Questionnaire for Catholics

[Reg85]

Hello everyone, I am a university student working on a sociology of religion paper. I was supposed to interview a member of the Catholic faith but have fallen ill recently and was advised by my professor to attempt the interview process via internet forum. If you choose to answer the questionnaire your personal information will remain anonymous. Its fairly brief and I don’t need long elaborate answers, this is only one portion of the assignment. Thanks in advance! Here are the questions…

1. Have you had a religious experience? If so, what was that like?
2. What are the belief systems of your religious tradition?
3. What are your rituals and what do they mean?
4. How is your tradition organized? Who are its leaders? (not their names but their positions?) How are your leaders selected? What role do women as leaders have?
5. What are the ethics, norms or laws of your tradition? Are they there just to give direction to members’ lives or do they have some sort of eternal or after life meaning?

 

[Della]

Hello everyone, I am a university student working on a sociology of religion paper. I was supposed to interview a member of the Catholic faith but have fallen ill recently and was advised by my professor to attempt the interview process via internet forum. If you choose to answer the questionnaire your personal information will remain anonymous. Its fairly brief and I don’t need long elaborate answers, this is only one portion of the assignment. Thanks in advance! Here are the questions…

1. Have you had a religious experience? If so, what was that like?

Spiritual experiences vary but all find their source in the movement of the Holy Spirit in the word of God proclaimed, the sacraments we receive, and our prayer life. They are not once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but rather an ongoing expression of our faith.

1. What are the belief systems of your religious tradition?

They are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

1. What are your rituals and what do they mean?

The Catholic Church has rites/liturgies in which it celebrates the Seven Sacraments established by Christ.

1. How is your tradition organized? Who are its leaders? (not their names but their positions?) How are your leaders selected? What role do women as leaders have?

Our leadership is called the Magisterium comprised of the pope in union with all the bishops of the Church. Our leaders are ordained to the deaconate, then priesthood, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, pope. Women fulfill many leadership roles within the Church, such as heads of religious orders, CEOs of hospitals and schools, college deans/professors, and so on. The ordained are male only because the Chruch does not have the authority from Christ, who founded our Church, to ordain females.

1. What are the ethics, norms or laws of your tradition? Are they there just to give direction to members’ lives or do they have some sort of eternal or after life meaning?

These are also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We are supposed to form our consciences in light of the Church’s teachings found in the CCC. We believe the things we did, as well as they things we didn’t do but should have done, will affect our eternal destination of, ultimately, heaven or hell.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

Spiritual experiences vary but all find their source in the movement of the Holy Spirit in the word of God proclaimed, the sacraments we receive, and our prayer life. They are not once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but rather an ongoing expression of our faith.

They are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has rites/liturgies in which it celebrates the Seven Sacraments established by Christ.

Our leadership is called the Magisterium comprised of the pope in union with all the bishops of the Church. Our leaders are ordained to the deaconate, then priesthood, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, pope. Women fulfill many leadership roles within the Church, such as heads of religious orders, CEOs of hospitals and schools, college deans/professors, and so on. The ordained are male only because the Chruch does not have the authority from Christ, who founded our Church, to ordain females.

These are also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We are supposed to form our consciences in light of the Church’s teachings found in the CCC. We believe the things we did, as well as they things we didn’t do but should have done, will affect our eternal destination of, ultimately, heaven or hell.

A Supurb reply! Concise and right on the money. I agree 2,000%

 

[The_Holy_War_11]

Hello everyone, I am a university student working on a sociology of religion paper. I was supposed to interview a member of the Catholic faith but have fallen ill recently and was advised by my professor to attempt the interview process via internet forum. If you choose to answer the questionnaire your personal information will remain anonymous. Its fairly brief and I don’t need long elaborate answers, this is only one portion of the assignment. Thanks in advance! Here are the questions…

1. Have you had a religious experience? If so, what was that like?

Yes. It was great. I felt a calling n mind to the Catholic Church.

1. What are the belief systems of your religious tradition?

We practice the same rituals that The Apostles did.

1. What are your rituals and what do they mean?

Our rituals consist of a lot of prayer. We have different rituals like the rite of baptism, the rite of confirmation, and the rite of excorsism. Some of them are meant to glorify God and some of them are to call for His Divine Help.

1. How is your tradition organized? Who are its leaders? (not their names but their positions?) How are your leaders selected? What role do women as leaders have?

