Catholicism

                                              Catholicism

The Merriam- Webster catholic dictionary defines Catholicism as ”the faith, doctrine, system and practice of the catholic church” The catholic church distinguishes itself from other Christian faiths (e.g. Protestantism)through its firm dogmas. The Catholic church is supposed to have been founded by Christ himself when He made Saint Peter “the rock “ on which He built the church, that church is the Catholic church . Today the pope of the Roman Catholic church sees himself as a successor of Saint Peter. The most important Catholic dogmas include: -Believe in the holy Trinity ;God the Father ,God the Son and God the holy spirit. These are three persons in one God . this is commonly known as “ the mystery of the Trinity” -Transubstantiation during the celebration of the mass the Eucharist is believed to change to the body of Christ -Immaculate conception: the belief that Mary the mother of Christ, was protected from original sin, that Mary did not have a sin nature, and was infact sinless -Papal infallibility: Papal Infallibility is seen through out the history of the Church. Documents and decisions all the way back into the first centuries show that the decision of the Bishop of Rome was accepted as final and without appeal. Sometimes beliefs are challenged or become confused and the Church responds with a declaration of something that needed to be cleared up. This happened with Papal Infallibility at Vatican I. Some people were proposing that a Church Council superseded the authority of the Pope. To set this straight Vatican I made a clear statement of just what authority is vested in the office of Peter and why. -purgatory is a place of temporal punishment at the conclusion of this punishment , the individual’s soul passes into heaven . The catholic Church has a strict hierarchical structure; At the pinnacle is the Poe who is a mediator between God and man. The pope is only relieved of his position by death .A new pope is selected in a conclave of Cardinals Cardinals are appointed by the pope and they are directly answerable to the Vatican the cardinals run or are heads of the diocese all priests and bishops are under the control of the Cardinal of their dioceses Next in the Catholic hierarchy are the bishops and the n the priests who see to the affairs of the parishes

Priests  go through a solid seven years of intellectual training in a multiplicity of disciplines including theology and philosophy after which they take an oath of celibacy and are  ordained by Bishops .

A Catholic priest eventually climbs the hierarchical ladder ;bishop, cardinal to pope(God willing) Other features of the Catholic church include; the highly ritualistic nature of Mass (songs and incantations) the church house has an alter and a tabernacle(where the body of Christ is kept) there are effigies of the saints , Mary and Jesus that serve as commemoration . -Indulgence is based on the medieval Catholic doctrine that sinners must not only repent of sins that they’ve committed , they must also confess these sins and pay some sort of retribution. Indulgence is a sort of retribution This and other s is going to be the basis of separation of a good number of Christians from the Catholic faith among them Martin Luther. -In England the strength of the Catholic church started dwindling with Henry the VIII.As a result of the inability of the king to convince the papal court to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. since he was desperate to marry Anne Boleyn who would provide him an heir, the king dismissed cardinal Wolsey and brought in Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell both sympathizers of the new ideas of Martin Luther .The “Reformation Parliament”( 1529 1531) saw a gradual shift of power from Pope to king, culminating in the act of supremacy 1534 which stopped all contribution and allegiance to Roman catholic church the king of England became the” supreme head of the Church” -Mary Tudor “bloody Mary” takes the throne and England enjoys a brief period of Catholicism albeit with much blood shed(1553;1558) -Elizabeth I as queen re-introducing Protestantism(1558-1603).she understood that warring faiths was tearing England apart and tried her best to grant freedom of worship. In her” 39 articles” she outlined the rules ;you could follow your faith if only you respected and recognized her as queen and supreme governor of the church. -Between the reigns of James I and Charles I, there were significant swings and tensions between the puritans ,Anglicans and catholic conservatives (1603-1685) -When James II succeeded Charles II. English Catholics once again saw some religious freedom. They were granted “The declaration of indulgence “1687, Catholics under James II were now able to take part in the military and hold important posts in government. -Unfortunately for Catholicism in England ,James’ overt and radical pro Catholicism brought his doom -the Glorious revolution was a manifestation of how intense the anti Catholic feelings in England had become . It ousted James and brought in a die hard Calvinist, William of Orange.(1688) -The parliamentary” bill of rights” 1689 served as a final nail on the coffin of Catholicism in England the Catholics had been once and for all reduced to a position of inferiority. No Roman catholic will ever become king/ queen of England. main source: http://wsu.edu/Reform/england.Htm,sec.sources: Miller John."Popery and politics in England 1660-1688",Cambridge:Cup,1973,course documents