Catholic & Christian

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mag_lua

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Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
 
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mag_lua:
Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
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Welcome! There isn’t so much a difference between Catholic and Christian as there is a distinction. Christian would be generic term used to describe those who are followers of Christ. Catholic refers to a particular group within the whole of Christianity.

As far as a very brief synopsis of Catholicism - we believe that God created the world and everything in it. We believe that He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to save us from sin. While on earth Jesus set up a church, of which Peter was the first head. Jesus and The Father then sent the Holy Spirit to guide and protect The Church. This church is the Catholic church. Our church can trace an unbroken line of leaders (Popes) all the way back to Peter.

Hope that helps some.
 
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mag_lua:
Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
Click to expand...
Catholics are Christians. We differ from other Christians in several ways. We are very similar with Orthodox Christians except for the fact that they reject the authority of the pope. We also have a lot in common with Protestants except they reject the authority of the apostolic Church altogether as well as any source of Divine Revelation outside of Sacred Scripture. As Catholics, we believe that our Church was established by God (Jesus Christ) and that He will protect it with His Holy Spirit from teaching error in doctrine and morals for all of eternity. The following sums it up pretty well:

“Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. The one designates me, while the other makes me specific. Thus am I attested and set apart… When we are called Catholics it is by this appellation that our people are kept apart from any heretical name.” -St. Pacian of Barcelona, Letter to Sympronian, 375 A.D.

If you have any other questions, just ask. 👍

PS - you may want to browse catholic.com/ especially under the tabs of “Library” and “This Rock” (it’s the magazine that Catholic Answers puts out)
 
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mag_lua:
Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
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Ask a Catholic that question and he/she will say there is no difference. Catholics are Christian. However, ask a non-Catholic Christian that, and he/she may very well tell you there is a huge difference. Many Protestants do not believe that Catholics are Christians. However, the facts don’t lie and the Catholic Church is the original Christian Church founded by our Lord. It remained so until the 16th century and Martin Luther. The breakaway of the Protestants from the Church has rippled through the last 500+ years until we are left with what we have today; a Catholic Church and thousands of different protestant churches; all of course claiming to be Christian and in union with the Holy Spirit.
Welsome to the forum! 🙂
 
Catholicism is original Christianity kept pure by the Holy Spirit through the Pope and Bishops. The Catholic Church therefore contains the fullness of Christian truths without error.

Other sects who call themselves “Christian” retain some of the truths taught by the Catholic Church but not all. And every single one of them teach many things different than the Catholic Church such as the numeroud denominations of “reformed” Christianity.

Ken
 
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mag_lua:
Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
Click to expand...
The word Christian means “little christs” and refers to people who have been baptized and are followers of Christ.

The word Catholic means “universal” and was used to describe the unity of faith of all Christians in the world.

After the Protestant split, there were people who had been baptized but were not in unity with the universal church. It became necessary to differentiate these from others, and Christians who remained with the Catholic (universal) Church became known as Catholics.

So Catholics are Christians, but not every Christian is Catholic.
 
“But what is also to the point, let us note that the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the fathers. On this the church was founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian” -St. Athanasius (4th century)
 
Mag Lua,

Hello and welcome to the Catholic Answers Forums. I hope you have a joyful and productive time here.

A lot of other people have already answered your question. I just wanted to welcome you again.
  • Liberian
 
Thanks all for your precious answers. One of my Christian friend told me that Catholic worships Mary, Mother of Jesus. How far is that true?
 
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mag_lua:
Thanks all for your precious answers. One of my Christian friend told me that Catholic worships Mary, Mother of Jesus. How far is that true?
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Its not at all true. Jesus believed in and followed the 10 commandments and as you may remember, Honor your mother and father is one of those commandments. Because we are Christians, we try to emulate Christ and honor his mother. Also in the Bible, when Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, the Angel Gabriel told her that all generations would call her blessed. What a blessing! to be the first person to accept Jesus on earth! Catholics also refer to Mary as our mother. When Jesus was dying on the cross He told John, “behold your mother”. John was to take care of Mary honor her as his own mother. Because we are disciples of Christ we do the same. Hope that helps!
 
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mag_lua:
Thanks all for your precious answers. One of my Christian friend told me that Catholic worships Mary, Mother of Jesus. How far is that true?
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The Catholic Church forbids now and forever Collyridianism (Mary worship) as heresy

You may also want to check these links out to see what we believe about her.
 
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mag_lua:
Thanks all for your precious answers. One of my Christian friend told me that Catholic worships Mary, Mother of Jesus. How far is that true?
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Welcome mag, and God bless you for coming here. Let me start by saying THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE !!! If you doubt me at all, start another thread asking if Catholics believe Mary is God (don’t do it for real, somone already did, and it was a blazing thread, and not ONE person answered “yes”). Let me just give you my answer to your original question.

Catholics ARE Christian. As a matter of fact, Catholics are the ORIGINAL Christians. The Catholic Church is based on the belief that Jesus was God who became human, and died for our sins so that we could go to Heaven, then rose from the dead 3 days later, on Easter. We, as Catholics hold that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, and remains to this day according to the promise of Jesus in the Bible. The Catholic Church can trace its roots all the way back to St. Peter and the other Apostles (who were taught by Jesus personally). The Doctrines (official teachings) of the Catholic Church have remained unchanged since the death of the last Apostle in the first century A.D., and are therefore the preserved teachings of Jesus. Scripture (the Bible) and history both substantiate these claims. If you have any questions about Catholicism, please do not hesitate to post on this site, and many of us (most more knowledgeable than myself) will be more than happy to answer your questions or help you with any issues that may be of concern to you.
 
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mag_lua:
Thanks all for your precious answers. One of my Christian friend told me that Catholic worships Mary, Mother of Jesus. How far is that true?
Click to expand...
Mag Lua,

There is a question of meanings of words here. Catholics pray to Mary, asking her to help us in various ways. Protestants call that “worship” and so, by their definition of the word, Catholics do worship Mary. Catholics do not call that “worship,” though, and so by our definition of the word we do not worship Mary. (“Worship” for Catholics involves offering sacrifices, which we do not do to Mary but which we do indeed do to God.) The important question is whether God considers it worship. And since I am a Catholic I cannot give you an answer that Protestants would consider objective.
  • Liberian
 
That actually brings up a good point, the praying to Mary thing. This is how I explain it to my friends. If you are on earth and you ask a friend to pray for you, then what you are doing is asking your friend to pray to God on your behalf. In olde English, the word pray meant to ask, plead. You could hear someone say something like, “Take out the garbage, I pray” you would understand that the person isn’t worshiping you, they are asking you to do something. That is how Catholics tend to use this word. We believe that the people who were Christians in Life, died and are now on the other side of the viel in Heaven. These people are Saints, anyone in Heaven is a saint. They are still our brothers and sister in Christ, and we can ask them to help us in our prayers. When we ask Mary to pray for us to the Lord, we are not worshipping her, we are simply asking another Christian to pray for us, just as you would ask a friend to pray for you.
 
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mag_lua:
Hi all,

I’ve no religion and so do my children. Recently we’ve migrated to Australia and many of my daughter’s classmates are catholic. And she wanted to know more about this religion. I know it’s definitely good for her to have a belief and I think Catholic is great. However, I don’t know much about this religion. And also what’s the difference between a Christian & a Catholic.

Thanks for any advices.
Click to expand...
I’d recommend the book “Unabridged Christianity” Rev. Mario P. Romero, it’s around $ 12 - $ 15, an easy read.
 
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