The Catholic And The Church

When one hears of a cult, one thinks of organizations such as the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and small fanatical groups such as the Assembly of God. According to Robert J. Lofton, author of Letters to an Elder, there are two kinds of cults; those that use mind-control, and those that do not. Lofton describes eight characteristics of destructive mind-control cults, saying, “If any group exercises all eight of these control elements, they are, in fact a destructive mind control cult”. Lofton’s characteristics are ‘Environmental Control’, ‘Mystical Manipulation’, ‘Demand for Purity’, ‘Cult of Confession’, ‘Sacred Science’, ‘Loading the Language’, ‘Doctrine over Person’, and ‘Dispensing of Existence’. These eight

The Reformation was a European religious movement of monumental proportions and consequences, during which a new Christian religion, Protestantism, was created. Protestantism differs from other forms of Christianity in that it is not a single church, but many different churches, denominations, and congregations, it is extremely diverse. The first proto-Protestant congregations, even predate the Reformation, drawing their origins from an earlier religious movement, the Hussites. However, it is the Protestant Reformation that gave a start to the first major denominations of Protestantism, of which we list four: Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism.

Church a place many people go on Sunday mornings. A place to worship in the Lord and Savior or whichever God the individual believes in. Some individuals believe that church can only be held in the church building. When in reality it can be held anywhere for example the bedroom or a field. A thing that has been noticed is there are many types of people who go that fit in with a certain group. The types include everyone from the screaming child to the strict churchgoers and everything in between. Church may be a good place to go but it is believed that the churches today are corrupt.

2. In the second video, you would see many aspects of the Catholic Faith are supported by the Scriptures. However, many Christians still choose to be outside the Catholic Church. What do you think are the reasons why many people reject the fact that the Catholic Church is the one founded by the Lord Jesus Christ?

Despite the age of these systems, the Catholic Church continues to operate close to them, similar to when they were adopted. The misunderstanding and prejudice towards these systems cause many people to adopt anti-Catholic beliefs for contemporary issues in America. The democratic political system in America clashes with the hierarchical lineage that the Catholic Church possesses. The problem arises when anti-Catholics claim that Catholics are un-American because they follow a hierarchy, rather than the “American” system of democracy. The democratic system allows the people to vote for their leader to govern them, however, the Catholic leader, the Pope, is not chosen by the people of the Catholic Church. Un-American criticism continues with the debates and movements on Sexism and Feminism. As women’s roles are changed, the Catholic Church is keeping true to its origins by keeping the governing body, the priesthood, bishops, Cardinals, and the Pope, a completely male role. The Church is criticized by many as being sexist and by that, un-American, for not allowing ordination for women. “Many Americans / view the church’s ban on women’s ordination largely in terms of democratic principles, or ‘rights’ and representation’” (Martin). Anti-Catholics throw up these accusations of sexism without contemplating the true role of women in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis said in an interview “’Look, in the Church women are more important than men, because the church is a woman / The Church is the bride of Jesus Christ. And the Madonna is more important that popes and bishops and priests’” (Ruiz). This governing structure, as well as other beliefs of the Catholic Church, seem confusing or silly to post-enlightenment ideas. As human philosophy has developed after the Enlightenment, the Church has kept the doctrine the same. This has not caused the anti-Catholic community to criticize

The followers of the Catholic see nothing wrong with the worship of their pope, which is a direct contradiction to their beliefs of a monotheistic God, and the Words of Christ, in whom they supposedly put their trust in. We are going to rewind back to the 15th century when the Catholic Church was known as the Roman Catholic Church and it was the strongest force to be reckoned with, because the Roman Empire because a combination of both a Religious Church and a Nation, in turn creating the papal State, that were of course governed by the Papacy. The Roman Catholic was so drunk with power that anyone who challenged their teachings and false doctrine, were either killed or excommunicated because they were considered followers of the devil; A group named the Albigenses, a group of French Bible believers, became the Catholic biggest enemy because they simply choose not to worship the almighty Pope, and for that, they were killed one by one. And these actions were justified because the pope-their God,-declare it to be a righteous cause.

Do you know how many of your County neighbors are barely making ends meet—often not earning enough to cover just one unexpected expense? A recent survey revealed that about 46% of Americans don’t feel they have enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense. Rather than paying it outright, these individuals and families have to put the expense on a credit card or simply cannot cover it.

