What does it take to be a Catholic in today’s world? Simply put, it takes fortitude. Fortitude is a virtue for a reason, in that it gives the strength of resilience, and steadfastness. Today’s world is quick to condemn faith in anything unseen, even if there is reasoning behind that faith. This condemning stems from the simple fact that society is growing cynical, and for good reason. Lies and tricks have persisted throughout humanity, and it is only now, in the technological wake of widespread communication, that these lies and tricks become so clear to so many. The result of this is a cynicism which is not unfounded. A fool accepts everything as true, and an insane man accepts nothing as true. A healthy amount of cynicism is good, but when this cynicism is misdirected, combined with lack of knowledge, and confusion with other religions, contempt is born. This contempt targeted at the Catholic faith is what calls for fortitude in Catholics today. …show more content…
In small ways each Catholic’s resolve is tested every single day. From what we say, to what we do. In what we think about, and in what we don’t think about. Large spiritual conflicts seem glorified, but the real test is in the small actions we make every day. It is the virtue of fortitude that strengthens our resolve, and assists us in this test. As for those who do hold contempt, the solution, and often the reason, is simple. Lack of knowledge drives all error. Much of the world today believes the Catholic faith to be something it is not. Many ill-informed, believe it to be a strict and hateful religion, because they simply do not know what it is, or confuse its teaching with that of other religions. The answer to this, is not evangelization, but explanation. If more people understood what the Catholic faith truly is, society’s contempt towards it would
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
Saunders, William P. Straight Answers: Answers to 100 Questions about the Catholic Faith. Baltimore, MD: Cathedral Foundation, 1998. Print.
Lawrence S. Cunningham's The Catholic Faith: An Introduction is a difficult book to muster up a response to. One is tempted to quip "there it no there there,"although more accurately I would say that there is little there that inspires much more than an indifferent shrug in response. Perhaps the blame lay in the purpose of the book, which is set out first to not be "an encyclopedia of Catholic trivia" (Cunningham, 8). I was disappointed to read this, since while an explanation of the meaning of the different titles and offices in the Catholic hierarchy, or an explanation of the various vestments and ceremonies may be "trivia" to some, at least it is information. Had I spent my time with this book acquiring a knowledge of these facts, I could claim to have added something to my education, albeit maybe only some banalities, lacking in profundity. Instead, what does the book set out to be? Cunningham seeks to "provide an account, as fully as space allows, of the texture of the Catholic experience and the bases for that experience" (9). I have learned to be a little nervous on reading words like "texture" used in this way; usually the author is unintentionally trying to warn the critically-trained reader away. Doubly so with the word "experience," as in hackneyed phrases like "the African American Experience" or the "Gulf War Experience." Such writings have established that they do not wish do deal in facts, nor in reasoned argument to support their conclusions. They deal in "impressions," to complement the "textures" that they will be skimming the surface of. Their primary justification for their existence is that each person's "experience" is of value, and no one...
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
When Americans are faced with the difficulty of making imperative decisions that can affect their country and the lives of others, they become dependent upon fortitude to help them accomplish their hopes and dreams for the future. Fortitude is something that is difficult to appreciate, even though many different societies and people throughout American history have shown fortitude in difficult situations by persevering and overcoming obstacles to achieve their goal. Fortitude is having the courage to face challenges and obstacles and persevering when things get tough; something that Americans have exemplified throughout their entire history. Even though the effort is put forward to try and appreciate fortitude, on occasion there are some who do not wish to see others overcome their obstacles, accomplish their dreams, or reach their goals in life. Unfortunately, situations such as greed, hate, and rebelliousness occur and every so often these factors allow those who don’t appreciate fortitude to be successful in destroying the hopes and dreams of others.
Theme in “Defender of the Faith” can be interpreted in many varying ways, some of which are life-long lessons and others to the relation between faith and the individual.
In response, the Roman Catholic Church attempted its own series of reforms through the Counter-Reformation and tried to address internal corruption and reaffirm its doctrinal authority. These differing perspectives and movements reshaped the religious landscape of Europe and laid the foundation for modern conceptions of religious authority and individual faith. Movements like the Renaissance and Reformation have paved the way to a more just and fair church system. As the Bible states, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (Proverbs 11:3). This verse reflects the challenges faced by the humanists and reformers as they sought to confront and overcome corruption within ecclesiastical power structures.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
Is her argument sound that Pope Francis’ efforts have not changed the church enough? To answer that a closer inspection of Dowd’s op-ed is necessary. At first glance, it is hard to make a connection between Dowd and any reader that does not already have a liberal or feminist view of the Catholic church. Dowd’s article is laden with bias language and personal attacks that paint the clergy, as well as Pope Francis, in a negative light. Dowd primes her readers with words and phrases such as “guilty of condoning”, “ghoulish priests”, “the Vatican’s coercive reform”, “Mauling of the nuns” and “this latest slap-down” in an effort to persuade them that the Pope’s lack of support equates to a continued discrimination within the Catholic church.
I believe Christianity is a religion of resistance because the early Christians refused to comply to the Roman authority that wished for them to disband their religion and practice commonplace pagan worship of the age. However, I think that Christianity is best described as a religion of passive resistance, rather than active resistance. Active resistance implies that the early Christians outright defied the ancient laws through physical confrontation. However, the texts that we have read express that the violence that occurred is one-sided, implying that the Christians themselves did not initiate or participating in the violence. Thus, I believe that Christianity is a religion of passive resistance, meaning that the early Christians exhibited a nonviolent refusal to cooperate with the religious standards to the Roman authority and quietly accepted the consequences of their choice.
Why is prayer necessary when things never go your way? " And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Romans 8:28 is critical to understanding or answering my question. Why is prayer necessary when things aren't going your way?
This article talks about people who are under a certain trance when they pray. To perform a ritual in which it takes a long length of time includes constant prayer to achieve. The thing is which spirit is it? Is it a good spirit or a bad spirit? During these times of unceasing prayer or ritual people are likely to experience the divine.
While a true education develops a person 's mind to discover truth, a true Catholic education also has the responsibility to develop one 's soul to discover their faith. Faith is a strong belief based on spiritual apprehension while reason is the justification for a certain belief. The Catholic Church teaches that faith and reason together bring Catholics to the fundamental truths about God and man and are not separate. In school, teachers train students to ask questions so they may be able to use resourceful reason and logic to discover truths. Eventually a student will be in the habit of questioning everything, and yet, not everything can be answered with reason alone but also through spiritual belief, that is faith. Students, consequently, must be thoroughly educated...