The Catholicism reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Catholicism

Sponsorship the way you would do it
This article contains information about the major Christian belief-system known as Catholicism, as well as an overview of the largest Catholic grouping, the historical institution commonly known as the Roman Catholic Church. For contrasts, see Eastern Orthodoxy and the Greek Orthodox Church or Protestantism and the Lutheran Church. Catholicism is a belief system, and is studied in contexts that include theology and philosophy. The Roman Catholic Church is a physical institution, and can be studied much as institutions like the US Government or the British Monarchy are studied.

Catholicism, from the Greek katholikos (καθολικος), meaning "general" or "universal", is a religious name applied to two strands of Christianity.

The term "Catholic" has been used since the first Christian centuries to describe the one, original church of Christ founded by Christ and the Apostles. As such, many other groups of Christians claim entitlement to the designation "catholic" in the general sense of the term (without the capital-C). These fall into two groups: 1.) those like the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican churches that retain a physical Apostolic Succession from the early church; and 2.) other Christians who believe that they remain spiritual descendants of the Apostles, whilst not retaining organisational descent from the historic church. The Apostles Creed stating "I believe in...the holy catholic church..." is therefore recited in thousands of Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches each week.

In a narrower sense, the term "Catholic" is used to refer to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, often called the Catholic Church, under the Papacy. These 24 sui iuris churches are in full communion and claim over one billion adherents, making them the largest Christian denomination. Their distinguishing characteristic is their acceptance of the authority of, and communion with, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and who accept his authority on matters of "faith" and "morals", and his assertion of "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church." [1]

In casual usage, when people speak of "Catholics" or "Catholicism," they usually mean adherents of the Latin Church, better known as the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest of the 24 Catholic Churches, but is still only one branch of the whole.

Table of contents
1 Meaning of "Catholicism"
2 History and Influence
3 List of Rites and Churches Within the Catholic Church
4 Notes
5 Additional Reading
6 See also
7 External links

Meaning of "Catholicism"

The Creeds & Catholicism

The word Catholic appears in the main Christian creeds (formal definitions of belief), notably the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. Christians of most denominations, including most Protestants, affirm their faith in "one holy catholic and apostolic Church." However for protestants this affirmation refers to their belief in the ultimate unity of all churches under one God and one Saviour, rather than in one visibly unified church. In this usage catholic is usually written with a lower-case c, while upper-case C refers to the sense discussed in this article.

Catholicism

Churches that consider themselves to be truly Catholic share certain essential distinctives:

In Western Christianity the principal faiths which regard themselves as "Catholic", but are not in full communion with the Pope, are the Ancient Catholic Church, Old Catholic Church, Liberal Catholic Church the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and some elements of Anglicanism ("High Church Anglicans" or "Anglo-Catholics"). These groups hold beliefs and practice religious rituals similar to Roman Catholicism, but differ from Roman Catholicism on the issue of the Pope's status and authority.

The several churches of Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy consider themselves to be the Catholic church as in being the "universal" Church. The Orthodox churches generally see the Latin "Catholics" as being schismatics who left the "true catholic and apostolic church" at the time of the Great Schism. The Patriarchs of Eastern Orthodoxy are autocephalous hierarchs, which roughly means that each of them is independent of the direct oversight of another bishop (although still subject to their synod of bishops as a whole). They are not in communion with the Pope and do not recognise his claim to be the monarchial head of the universal Church, although they are willing to concede a primacy of honour. There are also Eastern Rite Catholics whose liturgy is similar to that of the Orthodox, and also allow married men to be ordained as priests, but who recognize the Roman Pope as the head of their church.

Some groups call themselves Catholic but are questionably so: for instance the Liberal Catholic Church, which originated as a breakaway group from the Old Catholic Church, but incorporated so much theosophy that it ceased to have much doctrinally in common with Catholicism.

Roman Catholicism

The principal and largest Catholic religious body is the "Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", often known as the "Roman Catholic Church". It is so named because its adherents are all in communion with the Pope and Bishop of Rome, and most parishes follow the Roman or Latin Rite in worship, although there are Eastern Rites and other western rites, such as the Ambrosian rite in the diocese of Milan. More information can be found at Roman Catholic Church

Anglo-Catholicism

The Anglican Communion, though one church, is in practice divided into two wings, "High Church Anglicans" also called the Anglo-Catholics and "Low Church Anglicans" also known as the Evangelical wing. Though all elements within the Anglican Communion recite the same creeds, Low Church Anglicans treat the word Catholic in the creed as a mere older word for universal, High Church Anglicans treat it as a name of Christ's church to which they, the Roman Catholic Church and others maintaining Apostolic Succession all belong.

Anglo-Catholicism holds beliefs and practices religious rituals that are very similar to Roman Catholicism. The similar elements include a belief in seven sacraments, Transubstantiation as opposed to Consubstantiation, devotion to the Virgin Mary and saints, the description of their ordained clergy as "priests" - addressed as "Father" - the wearing of vestments in church liturgy, sometimes even the description of their Eucharistic celebrations as Mass. Their main source of difference with Roman Catholicism on the issue of the Bishop of Rome's status, power and influence. The development of the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism occurred largely in the nineteenth century and is strongly associated with the Oxford Movement. Two of its leading lights, John Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning, both ordained Anglican clergymen, ended up joining the Roman Catholic Church, becoming cardinalss.

