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Posted on 08/02/2008 10:25:25 AM PDT by Salvation

 

Basic Tenets of Catholicism

The basic tenets of Catholicism are the fundamental beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.

Are you looking for a quick & simple guide to basic Catholicism? Here's a primer on Catholic Church doctrine — the essential tenets of Catholicism.

This page is intended as for those who are just starting out in the Catholic faith. It's a quick-reference guide to Catholicism for beginners, perfect for those working on understanding Catholicism.

NOTE:

I've also added another page containing Pope Paul VI's Creed of the People of God. Pope Paul VI wrote that Creed in 1968 to give the modern world a summary of the basic beliefs of Catholic Christianity. So be sure to check out that page, too—it remains an excellent source for learning the basic tenets of Catholicism.

That page also lets you listen to an audio recording of Paul VI's Creed!

For lots more detail see the other articles here at beginningCatholic.com!

The scope of these
Tenets of Catholicism

The full content of the Catholic faith can be organized into four categories:

• Basic beliefs (the faith itself)
• How to live (morality)
• How Catholics worship (liturgy)
• Prayer

This page and its related articles covers the first of those points — the tenets of Catholicism are the basics beliefs of the faith.

Other articles here at beginningCatholic.com cover the other three categories of the Catholic faith, as well as provide more information that's important to the beginning Catholic. You can also look to other reliable guides for learning the faith — see my suggestions at the end of this article.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains a full description of the tenets of Catholicism — the essential and basic beliefs in Catholicism. It defines the points of unity for Catholics. (Click here to read the tenets of Catholicism in the Vatican's online Catechism.)

Every Catholic should have a copy of the Catechism. You may not read it cover to cover, but you'll want to use it as a reference for learning about your faith. (It is pretty readable, though, and a lot of ordinary Catholics do read it to get a full understanding of the tenets of Catholicism.)

Still, the Catechism was written more as a definitive reference for Catholic Church doctrine. There are more readable sources available.

At the end of this article is a list of other reliable guides to the Catholic faith. I strongly encourage you to read some of them!

• Alan Schreck's The Essential Catholic Catechism is my top recommendation for learning the basic beliefs in Catholicism.
• Leo Trese's The Faith Explained is a very close second to Schreck's book. In fact, you should read both if you can do so: they are very different and complement each other quite well.
• I've added detailed reviews of these books at the end of this article. Check them out!

The Catholic faith can be understood easily in its barest outline, yet it contains an rich and beautiful depth for anyone who wishes to explore it.

So explore it!

Creeds: Summary of the faith

From its earliest days, the Church used brief summaries to describe an outline of its most essential beliefs.

These summaries are called "creeds", from the Latin credo, meaning "I believe." They are also called "professions of faith," since they summarize the faith that Christians profess.

The Catholic Church uses two very old creeds regularly as a part of its liturgy and other prayers. There are a number of other Catholic creeds as well.

The older Apostles Creed is brief and simple. It is considered to be a faithful summary of the Apostles' teaching. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church at Rome. (See Catechism, 194.)

The longer Catholic Nicene Creed contains some additional language explaining our belief in the Trinity.

Another ancient & traditional creed is commonly called the Athanasian Creed, since it was originally attributed to St. Athanasius, who died in 373 A.D. (This creed is no longer officially attributed to him.) It is also called the Quicumque vult, after its first words in Latin. This beautiful creed contains a detailed meditation on the nature of the Trinity.

Outline: tenets of Catholicism

Like the Catechism, we'll use the articles of the Apostles Creed as our outline for describing the essential tenets of Catholicism. Of course, this short outline provides only the barest essentials of the Catholic Christian faith.

For your reference, I'll add cross-references to the numbered paragraphs of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for each point.

I believe in God

• God exists. There is only one God. He has revealed himself as "He who Is". His very being is Truth and Love. Even though he has revealed himself, he remains a mystery beyond understanding (Catechism, 178, 199, 200, 230, 231)
• God is at the same time one, and three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the central mystery of Christianity. (178, 261)
  • See the article on the Athanasian Creed & read that creed's beautiful meditation on the nature of the Trinity.
• Man responds to God's revelation by faith: believing God and adhering to his will. (176)
• Faith is necessary for salvation. (183)
• What God has revealed through Scripture and Sacred Catholic Tradition (what Christ taught to the Apostles) has been reliably written & handed down to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (96 & 97)

the Father almighty

• God the Father is the first Person of the one God, the Trinity.
• We dare to call God Father only through the merits of Jesus. He taught us to call God Father. (2798, 322, 742)
• We can call God Father only because of our union with his Son, Jesus. Through union with Jesus, we become adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. This is called divine filiation, and is the essence of the Good News. (422, 742, 1110, 1279, & Pope John Paul II, "Crossing the Threshold of Hope")
• God is Father because he is the first origin of all things, and because of his loving care for all of us as his children. (239)
• God is almighty because he is all powerful. The Catholic liturgy says, "God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness" — by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. (277)

creator of heaven and earth

• God created everything in existence, material & immaterial. (317, 320, 338)
• "The world was made for the glory of God." He freely chose to create to show forth & communicate his "glory" — his unlimited love and goodness. (293)
• Heaven exists; it is the immaterial dwelling place of God. (326, 2802, 1023-5)
• God upholds & sustains creation, is actively involved in its unfolding and development in time, and is the loving master of the world and of its history. (301-5, 314)
• We can perceive God's work of creation through the apparent order & design in the natural world. (286, 299)
• This belief in God as the first cause of all creation is compatible with various scientific theories and investigations of the secondary causes of development in the natural world. (283-4, 306-8)
• God deliberately created man, male and female, in his image and likeness and placed him at the summit of creation. Man alone was created for his own sake, and alone is called to share in God's own life. We are not a product of blind chance. (295, 355-6)
• God created man as male & female: equal in value & dignity, different in nature, and complementary in purpose. (369-372)
• While the creation accounts in Genesis may use symbolic language, it teaches profound truths about creation, man, the fall, evil, and the promise of salvation. (289, 389-90)
• The devil, a fallen angel, is real. He is the ultimate source of all evil. (391-5, 413-15)
• Adam, as the first man, freely chose disobedience to God, resulting in the loss of man's original holiness and justice, and brought about death. We call this state of deprivation original sin. (416-19)
• The victory of salvation won by Christ is greater than our loss due to sin. (420)
• The question of evil is a profound mystery. Every aspect of the Christian message is in part an answer to the question of evil. (309)

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

• Jesus is the second Person of the one God, the Trinity. (422-4, 468)
• Christ's divine sonship is the center of the apostolic faith. (442)
• The title "Lord" indicates that Jesus is God himself. (446, 455)
• Jesus is the "Christ," the Messiah prophesied about in Scripture in the Old Testament. His coming brought about the promised liberation of Israel and mankind from the bonds of evil and death. (422-4, 430-3, 436, 438-9)
• Christ is the perfect, full & definitive Revelation of God. After him, there will be no other public Revelation. (73)

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

• Jesus, the Word of God, became man to save us by reconciling us with the Father, so that we might know God's love, to be our model of holiness, and to make us "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). (457-60)