Preview

What Does It Mean to Be Catholic?

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1038 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Does It Mean to Be Catholic?
What does it mean to be Catholic?

To be Catholic means to be whole, one with community, rich in spiritual tradition. Catholicism is a lens or filter which provides a meaningful pattern to our experiences which otherwise would be lacking in life and interest. It is comprised up of faith, theologies, and many different doctrines; even ethical and spiritual orientations and behaviors. At the same time though, it is a community, a group of many strong willed people, with a particular history.

The word “Catholic” is derived from the Greek adjective katholikos, which means “universal” and also derives from the adverb form kath’ holou meaning “on the whole”. Catholicism offers all humanity the “lens” of Jesus’ life. It also gives us faith and lets us believe in our beliefs, whether they are spiritual, emotional, or physical. The faith we get from Catholicism is the “ultimate concern” we have in life. It is the confident assurance concerning what we hope for and conviction about things we cannot see. In my opinion, the faith we have in something is the belief we have in it times the hope we have for it to come true. To be a true Catholic, we must be able to communicate with God. We must open up our souls to the almighty Lord and let him communicate with us through others and the environment around us. To be catholic, before all else, is to be human. Catholicism is an affirmation, a true understanding and expression human existence and before it was a corporate conviction of the pope or the seven sacraments or the 10 commandments or even about Jesus and revelation and redemption. With that said, spiritual communication must be accomplished in order to be in a covenant with God. Once God allows you to be in a covenant with him, you may choose to follow a path on earth that will lead you to everlasting good revelation.

“Being a Catholic means sensing God 's presence and power in a sacramental way. We gradually come to understand that there

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Reformation DBQ

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Catholics believed in salvation through good works. Thomas Kempis, a Catholic, defines the importance of good works in his book The Imitation of Christ (Doc 1). He states that faith alone does not make a person holy, but their “virtuous life” makes them “dear to…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Keifer invites the church to ponder the eternal, mysterious significance of the baptism. “The community into which we are baptized is not fundamentally an institution but an event, and the event is founded on the person action of the triune God. We are baptized not simply into a human community, but into the risen Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit.” The infinite paradox of God’s grace through the sacraments as well as the catechumenate reminds the baptized members that baptism marks just the beginning of one’s Christian…

    • 1777 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sacraments Study Guide

    • 5085 Words
    • 21 Pages

    sacramental grace : participation in the life and love of the Trinity that comes to us through the sacraments…

    • 5085 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Baptists and Catholics are two different forms of Christianity. The term “Baptist” represents to an individual who have faith in the adult “baptism of followers” in Jesus. The word “Catholic” denotes “Universal”. It usually represents to the Roman Catholic Church, which for most of these last 2000 years has been the greatest and most organized spiritual faction within Christendom. (Wills, 1990).…

    • 538 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Armstrong Analysis

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The adoration relationship that devotees have with their God is exhibited through our consistent studying about him in the consecrated writings. We are continually studying more about him through the way toward concentrating on, seeking, learning, and exploring his oath in the Bible. Also, the best interpretative guideline, Armstrong contends all through her chronological investigation, is exercising sympathy and discovering it in the God we read about in the Scripture. Furthermore, she argues that it is difficult to experience what the Bible planned to communicate without praying frequently and sitting tight hopefully for the transcendent God to show up (Armstrong,…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Appendix D

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Roman Catholics are very strict in their religion. One thing they have is different prayers they perform. They have to confess to the priest of their sins. Their worship is calm, reserved and no raising of the hands and no clapping. Roman Catholics are very political based. They are very dominant. They want their religion and…

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Notes

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sacraments call our attention to and remind us of a reality of god that is always present, but se may not always realize.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    What does the Church mean to you? When you hear "the Church," what do you think of? Maybe, it is that place where you are forced to go every weekend, something to do with Jesus and God, but you aren 't quite sure, or, do you think of Jesus dying for you? Well, whatever you think of, I am going to explain to you what, from the Bible passages that I have read, what I think God was trying to explain to us.…

    • 1273 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For my observation, I went to a usual Catholic Mass at a parish local to me. I analyzed the texts being used, the words being spoken, and the level of involvement of every member present. I focused on the responses of those in attendance during prayer and the homily, a scripturally-based reflection not consisting of doctrinal instruction, spoken by the priest. Additionally, I attended Eucharistic Adoration, a ritual where one sits in front of the consecrated bread, which is believed to be the true presence of Christ, contemplating the Mystery of Christ. I observed the people who entered and left and if the read Catholic literature or wrote.…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am catholic but I don’t go to church every Sunday. I usually go when I visit my grandmother in Chicago just because she enjoys it and appreciates it when I go. Although I don’t go to church, I still have my beliefs and try to follow the practice to the extent in what I believe in. I am very open to see others beliefs and be accepting of them. All the things stated here can interact and impact the psychological framework by having the social knowledge of others along with the social frame work by my interactions I have within the…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Apologetics Paper

