...The Roman Catholic Religion * HUM/130 March 17, 2011 * The Roman Catholic Religion As a child, I remember going to Mass every Sunday like clockwork. For the first nine years of my life we followed the Catholic religion, at least that was the way it seemed to me. Seeing my parents standing in line and waiting to receive the body and blood of Christ, listening to the sermon and signing my brothers and I up for communion classes, doing all the things Catholics do in order to make sure they stay within the track the lord wants us on. Sometime around my tenth birth we made the change as a family to become protestant, and until today we are Protestants. In recent years, I asked my mother why we made the change from one religion to another and she told me the reason why was that at some point her and my father stopped believing in some of the rituals that the Catholic Church practice. I agreed with her and with all the reasons she and my father had and why they decided to make the switch, but today I honestly don’t believe on the traditions and rituals that Catholics observe but I find they are interesting and very intriguing. However, while the Catholic doctrine and traditions are very structured, why are there so many inconsistencies? And why is the Roman Catholic Church often in the news? I visited the local Roman Catholic Church in Tracy, California; St. Bernard’s Catholic Church. It is a beautiful facility, from the outside; the building looks like an old Spaniard...
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...Essentially Catholic Today’s Catholics are much more different than their yesteryears in a variety of ways. Their values and characteristics have remained almost unchanged for hundreds of years even though todays challenges are quite different from those that were endured many years ago. The crucial characteristics of a devout Catholic would include the following; containing an excellent hold on sacramentality, committing oneself to the community, holding human life in high regard, a good understanding of the Bible scriptures, and possessing hope and faith in God. Women’s roles within the religion and church have altered throughout the progression of time and growth of the religion. Firstly, some associated characteristics of Catholicism have some unique similarities with many of the other World’s religions. Roman Catholic beliefs do not differ drastically from those of the other major branches of Christianity, Greek Orthodoxy and Protestantism. All three main branches hold to the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, and so on. But on other doctrinal points, there are clear Catholic distinctive in belief. Distinctive Roman Catholic beliefs include the special authority of the pope, the ability of saints to intercede on behalf of believers, the concept of purgatory, and the doctrine of transubstantiation - that is, that the bread used in the Eucharist becomes the true body of Christ when blessed by a priest. (Catholic Beliefs...
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...Contrast Between Catholic and Baptist Religion - Ask most people today if they have heard of Baptist and Catholic religion and most would say yes. In many ways the two are very similar. For instance, both are based on the Christian faith, belief in the trinity, and that God is the one true God. The two religions agree that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to atone for our sins. They share a 27 book New Testament and insist that salvation comes from Christ alone. On the other hand, while the Baptist and Catholic religions do have similarities, they also have differences, such as their services, communion, and views regarding salvation. The Catholic Religion - The world has more than one billion Catholics and with the ever growing population, it will only get larger in number. To be a Catholic means to have complete faith in God and his divine grace. Having God's divine grace means to obey it and keep it holy as it was created by God and given to his people. The religion itself is based on this and the people take it very seriously. Catholics believe that all people are of good nature but when one commits a sin it not only hurts that one person but the people and the Church.... [tags: Catholicism, What Catholics Believe, informative] 1922 words (5.5 pages) $14.95 [preview] Catholic religion - CATHOLIC RELIGION To belong to the church one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope...
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...better understand the beliefs and teachings of The Catholic Church, I thought that it would be prudent to not only research the topic, but also to speak with a member of the Catholic faith. That being said, I began my research by educating myself on the particulars of the Catholic faith before speaking with Josefina (Josie) Ramirez. Josie, a 53 year old native of Lake Jackson, Texas, was raised Catholic, is quite devout, and takes all of the teachings of and dictates of the Catholic Church to heart. When asked what differentiates the Catholic Church from the Protestant version of Christianity, Josie indicated that one area was how Catholics regard religious authority. “[Protestants] seem to turn only to the Bible for religious instruction. It seems to me that they listen to their ministers, but stick to their own opinions if they disagree with anything. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that the traditions of 2000 years of study, prayer, and revelation are not something to be disregarded. Nothing in Catholicism contradicts the Bible, but we have the advantage of all those centuries of thought and guidance to help explain the mysteries of Christianity and how to lead a better life.” Most scholarly Catholic websites seem to justify Josie’s perception, by suggesting that while “Christ is [Catholicism’s] primary authority; this authority has been passed from Christ to His Apostles” (Basic Catholic). While the Catholic Church recognizes the authority of the Bible, it...
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...Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Over the course of centuries it developed a highly sophisticated theology and an elaborate organizational structure headed by the papacy, the oldest continuing absolute monarchy in the world. The number of Roman Catholics in the world (nearly 1.1 billion) is greater than that of nearly all other religious traditions. There are more Roman Catholics than all other Christians combined and more Roman Catholics than all Buddhists or Hindus. Although there are more Muslims than Roman Catholics, the number of Roman Catholics is greater than that of the individual traditions of Shīʿite and Sunni Islam. These incontestable statistical and historical facts suggest that some understanding of Roman Catholicism—its history, its institutional structure, its beliefs and practices, and its place in the world—is an indispensable component of cultural literacy, regardless of how one may individually answer the ultimate questions of life and death and faith. Without a grasp of what Roman Catholicism is, it is difficult to make historical sense of the Middle Ages, intellectual sense of the works of Thomas Aquinas, literary sense of The Divine Comedy of Dante, artistic sense of the Gothic cathedrals...
