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So there’s something about the
Catholic Church that interests
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you but you’re not sure about the whole picture.
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And let’s be honest, it’s a big,
complicated, sometimes controversial picture.
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Before you jump into an intensive
9 month course at your parish,
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you might want a bird’s eye view of everything
involved. What do Catholics believe and
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what does it mean to be Catholic? This is
everything you need to know in 10 minutes.
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—
Catholics are
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Christians. While this may be a contested point
among certain types of fundamentalist Protestants,
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the fact of the matter is that our entire faith
is about living and professing the Gospel.
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Something we’ve been doing for… 2000 years.
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If you’re already a Christian, all of the
normal things apply—belief in the Trinity;
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the Incarnation; the death and
resurrection of Jesus. These are
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things that we all have in common and so
you can probably skip to the next section.
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If you’re not yet a Christian, we believe in a
God that is one essence but three persons, called
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a Trinity. The second person of the Trinity was
born of a woman, being fully God and fully human.
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He preached about forgiveness and sacrifice,
and then showed what that looked like by dying
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himself, but after a few days he rose from the
dead, conquering death and taking away our sins,
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ascended to heaven, and gave us the Holy Spirit
so that we would always have God with us.
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Which, is a way too fast way of
describing any one of those concepts,
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but with each section I’ll link
a video for a deeper dive here.
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While all Christians agree on these basic points,
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we do not always agree on the
significance of these events or
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what we’re supposed to do with them. One
big difference is how we approach worship.
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For Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and some
Protestants, there is a strong sacramental
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theology. Basically, God does not only
speak to us from on high and our worship
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is more than intellectual or moral. God
is intimately and consistently present in
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and through all of creation, transforming
physical things so that his presence can
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be seen and felt. These events are called
sacraments, and there are seven of them.
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The sacraments of initiation consist of baptism,
confirmation, and eucharist, three events
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that draw us closer to God. In baptism, water
is used to wash away our sins and we are marked
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with the sign of Christ, incorporating us into
his community. In confirmation, our baptism is
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sealed with an anointing of oil, confirming in us
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And in Eucharist,
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through a process called Transubstantiation,
the Holy Spirit transforms ordinary bread and
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wine into the Body and Blood of Christ so that
we may consume him and become one with him.
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This last one is the height of our
worship because we do not believe
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that it is a mere symbol, nor do we
believe that we are re-sacrificing
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Christ again. We participate in the once
for all sacrifice he made on calvary.
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We know that life often involves pain and
suffering, and so there are the sacraments
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of healing—reconciliation and anointing of the
sick. Jesus gave his disciples the ability to
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forgive sins, and so Catholics confess their
sins to priests who have the ability to offer
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absolution. Similarly, in the letter of St.
James, the apostle exhorts the faithful to
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bring the sick to the priests who will pray
over them and forgive their sins. We could do
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both of these thing alone, but Jesus wanted us to
have visible signs of the grace we were receiving.
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Finally, there are the sacraments
at the service of communion, namely,
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marriage and holy orders. Often
called vocational sacraments,
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they both effect a formal covenant with God,
committing one’s life to a particular mission,
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whether that be marriage or ordination, providing
the grace to fulfill the responsibilities of each.
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What connects each of these rituals
is the idea that God’s presence is
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tangible and transformative, and that we
are to worship in communion with others.
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Communion here on earth, of course, but also
communion with those who have gone before us
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and now live in heaven. As Catholics, we look
to the saints, holy men and women in heaven,
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to offer us examples to follow
but also to intercede for us.
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We ask the living Church on earth to pray for us,
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why wouldn’t we ask the living
Church in heaven to do the same?
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Chief among these saints for Catholics is the
mother of Jesus herself, Mary. We believe that
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she was conceived without sin, lived a
sinless life of faith, and so never died
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but was assumed into heaven. She is a part of
the created order in need of God’s redemption,
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just like any of us, so we do not worship her,
but we do honor her for all that she has done.
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Of course, we are not in heaven yet,
so while they can intercede for us,
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there must still be an organized authority
here on earth, which is why we have the Church.
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Unlike some Christians that insist on
the Bible alone, the Catholic Church
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is guided by three sources: Tradition,
the Bible, and the living magisterium.
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The reason for this, and why Tradition come first,
is because there was a long time before the Bible
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was written. What guided the Church in the first
decades and centuries was not a book but the
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living authority, passed down from generation
to generation, of witnesses who had seen God.
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Tradition, in this sense, is a foundational
spirit that defines who we are and what we do.
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You can think of it like the United States—we have
a foundational Tradition of life, liberty, and the
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pursuit of happiness. These will never change and
everything we do is interpreted through this lens.
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It is this Tradition, this legitimate authority,
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that helped the early Church decide
what should even be in the Bible.
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And it is this Tradition, this legitimate
authority, that handed down Christ’s authority
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to the magisterium, allowing the Church to
make decisions today. Jesus said to Peter,
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“You are Peter and upon this Rock I will
build my Church.” He breathed his Spirit
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into the disciples in the upper room and gave
them authority to bind on earth and in heaven.
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The ministers of the Catholic Church—bishop,
priest, and deacon—find their origins in
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Tradition and the Bible itself, not simply as
temporary jobs among the faithful, but as people
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who are specially called and blessed with God’s
spirit to lead the Church in prayer and mission.
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For this reason, the Church is not merely
a human institution that never changes,
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but one with a living authority to grow and
adapt with the world. What it proclaims it
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does so, not from opinion, but from
the authority of God that guides it.
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There are various levels of authority
with the Church, from dogmas, which are
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divinely revealed and do not change, Definitive
Doctrines, that explain and safeguard the faith,
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Authoritative Doctrines, reflections on
scripture in light of the contemporary world,
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and Disciplines, fitting
ways to live out the faith.
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These teachings may come from the
pope himself or an ecumenical council,
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of which there have been 21 in our history.
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Despite the popular misunderstanding, the
pope is not infallible, but under certain
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circumstances, just like the writers
of Scripture, may be kept from error.
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Ultimately the goal of every Christian
is to be saved from sin and death,
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living forever in heaven. For
Catholics, this is a twofold process.
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We are justified by Christ alone. As sinners,
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we deserve death and so cannot
merit our justification.
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It is through the faith of Christ and his
sacrifice on the cross, freely given gifts,
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that we are saved. For this reason, all we need
to be justified is to confess our faith in him.
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But justification is only part of the process.
If we want to be fitting enough for heaven,
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we must also grow in sanctification,
a process of becoming more like God.
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This requires that we put faith
into practice, grow in virtue,
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and participate in the grace of God in
such a way that we become one with it.
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Jesus pays the insurmountable price for
the ticket, but we still have to show
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up to the station and get on the train ourselves.
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We do this by living a moral life,
both privately and communally,
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as Christ showed us. For Catholics there are a
number of important principles that guide us.
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Such as, the inherent dignity of every
person. We believe that everyone is
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created in the image and likeness of God
and so bears undeniable worth. We protect
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life from conception to natural death and stand
against undue pain and suffering in the world.
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This may involve works of charity—feeding the
hungry and caring for the sick—but also works
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of justice—ensuring fair labor laws and
standing against racism. Catholic Social
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teaching requires that we care not only for our
own life and dignity but that of the whole world.
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And not just the bodies of the whole world,
but their souls as well. As Catholics,
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we take to heart Jesus’ words to
make disciples of all nations,
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that we do not live on bread alone
but by every word that comes from the
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mouth of God. Spreading the Good
News is imperative to our faith.
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Phew. That’s a lot already and we’re running
out of time. Let’s finish with a rapid round.
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For those justified but not yet fully sanctified,
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there is purgatory, a place for the elect
that are not purified to enter heaven.
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All sexual activity must be oriented towards
two purposes—covenantal union and procreation.
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Anything that separates the act from its
intended purpose—things like masturbation,
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pornography, contraception, homosexual
acts, bestiality, sterilization, rape,
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lust, in vitro fertilization,
or surrogacy—are inadmissible.
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Marriage is a covenant for life which no
one can separate, so divorce and remarriage
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is not possible. Either the marriage
is declared defective from the start,
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or couples can legally separate,
but they may only marry once.
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The priesthood is for men only
because Jesus chose men as his
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apostles and the tradition has
stood too long to be changed.
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And I guess finally, the name Catholic itself.
First used by Ignatius of Antioch in about
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110 AD, it is a word that means universal,
meaning that it is beyond language, culture,
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nationality, or ethnicity. The truths
of our faith are true to all people.
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The way we may describe things may be
different and even need to be adapted,
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but the foundational truths remain the same.
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Which is why I cannot encourage you
enough to look deeper into the faith
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that has stood for 2000 years, that has
been handed on to us for generations back
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to Jesus himself and which is guided
by the Holy Spirit. A 10 minute video
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is nowhere close to enough to capture
all that we have to offer the world,
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but maybe there was something here that piqued
your interest, that makes you want to learn more,
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to get some clarification, even to challenge with
your own experience. Give us the opportunity to
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share what we’ve found over all these years,
and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.
