World Religions Report on Catholicism Hum/130

World Religions Report on Catholicism HUM/130 By Sally Navarro This paper is to inform the reader about the religion called Catholicism. This religion had spanned the trials and tribulations of time, and been throughout history as the only religion held sacred to the followers of this faith. The following will be told about the religion that I have found from a believer/follower of this faith. I will tell you about the interviewer, the interview site, what the interview contains. Also, I will be writing about how this religion compares and contrasts to the religion of my faith, which is Christianity. Catholic Mass The mass I went to was very interesting. In this because, upon entering the Sanctuary, there is the Holy Water well, that the faithful dip, their fingers into, and make a cross motion on their forehead. The Holy Water is for the faithful in remembrance of their baptism, and rejects Satan. The faithful answer to several Hail Mary prayers before the start of the service; they prep their hearts and minds for mass. Throughout the service, there was constant standing, sitting, and kneeling while the Priest prepared the sacrament, or the Eucharist, commonly called communion of the last supper. During this ritual, there were members of the congregation that assisted with the body of Christ, and the Blood of Christ, in dispensing them to other members of this parish. At the beginning of the mass, the altar boys and girls accompany the Priest into the sanctuary, where the altar boy is carrying a crucifix, the Priest is behind him, and there is the person carrying the bible, holding it in the air. For every ritual the Catholics have, there seems to be a prayer for that ritual. In the constant standing and sitting and kneeling, Father Weibel called this â€Å"Catholic Calisthenics,† (Father Weibel, St. Wendelin Catholic Parish 2009). The Priest opens his sermon with a joke, followed by a brief sermon about Jesus and his love for us. The entire mass lasted about 45 minutes, less than the typical Christian service, which is about an hour. At the end of the service, there was a ritual where there is bell ringing and they put their hands over their hearts, I do not know what this is for, but I did forget to ask. The service ended with the Priest saying, â€Å"This mass is now over, go and be with God! † Name The interviewee is Brenda Campbell. She is in her late 30’s has two school age daughters. She is also married, and works at the College Co-operative. This is where college students from around the area can come to study, take tests, and look up reference information while in a quiet, study-oriented room with 8-10 computers. I asked her to give this interview if she has the time, and she jokingly said, â€Å"Anything for you Sally! † So, I could not get an interview at the Catholic Parish itself, so I had to settle with interviewing her at her job, since I am a student registered there at the Library to use those services. Interview summary In this interview summary is the responses to the10 questions I had prepared for Mrs. Campbell. Several of these questions have long answers, I will provide the answers in short summaries where possible, and being careful not to leave out the root or context of the response. If this happens, then the underlying meaning of the answer has been lost. In the opening question, I asked Brenda a simple, yet a beneficial question to this paper. I asked her â€Å"what are the foundations of Catholicism, and where did its beliefs originate? † Her reply is rather short and to the point of no explanation, she says â€Å"the Catholic church is a continuation of the Christian community which was founded by Saint Peter. The beliefs of Catholics are based on the Bible and traditions long handed down from the times of the apostles. † I found this interesting, because I did not know that Catholicism was a branch of the Christian faith, nor did I know that Saint Peter founded the Catholic Church. Brenda gave a laugh when she told me that I was right, when I said I was ignorant to the Religion of Catholicism. In the second question I gave to Brenda which reads as â€Å"Why is the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus held as sacred to believers of this faith? Brenda’s response shows how logically and true to believers when she says â€Å"The main reason for this is that she is the mother of Jesus. Secondly, there was a moment that the Angel Gabriel came to Mary at a very young age and at that moment she completely gave herself to God. With her acceptance of God’s will for us and her willingness to give herself fully and unconditionally to God is an example to everyone. † This shows me that giving one’s self to God is easy, but then it is hard to stay in that mission. But, Christian groups believe that Mary was just a vehicle for Jesus, who is the true messiah to the faithful. The third question is one that has been debated for years between two groups of Christian denominations. The Jehovah’s Witness do not believe in the Holy Trinity, as for the Catholics and the Christians do believe in this doctrine. When I asked Brenda this question she says that the† Trinity is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The followers of Catholicism believe they are three persons under one God head, representing the presence and the power of God. I have also heard it referred to as â€Å"team God,† This means all three the same, but in different beings. Christians have believed this all a long time, but how can they be the same, and different at the same time? Did Jesus raise himself from his grave? Here is a question I have longed to know. The question involves the use of altar boys/girls and their purpose in the service of Cath olics. The question I posed to Brenda is â€Å"What is the purpose of Altar boys and girls during the ritual of service? † Brenda replies in a simplistic answer, â€Å"Their roles are to assist the clergy when the service is being held. They have a supporting role in tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying communion cups, holding the Bible for the clergy reading from it, and ringing of the altar bells. † This ritual in the Catholic Church seems to be a lot to understand when one has never been to a Catholic service before. So many players (roles) are involved for the service ritual to take place. In some Christian services, there are the uses of liturgists, normally people who rotate this duty to join the congregation in faith by reading together certain passages from the bible. The CCD classes, or commonly referred to as followers of this faith as being Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Brenda points out that the reason form this is the youth need to