What is the Catholic faith and why all the rituals?

Answer 1

As a Catholic, I believe I can answer this question.

Catholics are a group of people who believe in God, the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilate. Jesus then was crucified died and was buried and on the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins and ever lasting life with God.

All that can be found in the Apostles Creed.

The Catholic faith does not have "Rituals", we have traditions and guide lines to live by. The Ten Commandments are our guidelines that we believe God gave us. There are ten as you can tell by the name and the first three are about God while the other seven are about our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, all people in the world. They are

1. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.

• For example, putting Video Games before other important things like faith and family. Working 24/7 like it is your life and what you live for.

2. You shall not take the Lord your God's name in vain

• "Oh my God" and "God how could he do that!" are examples of this commandment

3. Keep Holy the Sabbath day.

• Resting on Sunday by not going to work and going to Church. You are also able to go to church on Saturday night and keep this commandment that way.

4. Thou shall not kill

• This includes causing injury by random fighting, killing animals wantonly and or course humans.

5. Honor your father and mother

• Doing what they say the first time for kids but for adults honoring them as your parents even when they are wrong and taking care of them when they are old as they took care of you when you were young.

6. Though shall not steal

• Stealing is breaking the sixth commandment and can get you in trouble with police =)

7. Though shall not commit adultery

• Mortal Sin!!!! That is you go straight to hell if you don't repent before you die! It's a venial sin when it's just a desire such as looking at a woman or man in a dirt way, thinking of sex with a woman or man when you are not married with them.

8. Thou shall not bare false witness

• Lying.

9. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife/husband

• Wishing you were married to another persons wife or husband or thinking about it.

10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods

• Wishing you had another persons belongings.

Yes, these are hard to follow and everyday we have the problem of following them. We try and that is all God wants. Most people just try and keep away from the mortal sins.

Catholics also have other traditions. Communion is receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, God's Son Jesus. During this special time at church the priest changes regular bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in a scientific mystery called transubstantiation. Science has admitted that this change is possible, for something to seem to all five senses as one thing but is actually be another, however it cannot explain it. We do this in memory of Christ's sacrifice where he re-opened the gates of heaven for us.

We also have Reconciliation. This is where we confess our sins to a priest. Through the priest, God forgives or absolves us of our sins, freeing our Spirit from their hold. Even if it is murder if you are truly sorry for it God will forgive you. The priest will also not tell anyone any of your sins. If he does he is breaking his promise to us as our priest and God and, will be excommunicated (cast out) from the Church.

Baptism is when a child, baby, or adult enters the Catholic Faith. A priest blesses the person with Holy Water and the Holy Spirit will then come down on the child, adult or baby and wipe away the original sin that Adam and Eve, the first people on earth, gave us when they disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Confirmation is when a Catholic youth in the eight grade, or whenever the parents and Church deem him ready, chooses to let the Holy Spirit come down on them freely. It strengthens the bond you have with the Holy Spirit and is also an official recognition of the Church that you are now a "soldier of Christ" or ready to defend the faith alone. That is you are not just doing what you were brought up to do, you understand and truly believe in the Catholic faith.

Though we do have others these are the main ones. If you would like to know more perhaps going to the local Catholic priest will help and reading The Bible might bring you some more understanding.

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If I might add, there are what we call, 2 different kinds of tradition.

Tradition (with a capital "T")

These are traditions such as the Eucharist, Baptism, and other core Catholic activities. These were set in place by Jesus or his closest followers, and can be found in the Bible.

These cannot be removed from the church.

tradition (with a small "t")

These are traditions set in place because of community function or heritage. These are allowed to be removed at any time as is necessary, and must be altered if they interfere with Tradition (with the capital "T") or sacred doctrine. These are the ones that confuse most people.