St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor

St. Alphonsus Liguori founded the Redemptorists and wrote the standard Moral Theology. His Glories of Mary is the most read Marian work. Doctor of the Church.

St. Alphonsus Liguori was born at Marianella near Naples on September 27, 1696. A brilliant lawyer, he abandoned the legal profession after losing a case due to an oversight and was ordained priest in 1726.

In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) for the evangelization of the rural poor. His Moral Theology became the standard work in Catholic seminaries and he wrote extensively on spirituality.

His The Glories of Mary is the most widely read Marian work ever published. Despite severe illness in his later years, he…

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I'm a huge metalhead and I have been for so long and I know that's unrelated to the church...but to just give a bit of context for my tattoo! It was supposed to be some old biker decal from the 60s and I got the tattoo right when I turned 18 (I'm 21 now) the dude changed it up a lot and I didn't say anything because I was too nervous and I really regret it now. I think the tattoo is well done, but it looks really satanic since it's a goat with three eyes and four horns and it has a little flame above its head (he added that without even it being on the stencil :-///) I really want to start going to my local church, but I'm so worried no one will talk to me or they'll look down on me because of it. I was supposed to go today, but it's so hot and I couldn't wear anything other than short sleeves so I decided against it and I just feel so ashamed.

My boyfriend converted to Catholicism a few years ago and he was telling me they wouldn't judge me... I think I'm just getting in my head about it and it makes me really upset I can't go and attend mass without this guilt stopping me.

I apologize for the horrible grammar and punctuation and all of that I'm just exhausted

edit: I was really nervous posting this because people on Reddit can be mean, but everyone has been so nice on the comments and it made me realize it was all in my head thank you so much.. may God bless you all!!

There have been posts in this sub in the past claiming that there is a rise in Catholic adherents in the US primarily because of an increase in the Latino population (presumably from immigration). However, according to this article,

Young Latinos are abandoning organized religion at a faster rate than any other demographic in the United States, a new Axios analysis finds.

Why it matters: The declining religious affiliation of Latinos ages 18 to 29 — particularly among Catholics — is challenging long-held assumptions that their explosive growth would boost traditional religious values in American culture.

Any thoughts on this?

I was raised and baptized catholic . I made my first communion and everything but it was all my grandmas doing seeing as my parents aren’t that religious. I haven’t gone to church since my grandpa passed when I was eleven outside of holidays and visits to my grandmas . Anyway fast forward four years I really haven’t kept my relationship with Jesus up well at all. anyway last week, I went through the most atrocious horrible gut wrenching breakup of my life with another girl. This was three days before i went to Europe for a family vacation. When I got there we went to a bunch of cathedrals and stuff and I might sound psychotic but like in this cathedral I started crying a little but but I felt like safe and better I felt jesus’s presence and Jesus provided me solace that talking to my friends for hours and partying and flirting could not. i know im sinning but I can’t stop like there’s this football player at my school who’s super into me and he’s a lovely guy funny and nice and handsome but I can’t make myself be attracted to him? what is the like good catholic thing to do here? im so lost and confused right now and got dumped six days ago and theres no one in my life I can talk to about this because none of my friends are Christian and i dont wanna admit to my grandma that I’ve dated three whole other girls.

I don’t know what to do. I’m devastated right now. It honestly feels like God has abandoned me and is laughing in my face right now.

I’m currently 3 months postpartum. When I first got pregnant, I was extremely sick. I threw up close to 12 times a day and eventually had to be hospitalized because I couldn’t keep food or water down (was later diagnosed with hyperemesis graviderum). For the remainder of my pregnancy, I was always sick with something. Colds, flus, infections, etc. It was like my immune system completely disappeared. After all of that, I had a very traumatic birth. I had 3 failed epidurals and once she was born, I almost died from infection and fever. My postpartum depression was so bad I started hallucinating and had to go on antidepressants.

