Are their benefits to being a Catholic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PJM
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PJM

Guest
As a lifetime Catholic, I believe that their are.

Agree or disagree & WHY

GBY

Patrick
 
Are you referring to spiritual benefits or earthly benefits? Or both or it doesn’t matter?

Peace,
B
 
I’m sure any Catholic would tell you the benefit is true salvation. Since to a Catholic outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation.
 
The primary benefit of being Catholic is the ability to inherit eternal life.
 
Receiving the body of Christ, receiving the fullness of faith, forgiveness through confession, Church tradition, eternal salvation, being in Communion not only with Jesus, but also with his Mother and all the angels and Saints, etc.
 
PJM said:
As a lifetime Catholic, I believe that their are.

Agree or disagree & WHY

GBY

Patrick
Click to expand...
I like the fact that it is the original Church and is so big - all over the world, around since the beginning. I can go to Mass wherever I am, anywhere in America, Europe, etc etc. Many parishes locally. Also even this forum for example - if you try other denominations the first thing you notice is how small the denomination / forum is. Feels weird and claustrophobic to me. I also like the fact that the Mass is uniform - the yearly calendar, etc.

Downsides of course exist too - the first that comes to mind is that I think that we Catholics have less camaraderie, community than Protestants or Orthodox. Our Mass is quite formal, focused on worship. Those smaller Churches make for tighter bonds on a personal level, both at services and in Church life. I am not saying there is not community at Catholic Churches; I am just saying it is a small portion of the parishioners.
 
setarcos said:
I’m sure any Catholic would tell you the benefit is true salvation. Since to a Catholic outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation.
Click to expand...
That is not what we are taught in the Catechism.

#847 Those who, no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace try in their actions
to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience-- those too may achieve eternal salvation."

(Of course, the Church still has the obligation and the sacred right to evangelize.)
 
Dorothy said:
That is not what we are taught in the Catechism.

#847 Those who, no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace try in their actions
to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience-- those too may achieve eternal salvation."

(Of course, the Church still has the obligation and the sacred right to evangelize.)
Click to expand...
Exactly. One of the best aspects of the Catholic church is that it teaches that anyone who follows their religion that they truly believe and strives to be good will get to Heaven. That applies to atheists too.
 
ShrodingersCat said:
Exactly. One of the best aspects of the Catholic church is that it teaches that anyone who follows their religion that they truly believe and strives to be good will get to Heaven. That applies to atheists too.
Click to expand...
This is a rather strong assertion to make, especially since this is not strictly speaking what the aforementioned Catechism passage states.
 
PJM said:
As a lifetime Catholic, I believe that their are.

Agree or disagree & WHY

GBY

Patrick
Click to expand...
The benifets are numerous.
  1. Being Catholic has allowed God to show me the error of my ways. I am well aware of how God punishes sinners. He has taken everything from me and continues to do so everytime I sin. I now worship God only at church, but that is still not enough. He is punishing me and the Catholic Church is helping me find out why he is punishing me and maybe get him to stop.
  2. Being part of a community. While I have had my run ins with bad catholics most are good, and well aware of the fate God has for them. They are well aware of the terrible plagues that God will send down to the earth. this includes mass death and sickness. This will happen because we are sinning agaisnt him and are not repenting. Being Catholic helps us come to terms with this and pray for mercy from God and pray that Jesus reasons with his Father to show us mercy.
 
Bridgit_Andrews said:
Are you referring to spiritual benefits or earthly benefits? Or both or it doesn’t matter?
Click to expand...
That’s a good question which is worth to be recognized, Bridgit. Being (roman) Catholic brings numerous beneftis in the world, too. This means i.e. access to premium schools and preschools for kids, integration and acceptance in the society. When it comes to job candidates a catholic background is always a reference in terms of education and discipline. In my environment it can’t be overseen that higer-than-average leaders and managers are Catholic.

While this fact is a reason for many to declare themselves as Catholic it is also a danger for the church. Nobody should be baptised for the world since we don’t live for it (John 15,19: “If you were of the world…”)

When it comes to salvation, I guess Lutherans and others are also convinced to find salvation. Perhaps they do it with more trust to God and his mercy, but that’s another question which doesn’t belong to this thread. 😉
 
An enormous spiritual benefit:

The Eucharist, received with much love!
 
setarcos said:
I’m sure any Catholic would tell you the benefit is true salvation. Since to a Catholic outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation.
Click to expand...
SORRY, NOT factual as stated:)

Here’s what our Catechism teaches

1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.” Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door.** Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.**

**847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation**.

848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

**To which I add: AMEN! **

GBY my friend, thanks for your post

Patrick**
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top