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...56). The Catholic Church is held together by traditions, cultural beliefs, and norms. Think of the norms as representing a set of ‘oughts’ and ‘ought nots’ that guide behavioral choices (Chambliss & Eglitis, 2016, p. 56). In the beginning, God created human beings in his own image, meaning that the complementary sexuality of man and woman is a gift from God and ought to be respected as such. Precisely because man and woman are different, yet complementary, they can come together in a union that is open to the possibility of new life (Malloy). Knowing the established norms of the Catholic Church, Charamsa has deviated away from them and thus proving a deviant behavior. This leads into the next sociological concept worth...
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...On March 25th, 2018, I attended a Catholic church service at Immaculate Conception Parish church in Fairbank, Iowa. The church service that I attended was on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is the last Sunday of Lent, and it is also the first day of Holy Week. The Palm Sunday service included the passing out of palm leaves to the congregation. The Palm leaves symbolize Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem because people of his time offered them as sort of a welcoming path into their city. A practice that I found interesting from the Palm Sunday service was the fact that the Palm leaves could not be thrown away. After asking, I learned that the leaves had been blessed, so instead of throwing them away, the church kept and burned them to use as the ashes...
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...My First Experience At Catholic Church Introduction Christianity today is one of the dominant religions in the world with over 2 billion followers. It has an extensive variety of beliefs, forms and exercises, despite this extensiveness all have one common thing, which is faith in Jesus Christ (Hastings, 2000). I having been brought up in the Baptist beliefs and practices had not gotten a chance to attend a church outside my traditional church the Baptist. Lately I got an expected opportunity to attend the Catholic Church mass and the experience was one of its kinds. The Experience On arrival at the church, I felt a bit nervous, as it was my first time to be in a catholic church. the environment around was still and this made me feel nervous. The first impression that I received was the beauty of the church. I was convinced that much attention was directed towards maintaining the quality of the church. The inside was good looking stained window glasses, candles, and the portrayal of Christ on the cross. The architects and arts inside the church was a clear indication of how holly and clean the place was for worship. The presence of Christ portrait made me feel in place, as it was an indication that the people had faith in Jesus Christ (Rasmussen, 2003). Being a visitor in this church the shaking of everyone’s hands by the priest at the entrance as they entered the service brought a feeling of warm welcome to the church and eliminated the weird feeling of being a stranger...
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...Exploring the Broken Bay Catholic Diocesan Religious Education Curriculum Document Student’s Name Institution Exploring the Broken Bay Catholic Diocesan Religious Education Curriculum Document In Catholic schools, religious education is the first area of learning. Religious education enables children and the youth to justify, explain and understand Christian message and teachings as they are taught by the Catholic Church (Carswell, 2001). Religious education is taught to all those who follow and believe in Christ in the world. Through learning, students are taught research, guided on how to study and overall learn how Christians should live (Ryan, 2003). These students also get to know the distinctive vision of the Catholic Church. The Catholic curriculum systematically directs students and enhances them to reflect critically on the meaning of being a Catholic (Carswell, 2001). In Australia, Religious Education Curriculum is imperative, and a must learn program for all years of schooling. This Program, which is denoted as K-12 contains what is to be covered in the Religious curriculum (Ryan, 2003). Time allocations are prescribed to this curriculum about the age of the learners. This program is part of the learning experience and is mandated by Australian Bishops. Its primary objective is to raising religious knowledge and awareness. In Australia, Religious Education is an extremely acclaimed feature of the Australian Catholic schools through which...
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...Decline of the Catholic Church There are many people who challenged he Catholic Church, accepted church doctrines, and the bible. But why? John Wycliffe was one of the people who challenged the Catholic Church. In his writing, he said that monarchs should rule/take over the church, in their own kingdoms. The church was abusing their power. They were afraid someone would overrule them. So they proved this by translating the bible. The bible was translated from Latin to English. This threatened the clergy. If the bible was read and translated into English, people would interpret the bible’s meaning themselves. When the bible was translated, many people got mad. They got mad because people believed they were being told what was truly in the bible, but instead the church said lies to make people do what they wanted them to do. This has to do with church doctrines. John Wycliffe’s work influenced John Hus, an Eastern European priest. John Hus went against the practice of selling indulgences. He called for reform. Hus went up to the Council of Constane to defend his statement. But, things went wrong, they burned him at stake. This made all of the other people scared to stand up to the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was the first after John Hus to stand up to the church. Luther was a priest. He had been authorized to preach indulgences, which people donated money. Luther was protesting his ninety-five theses. He saw the practices as proof of how corrupt the church was. Luther...
