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What are the elements of religion, those parts that, assembled together, make for a whole? Well, if we look here and there at the many religions the world has known, we come up with a list something like this.
Sacred beliefs
Sacred rituals
Sacred morality
Sacred community
Sacred hierarchy
Sacred literature
Sacred persons
Sacred places
Sacred times
Sacred history
The thing about Catholicism, in contrast to many other religions, is that it contains all these elements, not just some of them.
(1) Our religion abounds with beliefs, not only the official creeds but many non-creedal beliefs, e.g., beliefs pertaining to legends about saints and about appearances of the Virgin.
(2) Its great ritual is of course the Mass, but it has (or at least did have prior to Vatican II) hundreds of lesser rituals, e.g., tipping one’s hat every time one passed before a church in honor of the Eucharist within.
(3) Its most famous moral code is the Ten Commandments; but each of these commandments can be – and have been – expanded into a myriad of more specific commandments, e.g., the Sixth Commandment ban on adultery can be expanded into bans on fornication, masturbation, homosexuality, and other improper sexual conduct.
Continued below.
www.thecatholicthing.org
Sacred beliefs
Sacred rituals
Sacred morality
Sacred community
Sacred hierarchy
Sacred literature
Sacred persons
Sacred places
Sacred times
Sacred history
The thing about Catholicism, in contrast to many other religions, is that it contains all these elements, not just some of them.
(1) Our religion abounds with beliefs, not only the official creeds but many non-creedal beliefs, e.g., beliefs pertaining to legends about saints and about appearances of the Virgin.
(2) Its great ritual is of course the Mass, but it has (or at least did have prior to Vatican II) hundreds of lesser rituals, e.g., tipping one’s hat every time one passed before a church in honor of the Eucharist within.
(3) Its most famous moral code is the Ten Commandments; but each of these commandments can be – and have been – expanded into a myriad of more specific commandments, e.g., the Sixth Commandment ban on adultery can be expanded into bans on fornication, masturbation, homosexuality, and other improper sexual conduct.
Continued below.
The Sentimentality Destroying Christianity - The Catholic Thing
David Carlin: Liberal “compassion” is – to speak plainly – an empty sentimentality. It is not the fullness of Christianity but a dying ember.
www.thecatholicthing.org
