Just a question: why do people in the US say Roman Catholics? Isnt Catholicism necessarily Roman?
Nope. One can be Eastern Orthodox Catholic.
Ha it must be a language diff, we call Orthodoxes simply Orthodoxes here. Do you know if it’s a specific US thing or if it’s the same in GB’s English too?
Probably best to look at the Catechisms:
So, it’s pretty clear that when someone dies without being baptized, the correct approach is to hope for the best. In addition, the baptism of someone who has already been baptised is invalid by Catholic teaching.
That’s not an American thing. There are lots of (well, at least several) other churches around that use the term “Catholic” for themselves - among them, incidentally, the Church of England, which is why allegiance to the Catholic Church shows up in the Anglican creed. The term “Catholic” is Greek and means universal, a particular claim of universality made by a church. That’s why the one in Rome is correctly called, also in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church.
There is also a distinction between big-C Catholic churches and small-c catholic churches. All big-C churches consider themselves part of the small-c catholic church, but some churches (for instance most Lutherans) consider themselves part of the small-c catholic church but not the big-C one.
–There are Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics - two different things. Eastern Rite Catholics are in Communion with Rome and they practice different rites. Eastern Orthodox practice different rites but they have bishops who are ouit of Communion with Rome.
The old folks in my family (Irish Catholic) used to spin a lot of yarns based upon the urgency of priests running to get to a person before they died, or a mid-wife trying to get a still-born child to “take three breaths” so he/she could be baptized. The basis of all of these stories was the absolute nature of death, and the definite implication of it being “too late.”
This guy sounds like he was completely out of line on all counts.
In a sense, the priest does this at every mass via the washing of the hands. “Lord wash away my inequities, and cleanse me of my sins.” However, this is also just a good hygienic practice prior to serving JC’s transubstantiated body and blood up to the teeming hundreds.
But one of the symbolic purposes of this is to acknowledge that even the priest is contaminated by sin and must ritually purify his hands prior to touching the bread that will become the flesh of Christ in just a few moments.
There are deaconesses, deacons are mostly men but it’s not a requirement.
The Schism of 1054 created separate Churches that agree on most fundamental tenets but, well… they just couldn’t agree to disagree.
Not quite. There are a number of “rites” in the Catholic church. All are under the Pope, but there are considerable differences in practices and liturgy. Examples are Byzantine and Coptic, as well as Roman. Some (such as the Byzantine rite) are closely related to the Orthodox churches, but the difference is that all of the Orthodox churches reject the primacy of the Pope (in other words, they are technically not Catholic). People in the US generally speak of Roman Catholic as though it were the sum total, not realizing that it is just one branch of the church the Pope leads, although it is the largest, by far, in this part of the world.
Or, rephrasing what Cheshire Human said, in “Roman Catholic” the “Roman” part doesn’t refer to the boss living in Rome, but to a specific Ritual of the Mass, whereas the “Catholic” part is the actual denomination. So, anybody who accepts the guy in white as Pontifex is denominationally Catholic, no matter what Ritual (s)he uses.
A decent article about my previous post:
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm
Not true at all. The Code of Canon Law, Can. 1024, provides, “Only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination.” In the Catholic Church, only a man may be ordained a deacon, priest, or bishop.
Correct. A bishop is the minister of the sacrament of Holy Orders. A man must be at least 23 years old to be ordained as a transitional deacon (that is, one who is destined for the priesthood). A permanent deacon must be at least 25 if unmarried. If married, he must be at least 35 and have the consent of his wife.
But aren’t there people who call themselves “Catholic” who don’t recognize Rome? I have known people who professed to be “non-papal Catholics.” Would they still be “Roman” in that sense?
The ritual would be unnecessary according Catholic dogma, justing wanting the Baptism is sufficient:
The Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, adheres to the Nicene Creed, which includes,
[QUOTE=English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC)]
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
[/QUOTE]
While Anglicans would not describe themselves as “Catholics”, they do believe that they belong to the “Catholic Church”, of which the “Roman Catholic Church” headed by the Pope is just one branch, and the Anglican Communion is another.
I have a female friend, a devout Roman Catholic, who regularly carries communion to people in the hospital. I don’t know whetehr she’d be referred to as a Lay Minister, but she certainly gives Holy Communion to people.