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...Nicole c. PCS-410 January 31, 2016 Teresa Burke Roman Catholic culture and religion The Roman Catholic Church goes back many years following the death of Christ, back in the 16th century Protestant Christians separated from Catholics. There were some dividing issues that included the authority of the pope, the nature Christ presence in the mass, and whether God saves Christians by their faith alone. Catholics say that having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is what it means to be a Christian and Catholic as well.. Catholic philosophy is about having wisdom and pursuit of what is the real truth is. They believe that the historic Christian Doctrine is of the holy trinity. Which also states that God is three in one and one in three. He is the father, the sun and the Holy Spirit. When you are in the Catholic Church you are to kneel at the pews before you entire and when you leave to kneel and do the sign of the cross, and that is the way someone says hello and goodbye to God. (Barbara, 2015) Catholics have some differences when it comes to exactly how the authority of the bible compares to the authority of other sources such as the pope. Take Baptist for instance they both believe they can trust the bible and that it speaks truthfully when it records prophecy, history, and doctrine. Catholics have some similar views on moral issues, such as the value of the Ten Commandments and the marriage of a man and a women. When it comes down to the Lords supper things...
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...Throughout the past millennia, a commanding influence in the shaping of Europe's future has been the Christian Church. The largest branch, the Catholic Church, spearheaded the growth of Christianity throughout the world. Through this mass expansion, they gained an immense amount of power due to their existence in many European Countries. An example is the presence of the Roman Catholic Church, a specific rite of Catholicism, in Italy. Being home to the Pope, Italy served as the Catholic capital. Structured upon strict, specific beliefs, the Catholic Church was rarely challenged due to their presence in the Italian Government. Some of these beliefs, however, were challenged by the Scientific Revolution, or the origin of modern science, which was catalyzed by Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, or On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. This publication, Copernicus rejected the previously agreed upon theory of geocentrism, a model of the solar system in which the Earth is the center of revolution, in favor of heliocentrism, a model of the solar system in which the Sun is the center of revolution. The Church quickly refuted Copernicus's ideas, claiming that they were absurd and borderline heretical, but not before it piqued the interest of other notable scientists. Galileo Galilei, a respected intellectual...
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...very popular Martin Luther’s ideas of the church and what he taught: When martin Luther found out that pope Leo x and the archbishop of Mainz were selling indulgences for the construction of St Peters basilica in Rome he objected. He was against fooling people that they could buy their way out of sins without any faith what so ever. These people would believe that they were going to Heaven when in fact they would go to Hell. How could they be repentant when self-loathing and self-disgust was needed. Luther believed that there could be no short cuts to this and that God could not be fooled by sinners pretending that they were repentant. Luther’s main complaint against the Catholic Church was that it was supporting a system that left sinners in sins. Luther openly questioned the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and...
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...Protestant & Catholic Reformation On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther started the beginning of the Protestant Revolution by posting his 95 theses at Wittenberg’s castle. These 95 theses argued on the power and efficacy of indulgences and explained the fundamentals of justification by faith. Thus opened the eyes of the people who had begun to question centuries of Catholic beliefs. Luther and his supporters believed that the Church had been corrupted by power and wealth and therefore it needed to change for the better, however, the Church held strong to their own beliefs. With the constant attacks from the Protestants they fought back in what is known as the Counter-Reformation, also known as the Catholic Reformation. The goal of both reformations was to change the same basic cores of the Church that had been lost. The Protestant Revolution depicts the church as ruled in a totalitarian and authoritarian way by corrupt popes. They viewed the selling of indulgences, which had been initially given to people who went on the crusades, as a commercial exploitation to raise funds for non-religious purposes. The Catholic Church on the other hand, viewed this practice as a way of salvation for the community of Christian believers. Most of the funds raised by the selling of indulgences were used to build St. Peter’s Church. Luther’s followers and other Protestants believed that this was not a religious cause but a way to please the pope’s desire to show his superiority. Luther’s belief...
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...for primary readjustment to overcome the problems associated with ethical aspects that were quite important regarding new ways of life and much higher anxiety due to difficult task that needs to be carried out in the church. Then the other movement followed after that was the revival of church by both laity and the clergy. In Western countries, it was especially very strong. The major issues that were highlighted were latest reforms, the acknowledgment with the diverse contributions related to the region and the present situation of the church, and the identification of the non-political value of the church. The other factor that was quite vital was the increase in revival because of the strengthening of relations between the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and various Protestant churches. During the 1962-1965, the growing value of currents which had lot of value at the time when Second Vatican Council was established during 1960s and even came under John XXIII and Paul VI which started large changes in public worship areas, government and in the ecumenism. The huge period of John Paul II provided an international value to the church and it was continued by his predecessors that followed ecumenical trends, but the tradition of church's values on issues such as marriage, abortion, homosexuality, and other doctrinal matters that followed the rules of celibacy and it also stressed the...
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