Victoria BickleyProfessor KashmarEnglish 11128 September 2018Why Become a True Catholic?Why become Catholic? Internal peace, acceptance, and forgiveness. The religion has been in existence for over two thousand years.
Its historical and universal presence are justifiable for an obvious worldly impression. For those who place joining the faith into consideration, it may be an easy decision. It can be traced back to Jesus Christ Himself and “guards the truth that Jesus has taught” (Discover).
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The conversion to Catholicism may involve up to two years through the RCIA (the Right of Initiation for Adults) program in the church. Catholicism is the most personal religion and its followers develop a close and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through his Holy gifts.The two hundred and sixty-sixth pope, Pope Francis, is now entering his sixth year in the papal seat. However, despite his overwhelmingly well-received paparchy, Catholics have been turning away from the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis’s popular rule and his ideological incline to present a “kinder, gentler Catholicism” (Manseau) has driven people towards the faith. “Who am I to judge?” It has been made evident that the pope has a tolerant stance on homosexuality in discrepancy with the Archdiocese of Detroit who announced an exhortation for a dodecahedral of churches because they were identifying as Catholics (Manseau). INCLUDEPICTURE “/var/folders/z9/83j4vplx37xgpkytxcpz9vv40000gn/T/com.
microsoft.Word/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/MV5BOTVhNzg0YjEtZjBkNy00MDMyLWEwNGMtNzg2ZjE3NTRkNjVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDUzOTQ5MjY@._V1_UY317_CR12,0,214,317_AL_.jpg” * MERGEFORMATINET Pope Francis by Franco OrigliaWho is a true Catholic? The term catholic is derived from a Greek word meaning “universal.” The Catholic Church is “a universal body of believers, united in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior” and “it is made up of every race, age, and walk of life.
” The Church encompasses all those who believe in God and that He suffered and died for the people’s sins and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures as stated in the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed. This provides people with an ultimate understanding of the Catholic religion and its popularity. Catholics also believe that there was only one Person between God and man, Jesus (Revived). They believe in attending church every Sunday and for holy obligations, such as Easter and Christmas. There are seven sacraments that Catholics recognize, baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, reconciliation, marriage, anointing of the sick and holy orders.
Sacraments signify the Divine grace granted to Catholics by God Himself. Peter Lombard defined sacraments as “an outward sign of inward grace that it bears its image and is its cause (Kennedy).” Catholics believe that sins can be forgiven. The process in which Catholics have their sins forgiven is by partaking in Penance, which is the act of deliberately confessing your sins to a priest. This is also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is the only way that people, who are natural sinners, can be washed away of their sins after the Sacrament of Baptism. This has always been a very comforting sacrament, because once a Catholic participates in this holy sacrament, his or her sins are forgiven, and they can walk away as a renewed and sinless child of God.
However, some people choose to abandon the Catholic theology and disaffiliate with the church.People have been leaving the church for multifarious reasons. Some do not believe in what the Church is teaching, or they did not like the rules the Church subjects to. Young people quintessentially leave the faith at age thirteen; sixty-three percent left between the ages of ten and seventeen and twenty-three percent left before the age of ten (Gray).Many leave the faith due to science.
This could occur frequently because of the decline in Catholics attending Catholic schools. The Catholic Church has not had a problem with coexisting with the evolution theory, because “God intended that man and creation exist in their present form.” In the Bible, the first chapter of Genesis explains the creation of life and the science behind it (Gray). God created the world out of nothing in seven days.
The first six days of His transcendental work were used to create night and day, the sky and the sea, land, stars, the sun and moon, and animals. His last day was devoted to rest. Those who have grown up believing in God and have had formal Catholic education have a better time persevering through the scientific teachings and can believe the evolution theory is compatible with the seven days of creation (7).God Resting On 7th Day by GrangerMany people have broken off from the faith but still consider themselves Catholic. Although this is not viewed as acceptable to the Church, wishful thinking from the Pope and his followers is palpable for those who grew up believing in the faith but have grown away from it. The Bible is the foundation of the Church’s teachings. The Word of God started by word of mouth and graduated from oral teachings to the preservation of text by the Holy Church in the Holy Bible (Discover).
An ongoing argument between Catholics discusses whether or not people can prove the Church by the Bible or vice versa. Catholics can find a true answer when looking at the church’s history. The Church was created before the Bible.
The Bible was created as a historical document by the Church and is compiled of writings called the Sacred Scriptures. The realness and fullness of the Church comes from before the Bible during Jesus’ teachings and his legacy after him. Jesus taught by word of mouth and his followers did the same and this continued even after they ordained successors. This is the greatest example of the traditions handed down by Christ and His living memory (Catholics).In conclusion, Catholicism has had its downfalls but it has withstood the trials of age.
The religion gives its people the utter truth that Jesus promised his followers. All people are worthy of the Church and can at any time turn to God. As Manseau said in his article, “Who am I to judge?” would be a fitting motto for a papacy that saw a thousand Catholics bloom.”Works Cited”7 Days of Creation and Their Most Beautiful Illustrations.” Aleph, 11:34, www.faena.com/aleph/articles/7-days-of-creation-and-their-most-beautiful-illustrations/.
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” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912, 4:36, www.newadvent.
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” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Mar. 2014, 7:16, www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/opinion/what-it-means-to-be-catholic-now.html.
Revived Life “A True Catholic.” RevivedLife.com, Revived Life, 13 Dec. 2017, 9:49, revivedlife.com/a-true-catholic/.