    • 2500 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Schreck, Alan. Catholic and Christian: an Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant, 1984. Print.…

    • 2500 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Church Visit

    • 4240 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Catholics go through a cycle of events in their spiritual lives known as the seven sacraments. Although all Catholics can not partake in each sacrament, the majority receive the Holy Eucharist and are baptized as children. The sacraments are the rites of passage in the Catholic faith. Some of the sacraments require proper preparation and knowledge of the one 's faith. The seven sacraments include Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, and the Holy Orders. Faith ties the people of God together. We are united through our belief in faith. I see the sacraments as the acceptance of faith in God and of our faith. With all the diversity that exists among God 's people, faith in God and To Chrisitan, Jesus Christ is the being that connects us all as one. He played many roles when he was on this earth and is the incarnation of God. In essence, He is God "infleshed". While he was on the earth, some viewed him as a healer. I believe that receiving reconciliation and the anointing of the sick would require an individual to accept Jesus as the ultimate healer. The Eucharist accepts that Jesus had the ability to turn bread and wine into himself for his people. Receiving the Eucharist is the acceptance of the Last Supper and the symbolic meaning along with it. Jesus Christ is referred to as the anointed. At baptism we are anointed with holy oil to welcome us into the Catholic faith. In confirmation we again, confirm and renew our faith and individually commit to the vows our godparents had spoken for us. Again we are anointed with holy oil, symbolizing the truth of Jesus Christ, the anointed one. The sacraments are a rite of passage among the Christian people. We are all tied to one faith and the sacraments are the links that we tie it all together. Sacraments sometimes required preparation. In preparation of a sacrament, we are taught the underlining faith of Jesus Christ. Through our sacramental practices, we accept and acknowledge…

    • 4240 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classmate Interview Paper

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A: Roman Catholic believes in one God and Jesus. We follow the pope and traditional holidays such as lent, Christmas, Easter, and Ash Wednesday. We focus more on old prayers and a yearly cleansing where we confess our sins.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ultimate Questions

    • 2252 Words
    • 10 Pages

    We our living lives with questions, and want answers for all of them; this is killing our religion, and our faith in the world. Our society is so used to the new technology and the fast pace world that we want and expect instant gratification. Religion, however, is not something you can just type in google.com and get and get an answer. That annoys people and is causing a drastic decline in religion today. The reason for such a decline is the way our lives are being run, and even taking one hour, one day a week is to hard of a task for some to accomplish. With facing doubt and not having reasoning or answers, people feel as if they get nothing out or going to mass, and like kids being forced to go, while sitting there it’s been apparent that your not fully being taken in and focusing on the miracle happening and the lecture being told, instead mass attendees are asking questions in their head and planning there week. They want a psychical item to leave with because there thoughts are not enough. This is proven because according o studies and statistics, the most attended days of church is ash Wednesday, where you receive ashes on your forehead, and Palm Sunday, where you receive palms, both showing Catholicism physically instead of showing your Catholicism emotionally and just be your actions. We don’t take time any longer to think, so because of whom we have come we don’t take time and ask ourselves, what are the important questions. So with all of this doubt and changes in the world there are 5 ultimate questions you should be asking yourself: What is the human condition, What is the spiritual perfection, what is our destiny, what is the nature of the world, and what is the ultimate reality?…

    • 2252 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Catholic church experience

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Christianity today is one of the dominant religions in the world. Christianity has a variety of beliefs, exercises and forms, despite the many denominations all have one common belief, which is faith in Jesus Christ and that He is our Lord and Savior. I am a strong believer in God and Jesus Christ. I am of the Christian religion and the church I attend in The Bahamas is a non-denominational one. My choice for this class site visit was to attend St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church. Father Maximilian Kolbe is honored because his faith gave him the dignity to live and die knowing that, despite whatever horrendous condition he experienced; they believe God is always with them. Though large and diverse, guided by the love of the Holy Spirit, they work every day in a daily mass to minister to every soul who finds their way to St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church. The church is located on 701 North Hiatus Road Pembroke Pines, FL.…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays