Here are some scriptures suggesting Mary’s Immaculate Conception:
catholicapologetics.org/ap080400.htm
Here are my personal favorite typological, prophetic Scriptural references to the Immaculate Conception:
catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0510fea5.asp
There is some dispute over what Mary’s name means, but what is considered the most probable Hebrew meaning actually is “beautiful,” or, “the perfect one.” Just as an interesting side-note
.
Here’s a link with information about St. Anne, Mary’s mother.
newadvent.org/cathen/01538a.htm
This Sacrament is only for Catholics, and the reason for this is pretty simple. Jesus gave a hierarchy of bishops the authority to forgive sins (John 20:23), and they passed that authority on to their successors and to priests who helped them in their labors. People who aren’t members of the Church don’t acknowledge their authority- else they would submit to their teachings. Since non-Catholics don’t acknowledge their authority, they cannot receive the Sacrament by the nature of their belief, for the authority they reject is the authority by which they forgive sins.
The Sacrament of Penance involves going to Confession (once a month is recommended, though more often is better, if there’s anything pressing). You Confess your sins to the priest in the Confessional, where you may be divided by a screen or barrier. Then you make a prayer out loud for forgiveness to God. Then the priest, representing the Church and our dear Lord, forgives you of your sins on behalf of God. He may very possibly also give us a Penance of some kind to practice as a spiritual discipline.
This is the perfect way of receiving forgiveness, which Jesus instituted in the New Testament. Nonverbal private requests for forgiveness can of course be granted, but this is the Lord’s way that He gave us, and He did so for many reasons.
Here are a lot of links to articles about Confession, including the Biblical basis for it and the reasons for its existence:
americancatholic.org/features/sacraments/reconciliation.asp
I’m resorting to links right now because you’re asking so many huge questions- it would take me loads of posts to answer them all! I think you’ll find these useful in answering the questions you just asked, though.
I don’t know the answer to your question about Baptist marriage.
I don’t know much about the High Church Anglican Eucharist, though from what I hear, their doctrine about the Real Presence is either the same or only slightly different from that of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. However, their Eucharist is not considered valid in the Catholic Church, as it is not initiated through the authority of priests with valid orders connected with the authority Christ instituted on Earth, the Church. It is disconnected from the Church, and Christ answers the prayers of His priests in miraculously turning bread and wine into flesh because of their office as authority figures representative of Christ to His Body. Those that sever themselves from that Body sever themselves from the office of authority He chose to release these special Sacramental graces through, and therefore they do not have or receive them in their fullness.
There is a reason why their doctrine of Real Presence can be so close (or the same) as the Catholic, even though the reality of their Eucharist is not the same as the Catholic. The reason is that High Church Anglicans are very traditionalist, and the Anglican Church was once all Catholic. Henry VIII created the Anglican Church because he wanted a divorce from his wife so he could marry someone who would give him an heir. The Pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce, so he had to resort to even darker tactics- such as shattering the Church of God.
When King Henry VIII made the break with Catholicism, he changed very little in church practice. Many High Church Anglicans, unless I’m mistaken (which certainly may be) still hold to a traditionalist belief system very close to Catholicism.
The Catholic Church’s dogma of the Real Presence
was unique before Protestant sources copied it, one might say
. That belief existed in Catholicism before it existed in Protestantism and is the reason why some Protestants hold to it too. The same is true for the Orthodox- they gained their belief in the Real Presence from their historical unity with the Catholic Church.
