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gracelife
Guest
Mike, it’s more personal that academic.
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Texas_Roofer
Guest
Hi Gracelife
I understand your question unfortunately there is a slippery slope here attached to other slippery slopes. The Creed is a summation statement. Yes the dogmas are essential, however this is mostly the stuff summarized in the Creed. Now that is probably the real beliefs. Here come the slippery slopes- you must be obedient to the Pope and Magisterium. The Pope and Magisterium are then to guide you in faith and morals. Below that is the multiple super slippery slopes as when is the Pope and Magisterium speaking on moral verses disciplines, verses suggested practices, verses ill advised practices? Some examples Priest celibacy is a discipline not a dogma, so you can believe Priest should be allowed to marry. A woman’s role in the Church is discipline not dogma, as is the order of Mass, etc. What did the Pope actually say about spacing birth for “good reasons” or “grave reasons” and who judges either? Is that subject of faith and morals, or a discipline to achieve faith and moral?
In summary if you believe the creed and the actually dogmas, your good. If you are obedient to the Pope and Magisterium, then just avoid the mud slinging and your good to go.
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Franciscan
Guest
Marantha(love your username),
What do you mean opposite?
What I meant was that it comes down to whether you are willing to recognize the valdity and submit to the teaching authority of the Church.
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ricmat
Guest
Gracelife:
Before you tackle the real catechism, you might want to consider the following:
Here is a 2 page summary of Catholic beliefs. It came from rosaryshop.com, but I couldn’t find the original link, so I reposted it.
There’s also a small booklet (well…88 pages) called Outlines of the Catholic Faith, published by The Leaflet Missal Company in St. Paul MN. This is very easy to follow, basically a checklist, and goes into enough detail to give you the general picture.
Good luck, and God bless you!
Before you tackle the real catechism, you might want to consider the following:
Here is a 2 page summary of Catholic beliefs. It came from rosaryshop.com, but I couldn’t find the original link, so I reposted it.
There’s also a small booklet (well…88 pages) called Outlines of the Catholic Faith, published by The Leaflet Missal Company in St. Paul MN. This is very easy to follow, basically a checklist, and goes into enough detail to give you the general picture.
Good luck, and God bless you!
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VociMike
Guest
OK, thanks for that. Let me just say that one sense in which the Catholic faith is remarkable is how it all ties together, holds together, and surprises and delights you with insight after insight. So rather than “what else must I believe”, it is more a matter of “what other truths do you have for me? Gimme gimme!” Or, to use another analogy, rather than asking “how much of my dinner do I have to eat?” one finds oneself asking “please, may I have some more?”
Not that believing and living Catholic aren’t hard, of course, but they are hard in that good way that invites you to strive even more, and rewards you (in peace, joy, understanding, love) for your efforts. Living and believing Catholic is the truest path to the deepest relationship one can have with God on this earth.
Well, I did go on, didn’t I?
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Maranatha
Guest
OK, I think I misunderstood. We don’t want to through out the creeds. The dogma to Church’s teaching authority is one dogma. It is understandably an important one.
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Franciscan
Guest
NO No, we dont want to throw out the Creed or change it at all… We understand eachother.
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kaycee
Guest
Here is a short version.What must one believe to be Catholic? A checklist would be great!
Vatican I states that it is necessary for salvation that men and women not only believe all that is revealed in scripture but also everything which is defined and proposed by the Church as having been divinely revealed. To reject anything taught by the Roman Church is to reject saving faith and to forfeit justification and eternal life:
FAITH
Justifying faith is called dogmatic faith. This has to do with the doctrinal content of the faith necessary to be believed for salvation. Essentially it means intellectual assent to eveything the Church teaches. In order to be saved an individual must believe and hold to every doctrine dogmatically defined by the Catholic Church. This entails not only the teaching of the Creed, the sacraments and justification but also the doctrines related to the Papacy (papal rule and infallibility), Mary (immaculate conception and assumption), the canon of scripture and purgatory. Vatican I states that it is necessary for salvation that an individual believe not only all that is revealed in Scripture but also everything defined and proposed by the Church. To reject anything officially taught by the Roman Church is to reject saving faith and to forfeit both justification and eternal life.
