The Catholic Faith in a Nutshell

[MaxPC]

Catholic.com is not an official source regardless of the name: sorry Sudsy. It is a private website with a decided bias on many topics.

All rites in communion with the RCC do have both married and celibate priests: that includes the RCC as well.

There are no reliable shortcuts to reading the CCC. No trustworthy Cliff Notes, no private websites that can gift-wrap the doctrine and its meanings.

To have a meaningful discussion, one needs to undertake reading the CCC for oneself and discern on one’s own using one’s personal lens. A proper job would require approximately a year if one is not retired.

If one is sincere in efforts to understand Catholic doctrine the task will prove beneficial. If one is merely proof-texting to look for ammunition to attack Catholics, then no meaningful discussion can take place.

[Ernie]

This morning I was part of a Christian panel and one of our assignments was to summarize the beliefs of the person next to us, and then that person could tweak or expand on anything he wished.

We didn't mention the things we all believed in common but rather emphases or unique aspects of each other's faith traditions.

So here is what I said. Thanks HK for your contribution!

• Some distinctive beliefs or emphases…

-Regarding Grace:
Catholics believe that people need God’s Grace to sustain them from day to day and the sacraments are the conduits by which they have access to that life-sustaining grace. Grace is not a short-lived experience but an embodied, incarnated act that people need to keep coming back to. The liturgy, the calendar, the life of the church revolves around that understanding.

-Devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus. - Believe she was without sin. Believe she occupies a special place in heaven, interceding between God and His people.
-Belief in Transubstantiation – that at mass, the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood.
-Traditionally Catholics have opposed contraception.
-Many Catholics have been unflinching in their condemnation of abortion as the destruction of human life.
-The Catholic Church places great emphasis on moral law and is strong in its devotion to saints.
-It embraces a mystical dimension - most clearly visible in its liturgy.

Catholicism is a faith that revolves around the seven sacraments - baptism, reconciliation, Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders (joining the priesthood) and the sacrament of the sick (once called extreme unction or the last rites). The importance of receiving Christ's body and blood at communion as the bread of life is central. (from https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religion ... ic_1.shtml)

The priest sitting next to me thought this was such a good summary that he didn't have much to add.

[MaxPC]

Catholicism is a faith that revolves around the seven sacraments …

The Catholic faith is centered on Jesus who gave us the 7 sacraments.

The BBC does not qualify as an official source. I strongly suspect that the priest was being polite in mixed company.

[Ernie]

Catholicism is a faith that revolves around the seven sacraments …

The Catholic faith is centered on Jesus who gave us the 7 sacraments.

The BBC does not qualify as an official source. I strongly suspect that the priest was being polite in mixed company.

Here is a recording of the panel discussion if you are interested.

[joshuabgood]

Catholicism is a faith that revolves around the seven sacraments …

The Catholic faith is centered on Jesus who gave us the 7 sacraments.

The BBC does not qualify as an official source. I strongly suspect that the priest was being polite in mixed company.

Here is a recording of the panel discussion if you are interested.

Thanks for doing this. Very nice...

[MaxPC]

Interesting discussion. In decades past, I too participated in similar discussion panels, the explicit purpose of which, is to put a human face on various denominations. These discussions help those on the panels more than the audience, in my experience. In order to prepare for such a panel, the panelist must learn the other viewpoints. The outline given to the panelists themselves will necessarily limit the parameters of the discussion as discussions of this type have been active for centuries.

These panels do not serve as official sources for teaching the particulars of each faith group. For that one should go to the official writings used as a body of instruction in the faith. The young priest I noticed was attempting to clarify the Catholic concept of the Bible and Tradition (not small traditions but Tradition as in the teachings of the Early Church Fathers).
-->To sum up, it appears he is trying to convey the Catholic understanding that the Bible has been interpreted in so many different ways by individuals through the centuries. That to have a proper understanding of what the Bible is saying to us, we should read the Bible along with the writings of the Early Church Fathers so that the context is preserved and "proof-texting" is avoided.
E.G. Lobbyists for homosexuality often proof text (use Scripture quotes out of context) to justify their sin, i.e. "judge not, lest you be judged". Yet the Bible and the Early Church Fathers repeatedly call homosexuality a grave sin.

I agree that Catholics are "anthropologically optimistic". We indeed have a balance that involves Free Will to accept Jesus' teachings and sacrifice.

That said, my experiences in participating in such panels is that it can help the panelists in their knowledge of the topic. It may even intrigue some of the audience. These panel discussions certainly cannot be considered a complete, even official source of information on the topic. That would be a gross reduction of the topic's viability to the ability of an individual to explain their view of it. Ernie, would you be comfortable being held up as THE official source of Anabaptist teaching? I know that young priest would not be comfortable with that perception.

My recommendation stands: go to the complete (not abridged) Catechism of the Catholic Church which contains both the Bible references and the Early Church Fathers' teachings on the Bible. Read it completely and with an open heart to truly understand what it is that the Catholic Church teaches on God, Christ and Salvation. Nothing else is an adequate substitute for this action.

[Bootstrap]

Thanks for doing this. Very nice...

I agree.

It looks like participants wrote out their answers to these questions, and perhaps even had a chance to have the others review their answers and give feedback ahead of time?

[Ernie]

It looks like participants wrote out their answers to these questions

Mostly correct.

and perhaps even had a chance to have the others review their answers and give feedback ahead of time?

we did not.

[Ernie]

These panel discussions certainly cannot be considered a complete, even official source of information on the topic. That would be a gross reduction of the topic's viability to the ability of an individual to explain their view of it. Ernie, would you be comfortable being held up as THE official source of Anabaptist teaching? I know that young priest would not be comfortable with that perception.

No, I would not be comfortable with that. Did I imply that a discussion like this could or should?

[Bootstrap]

So here is what I said. Thanks HK for your contribution!

• Some distinctive beliefs or emphases…

-Regarding Grace:
Catholics believe that people need God’s Grace to sustain them from day to day and the sacraments are the conduits by which they have access to that life-sustaining grace. Grace is not a short-lived experience but an embodied, incarnated act that people need to keep coming back to. The liturgy, the calendar, the life of the church revolves around that understanding.

-Devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus. - Believe she was without sin. Believe she occupies a special place in heaven, interceding between God and His people.
-Belief in Transubstantiation – that at mass, the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood.
-Traditionally Catholics have opposed contraception.
-Many Catholics have been unflinching in their condemnation of abortion as the destruction of human life.
-The Catholic Church places great emphasis on moral law and is strong in its devotion to saints.
-It embraces a mystical dimension - most clearly visible in its liturgy.

Catholicism is a faith that revolves around the seven sacraments - baptism, reconciliation, Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders (joining the priesthood) and the sacrament of the sick (once called extreme unction or the last rites). The importance of receiving Christ's body and blood at communion as the bread of life is central. (from https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religion ... ic_1.shtml)

The priest sitting next to me thought this was such a good summary that he didn't have much to add.

As you said, these are distinctive beliefs and emphases, places where Catholics are different from other Christians. Therefore, it does not emphasize what Catholics have in common with other Christians.

That's a little different from "The Catholic Faith in a Nutshell" - I would hope that would focus strongly on what we do hold in common, without avoiding the things where we differ.