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PART ONETHE PROFESSION OF FAITH SECTION TWOTHE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH CHAPTER ONE I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHERARTICLE I "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH" Paragraph 2. The FatherI. "IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" 232 Christians are baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"53 Before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit: "I do." "The faith of all Christians rests...

PART ONE THE PROFESSION OF FAITH SECTION ONE"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE" CHAPTER THREEMAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD 142 By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith. 143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".3 ARTICLE...

ARTICLE 3 SACRED SCRIPTUREI. CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE 101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men."63 102 Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:64 You recall that one...

CHAPTER TWOTHE TRADITION OF PRAYER ARTICLE 2THE WAY OF PRAYER In the living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures, iconography. The Magisterium of the Church15 has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ. Prayer to the Father There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or...

Lesson 6: Angels and Devils "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the ancients;  and the number of them was thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:  The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and benediction."   (Apocalypse 5:11-12) What is an angel?    An angel is a spirit, that is, a creature who does not have a body. Is an angel a real person?    Yes, because an angel has a mind and a...

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world."  (Hebrews 1:1) What is the Bible?    A collection of writings which were inspired by God. "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work."    (2 Timothy 3:16-17) What does "inspired...

Lesson 1: Religion What is the purpose of these lessons?    To fill in what is missing in the lives of so many people - the knowledge and practice of true religion.     "The heart of the wise seeketh instruction:  and the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness."    (Proverbs 15:14). Why is religion the most important study?    Because God expects you to know what He has taught and what He wants you to do in this life.     "Let no man deceive himself:   if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a...

It is not easy to be a Christian. To be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect, is a directive which should instill both awe and humility into its hearers. Likewise, commandments to love our neighbors and pray for our enemies are also tall orders, which, without the grace of God, would be almost impossible to obey. As difficult as Christian living is, it's harder still to be a Catholic. Though the Holy Church is a gift and a blessing from God and ultimately, a gateway to eternal life, its ways are never easy, nor were they promised to be....

Q. 1052. What is a sacramental? A. A sacramental is anything set apart or blessed by the Church to excite good thoughts and to increase devotion, and through these movements of the heart to remit venial sin. Q. 1053. How do the Sacramentals excite good thoughts and increase devotion? A. The Sacramentals excite good thoughts by recalling to our minds some special reason for doing good and avoiding evil; especially by reminding us of some holy person, event or thing through which blessings have come to us. They increase devotion by fixing our minds on particular virtues and by helping...

In Defense of Creedalism Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.We live in a non-creedal age. By and large conservative Christians dimin­ish the importance of creeds and confessions of faith. As a matter of fact, many non­-creedalists do not simply dismiss creeds as unimportant for maintaining biblical Christianity, they decry them as positively antithetical to it. Such a position is not simply “non-creedal,” but rather “anti-creedal.”Many factors are at work generating this anti-creedal sentiment today. Among these we may list the following:an increasing permeation of society with a relativistic, existential concern for the moment; a loss of a sense of the significance...

Question 12 of The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church now asks the following: "What is Apostolic Tradition?" Answer: "Apostolic Tradition is the transmission of the message of Christ, brought about from the very beginnings of Christianity by means of preaching, bearing witness, institutions, worship, and inspired writings. The Apostles transmitted all they received from Christ and learned from the Holy Spirit to their successors, the bishops, and through them to all generations until the end of the world." The notion of Sola Scriptura, or "Scripture alone", as the definitive source of all that is genuine, all that...

The first official catechism produced by the United States Catholic Bishops since the creation of the Baltimore Catechism, will be available this week. The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, available from USCCB Publishing, is an adaptation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992. At that time, the Pope urged that local catechisms be developed to better address specific situations and cultural realities in different countries. This catechism reports to do just that. Unlike the Baltimore Catechism with its 421 questions and answers, the new catechism is aimed specifically at adults and...

Via Ignatius Insight: The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is now online on the Vatican website (hat tip: Pontifications). It is an excellent resource....The Compendium is far less intimidating for many readers because, of course, it is much shorter than the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The question and answer format is perfect for teaching and leading groups. And it is a very attractive volume, with reproductions of sacred art, commentary on the theological meaning of those pieces of art, and reproductions of numerous prayers (in both English and Latin). In addition to the Compendium, there...

Catholic News Service CHICAGO (CNS) -- Mary Zilligan Becker, a Chicago-area Catholic, does not view her chance encounter with a military chaplain stationed in Iraq as a mere coincidence. In January, Becker was asked by a friend without a computer to send an e-mail for her to a priest friend, Father John Hannigan, a chaplain with the U.S. Marine Corps. Father Hannigan, who was ordained in the Chicago Archdiocese in 1976, now has a 30,000-square-mile "parish" that reaches west from Baghdad and Fallujah to the borders of Syria and Jordan. He lives with soldiers, sailors, Marines and Seabees. At every...

Grand Rapids, Jun. 16, 2006 (CNA) - While the U.S. Catholic Bishops are currently meeting to discuss slight changes to the mass, delegates of the Christian Reformed Church in West Michigan are discussing how to resolve a historic condemnation of the Catholic mass, which appears in their Heidelberg Catechism. The Protestant catechism declares that the Catholic mass is “a condemnable idolatry” and, essentially, that it denies that Christ's crucifixion paid for humanity's sins once and for all. But delegates to the CRC Synod spent about three hours Wednesday attempting to tone down the 1563 Protestant doctrine, reported The Grand Rapids...

Interview With Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli ROME, JUNE 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- New methods are needed to catechize believers in the truths of the Eucharist, says Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli. The monsignor, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and member of the editorial commission of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is author of "L'Eucaristia, dono incomparabile di Dio agli uomini" (The Eucharist, Incomparable Gift of God to People), published by Ediciones San Clemente. In this interview with ZENIT, Monsignor Martinelli explains how he has worked to meet an increasing need for catechesis. Q: What...

The Da Vinci Code is only a novel. It is not a source of serious information, but it does raise some serious questions. 1. Was Jesus Christ really married? Yes. Jesus was married to the Church. In the New Testament, Jesus is frequently referred to as the Bridegroom, and St. Paul tells us: “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This is a tremendous mystery. I’m applying it to Christ and the Church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32) In fact, the Christian vocation is nothing less than an invitation...

The Da Vinci CatechismThe Da Vinci Code is only a novel. It is not a source of serious information, but it does raise some serious questions. 1. Was Jesus Christ really married?Yes. Jesus was married to the Church. In the New Testament, Jesus is frequently referred to as the Bridegroom, and St. Paul tells us: “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This is a tremendous mystery. I’m applying it to Christ and the Church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32) In fact, the Christian vocation is nothing less than...

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be available starting March 31, says the U.S. bishops' conference. The 200-page synthesis of the 1992 Catechism will be published exclusively by USCCB Publishing, the publishing office of the episcopate. USCCB Publishing will launch the Compendium in English and Spanish at the 2006 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. The paperback version will be available first with the hardcover to follow shortly after. The Compendium consists of 598 questions and answers, echoing to some degree the format of the popular Baltimore Catechism which was...

THIBODAUX, January 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Bishop of a Louisiana diocese has misrepresented the Catholic teaching on homosexuality in a statement about one of his priests appearing in a local newspaper report. In early January, Rev. Jim Morrison, announced in a letter to his parishioners that he was a celibate homosexual, saying that he no longer felt comfortable keeping his secret while advising others to be open. Morrison is a long-serving priest and is currently pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on the Nicholls State University campus in Thibodaux. Bishop Sam G. Jacobs of Houma-Thibodaux in a statement...