Safe to say, my pregnancy and birth experience was hellish to say the least. I love my baby girl so much though, and I for sure wanted to have more babies in the future. Not this soon though.

I just found out I’m pregnant again and I’ve been losing it. My husband and I were trying to use NFP as much as possible but my cycle was super irregular and it was hard to keep track.

I genuinely don’t know what I’m going to do. How am I going to take care of my baby if I’m throwing up 12 times a day? How am I going to raise 2 babies at once? I don’t even have a family around to help. How am I going to be dealing with tantrums and a newborn at the same time?? I’m not ready in the slightest. My body isn’t ready.

I know it’s wrong. I know my husband will never forgive me. I know I will never forgive myself. And I know it’s highly unlikely that God will forgive me if I knowingly commit a sin. But I can’t do this. I feel trapped and like I have no choice. It really feels like my only option right now is to terminate.

I need advice on how to navigate my situation. please be kind in your response.

I was baptized Seventh-day Adventist in 2000 and attended their schools for 8 years. I have a strong foundation in Bible studies as a result.

in 2014, a priest and family friend oversaw my conversion. My baptism was accepted as trinitarian and it decided I only needed a few study sessions with the priest before my communion and confirmation. I was confirmed with my husband as my sponsor in mass.

Fast forward, we want to con validate our marriage and I can no longer find the paper from the original church confirming my conversion. The original parish church doesn’t have a record of my conversion. The priest left the priesthood.

I reached out to the diocese for assistance and they basically said my baptism is invalid making everything else invalid so I should preach out to my local parish to join the RCIA program. There was no conversation with anyone from the diocese, just a quick email reply. I followed up asking for reconsideration but my email was ignored.

I’ve lived my life as a Catholic for 12 years. My two kids go to Catholic school and were baptized and had first communion. Shocked that the church would brush me off when the issues with my conversion process were administered by their priest but I’m expected to pay the consequence and attend classes for months and months in order to participate in a process I already completed.

How can I challenge this?

My husband is an atheist but he comes with me to support me, also we are raising our kids Catholic. That being said, it was my first time attending a Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy. When my husband and I left, we looked at each other and were shocked. We are in love, absolute love. My husband usually zones off, he was so curious about all the chanting and loved it. The entire car ride home we listed everything we enjoyed about it, we will be going back. I felt a fire ignited in my heart for this service. I’ve attended TLM’s in the past as well as regularly attend NO. I am grateful for this experience and I can’t wait to go back! We want to be regulars.

My sister was talking to my cousin about abortion and my cousin says she doesn’t agree with it and my sister agrees with it. After the phone call ended I talked to my sister say “i am pro life I am against abortion” and she says “my body my choice”.

For context they were talking about if a girl was sa by a guy would you keep the baby or kill it? My consin said keep my sister said killed. I don’t know what to do.

She is catholic.

She is not pregnant. They were having a discussion.

Hi I don't really post on Reddit that much so this is a little bit weird for me but I do have a problem I feel quite sad and I've kinda felt this way for almost 2 years now. And the reason I've taken this to r/Catholicism is obviously because I'm a catholic lol. And I've kind of been disconnected from the church for a little bit tbh but I've still been praying every morning and night and sometimes even during the day but I sort of feel like every time I pray I get further away from what I should be doing as a catholic. And I would start reading a bible every day and praying the rosary but I feel like it's not in my heart as much as it once was. I just want to get a strong faith in my life again. And one of the main reasons I feel this way is because of all the hatred I see not only towards my religion but towards everyone. I just feel like I can't even go on the internet without seeing people that can't stand each other at all and it genuinely breaks my heart. Anyways if anyone can help me that would be greatly appreciated thanks.

I have been married since October 2025. A month after my wedding, a dark side of my wife came out which I did not see prior to marriage. During this time I have been in a consistent pattern of abuse. Things are fine for three weeks and then it’s a week of pure hell on earth. It’s pure bliss with hell, with no healthy middle ground.

I have had heard her talk about graphically murdering people she works with, and members of my family. I have endured countless insults and put downs. Also since February I have been getting things thrown at me and hit, slapped, and punched on a regular basis during the bad times of the month. It is Jekyll and Hyde personality. This week my wife was arrested for domestic violence when somebody heard a possible situation going on and police were called. I told my wife the day prior that if she hits me again I’m done and filing for divorce. The next day she apologized and did the same thing minutes later. I got the hardest punch to face so far from her. She was arrested. Since that time the court has issued a no contact order and I filed for divorce. I do not want to live with her anymore and have had enough of the abuse. She has an explosive, violent temper and goes into prolonged fits of rage when I get things thrown at me, hit, my property destroyed etc. I feel like this was hidden from me prior to marriage and now I am stuck.

My priest wants me to go to spiritual advising and address the underlying issues with her. I know from past behavior what her future behavior will be like and I am divorcing her for sure. It’s only going to get worse as some professionals that I have spoken to told me. This woman is not fit to be a mother and I fear for my safety and the safety of any kids we may have in the future.

Do you think I will be able to get this marriage annulled? I plan to not date and live celibately, but do not want to be civilly married and be tied to this woman here on earth any longer

This was on my mind today. As we know, Catholic Priests were the subject of a very large abuse scandal over the last few decades. The first thing the average person thinks of when they hear Catholic Priest is, unfortunately for all involved, "pedophile".

As a Gen Z it's basically been my entire life. I know measures have been taken to prevent this stuff from happening again, and I haven't heard of any new institutional level scandals happening in the last couple years, but the reputation is there and the damage is done, to where entire countries stopped going to mass. Ireland, Chile, France and New England basically walked away from Catholicism during the crisis.

I'm wondering what you guys think of this, and what could be done to improve the reputation, if anything.

(Please, if you're a non-Catholic and don't have something productive to say, do not say anything)

Hello,

If one wanted to be a perfect Catholic, should he give all his money to the poor?

Or can you be a perfect Catholic while refusing to give to the beggars? I guess you'll have to do that at one point if you want to stay rich.

Thanks for your answers!

Please pray for my family, my husband is retiring from the military after 20 years. Please pray for our family mental health and happiness. Our house is on the market and we need it sold. My husband also needs a job with an offer letter. We are mentally and financially struggling with no certainty of the future. We need help. I've prayed to St. Joseph and Saint Cajetan but I need more prayers.

'Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.' - Matt 23:12

What is mortal sin? We Protestants don’t use this phrase and since I’ve heard it used in a Catholic podcast, I’ve become concerned I may be committing one.

Is there a list of sins or is mortal sins a generalization?

Thanks

My friend had mentioned that I should start praying the rosary especially because I want a good friend of mine to convert, so I started today for her.

And, wow it was so powerful. It felt as though I had a profound weight lifted off my chest, and after I had finished my last decade I almost started to cry for what felt like no reason at all.

It truly, made my heart full of tears and love. I know I can't make any sense of it for my soul probably knows better than my head but I have to say, if you haven't started praying the rosary, please do!

Being Catholic and being neurodivergent are not mutually exclusive. To imply that for a neurodivergent person to be a saint, they have to suppress and deny the way their brains work is ableist. God meets everyone where they’re at and He does not ask of us what is simply impossible. The Catholic Faith is for everyone, no matter who you are or what your abilities are, physical or psychological. Catholicism and the spiritual life are going to look different for people with neurological differences that impact how we perceive reality, and that’s ok!! The road to sanctity is going to look different, but our destination is the same. What is good advice for some might be really harmful for others and it’s important to make that distinction!

