Original sin is a state of being for a human, nothing to do with biology. The belief (for the Catholic Church anyway) is that God created Mary without original sin so she would be a pure person to carry Jesus. The sacrament of baptism washes away original sin.
And original sin did come about through the fall of man and woman, represented by Adam and Eve.
I had, years ago, long before we began leaning towards Catholicism. I was Anglican, though, and Anglicans use the terms interchangeably.
Very much so - Original Sin is something that all humans have, through being descended from Adam and Eve, and their sin the Garden of Eden. As I recall my Catholic dogma, all persons are born with an inheritance of Original Sin, and it is through Baptism that this taint is removed. (This reasoning was also why unbaptised infants would be condemned to Hell in some thinker’s minds. AIUI this reasoning is specifically not a part of Catholic teaching at this time.)
As for why Mary was born free of the taint of Original Sin, it was a miracle granted to allow for the birth of the Christ, because without it she wouldn’t have been able to give birth to the Son of God.
Catholic here, and yeah, I know the eucharist.
There was also the idea of limbo, where the unbaptised baby couldn’t go to heaven because of original sin but was innocent in terms of deliberate sin. I think that idea has been set aside as you say.
Thanks for the info guys (and apologies for hijacking!).
I’m still a little confused as to why Mary had to be a human without original sin. Wouldn’t that make her kind of non-human?
I know the term Eucharist but I was wrong about what it means. I thought it was the Wine and the Wafer.
Jim {Born Catholic, but started my recovery before communion.}
Yes, I’ve heard of the Eucharist. But we call it the Sacrament in our church. (Our Sacrament = Communion, and Catholic sacraments are what we would call ordinances. I think. Whee!)
I’m actually a bit more familiar with theU2charist.
I do know what the Eucharist is, in a non-technical kind of way. But that said, I’m a wee bit unsure about what exactly it signifies. I think of it as being that part of the mass, and the whole business with the wafer, rather than the wafer itself. You wouldn’t eat a Eucharist, in other words.
Anyway, here’s the technical and long-winded explanation. But maybe somebody less lazy can tell me the origin of the word. I think it refers to sacrifice.
It means “thanksgiving,” from eukharistos “grateful.”
Raised Protestant and we never called it that - always “Communion” or “Lord’s Supper.” So while I was more than aware of the basic idea (though not every detail of the Catholic rite), I would have missed that particular terminology.
I had heard of it, and vaguely knew it had something to do with the wine, bread, blood, body thing. I didn’t learn it in (Presbyterian) church.
If I didn’t, I would have guessed it meant a specific kind of card shark. Dogmas, though, usually have eight tits.
Yes.
I’m not Catholic.
I hope this data point is helpful to your studies.
I think I’d vaguely heard the term as a child and came to know what it actually meant in Catholic school. I remember being vaguely curious but pretty sure I knew what it meant.
In the Easter service, our rector mentioned some interesting experiences he’d had during Holy Week. Apparently, the baristo (I’m making it masculine cause I can! ha!) at the Starbucks on 6th, I guess, asked him “What’s that… thing?” and generally waved at him. Apparently he was asking about the clerical collar.
Later on, he got into a conversation with a stocker at a local grocery store. He mentioned that this was a busy week for him, whereupon he was given a quizzical look before light dawned: “Ah! Texas Relay!” 
Wait, it’s not? 
I was raised Anglican, but apart from hearing references to it during church, and the definitions above, I have no fucking idea what the Eucharist is. I do know all about the Nicene Creed though.
I’d heard of it, but had no idea what it was before reading this thread. FTR I wasn’t raised in any church and don’t attend church now.
She was human in all other ways. She was conceived through sexual intercourse between her parents, she was mortal, she was capable of committing sin — although, she did not, according to the dogma.
I’ve heard of it, but I had no idea until today what it meant. I’m 32 years old, if you’re interested. And an atheist.
Heard of it, of course, but never practiced cannibalism, even symbolically. The Eucharist is the name usually applied to the elements of the sacrament of communion, the wafer and the wine. Catholics are supposed to believe when they partake of these things and repeat “body of Christ” and “blood of Christ” that these literally are the body and blood of Jesus. This is supposed to be a great mystery.
This is still a small sampling, but it is interesting that so few who were raised Catholic even know what the Eucharist is. I was not raised Catholic myself, but from doing crossword puzzles I saw the clue “Eucharist plate” often enough to arouse my curiosity.
Yes. SWMBO is Catholic.