WORKS
For the Roman Catholic, grace is a sort of spiritual currency, and the Church is its banker. Believers acquire grace by participating in the Church’s sacraments. The sacraments are effective in conferring God’s grace by virtue of their being performed, provided that the liturgist was authorized by the Church to perform them. The grace offered through the sacraments enables Christians to lead better lives and to deepen their faith. In addition to sanctifying grace, merit is earned by good works; by this merit, believers can earn the right to rewards from God.
Conversely, sins reduce one’s merit before God and incur a debt to Him in the divine economy. According to Catholicism, sufficiently serious sins not only remove merit, but also extinguish sanctifying grace in the baptized believer’s soul, which can be restored by the sacrament of penance. These sins are mortal sins or deadly sins. Less serious sins, venial sins, incur loss of merit. Believers whose accounts were overdrawn at the final accounting went to Hell; believers without enough merit for Heaven went to Purgatory, where they could work off the debt they owed to God.
Fortunately, some saints achieved so much merit in their lifetimes on Earth that they got into Heaven with some to spare. This surplus was called works of supererogation, the Church’s treasury of surplus merit. The Church can offer the excess merit in its treasury to be applied to the deficits in merit suffered by its penitent sinners. Pope Clement VI proclaimed this to be a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1343.
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Spirithound
Guest
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a very nice 2800-point checklist.
Peanut-gallery comments aside, I agree with a previous poster that belief that the Church has a teaching magesterium which can exercise its authority infallibly if the Holy Spirit moves it to is the most basic assent of faith we can make.
From there, I like to move to Mary and the saints, and their intercession for us. Then our Catholic-to-be can be helped along by the entire heavenly court (even though the court is praying for them right now, it helps if the C-t-b knows it.).
So, i guess this is less of a checklist and more of a lesson, but oh well
Peanut-gallery comments aside, I agree with a previous poster that belief that the Church has a teaching magesterium which can exercise its authority infallibly if the Holy Spirit moves it to is the most basic assent of faith we can make.
From there, I like to move to Mary and the saints, and their intercession for us. Then our Catholic-to-be can be helped along by the entire heavenly court (even though the court is praying for them right now, it helps if the C-t-b knows it.).
So, i guess this is less of a checklist and more of a lesson, but oh well
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puzzleannie
Guest
to become Catholic you must make a profession of faith in the dogma expressed in the Nicene Creed. that is the checklist.Got the catechsim and the compendium. lol
Believe the Nicene creed, albiet not sure about Catholic with the capitol C.
For starters, which dogmas must one believe.
to amplify any of those dogmas, see the catechism of the Catholic church.
for instance, the words describing the Church as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, are brief but contain a world of meaning.
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Mommyof02green
Guest
The Creeds Apostles and Nicene
Trinity
The Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ
Scripture is the errant Word of God
Salvation: Best of all, the promise of eternal life is a gift, freely offered to us by God (CCC 1727). Our initial forgiveness and justification are not things we “earn” (CCC 2010). Jesus is the mediator who bridged the gap of sin that separates us from God (1 Tim. 2:5); he bridged it by dying for us. He has chosen to make us partners in the plan of salvation (1 Cor. 3:9). Since no gift can be forced on the recipient—gifts always can be rejected—even after we become justified, we can throw away the gift of salvation. We throw it away through grave (mortal) sin (John 15:5–6, Rom. 11:22–23, 1 Cor. 15:1–2; CCC 1854–1863). Paul tells us, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Source: catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp
Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Order, Marriage, Anointing of Sick, and Reconciliation (Confession)
The Eucharist (after consecration) IS the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus
Sin: Mortal; Venial
Mary: Mother of God, always virgin, Immaculate Conception and Assumption
The Magisterium
Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
Social Things: No Abortion; No ABC; No death penalty
That is all that comes to mind now… if I thought about it more about I would think of more:
I just did think of more the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.