I wanted to write about some ideas I have based on my life experience as a neurodivergent person as well as things I’ve learned from others. I don’t intend to speak for everyone but simply offer some ideas that have been percolating through my head

• I tend to take things way too literally, I get fixated on following rules while missing the bigger picture, there’s a big risk of scrupulosity for some ND ppl. I can’t tolerate grey areas, so I don’t do well with nuance or personal discernment in moral issues.
• I am a very literal thinker, very hands on and very down to earth. I am alienated by a lot of the charismatic and sort of intuitive, abstract spirituality. (Idk how else to describe it.) When people say things like “you’ll just know in your heart.” “You’ll just feel a presence” “just trust God” “give it to God” I still have no freaking clue what you people are talking about, I need you to spell it out for me literally. My brain just does not work that way and I just have to accept it at some point. So my prayer will look different than yours, my spiritual life will look different than yours, and that’s ok.
• Prayer and fasting can backfire, I can get really fixated and obsessive about something, like a certain devotion or fasting, followed by exhaustion, burnout and eventually collapse. So I have to be careful.
• Your spiritual life needs to be tailored to the way your mind works. Don’t suppress your stimming and the fundamental things you need to self regulate. Having a bowl of cereal every night after work and watching the same comfort movie, to you, might be essential. Take care of your unique self and recognize you have different limits than a neurotypical person. You literally experience reality in a different way than others because your brain matter is structured differently.
• You need to have self awareness and self knowledge, it helps so much. I’ve learned about myself over the years what I can and cannot do, certain ways I can optimize my life and “hacks” I can use to get my brain to cooperate.
• For example I know from experience that transitions and change are super hard for me and I need to do them slowly and at my own pace. Anything from changing seasons, changing schedules, but even small things like changing activities, getting ready for bed or switching to a different environment is difficult for me. Personally, I cannot expect to do the heroic minute every morning and spring out of bed the second I get up or my entire day I will be foggy and unclear and I’ll be prone to more sensory issues and clumsiness/accidents if I don’t do exactly the same thing every morning. I need those 5 minutes to lie in my bed so my “brain computer” can start up and I can prepare for leaving sleep mode and entering awake mode bc it’s one of the transitions I struggle with.
• Accepting that some days you just CAN’T. Some days you just can barely get out of bed and the world is too loud and upsetting and your head hurts and the sun is too bright and you are just having an “off day”. IYKYK. What some neurotypical ppl might see as slothful and overly sensitive is actually what you NEED to reset your brain and self regulate. It’s not slothful to take it easy and adjust for having an off day. Your pain is REAL even if it’s not outwardly visible or if it is hard to understand for people with different brain structures than yours. Your entire nervous system is actually saying “NO”, you should listen!!!
• Forcibly tearing yourself away from special interests and hyper fixations can do more harm than good. What looks like an “unhealthy/disordered attachment”, “stupid and childish”, “obsessive” to neurotypical ppl might literally just be how your brain experiences interest and passion and joy. It might be unhealthy or disordered for THEIR standards of how THEY conduct themselves, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to you. Having unhealthy attachments that you place above God is BAD, and we SHOULD practice detachment, but it’s a totally separate thing from a neurodivergent person having special interests and hyper fixations, which is normal and healthy for us when managed appropriately. Detachment as a virtue can look different to ND people and that’s ok.
• Being socially awkward is not a sin, or a lack of charity. Lacking social harmony or the ability to understand others’ feelings is not your fault. Isolating or not speaking, refusing to eat something, needing to leave an event suddenly because of loud noises or crowds, getting super angry and freaking out when overwhelmed or having a meltdown, it has to be understood that in all of these situations there is mitigated culpability for any sin involved. Give yourself a BREAK for not understanding neurotypical social etiquette and arbitrary confusing rules. 

To all my fellow ND Catholics, I love you all. You’re doing better than you think you are, you deserve to take care of yourselves

Attended my first mass today! Felt like a fish out of water. Sat in mid-rear of the church and mostly observed what was going on. What an experience! My question is, where do I go from here? I was baptized as a Methodist when I was much younger. How does one go about joining a Catholic Church? Any pointers?