learn, and understand the basic teachings of the Catholic Church. The reason for this, she says is â€Å"the school age children need to understand and learn the roots of their faith. † Just as one new to the world of Christianity would need to go to bible study to understand the word of God, and the teachings of Jesus, to fully understand what Christianity is and means. Also, instilling these root beliefs will aid them in the future by giving them moral beliefs. In the Presbyterian Church, there is a class called new members class, which is the same as the Catholics, as in to the roots of the belief. When one enters the Catholic faith, and gets some understanding about this faith, they have a duty to go to confession. When I asked Brenda about confession, and what the purpose of confession is she sums it up in another simple answer. Confession, what is the purpose of confession, and what does it help the confessor deal with? She said, â€Å"The purpose of Confession or reconciliation is to provide healing to the soul of the confessor. This means to regain the grace of God that is lost by sin. After confession, the Priest gives the confessor the forgiveness of sins. But, in Christianity, the only one who can forgive sins is God, through Jesus, who died for our sins according to the Bible. Priesthood, this is a very powerful topic in the sense of being a communicator to the almighty, and having power to tell the confessor that God forgives you for your sins. Does the priest or Father have that kind of authority to say this? I will let you make the decision on this question. The topic of how one becomes a Father or Priest came up in the discussion with Brenda, and she tells me how one a Father or Priest becomes. In becoming a Father, or Priest, the first step is internal discernment, which means one must discover their call and act on it. After understanding and determining their calling, they must attend seminary for four years. This is no different than what ministers and other preachers would do to answer their call to God’s work. She also says that they can do this as well as go to college, but all must complete four years of college and four years of seminary. Upon completion of seminary, the one who completed seminary would go to a Catholic church to serve as a deacon for a six month appointment. There is something that is equally needed in both Christianity, and Catholicism. That there is the answer to God calling one, and the need to go to Seminary, or Bible College to obtain the knowledge of God’s word to spread the message of God’s will for humanity. Here is a ritual that I have no understanding about. I asked Brenda what the name of this ritual was but she must not have heard me. The question I said to Brenda was, â€Å"the blessing action that the Priest gives, what is the name of this ritual, and what does it symbolize? She answers, â€Å"The Priest is using incense to create smoke that comes out of the chalice. This represents purification and sanctification. The smoke is to represent the prayers that are being lifted up to heaven with the smoke. I understand this to be a purification ritual of some sorts, by the actions of the priest. He goes around in a underhanded motion to gently move the chalice back and fourth among the congregation, while blessing them and lifting their prayers up to heaven. I thought that God hears all our prayers? The Christians, like the Jehovah’s Witness believes that all prayers go to heaven without the use of incense, and prayed through Jesus. This brings us to the ritual of communion. What this means and what this does is in the followers of this belief. The disciple’s last meal with Jesus is remembered by the Last supper. In describing this, Brenda says that this is the way we remember what Christ has done for us. This is our way of participating in the body of Christ, that we become one with him and as members of his church. As Jesus said to his disciples, that they are to take of his body, to cleanse the soul, prepare the way for Christ to enter the their heart, by asking for forgiveness before they partake in the ritual of communion, also known as the sacrament to some other Christian beliefs. In closing of the interview with Brenda Campbell, there was one last question I had for her, which may be the biggest one I wanted to know the answer to. I asked Brenda â€Å"Is it easy to convert to the Catholic religion? How and what would someone have to do to be converted to the Catholic religion? In a very lengthy response Brenda says, â€Å"Converting to the Catholic faith is a very big deal. In becoming a catholic means that the converter consents to all the church teachings. † She also says with conversion, there is work and faith for her members, which translates to me that there is to be service work and spreading the word of the lord to others as well. She also continues to say, â€Å"One is expected to avail themselves to the sacraments regularly, as well as to attend a four to seven month class called RCIA, or Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. This,† she says, is for the development of a solid grounding in the Catholic faith. â€Å"Before one gets initiated into the Catholic Church, this involves Reconciliation, Baptisms, and confirmation into the Catholic faith. This is a lot to go through to convert to the Catholic belief. This is more than other Christian denominations do for them to be members of certain churches. I know this to be true in a Christian church back where I used to live. Where the preacher asked someone to come down or has a decision to make today, that he invites them down and pray with him and tell him what you need. This person went down during the invitation song, prayed with the preacher and after the song was over, he gave a brief description of what this person did to end up at that church and after that, the preacher turned to the person who joined the church and asked him a few questions. One of the questions the preacher asked the person joining the church was at the end. The preacher asks the person do you accept Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and savior, the person answered, yes. After that, this person was a member of the First Christian church. That is a big difference form just confessing faith in the lord to become a member of the Christian Church, and how much more time is needed to become a member of the Catholic Church. Conclusion The difference between Christian and Catholic is Mary. The Catholics believe Mary is sacred, and the Christians believe that Mary is the mother of Jesus, which is true, but Jesus is the Messiah not Mary. References Father Weibel 2009 St. Wendelin Catholic Parish Brenda Campbell, 2009, St. Mary’s Catholic Parish, www. inplainsight. org 2009