While the Church is not truly the source of teachings and the like, it is an assembly or group journeying together to heaven. The Church is me, it is you, it is a collection every Catholic. All of us are members of the Church. The Church is taught authentically and authoritatively on faith and morality, whether it is personal morality and social morality. Also, the Church exercises its authority through many avenues, such as encyclicals, church laws, and Canon Law. In Canon Law, the Church creates dictates for good order in the society of the Church. "...this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith." (CCC 86) The only reason the Church is able to teach on these things is through the Magisterium, which has the gifts of indefectibility and infallibility, which prevent it from teaching incorrectly due to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and that it will forever be a beacon of guidance for all the members of the

In source A it is shown that conformity to Catholicism is being forced, even though priests are willing to conform the overall consensus shows that Catholicism still needs to be widely accepted again by the people. Given that a priest in Yorkshire was recording this gives us an inclination into the regional view of religion at this time, its depict Yorkshire as less Protestant and so it would lead people to be more willing to conform due to the region being a strong Catholic area. Similarly source B supports the idea of Catholicism was strong, this is suggested through the actions taken in overcoming the obstacles caused by Protestantism and reconciling with Rome in favour of Catholicism once again. It shows conformity by how Parliament unanimously agreed on the act to repeal all laws against the Pope’s authority, the church seemly showed conformity as there were certain measures put into place to stop anybody who did not wish to revert back to Catholicism, these people were called Heretics and were strongly disliked by the church in particular.

Following the history of the catholic church shows us that not even they were perfect as they had many internal conflicts such as the Great schism and a distrust in the church due to them having a huge political influence around the late 1300’s to the 1400’s. Despite these problems the church managed to still become an important part of many christians life. Popes were part of this reason and some had

What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church

For Catholics, the Catechism provides the opportunity for individual knowlege and application of Church teachings. It also prepares one to defend and explain the Faith to others when questions arise. This is important, as Christians must “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”4 On all fronts, Catholics are faced with a culture of death that battles against the truth and life that Christ calls us to. Whether the topic of sexuality, suicide or forgiveness comes up, we should always be ready to clearly articulte what we belive and why we do. This can be challenging since some topics demand

The Church recognizes some members of society are seeking God through other religions. In other words, through other religions, individuals seek truth and hold to it: “all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know and to hold fast to it” (Dignitatis Humanae 1). However, the Catholic Church still believes, and proudly proclaims, that it is the one true religion: “We believe that this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of spreading it abroad among all men” (Dignitatis Humanae 1). Meaning that the Catholic Church conceded that individuals can apprehend some sort of truth through other forms of religion, but the true that they will find will lack the fullness of the true you will get from following the path of the Catholic Church. Although this may have some standing, one can correctly argue that the Catholic Church is a made of by individuals, and so are other Church. Furthermore, “no one can be by nature superior to his fellows, since all men are equally noble in natural dignity ” (Pacem in terries

The role of the Catholic Church going to the peripheries is huge for the community. First off, the Catholic Church helps those in need by donating to people who don’t have shelter, or people who don’t have food or water to drink. They also help by holding volunteer work, so people who want to help those in need can by being there. Another thing the Catholic Church does to help those in need is praying. Some people get together to help those in need by asking the Lord to help them. Others pray for them by themselves to help for those in need. The Catholic Church is very generous for being there when people are in need. The Catholic church greatly represents the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. They would help feed the hungry by bringing goods to those who need it. The Church can give drink to the thirsty by not wasting water. The Catholic Church helps people to shelter the homeless by collecting supplies they need. They can clothe the naked by donating clothes to those who don’t have enough. The Church can visit the sick and imprisoned giving blood and spending time volunteering at nursing homes. They bury the dead by sending a card to to someone who has lost a loved one. Finally, the Catholic Church give alms to the poor by donating money, like a the poor box in the Church. The Spiritual Works of Mercy can also represent the Catholic Church helping those in need. Overall, the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy really represent how the Catholic Church helps those in need, and the Church is a good role model for all Catholics alike.

To understand where I am now in relation to Catholic theology I feel that it is appropriate to look back on the thoughts and ideas that I had when I first started this THEO 1001 class. Honestly coming into college I have thought about my faith very little and studied the bible and what it means even less. In my mind I have always thought that theology was primarily a group of people just sitting around reading the bible repeatedly and then coming up with ways on how to interpret certain beliefs and messages in it and what they mean to us as Christians. Now I understand that theology has many more aspects to it than just the one example I gave earlier. The fact that this class was just about Catholic theology doesn’t really have a meaning to me because I haven’t studied other religions or denominations theology. Diving deeper into what I thought about how Catholic theology impacted my life will be a very shallow dive, given that I am neither Catholic or a theologian I honestly thought that this class was going to be a history of how Catholics are the greatest Christians and their way of looking at the bible. Thankfully I was very wrong about both those things and have learned about some very interesting topics throughout the class, one being the fascinating section we did about anthropology and what role it plays into theology.