point of being obsessive?
• Does the Catholic Church have an official stance on when God created the world in six days? I've heard Catholic sources say that God didn't literally mean six days, but that one day could mean a thousand years. I personally believe it was a literal six days and I don't understand why, in this case, the scriptures wouldn't be taken literally.
• What is the difference between the FSSP and SSPX? Is it ok to receive sacraments through the SSPX? Does the FSSP allow attendance at a Novus Ordo Mass?
• Was Mary Baptized?
• How do we reconcile Luke 23:43 ("And He said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise")?
• Can you tell me more about Novenas? What are they and how are they used?
• I have been suffering with various illnesses and depression for a number of years. If it is truly God's will that I live with this, can you give me some advice on  how to truly accept God's will and be at peace with it?
• Why on Ash Wednesday, after the priest blessed the ashes, did he sprinkle some of the ashes on the other priests' heads?
• How are the decades of the Rosary to be said during Lent? When praying the 15-decade Rosary, should you pray the Glorious Mysteries during Lent on Sundays?
• What did Jesus do for the forty days between Easter and the Ascension?
• Why are sedevacantists considered excommunicated for holding on delicately to Tradition when many other Catholics continue, more progressively, to do what they want with no consequences?
• Could you please describe an ideal traditional Lent? Is there no meat for all 40 days? What prayers are recommended?
• What type of burden does Confession put on the priest? How do I reconcile feelings of burdening the priest when I attend Confession?

 

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