OP, you mention have a copy of the CCC, everything I mention is in the CCC and of course we know there is a much more to the CCC then just this small list.
May I suggest the book: Catholicism for Dummies It has helped many of my non-catholic friends understand the Catholic Faith much better. I have a few that don’t agree with some of it, such as abortion and ABC, however they do understand my faith better, which has helped them understand me better.
This web-page may also help you.
amm.org/chss/chss.htm
Trinity
The Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ
Scripture is the errant Word of God
Salvation: Best of all, the promise of eternal life is a gift, freely offered to us by God (CCC 1727). Our initial forgiveness and justification are not things we “earn” (CCC 2010). Jesus is the mediator who bridged the gap of sin that separates us from God (1 Tim. 2:5); he bridged it by dying for us. He has chosen to make us partners in the plan of salvation (1 Cor. 3:9). Since no gift can be forced on the recipient—gifts always can be rejected—even after we become justified, we can throw away the gift of salvation. We throw it away through grave (mortal) sin (John 15:5–6, Rom. 11:22–23, 1 Cor. 15:1–2; CCC 1854–1863). Paul tells us, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Source: catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp
Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Order, Marriage, Anointing of Sick, and Reconciliation (Confession)
The Eucharist (after consecration) IS the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus
Sin: Mortal; Venial
Mary: Mother of God, always virgin, Immaculate Conception and Assumption
The Magisterium
Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
Social Things: No Abortion; No ABC; No death penalty
That is all that comes to mind now… if I thought about it more about I would think of more:
I just did think of more the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.
OP, you mention have a copy of the CCC, everything I mention is in the CCC and of course we know there is a much more to the CCC then just this small list.
May I suggest the book: Catholicism for Dummies It has helped many of my non-catholic friends understand the Catholic Faith much better. I have a few that don’t agree with some of it, such as abortion and ABC, however they do understand my faith better, which has helped them understand me better.
This web-page may also help you.
amm.org/chss/chss.htm
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vince2paul
Guest
I’m not sure whether I should be doing this. But thanks for all the replies. Reading this thread helps me to understand what our church is all about and I think I can explain it better to others. 
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Evan
Guest
Cardinal Shoenburg points out the opposite of what is posted here. If you look at the creed in the latin you will see that is says:
I Believe IN one God, the Father
I Believe IN one Lord, Jesus Christ,
I Believe IN the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
I Believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
See also CCC 169:
Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: “We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation.” Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith.
So we believe IN God, and we believe the Church. If you are to believe the Church, you must recognize who is the Church and who is not.
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rwoehmke
Guest
The OP’s question is an interestintg one in that I don’t think the minimum requirement lies in a breadth of knowledge, but in being gifted with enough Faith to say I hold and accept all that the Catholic Church holds and teaches without reservation. We marry at a young age without really knowing our spouse. We might die years later and still not know everything about our spouse, but in between we love, respect and accept that person. As scholars we study to become scientists, historians, etc. and often die knowing only a small part of what there is to know about a particular field of endeavor. What the Church holds and teaches is quite similar. Even Theologians who study and learn of such things are specialists in only certain areas. No one ever learns it all and after a lifetime even the most intelligent of our species knows only a small fraction of what there is to learn. One can be a prominent theologian and not have the gift of Faith. We have to trust in Jesus and the Church he founded including the hierarchy that we believe is guided by the Holy Spirit because Jesus said so. Faith is being able to step out without full knowledge and taking life as it comes at us. So those of us not born into the Catholic Faith or those of us who go through a crisis of Faith, study and more appropriately pray that we will receive the gift of Faith which is freely given and not earned. We must become like a child who trusts what God has and is doing for and through us.
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gracelife
Guest
Did you mean to say errant with regard to the scriptures? What do you mean by that?
Good stuff, by the way.
Thanks everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
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Ahimsa
Guest
Hmmm…Is that true? Consider the abolitionists in 1830. They disagreed with the slavery laws of the U.S., yet they still remained U.S. citizens.
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Della
Guest
He meant “inerrant.” “Errant” was just a typo, no doubt.