History and Influence

The early Christian church came to be organized under five patriarchs, the bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. The Bishop of Rome was recognized by all the Patriarchs as "the first among equals," with doctrinal or procedural disputes often referred to Rome for an opinion. When the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, papal influence was often challenged. While Rome claimed an authority descending from St. Peter (who died in Rome and was regarded as the first pope1) and St. Paul, Constantinople had become the residence of the Emperor and the Senate. A series of complex doctrinal disputes, along with the evolution of separate rites and practices led to a split in 1054 which divided the Catholic Church in the West from the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East. (Greece, Russia and much of the Slavic lands, Anatolia, Syria and Egypt fell into the eastern camp. This division is called the Great Schism.

The next major split from the Catholic Church occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation, during which many of the Protestant (protesting) denominations were formed.

Sacraments

The practice of the Catholic Church consists of seven sacraments (see also Catholic sacraments):

In Catholic teaching, sacraments are gifts of Christ, performed through the office of the Church, that impart sanctifying grace to the receiver. Briefly: Baptism is given to infants and to adult converts who have not previously been validly baptised (the baptism of most Christian denominations is accepted as valid by the Catholic Church since the effect is believed to come straight from God regardless of the personal faith, but not intention, of the minister). Confession or reconciliation involves admitting sins to a priest and receiving penance (a task to complete in order to show repentance, and so achieve absolution or forgiveness from God). Eucharist (Communion), is considered a partaking in the sacrifice of Christ, marked by sharing the Body and Blood of Christ, which are believed to replace the bread and wine used in the ceremony. The Roman Catholic belief that bread and wine are transformed in all but appearance into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is known as transubstantiation. In the sacrament of Confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit conferred in baptism is "strengthened and deepened" (see Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1303) by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. In the majority Roman Catholic church, this sacrament is presided over by a bishop, and takes place in early adulthood. It confirms one into full membership of the Church. In the Eastern Catholic Churches (see below) the sacrament is called chrismation, and is ordinarily performed immediately after baptism by a priest. Holy Orders is the entering into the priesthood and involves a vow of chastity; the sacrament of Holy Orders is given in three degrees: that of the deacon (since Vatican II a permanent deacon may be married before becoming a deacon), that of the priest, and that of the bishop. Anointing of the Sick used to be known as "extreme unction" or the "last rites"; it involves the anointing of a sick person with a holy oil blessed specifically for that purpose and is no longer limited to the seriously ill or dying.

Rites and sui juris Churches

The Roman Catholic Church is a federation of 24 self-governing (sui juris) churches in full communion with one another and in union with the Pope in his capacity as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church (referred to as the "Roman Pontiff" in canon law); the Pope in his capacity as Patriarch of Rome (or Patriarch of the West) is also head of the largest of the sui juris Churches, the Latin Church (popularly called the "Roman Catholic Church"). The remaining 23 sui juris Churches, collectively called the "Eastern Catholic Churches", are governed by a hierarch who is either a Patriarch, a Major Archbishop, or a Metropolitan. The Roman Curia administers the Eastern Churches as well as the Western Church. Because of this system, it is possible for a Catholic to be in full communion with the Roman Pontiff without being a Roman Catholic.

Each of the sui juris Churches uses one of the six major liturgical traditions (emanating from traditional Sees of historical importance), called a Rite; the major Rites are the Roman, Byzantine, Antiochene, Alexandrian, Chaldean, and Armenian Rites (there are also two minor Western Rites, the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites). The Roman Rite, being used by the Latin Church, is dominant throughout most of the world, being used by the vast majority of Catholics (approx. 98 per cent.); there were formerly many lesser Western Rites, but these were replaced by the Roman Rite by the Council of Trent's liturgical reforms.

Historically, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Latin Rite (also called the Roman Rite or the "Tridentine Mass") was conducted entirely in ecclesiastical Latin; since the Second Vatican Council ("Vatican II") in the early 1960s, a new version of the Mass has been promulgated (Novus Ordo Missae), which is celebrated in the vernacular, or local languages. The corresponding service in the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Divine Liturgy, is conducted in various liturgical languages depending on the Rite and on the Church: the Byzantine Rite Churches use Greek, Slavonic, Arabic, Romanian and Georgian, the Antiochene and Chaldean Rite Churches use Syriac, the Armenian Rite Church uses Armenian, and the Alexandrian Rite Churches use Coptic and Ge'ez.

List of Rites and Churches Within the Catholic Church

Latin Rite

Byzantine Rite

Antiochene Rite

Chaldean Rite

Armenian Rite

Alexandrian Rite



Notes

1 Early lists of popes stated that the first pope was St. Linus. Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (Yale Nota Bene, 2002) Appendix A.

2 ibid. 

3 Technically each diocese operates separately of its neighbours, while religious orders in each diocese are not answerable to or under the control of the local bishop. As a result suspicions about the behaviour of secular priests (priests belonging to the diocese) were not always reported to other dioceses or to religious order-run schools or hospitals, while abuse by religious priests (priests belonging to a religious order) was not always relayed by his order to the diocese and its schools. The most notorious example involved Fr. Brendan Smyth, a Norbertine Order priest in Ireland, whose activities (known about since 1945) were not reported to diocesian clergy let alone the police. In 1994, Brendan Smyth pleaded guilty to a sample set of 17 charges of sexual abuse of children in Belfast from a far longer list. A number of dioceses, the Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh and Smyth's own order publicly blamed each other and accepted no responsibility themselves for the failure to stop Smyth over 47 years.


Additional Reading


See also


External links