# Gifts of the Holy Spirit **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 6, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813 "2005-11-06T20:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mpolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mpolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mpolo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/1 "2005-11-06T20:20:53Z")
In the article [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m7gifts.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m7gifts.html) on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is implied that the Gifts are no longer taught or refered to. This is incorrect. In the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 1831, they are listed, for instance. The longer list in Galatians 5:22-23 (as preserved in the Vulgate) of twelve “fruits” is also mentioned in number 1832. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/2 "2005-11-06T23:51:17Z")
> [@mpolo](#): > > In the article [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m7gifts.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m7gifts.html) on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is implied that the Gifts are no longer taught or refered to. This is incorrect. In the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 1831, they are listed, for instance. The longer list in Galatians 5:22-23 (as preserved in the Vulgate) of twelve “fruits” is also mentioned in number 1832. Seconded. They were definitely part of my confirmation classes back in '94-'95. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/3 "2005-11-07T00:47:01Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Seconded. They were definitely part of my confirmation classes back in '94-'95. Hehehe, and here I imagined you to be an older, venerable-type person, not some young whippersnapper with a predisposition for investigating the whichness of why… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/4 "2005-11-07T16:02:42Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Hehehe, and here I imagined you to be an older, venerable-type person, not some young whippersnapper with a predisposition for investigating the whichness of why… 😃 I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere my under-employed (grad-student) status. This pit in the center of New Haven, CT doesn’t tend to take returning grad students. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/5 "2005-11-07T22:17:16Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere my under-employed (grad-student) status. This pit in the center of New Haven, CT doesn’t tend to take returning grad students. I read the article to say that you don’t hear much about the ‘seven gifts’ of the spirit anymore. Clearly, most churches still talk about the gifts of the spirit, but doesn’t emphasize a list of seven. There at least nine and several more, depending on how you count them. I’ve attended Episcopal, Baptist, and independent Evangelical churches and heard the ‘gifts of the spirit’ taught at all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/6 "2005-11-08T14:35:37Z")
The church that I was attending (among other Christian groups) kept emphasising it is the “ **fruit** ” of the Spirit, not fruit_s_…something to do with all these things being holistic or something. ---
**Author:** ![mpolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mpolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mpolo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit/329813/7 "2005-11-08T21:31:01Z")
However, I believe that only the Catholic Church has ever actually promulgated a list of the gifts. And they (we) still use the list of seven, contrary to the article, which claims that after Vatican II the list of seven disappeared. They even have a special position in mystic and ascetic theology. (The gifts of the Holy Spirit are cases of the Holy Spirit acting directly in our soul, where we only have to be docile to his action, as opposed to the various virtues, which direct our action.)