Catholic social teaching, based on the Gospel, commits us to working on behalf of each human person, especially the least of our brothers and sisters Matthew Catholic social teaching challenges us to participate in service and advocacy.
The members of the Catholic Church, the largest charitable organization in the world, serve in hospitals, orphanages, refugee camps, schools, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and nursing homes. Many of the faithful pray the rosary, which is a meditation on the life of Christ. Besides Holy Mass, the Church prays daily the Liturgy of the Hours, which contains prayers, Scripture, and hymns in order to praise God and to intercede for all people, day and night.
Our sacred, beautiful devotions include blessing ourselves with the sign of the cross, ashes on our forehead to begin Lent, and walking the footsteps of Jesus with the Stations of the Cross. The Catholic Church has officially declared thousands of Christians as saints. These were ordinary men, women, and children who lived with extraordinary faithfulness to Jesus Christ. They teach us the pathway to sainthood through the witness of their humility, single-mindedness, simplicity, prayer, and action.
We believe each one of us was created to be a saint—to be fully alive in Christ—through our unique call to holiness. We ask the saints in heaven to intercede for us because of their close proximity to God, just as we ask our friends to pray for us on earth Colossians The Catholic Church, established by Jesus Christ, is meant for all people for all times.
We value diversity and the rich expressions of our faith. We welcome you! How Can We Help You? Joseph Prayers to St. Bible -- What is the Best Bible for Catholics? Suffering is the whole problem, and the answer is the point of our whole religion.
We preach Christ, and him crucified. We see suffering as a result of free will and free will as the requirement for true love to exist. If you cannot love freely you cannot love. That free will ultimately produces bad choices and those bad choices produce suffering.
Furthermore, within the problem is the solution and within the question lies the answer. We see the cycle of pride which blames others, excludes others and eventually kills others — and Jesus Christ comes into the midst of that cycle of pride and takes the blame.
He reverses the cycle and by rising from the dead defeats the power of suffering from the inside out. Christianity is the one religion that plunges into the depth of the suffering, wrestles with the darkness and comes out the other side, bloodied but triumphant.
We say this is what our hero Christ the Lord did on Good Friday, and this is why we say he is our Savior — because he wrestled with the devil, went through the dark and came out the other side. From that time on suffering had lost its sting and death lost its stench. For those who would follow him there was hope. For those who would walk with him there was light on the other side and calm after the terrible storm. Dwight Longenecker Fr. Dwight Longenecker was raised in an Evangelical home in Pennsylvania.
After graduating from college with a degree in Speech and English, he went to study theology at Oxford University and was ordained a an Anglican minister in England. In Fr. Dwight and his family were received into the Catholic Church. In December he was ordained as a Catholic priest under the special pastoral provision for married former Anglican clergy. Read his blog, browse his books and be in touch at dwightlongenecker. Durbin complains that his pro-abortion voting record has kept him from receiving Communion in his home diocese, and a Catholic priest and journalist offers a sympathetic ear.
EDITORIAL: The fault lies with the news media that continually misrepresent the matter — and, even more, with Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the other prominent Catholic politicians who continue to scandalize the faithful by their Eucharistically incoherent support for legal abortion. John Paul II.
More good news is that the malady can be overcome. Here are 12 points of advice for doing so. Subscriber Service Center Already a subscriber? We know how to party. Number 9: We dig the arts. We can boast of centuries of fantastic art and architecture, from cathedrals to chapels, from paintings to sculpture. We understand the need for artistic expression, and the relationship of beauty to worship. We are very big on education, from grade school to university.
We also write great literature. From the monks of the Middle Ages who preserved the written word for posterity, to the great Catholic theologians like St. We also know how to create, and how to educate. Number 8: We follow ancient and time-honored ritual better than anyone. The Mass every day is our best example, but we are known for the reverence with which we perform our rites. The sign of the cross, the Rosary, the Stations, the music of our services, the architecture of our churches: all are rich in symbolism.
And because the Mass is the same the world over, a Catholic has a home no matter where he or she roams. We know how to preserve tradition. The priest may represent Christ, but we are still spilling our deepest guts to a fellow human.
We know how to suffer. Number 6: We totally get the idea of marriage. In spite of current controversy and debate over civil marriage rights, we understand the spiritual aspect of marriage, of discovering the sacred within our commitment, of the organic reality of two becoming one.
We get that every marriage is, within itself, a community of believers. We know how to couple. Number 5: We put on an excellent funeral. We know how to suffer and party at the same time.
Number 4: We have the proven capacity to change and grow: remember when bishops used to be married? Probably not — centuries ago Remember covering our female heads with lace? We even change our minds about a previously condemned heresy and apologize, although it may take centuries. Sorry, Galileo. We know how to transform. We know how to share. We respect the gift of life, and insist on the dignity of the person.
We are consistently counter-cultural, and regularly politically incorrect. We know how to agitate. When all is said and done, no matter how deeply the human face of the church may disappoint us, we believe passionately in the power of the Eucharist that nourishes us each time we receive it.
Steeped in incarnate mystery, we know how to sustain ourselves in faith. An incomplete list, no doubt, but rereading it comforts me. May it be a source of hope and help to anyone else with a wavering heart. Valerie Schultz , of Tehachapi, Calif.
She coauthored this post with Msgr. Robert McNamara , pastor of St. Bernardine of Siena parish in Woodland Hills, Calif. Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more. In All Things. Valerie Schultz June 09, Valerie Schultz vsschultz1. Show Comments Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more. Bravo, Father Mac for writing this, and Brava Ms. Schultz for sharing this. I WAS going to expound a bit This wonderful list stands on its own, certainly without my help.
Thank you for reminding us. I have resolved my own struggle by becoming an Episcopalian. This list does not make me want to return.
With some nuances, the Episcopal Church has all 10 things on this list. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And we do have a sense of humor, a lot of it too! A great list but one lack on the part of Catholics - we won't sing, I mean really sing out at Mass, and Protestants certainly do.
To confuse anglican singing with gospel joy is naive. Norma, we might have a sense of humor but it's usually outside church doors.
Fr Mac, " a wee bit of pride" is understatement. Many of those attributes of catholicism especially 5,4 and 3 can be explained by our courtesan nature. We put on a great show that removes people from reality for a while. What about those who are most in need of God's mercy? Those who reject it If you don't sign up you can't get in seems to be the message. Most of our virtues speak of whoredom. Galileo was vindicated by history not by the Church. Taking in James Joyce is like Reagan quoting Stalin.
Joyce lived in an Ireland which saw all of the begorrah manipulation of catholicism. His most vivid scene in Ulysses is defiantly anti-catholic. Masturbation linked to the veneration of the Body of Christ. Number 8 and 4 contradict themselves.
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