Catholicism..... what is it?

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Being that I am kind of religiously apathetic now in my adult years, I have wondered; can somebody explain Catholicism in layman's terms? I've heard some interesting things about it, but I don't want to convert; all I am itnerested in is learning about it.

On that note, here's a joke I came up with:
Q: How do you piss off a Catholic girl?
A: Tell her, "THERE IS NO GOD!"

This 'joke' is either beneath my head, or its over my head.
Ill be generous and assume the later.

Explain?

Any religous person of any religion would presumably be offended by the notion of god not existing. So how does her sect ( ie being Catholic as opposed to being protestant, or musilim, or whatever) figure in it? How does her gender figure in it?

It's just a general Catholic joke. From what I know, many Catholics take their religion rather seriously.

If you want to learn about ANY religion, read the book it is based on. In this case, read the Bible.

P.D.: I did not find your joke funny. I did not find it offensive in any way, just not funny.

So your joke not only seemed lame. It WAS lame.
Not offensive. Just lame.

Okay.
Moving on.

Christianity started two millenia ago.

When the roman empire collapsed 15 hundred years ago - christianity got split geographically- east and west.

The east became Orthodox, the west catholic.

Then a thousand years later- the west ittself got split - with the eruption of the Protestant Reformation- shortly after 1500 AD.

So today you have three major divisions in christianity- eastern orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant.

Then there are the Mormons- but thats a whole other can of worms for another thread!

The Protestants, and the Orthodox, are broken up into little sects (the orthodox more by nation than by belief- Russian, Armenia, Greek orthodox churches believe in similiar doctrines. the Protestant sects differ by doctrines). In contrast to the Protestants and the eastern orthodox-the Catholics are united into one big humongous church headed by the Pope, and the Vatican in Rome.

What make Catholics distinct from other christians largely centers on the fact that they have a pope and a priesthood. Protestants dont have an infallible pope and dont believe you need priests to mediate between you and god. There are other differences. But Im not a theologian.

There are Catholic websites that are eager to explain it all im sure. Google the Knights of Columbus.

The Roman Catholic Church has neatly summarized its beliefs in its catechism:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

I was Catholic for many many years, and pretty much still am on paper. I still halfway believe in it, and I was very devout for a long time. This is what I was taught, I don't want to get into a debate with anybody about whether they agree with what the Church teaches or if what the Church teaches is true. I don't care ether way and people are certainly free to believe what they want, this is just what I was taught.

Catholicism is the original form of Christianity. It was simply called "Christianity" for a long time, and "Catholic" means "Universal" as in the Universal Church. The seven Sacraments are based on the Bible, as are the teachings of the Church. Many Protestants disagree with some of them because they can't find them in their NIV, KJV, etc. Thats because Luther removed books and some verses from other books as well as as the Gospel during the Reformation because he didn't believe they were inspired by God. These books and verses are widely known as the Apocrypha but they ar not. The Apocrypha is a group of other books that are a companion to Scripture that are in some Catholic Bibles. I can't remember all of them but one is named Bel and the Dragon. All Catholic Bibles have the full unedited Scripture, but not all have the Apocrypha. It says so inside or on the box if it does.

The Church also has Tradition, which are extrabiblical things that it does. These things are things like Liturgy, sacramentals, praying to saints, etc. Another thng that many disagree with is the Pope's infallability. That's because many misunderstant it. The Pope is not infallable about anything except matters of the Church and religion. He can't tell you who will win the Superbowl. He isn't a psychic, but Catholics believe that God guides the Pope when he is speaking Ex Cathedra and so is there infallable.

Praying to saints is another misunderstood thing. It's not worship, and to understand the practice you would need to understand Beautific Vision, which is where those in Heaven can see and hear those on earth. The Saints are not considered gods or even demigods, they are somewhat like lobbyists in DC. They help push your case with God so to speak.

Anyway, thats a quick little overview which doesn't tell you all that much. You might like Catholicism for Dummies, which goes into it pretty good. Also if you like religions and just want to learn more, you can go to a local Catholic Church's RCIA classes. Those are for adults who want to convert, but you don't have to want to convert to attend. Some people attend just to learn about it. They usually run once a week from November to Easter. It's free in most places, and some churches have the classes on tape that you can borrow or buy. They cover different topics each week. It's really interesting and because I like religions, I wish that all religions had classes like that open to the public. I know what I'd be doing!

You could also PM Mindsigh, as she has access to a lot of materials that she could point you towards.

How do you miff off a Catholic?

Say any of the following:

... Mary had more children after Jesus.

... The saints are just dead people.

... The worship of relics is morbid superstition and idolatry.

... Praying to anyone or anything other than God is idolatry.

... Jesus was a Jew.

... The Roman soldiers killed Jesus.

... God wanted Jesus to die.

I can top that:

Extra Ecclesiam Salus

Thats actually something thats talked about in theological circles. If Jesus's purpose on the earth was to be the sacrifice so that sins could be forgiven, then did Judas and the Romans actually sin by carrying out God's will? It's considered God's will that Jesus died. I have no idea why people get so upset with Judas or the Romans or Pilate because if the didn't do what they did, then Christianity would not exist. The Judas sin question is brought up in RCIA and in CCD. It's usually said that it's something that we can't know the answer to because only God understands it.

The Bible won't tell you that much about Catholicism, in all fairness.

In a nutshell, what makes Catholicism tick is the Pope of Rome. The first Pope was Peter in the Bible when he received the keys to heaven, and all the other Popes are there through apostolic succession. That is the USP of Catholicism.

Roman Catholicism is definitely not the 'original form of Christianity'. It came about when the Emperor Constantine converted in 300 and something AD. Christianity was already going before then. Well, that's Catholicism in general. The Roman version in the West occurred later during some schism I can't remember the date of. Anyway, the Copts were there way earlier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism

Catholicism is the (self-proclaimed) "universal Church". As a matter of fact, it is the most numerous Christian denomination.

You are confusing many things.

What Constantine created was a catholic (i.e. universal) Church which was orthodox (i.e. had the right dogma). It did not cause a schism, but it defined heterodoxy (i.e. dogmatic errors) and, thence, heresiarchs, heresies and heretics (respectively, doctors or leader propagating wrong doctrines, said wrong doctrines and the people who follow either). The Copts, from the Church's point of view, are heretics, and I am very certain that everyone threw anathemas at each other for a while when they branched out. In the same way, the Reformation was heretic, not schismatic, because it challenged established dogma. The only difference between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are ritual and organisational: the Greeks are schismatics, not heretics. The popes wanted to reunite the Church with the patriarchs of Constantinople, whereas they wanted to eradicate Protestantism.

There is very little knowledge of any "original form of Christianity", because there are few sources. Obviously, orthodox dogma is not the original form of anything, since it is mostly Greek philosophy applied to the Scriptures. It did not "come about" when Constantine converted, since the hellenistic clergy was discussing such matters by itself, but the dogma was defined under his initiative. However, claims of ancienty are more or less irrelevant, since all Christian doctrines are equally fantastic.

I didn't say that Constantine's creation of the universal church caused a schism, I said the schism came later.

I'm sick of Orthodox and Roman Catholics claiming to follow 'the original Christianity'. I heard that enough when I was growing up Catholic.

Last edited by puddingmouse on 21 Oct 2012, 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Actually, after reading your post again, you said exactly what I said, just in a more concise way. Sorry.