We have a parish priest, then monsignor, then bishop, then arch-bishop, then Cardinal, then Pope. The Pope is elected by the Cardinals. I believe the Cardinals are elected by the bishops (please correct me if im wrong) Besides maybe hierarchy in the different religious orders, women do not lead in the church. No women priests. No women deacons.

1. What are the ethics, norms or laws of your tradition? Are they there just to give direction to members’ lives or do they have some sort of eternal or after life meaning?

Well we go by the law Jesus left us with. The laws against contraception come from a passage in the Bible where it says a man let his seed fall to the ground to keep from impregnating his wife and then God killed him. We believe that if you break the laws of the Church there are two types. Venial sins and mortal sins. Venial are things like taking the Lords name in vain. Mortal would be killing someone, or uaing contraception, or missing Sunday Mass. If you die in a state of mortal sin you will go to hell. If you die in venial sin you must go through Purgatory to go to Heaven.

 

[nickybr38]

Hello everyone, I am a university student working on a sociology of religion paper. I was supposed to interview a member of the Catholic faith but have fallen ill recently and was advised by my professor to attempt the interview process via internet forum. If you choose to answer the questionnaire your personal information will remain anonymous. Its fairly brief and I don’t need long elaborate answers, this is only one portion of the assignment. Thanks in advance! Here are the questions…

1. Have you had a religious experience? If so, what was that like?
2. What are the belief systems of your religious tradition?
3. What are your rituals and what do they mean?
4. How is your tradition organized? Who are its leaders? (not their names but their positions?) How are your leaders selected? What role do women as leaders have?
5. What are the ethics, norms or laws of your tradition? Are they there just to give direction to members’ lives or do they have some sort of eternal or after life meaning?

Is your questionnaire restricted only to those who were born Catholic or for those who converted to the Catholic faith as well?

 

[Hokomai]

I too admire Della’s response for its clarity and brevity. I note that the question is about ‘religious experience’, but Della’s answer was about ‘spiritual experience’. It seems to me that Catholicism gives all its members, and even unbelievers like me, ‘religious’ experiences through its liturgy and even teaching. When we look at why things are done (for example the use of incense) we experience the religious beliefs of people today and people in generations past. That’s a ‘religious experience’, just as the study of art history is a ‘religious experience’.

 

[Della]

I too admire Della’s response for its clarity and brevity. I note that the question is about ‘religious experience’, but Della’s answer was about ‘spiritual experience’. It seems to me that Catholicism gives all its members, and even unbelievers like me, ‘religious’ experiences through its liturgy and even teaching. When we look at why things are done (for example the use of incense) we experience the religious beliefs of people today and people in generations past. That’s a ‘religious experience’, just as the study of art history is a ‘religious experience’.

Yes, our Western culture has been formed by the Catholic Church in its art and history and liturgies, as well as its scholarship.

Thank you for your kind appraisal of my responses, folks. I wanted to give him a resource for further study and not attempt putting our faith in my own poor words.

On question #3 I should have mentioned the prayer life of the Church is found in the Liturgy of the Hours, which is not based in the Sacraments, per se. Catholics gain saving grace through the Sacraments and the prayer life of the Church. Other devotions, such as the Rosary, are not formal, public prayers of the Church but popular ones that are approved by the Church.

 

[couponfit]

Hello everyone, I am a university student working on a sociology of religion paper. I was supposed to interview a member of the Catholic faith but have fallen ill recently and was advised by my professor to attempt the interview process via internet forum. If you choose to answer the questionnaire your personal information will remain anonymous. Its fairly brief and I don’t need long elaborate answers, this is only one portion of the assignment. Thanks in advance! Here are the questions…

1. Have you had a religious experience? If so, what was that like?

2-5 are answered well above.

1. My personal religious experience is never ending! I can say it various for each person. But my experience has taught me that God gives us the experiece we need, can accept, and are worthy to receive when we need it. Typically the more I prepare (and bring) the more I am capable of receiving. With the being said, not all of my experiences, including moving and revelation has come within the walls of a catholic church. The catholic church is not the sum of the revelation of the bible, nor is it the brick and mortar of a church. it is itself, the living word of christ and the body of the church is a living body made up of it’s believers. Our religion lives, and it lives within us in essence. As a result, experiences can happen in many ways. one place I tend to see them is whenever the holy spirit is stirred to motion, which is typically during any true conversion. It’s as though conversion itself is not just a experience for the converted but for all present during the conversion itself. It could be formal, informal, large, small, regal, solemn, joyful, charismatic.