Catholics are those Christians who recognize the pope, the bishop of Rome, as the head of the Church. A bit over half of all Christians are Catholics. They are common in Europe, Latin America and parts of Africa. It is the form of Christianity that has most influenced the West.
The other two large branches of Christianity are the Protestants, a third of all Christians, and the Eastern Orthodox, who make up a ninth. The Orthodox broke away from the Catholic Church in the tenth century, the Protestants in the sixteenth.
Catholic ministers are called priests. Their holy book is the Bible. Their church service is called a mass.
Their leader is the pope, whom they see as succeeding St Peter as the head of the church that Jesus founded when he said in Matthew 16:18-19:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The pope can, when he chooses, make a statement of doctrine that is without error. This is called papal infallibility. It is not lightly used.
Between the pope and the priests in power and rank are bishops. They are found in the largest cities.
A good Catholic:
- Follows the Ten Commandments, especially as expressed in the Golden Rule.
- Prays, especially the Our Father.
- Believes the Nicene Creed.
- Goes to church on Sunday and receives the holy Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the bread and wine that the priest blesses and becomes the body and blood of Christ. Believers eat and drink it to take part in the sacrifice of Christ when he died on the cross for our sins. It is spiritual food and drink, it is the way to heaven.
The Eucharist is one of seven sacraments:
- baptism – at birth or when you convert
- confirmation – confirm one’s baptism
- Eucharist – receive the body and blood of Christ
- confession – confess one’s sins
- ordination – becoming a priest
- matrimony – marriage
- last rites – just before death
Baptism is what makes you a Catholic. It is the doorway to the other sacraments. The priest pours water over you and all of your sins are forgiven.
Confession: If later you commit a mortal sin, one that can land you in hell, then you must confess your sin to a priest before you can receive the other sacraments again. He must keep what you told him a secret no matter how horrible it is.
Many fall into sin and fall away from the Church for years. They are still Catholics so long as they have not joined another church or told the Catholic Church that they are leaving it.
See also:
- Christianity
- pope
- Bible
- The Ten Commandments
- secret history
- The West
- Protestant
- Am I homophobic? – from the point of view of one Catholic (me).
Abagond 
I am an agnostic. But I have a Catholic god son. Is that wrong? I don’t feel that it’s wrong. I love him and his parents, they both know I’m a lapsed Catholic and very unlikely to return to the church but they still asked me to be his god mother.
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Abagond, you might be interested in this catholic blog site:
http://romanchristendom.blogspot.com/
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Are you aware of the catholic church’s role in the oppression of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, and it’s role in the AIDS epidemic in Africa through its opposition to all forms of contraceptives, such as condoms. Also, has there ever been a black Pope? Bishop? It seems odd to me that someone like you who is opposed to old school, narrow minded institutions run by old white men primarily interested in maintaining the status quo, would be an adherent to just such an organization.
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Furthermore, in case my implications weren’t clear enough, there are plenty of devout Catholic POC , in Europe, The United States, Latin America, and Africa. Why I wonder have they failed to rise to a position of any power? Also, why have so few people of color been cannonized? Other than the the Mexican who witnessed the virgin of Guadeloupe, I can’t think of any. Why do you think this is? Simple, racism. The current pope was in hitler youth, and whether he was “coerced ” or not does not change that fact that he contributed to one of the most disgusting racist institutions of all time, the third reich, and besides being coerced by social pressure doesn’t seem to let American whites off the hook. Also, he was famously reported to have compared multicultural London to a third world country. Guess he wasn’t comfortable with all those funny talking darkies and chinamen around, acting like they owned the place. It baffles me how someone who is as acutely aware of prejudice and imbalance in some things can be so blind to, and even buy into it in others. As far as I can tell, it’s just another white man’s tool to become rich and powerful off the backs of those of a darker shade.
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@AJ
Where I worship there is a black catholic priest and a strong representation of POC amongst the congregation.