As for the death penalty, though, it is not the teaching of the Catholic Church that it can never be employed/that is it intrinsically evil, as are abortion and contraception. The teaching is that it shouldn’t be employed if society can be made safe without recourse to it. And, that is a matter for governments to decide, since the authority to use it lies with them, not the Church.
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Verbum
Guest
Hi Gracelife,
Catholics are surprised by this kind of question because we know we have to believe everything that God has revealed, either through the Bible or in the apostolic traditions transmitted to us through the constant and universal teaching of the Church. The following prayer reflects that :
So, in a way, we could say that believing in the truths contained in the Apostles’ Creed is necessary to be justified, that is made adopted children of God and heirs to heaven.
Verbum
Catholics are surprised by this kind of question because we know we have to believe everything that God has revealed, either through the Bible or in the apostolic traditions transmitted to us through the constant and universal teaching of the Church. The following prayer reflects that :
However, if you were to ask what we must believe to be baptized, then we would have to say that it is the the content of the Apostles’ Creed, because the person to be baptized has to confess to those truths.
So, in a way, we could say that believing in the truths contained in the Apostles’ Creed is necessary to be justified, that is made adopted children of God and heirs to heaven.
Verbum
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TheRaiders
Guest
First, I’d like to say your inquiry is one that many Catholics have to answer too when their ideas begin to conflict with the Church’s. It’s a major swallowing of pride to conform to the Church (I know, I’ve had to do it many times). That catechism isn’t required reading, but it is a sign of following the Holy Spirit if you go to it for answers when a teaching troubles you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and Paul calls the church the Pillar of Truth.
As for the Apostolic nature of the Church, a clear expample is in Acts 1:20-26, where Judas is called a ‘bishop’ (episkopos) and his successor Matthais takes his ‘office’. We see that Paul was taught by Jesus, and then told by Him that he would be told what to do (Acts 9:6, 9:17) by the others. Then he was went to see St. Peter in Jerusalem. We don’t see any evidence of lone wolf’s in the Bible having authority, it always comes from Jesus AND the apostles. This is how Jesus set it up so that Arnold Murrays, Gene Scotts, no matter how much personal knowledge (gnosis) they had, they would have no authority to lead the Church astray in any way. The early Church was beset on all sides by those teaching false doctrines based on their Gnostic ideas, or personal convictions. But Paul warns against this in Acts 20:27-31, and we see earlier in Acts 20:17 that he is speaking to the elders of Ephesus. Elders are the one of three types of office referred to in Scripture that succeed the Apostles: bishops (episkopos), elders (presbyteros, from which we get priest), and deacons (diakonos).
Another clear example is in 2 Timothy, for in it Paul is largely directing his teachings to his Apostolic successor, and, in fact, passes on his office (which was given he was called to by Jesus himself, and confirmed by the other Apostles) to Timothy (2Tim. 4:1-6) just before his death in 65 A.D.
We know Peter died in Rome, and that his successors were bishops of Rome. We know Peter was given the office of first servant of Jesus. His office was foreshadowed in the Davidic kingdom with the Steward in Isaiah 22. The Steward was in charge of the Kingdom in the king’s absence, and was overseer of religious matters. The Lord of Hosts takes a man from his ‘office’ and ordains another in his place. Notice the wording “I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; when he opens no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.” Now read what Jesus says in Matt 16:18, 18:18 first to Peter then to all Apostles. He gives them all official powers, but it is to Peter He gives the office symbolized by the keys. Jesus was quoting himself from Isaiah!
The Church is referred to as a Kingdom throughout Scripture, and that is how Jesus designed it. With 12 Apostles, and then their successors. We know who has succeeded Peter all the way to present, and that is where one should look for authoritative teaching.
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Mommyof02green
Guest
Sorry type-o
I meant “inerrant” word of God;
In other words Scripture does NOT have errors in it and it is the word of God.
Apparently “errant” is a real word so spell check didn’t catch my mistake… I didn’t catch my mistake because I just knew what I meant.
Sorry for the confusion
God Bless
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