I have been a Roman Catholic for 50 years. I am happy to tell you what I know, as far as answers to your questions.
To begin, when you are Baptized, the priest will ask you questions like: “Do you reject Satan and all his empty promises”? He will also ask several other questions based on the Nicene Creed. This is called our “Profession of Faith”. You must agree and answer “Yes” to these questions. During your Confirmation, “The Litany of the Saints” is sung. This is beautiful…we ask Our Lady Mary, her husband, Joseph and all the saints (by name) to “Pray for Us”. Before Confirmation you will have to pick out a Saint to be your Patron. This should be a Saint that you share something in common with, or that you want to emulate. For example, I am a music teacher, so I chose the name; Cecilia, who is the Patron Saint of music and musicians. You should also know things about your Patron Saint…about their life and were they a martyr?
- Original Sin…With the exception of Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus, we are all born with original sin, due to the failure of Adam and Eve to obey God
- Veneration of Mary…We do not worship Mary, but we are to love and honor her. She is afterall, the Mother of Our Lord. Had she not said “Yes”, we would have no way to salvation. There is nothing wrong in praying to Mary…she can intercede for us, as she is the closest to Our Lord. Remember the Wedding in Canaa.
- Praying to Saints…Have you never asked someone to pray for you or someone ask you to pray for them? The same reasoning stands. These Holy Men and Women can and do help us when we ask them.
- Indulgence…( definition) “The remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned, which the follower of Christ with the proper dispositions and under certain determined conditions acquires through the intervention of the Church, which as a minister of the redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the Saints.”
An indulgence was a mitigation of the severe canonical penances imposed on the faithful for grave sins. But Pope Paul Vl and Vatican ll Council changed this. From then on the measure of how efficacious an indulgenced work is depends on two things: the supernatural charity with which the indulgenced task is done, and the perfection of the task itself. Partial and plenary indulgences can always be applied to the dead by way of suffrage, asking God to remit their sufferings if they are still in purgatory.
5) Transubstantiation…This is the changing of the Bread and Wine, during the Consecration of the Mass, into the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. You must believe this with your whole heart and soul. This is the most important part of our faith! Without this…we have nothing!
6) Purgatory…When we die if we are not in a State of Grace, we go to Purgatory. This is a place for purification. We must be totally pure to enter Heaven and Purgatory is where we get ready to meet Our Lord. Lets say, you get Baptized and Confirmed at Easter Vigil and the next day you die without having committed any sin…you would go to Heaven in a flash! But, let’s say you committed a venial sin…you would end up in purgatory to be purified.
7) Confession…Go to Confession at least once a month. If your conscience bothers you before then, by all means go when necessary. You don’t have to confess your venial sins in the confessional. Do an examination of conscience each night and say a good Act of Contrition, then when you dip your fingers into the Holy Water and Bless yourself as you enter Church, this washes away your venial sins…so does going to Holy Communion.:thumbsupI hope I have helped you in some small way. By the way, if an RCIA instructor is teaching things against the Catechism, then someone needs to inform the priest or bishop.
God Bless you, on your journey.
]—and (b) at another thread here, someone was commenting on how their RCIA instructor was teaching things that contradicted the RC catechism.). BTW, I’m not posting this [SIGN]in any way [/SIGN]to argue/harrass/harangue: I’m simply after informational clarity. Thanks in advance.
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