Whilst religion has been ‘used’ as a political tool and will probably go on doing so long after you or I are here, 🙂 we must not lose sight of the fact that most true followers aspire to a faith as a pathway that will assist them through life but ‘life’ – Nothing more, nothing less but IMO if you are a decent ‘whole’ individual, you will always find your way whether through Religion or Not or just embracing the so called University of Life.
There are also those who will say that they follow a faith and bast*rdize it to fit what they want in the name of Christianity/Islam, whatever. There will ALWAYS be people who do this but I think its important to remember that following a ‘faith’ didnt force them to do this, it is often something inherent that emerges and sometimes in the most negative detrimental way.
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@demerera, I never said there weren’t many black Catholics, in fact the fact that there are was part of my point, and a priest is fairly low in the pecking order as far as the clergy goes. My point was that all popes and most higher ups since the beginning of the church have been white. This is not for a lack of history or number of brown and black Catholics, in fact there were catholic South Indians before catholic Europeans, and Africa and Latin America also have long histories of Catholicism. Have you seen a brown colored pope or even a high ranking cardinal or bishop? And no white Latin Americans don’t count, they are just as, or more racist and priviledged than white Americans. The catholic church and it’s priests and nuns ran the residential school my Metis grandmother and many other aboriginal canadians attended, that told her she was inherently dirty and sinful as a brown person, and that she should try to be white, but could never be as good as a white person, as well as beating and psychologically torturing her for speaking her own language or expressing her own culture. The catholic church, along with several others served as the Canadian government’s vicious attack dogs, disembowelling aboriginal culture and identity, and planting lingering self hating racism in first nations people’s hearts similar, if not more potent than that experienced by blacks. You decry the American media for telling you blacks are worthless on TV? Until LESS THAN 15 YEARS AGO, we were taken from our homes at age 7 to have the brown beaten, raped, and personally brainwashed out of us by this very catholic church and others.
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Additionally, did you know that because of primarily this vicious, white/catholic/Christian system, around 2/3s of aboriginal Canadian boys do not graduate highschool, and in many (primarily urban obviously) areas join gangs in numbers comparable to blacks and Hispanics in the US. Not to mention the extremely high rates of substance abuse, alcoholism, and suicide.
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@AJ
I guess you have made a valid point and it does beg the question why there are so few POC in higher positions in the Catholic Church. I dont profess to be ‘worldly’ enough to have really looked at this properly so what you have said here is indeed thought provoking…
Reading about the appalling experiences of you and your family is awful, absolutely so, particularly from people who are speaking in ‘Gods’ name.
Unfortunately this has become an all too common where there are people who maintain to aspire to religion and practice faith, whether as a layperson or someone who is formally ordained into the church who use this as a way to ingratiate themselves into a community/congregation and build up trust through shared faith and then abuse individuals too.
Many of my/friends/relatives went to convent school and spoke of experiences similar to what you describe here in terms of the cruelty and I know you wont like me saying this, these were people of ALL different hues. Wherever they were the nuns etc didnt discriminate and beatings and intolerable treatment were doled out freely and easily. I dont doubt however that there were racist undertones from some, such is the unfortunate frailty of human nature. I do however fear this is something inherent in this form of institutionalised education rather than something that the religion/order believes in.
These are the very people I refer to when I say that they bast*rdise religion and taint the very existence of certain faiths in some sectors when they maintain they were compelled to do this from a ‘higher’ being.
This is not saying that I think this is justifiable treatment – I am sickened by all you describe here. However, I dont want religion to be the ‘excuse’ for this -these individuals should be personally accountable for their crimes and to let them ‘hide’ behind this would link their behaviour to something which is supposed to be fundamentally good.
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This AJ cat is very smug for someone who isn’t Catholic. Why don’t you mention Pope John Paul II, who survived the Holocaust and helped free his people.
Instead of everything being racist, maybe you are being Afro-centric.
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I think I’ll go to church and pray now!
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that just came up random i have been sort of cleaning up the old hard drive found that today, that record is from like 79-82ish?
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I am a Catholic. This is a very concise explanation of Catholicism. Very good!
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