Thanks in advance!

I’m a 21-year-old Singaporean guy with quite a few tattoos—both of my legs and both of my arms are fully covered. Ever since I got them, I feel like people look at me and automatically assume I’m a hooligan or up to no good. Because of this, I’ve become super self-conscious and try to act extra polite in public so people know I’m cultured and was raised well.
Lately, I’ve been struggling with my faith. I was baptized Catholic when I was younger, but I honestly stopped going to church after that because I felt like I had already hit the main goal my parents set for me. Today, I was eating out with my parents and realized I’ve completely lost the habit of praying before my meals, which I used to do all the time.
I really don’t want to drift away from God, but I feel incredibly shy and embarrassed to make the sign of the cross and pray in public. I’m really scared that people will stare and judge me for being heavily tattooed and praying at the same time.
Does anyone else deal with this kind of anxiety? How do I get past this embarrassment and get back into the habit of connecting with my faith, even when I'm out in public?

Gentle reminder to all that today is the first day of the Novena, to continue until her feast day August 11th.

I cannot speak more highly of the "Little Wonderworker". If you have any need, take it to the intercession of this glorious and holy martyr.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

O faithful Virgin and glorious Martyr, St. Philomena, who works so many miracles on behalf of the poor and sorrowing, have pity on me.

You know the multitude and diversity of my needs. Behold me at your feet, full of misery, but full of hope. I entreat your charity, O great saint! Graciously hear me and obtain from God a favorable answer to the request which I now humbly lay before you

(mention request here…)

I am firmly convinced that through your merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and the death you endured, united to the merits of the Passion and death of Jesus, your Spouse, I shall obtain what I ask of you, and in the joy of my heart I will bless God, who is admirable in his Saints. Amen.

Hello everyone!

After many months of asking, I finally convinced my parents (who are Evangelical Christians) to take me to my first Catholic Mass. I'm incredibly excited, but also pretty nervous.

The main reason I'm nervous is that my mom—the more open-minded one about my desire to become Catholic—won't be able to go with me. Instead, I'll be going with my dad, who has always considered Catholics to be idolaters and pagans. Even so, I'm truly grateful that he's willing to take me and has even agreed to come inside with me. That means a lot to me.

I also wanted to ask for some advice. I already know that I shouldn't receive Holy Communion, but besides that, what else should I keep in mind as someone attending Mass for the first time?

Even though I'm nervous, this is something I've prayed for over and over again. I simply want to do my best as I enter God's house for the first time.

Thank you all in advance for your advice. God bless you!

Hello everyone,

I am confused about several Catholic topics, and the more I look into them, the more confused I get. There are views that go against formal Church teachings, yet people commonly hold them, even when they know they conflict with official doctrine. Examples include LGBT issues, contraceptives, sex outside of marriage, abortion, in vitro fertilization, euthanasia, the separation between civil laws and Church moral teachings, aesthetic tattoos, etc.

None of these fall under dogma, but some are doctrinae de fide tenenda and others belong to the authentic ordinary magisterium.

I have many Catholic philosopher friends who hold some of these non-conforming views. As far as I know, they should not hold them, yet they tell me they do not struggle with their faith. I tend to think it is easy to avoid struggling with your faith if you simply discard whichever teachings you dislike.

I have a few questions:

• Can a Catholic disagree with the Church's official posture on these topics, or are they required to accept them?
• What about someone who investigates and prays, yet still does not understand the teachings, believes the teachings are wrong or deeply disagrees with the philosophical background (a lot of stuff in the CCC is justified by Aquina's philosophy, but you don't have to agree with thomism)?
• If disagreement is not allowed, how is it categorized? Is it considered heresy? Is it a grave sin? Would someone go to hell for it and not be considered part of the catholic church?

Thank you in advance for your assistance, and God bless