Tech Tips for Catholics

A while back I got a kick out of a co-worker who told me that “Catholics do not believe in the Bible, they have the Catechism instead!”  Really? Apparently she had been told this by an ex-Catholic Christian in her protestant Bible study.  This ex-Catholic has an obvious misunderstanding of the faith which she has left.

Let me begin by saying that the Bible is a Catholic book.  The early councils of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, decided which books were considered inspired (God-breathed) and thus were to be included in the Canon of Scripture.  Secondly, the Catechism does not take the place of Sacred Scripture—it points us to the word of God.

I’d also like to point out that Catholic Christians hear virtually the entire Bible, throughout each three-year cycle (assuming they attend every Sunday Liturgy).  This is not by accident.  Catholics are “Bible-believing” Christians!  Did you know that a Catholic attending Sunday Mass is exposed to more than 7,000 verses of the Bible per year, just from the three readings during the Liturgy of the Word? When we gather together for worship we sing God’s words, and pray God’s words, and listen to God’s words, and then hopefully we live out God’s words and share God’s words with others.

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ!” – St. Jerome

So where does the Catechism come into all of this? Well, the Catechism presents what Catholic Christians essentially and fundamentally believe.  The main sources of the Catholic Catechism are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, the Liturgy, and the Church’s Magisterium.  So basically it is the what and why’s of what we believe as Christians.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is organized into four main pillars.

1. The Creed (a.k.a. The Baptismal Profession of Faith)
2. The Sacraments of Faith
3. The Life of Faith
4. The Prayer of the Believer

The following is a more in depth look at each part.

Part One: The profession of faith

Those who belong to Christ through faith and Baptism must confess their baptismal faith before men (Mt 10:32; Rom 10:9).  First therefore the Catechism expounds revelation, by which God addresses and gives himself to man, and the faith by which man responds to God (Section One).  The profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier.  It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church (Section Two).

Part Two: The sacraments of faith

The second part of the Catechism explains how God’s salvation, accomplished once for all through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is made present in the sacred actions of the Church’s liturgy (Section One), especially in the seven sacraments (Section Two).

Part Three: The life of faith

The third part of the Catechism deals with the final end of man created in the image of God: beatitude, and the ways of reaching it — through right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God’s law and grace (Section One),  and through conduct that fulfills the twofold commandment of charity, specified in God’s Ten Commandments (Section Two).

Part Four: Prayer in the life of faith

The last part of the Catechism deals with the meaning and importance of prayer in the life of believers (Section One).  It concluded with a brief commentary on the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (Section Two), for indeed we find in these the sum of all the good things which we must hope for and which our heavenly Father wants to grant us.

Do not be intimidated by the Catechism.  It is actually more easy to read than you might think.  Likewise, do not be afraid to read your Bible.  Like I said the Bible is a Catholic book.  Nothing in Scripture can contradict our Catholic faith.  There are many good Catholic Bible studies available.  Perhaps your own parish already has a Bible study that you can participate in.

Tip: Sometimes anti-Catholics will try to take a portion of a particular paragraph of the Catechism out of context to try and say that the Church teaches something that she truly doesn’t (I won’t name names).  So if someone throws a Scripture passage or a quote from the Catechism at you, be sure and look it up entirely.  Read it in context and then charitably explain to the person where they have either blatantly or perhaps accidentally misunderstood what was actually meant.