The Catholic Faith in a Nutshell

[Ernie]

I'm sure MaxPC will want to summarize the Catholic faith.

The rest of your are welcome to make a stab at this as long as you try to frame it in a way that the majority of Catholics would say, "Yes, that is a good way to summarize our faith."

[HondurasKeiser]

I’ll take a stab…”We need God’s Grace to sustain us from day to day and the sacraments are the conduits by which we have access to that life-sustaining grace. Grace is not just a spiritual, ephemeral experience but an embodied, incarnated act that we need to keep coming back to. The liturgy, the calendar, the life of the church revolves around that fact.”

How’d I do, Max?

[Neto]

From the Brazilian layman point of view, Jesus is the most important person - as well as Mary and all of the saints. (This is from a conversation with a taxi driver in Forteleza in 85 or early 86, while we lived there in the North East.)

[MaxPC]

I’ll take a stab…”We need God’s Grace to sustain us from day to day and the sacraments are the conduits by which we have access to that life-sustaining grace. Grace is not just a spiritual, ephemeral experience but an embodied, incarnated act that we need to keep coming back to. The liturgy, the calendar, the life of the church revolves around that fact.”

How’d I do, Max?

Lovely, HK. Well done.
That is certainly one part of the teachings. That explanation is also embedded within a larger section that includes the teaching on the availability of God's grace to those who do not have access to the sacraments, e.g. the infirm, those in war zones and the missionaries. Cardinal Ratzinger in his recreation of the Catechism was a thorough man; he researched every possible contingency based upon the writings of the Bible and Early Church.

I'm sure MaxPC will want to summarize the Catholic faith.

Ah to summarise would take months of reading if one were to approach it within proper context. 2000 years of Catholic teaching cannot be contained in a forum. In that 2 millenia, much has been discerned and studied; categorised into the Deposit of the Faith (non-negotiable beliefs) and the optional practices that are encountered in daily living.

If one is serious about understanding that which the Catholic Church truly teaches, I recommend a thorough study of the The Nicene Creed plus the following two volumes:

• The Bible

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition: (which uses the Bible and includes the teachings of the Early Church fathers as references). I will reference this henceforth as CCC.)

The CCC explains Catholic doctrine and its daily praxis based upon the teachings of the Bible and the Early Church fathers.

If one wishes, a thorough and paced reading should take approximately a year, if one has a day job. The footnotes and appendices are worth the time for clear understanding as well. The CCC is a tough slog if one is not familiar with Catholic vocabulary and terminology. Indeed it is a tough slog for many Catholics. Though it is available online at the USCCB American Bishops' site as well as the Vatican website, I am concerned that all of that screen time will cause dry eyes as it is approximately 1000 pages (depending upon which copy you access). It certainly would dry out my old eyes.

A book in hand is healthier for the eyes. for slow and thoughtful reading. It also allows one to make footnotes in the margins. Many libraries have a copy of it; or a good used one can be bought for less than $5. Check to be sure that the copy is the 2nd edition and has the Imprimi Potest + Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on the copyright page. The 2nd edition corrects some errata that appeared in the first printing.

To study these would be a serious effort of both time and energy. Many would be daunted by the prospect.

From the Brazilian layman point of view, Jesus is the most important person - as well as Mary and all of the saints. (This is from a conversation with a taxi driver in Forteleza in 85 or early 86, while we lived there in the North East.)

Yes, that is certainly an example of South American layman culture as well as other layman cultures.

[Bootstrap]

The catechism is here, in a very readable form:

https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/fil ... echism/VI/

You can read it with cross-references and references to other sources here:

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

It gives a good "in a nutshell" description of many areas of Catholic teaching, but the document itself is over 600 pages.

[steve-in-kville]

My current employer has pretty conservative anabaptist roots. That said, today, we have more Catholic employees than we do conservative anabaptist employees. I have drawn the conclusion that Catholics are just like Anabaptists: you have ones that are really devout to their faith, and then there are others who are going through the motions and/or just living the lifestyle.

I appreciate both faiths and those who spiritually invested.

[joshuabgood]

A few years back a friend gave me a hard copy of and I read the 1100 page or so catechism I have. There is a lot of really great stuff in there...fwiw. More pages in there than are in my Bible =)

[temporal1]

A few years back a friend gave me a hard copy of and I read the 1100 page or so catechism I have. There is a lot of really great stuff in there...fwiw. More pages in there than are in my Bible =)

Neither Martin Luther nor Menno Simons wanted to leave the Catholic Church.
This is something that has been largely lost over time. Understandably so, but it helps to remember.

i was very confused about this as a child and teen. i mean, about how we could all be so different as Christians while all believing in God, all using the Bible. (i wasn’t aware of different Bibles, or what that meant.) i was horrified when i had a young teen crush on a Catholic boy, it caused a WWIII-level family blow up that continues to be brought up at family gatherings. except the pandemic has eliminated family gatherings and so many elders have passed. my contemporaries remember!

The boy disappeared, i was puzzled. Occasionally, i noticed him driving by with his friends, never stopping or waving.
Years later one older sister told me our mother probably talked with him, or his family. Why didn’t i think of that?
Years later, i imagine, if our families talked, his family was probably more than willing to keep him away.

i think he’s married and lives in Colorado. for decades. of course i’ve never pursued anything further. lol

At this time, i have a beloved granddaughter i can imagine might become a nun. She is so sweet, so modest, so sensitive, an innocent believer. Just this week i was thinking, the world has become so ugly (dedicated, formal, normalized ugly) i could imagine she might make such a choice. Maybe many young ones will. What is set before them in the world is not appealing.

[ohio jones]

Ah to summarise would take months of reading if one were to approach it within proper context. 2000 years of Catholic teaching cannot be contained in a forum. In that 2 millenia, much has been discerned and studied; categorised into the Deposit of the Faith (non-negotiable beliefs) and the optional practices that are encountered in daily living.

That's nuts.

Everyone who really desires it may read only the plain texts of biblical Scripture, omit the additional notes, and thus make his judgment.

Christ is simply Yea and Nay, and all those who seek Him simply will understand His Word.

[temporal1]

“In a nutshell” ..

Ah to summarise would take months of reading if one were to approach it within proper context. 2000 years of Catholic teaching cannot be contained in a forum. In that 2 millenia, much has been discerned and studied; categorised into the Deposit of the Faith (non-negotiable beliefs) and the optional practices that are encountered in daily living.

That's nuts.

Everyone who really desires it may read only the plain texts of biblical Scripture, omit the additional notes, and thus make his judgment.

Christ is simply Yea and Nay, and all those who seek Him simply will understand His Word.