An Introduction To Catholicism Summary

The author points out that the use of sacraments, Eucharist, and ecclesial mediation are equally important and each of these aspects of the church an aspect that cannot be recreated through the internet era, just as the true community is not created. Another notable strength of the book is the notable observations about the need for the church to move forward. In the preface, Spardo quotes the Benedict XVI who said in 20011 "It is not just that we need to explain the message of the Gospel in today's language, but have the courage to think in a way that is more profound... the life of the Church, and the changes that man is living" This quote sets a tone for the authors intentionality to inform the reader for the need to reflect on the role of the church in response to the changing way of daily life through the rise of the internet era. Although the book is written primarily for the Catholic Church, its reflections can be applied to most denominations and expressions of western Church. Spadaro's references to social media, internet-based searches, religious virtual spaces, expressions of sacramental rituals through the media of the internet and even hacker's mentality create an in-depth reflection on the internet era that can easily be applied to a vast majority of Christian and Church

Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction written by Gerald O’Collins is a short read that gives an insight to the Catholic church without getting confusing to the reader. It touches on the basics of Catholicism such as the history, practices, and core beliefs. Through each chapter Gerald O’Collins a research professor in the field of Theology at St. Mary’s University College and Twickenham, as well as formally Dean in Gregorian University for the faculty of Theology, shares his knowledge on the Catholic religion one question at a time.

The Roman Catholic Church is presented as an institution of knowledge and power, influencing the lives of the people. The clear boundaries in catholic society are presented here, by the “right and wrong”, indicating that there was little variation in beliefs and practice in those following Catholicism. However, even though religion is presented as an important part of life, determining people’s decisions and behaviour, it is also presented as something which is taught, rather than followed willingly, indicating that while children, such as Frank, may have no wish to become “good Catholics”, they were forced to do so by society; their parents and teachers. Frank presents the attitude towards religion in school through the following quote, telling the children to: “Know and remember all the questions and answers in catechism, became good Catholics, to know the difference between right and wrong, to die for the Faith if called on”

“One has to consult the sayings of the Fathers of the Church, as well as other ancient writers. This helps us understand the historical changes which have occurred over the years. Reading the Fathers can give meaning to many of the rubrics, many of which are not carried out properly because of lack of understanding of their meaning”.

Why should one lie awake over the relation between canon and creed? The oddity of this question is the focus of Robert W. Jenson’s work, Canon and Creed. Produced within the Interpretation series that seeks to give resources to the church catholic, Jenson takes on the burden to show how the two resources of the church are enmeshed, interpreting and being interpreted by one another. The “bewilderment” that many contemporaries have over the interplay between canon and creeed, as Jenson sees it, has “slipped through our grasp,” probably causing modern Christianity to lose other parts of the church’s life (2). Before delving into the meat of his book, Jenson frames the context for the canon and creed by the analogy of the telephone-game.

Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-

The second interview presents a point of view of a mature Catholic person (Flor Leger, age 47). Flor like Rachel was raised in the Catholic religion. She has been a member of the Catholic church her whole life. She also has completed all of the necessary sacraments to be a member of the church (Baptism, the Holy Communion, and Confirmation). She was also married in the Catholic church which is considered as another sacrament. For Flor, religion is a relationship with God and the Catholic religion is the process that the followers used to reach it. She believes that the major difficulties to practice this religion is to maintain a good discipline to be an active member and help others as it is described by Jesus. She believe that as a mature person, you have a clear understanding of how much you need God in your life. God is an important aspect of our life and we need to do everything that we can to maintain a good relationship with God, the Catholic religion helps her to accomplish this. Flor understands that Catholicism is the only way to reach a true relationship with God (Flor’s Interview, 2-16-17).

Next, McMinn (2007) acknowledges the Christian Theology perspective on confession. According to the author (2007), there are two kinds of relations to confession and Christian Theology, which are confession and the sacrament of penance and confession and Scripture. McMinn (2007) points out that the Christian church has constantly been engrossed in confession, but the way of confession has altered during the past two millennia (p 221). According to the author (2007), numerous Spiritual leaders, such as Saint Augustine and Saint Patrick writing of their confessions of faith and sin have severed as a partial foundation for scholasticism, which is a crusade that attempted to examine faith academically (211-212). As scholasticism grew thought out time it birth the doctrine and sacrament

Within Yves Congar’s The Meaning of Tradition, he sets out to define the traditions of the Catholic Church. Congar begins his analysis of the role of Tradition in the Catholic Church by defining it; his definition states that Tradition is a gift from God that is passed down subsequent generations. According to Congar the Church’s tradition involves sharing Christ’s revelation, so that God’s revelation can be passed down throughout space and time. Congar devotes sections of his book to the role of magisterium in the Church. The magisterium has a pivotal role in analyzing the doctrines of the faith and providing the people of God with an explanation of its meaning. By doing this, the magisterium is exercising its role as the successors of Jesus’ apostles in guiding the faithful. The Magisterium is essential to ensuring that the faithful create a personal relationship with God. Congar, attributes the magisterium’s role in the Tradition of the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit. According to Congar argues that the Holy Spirit has inspired the Church throughout history. The Holy Spirit also works through the people, giving them the gifts necessary for understanding the word of God. Congar continues to ascribe the Church’s tradition to its familiar atmosphere that allows faith to grow in believers. Congar goes on to state that the Church’s tradition does not stem from Scripture alone, the uniting force of God’s word. Scripture needs to come from an inspired source, alone it can

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

A 54-year-old Catholic woman stated in an interview conducted on the topic of the modernization of the church insightfully noted that Vatican II allowed for “practical changes,” like “ music and singing, and women allowed into upfront roles as readers, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers in some places.” Vatican II “aimed to produce a different experience of the mass,” but also set out to reposition the church in a relative relationship with the modern world (Mathis).

When considering the topic of Mystagogy and the Church’s understanding of the subject it is important to recognize the complete picture, the scope of what is covered. Looking quite literally at Mystagogy, and perhaps a common view held by most, it is very simply the final of four stages in the RCIA process of bringing believers into the Church. However, the context of this paper will focus at a more in depth look at the nature of Mystagogy and its essential relationship to the liturgical life of the Church. In doing this I will also show the relationship between Mystagogy and exegesis, the sacraments as mysteries and the vital place of narrationes in Mystagogy. Before an attempt to delve

There are many aspects of religion that causes positivity in the life of its followers. For one, religion is composed of a congregation of followers who share the same faith and beliefs that unite them with one another. Studies show that people, especially those without a family, feel comfort in religion because they feel welcomed by the members, along with being accepted by them. In many religions, members often gather together not only to partake in religious activities but also to pray together in

In this report I will be both contrasting and comparing the religious view of Catholicism and the world view of Secular Humanism. The three questions I will be analysing through the religious view of Catholicism and the world view Secular Humanism include:

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.