Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest organizational body of Christians. Its membership is over one billion. 1,085,557,000 is the figure, rounded to the nearest thousand, given in the 2003 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, page 43. Because of obstacles to regular contacts, this figure does not include Roman Catholics in mainland China and perhaps in some other places. According to canon law, members are those who have been baptized in the Catholic Church or have been received into the Catholic Church after being baptized elsewhere, and who have not formally defected.

Sacraments

The Catholic Church, like other ancient Christian Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, recognizes and administers seven sacraments as gifts from Christ to his Church. These signs perceptible to the senses are seen as means by which Christ gives the particular grace indicated by the sign aspect of the sacrament in question, helping the individual to advance in holiness, and contributing to the Church' s growth in charity and in giving witness. Not every individual receives every sacrament, but the Church sees the sacraments as necessary means of salvation, conferring each sacrament' s special graces, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children of God, conformation to Christ, and membership of the Church. The effect of the sacraments comes ex opere operato (by the very fact of being administered): through them, regardless of the minister' s personal holiness, Christ provides the graces of which they are signs. However, a recipient' s own lack of proper dispositions can block their effectiveness in that person. The sacraments presuppose faith; and, in addition, their words and ritual elements nourish, strengthen and give expression to faith.

Related Topics:
Eastern Orthodox Church - Sacraments

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List of the seven sacraments, with references to the sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) that deal with each:

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• Baptism: CCC 1213-1284
• Confirmation (Byzantine Catholics prefer the term Chrismation in English, similar to the term universally used in the Italian language): CCC1285-1321
• Eucharist: CCC 1322-1419
• Reconciliation and Penance (Confession): CCC 1422-1498
• Anointing of the Sick (formerly called Extreme Unction): CCC 1499-1532
• Holy Orders: CCC 1536-1600
• Matrimony: CCC 1601-1666

What follows is an account, again largely based on the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, of how the Catholic Church views each of these sacraments.

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Baptism is the first and basic sacrament of Christian initiation. It is administered by immerging the recipient in water or by pouring (not just sprinkling) water on the person' s head "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (cf. Matthew 28:19). The ordinary minister of the sacrament is a bishop or priest, or (in the Western Church, but not in the Eastern Churches) a deacon. In case of necessity, anyone intending to do what the Church does, even if that person is not a Christian, can baptize. Baptism frees from original sin and all personal sins and from the punishment due to them, and makes the baptized person share in the Trinitarian life of God through "sanctifying grace" (the grace of justification that incorporates the person in Christ and his Church). It makes the person a sharer too in the priesthood of Christ and is the foundation of communion between all Christians. It imparts the "theological" virtues (faith, hope and charity) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It marks the baptized person with a spiritual seal or character that indicates permanent belonging to Christ.

Related Topics:
Western Church - Eastern Churches

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Confirmation is the second sacrament of Christian initiation. It is conferred by anointing with chrism, an oil into which balm has been mixed, giving it a special perfume, together with a special prayer that refers, in both its Western and Eastern variants, to a gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the recipient as with a seal. Through the sacrament the grace given in baptism is "strengthened and deepened" (Catechism of the Catholic Church §1303). Like baptism, confirmation may be received only once, and the recipient must be in a state of grace (meaning free from any known unconfessed mortal sin) in order to receive its effects. The "originating" minister of the sacrament is a validly consecrated bishop; if a priest (a "presbyter") confers the sacrament - as is done ordinarily in the Eastern Churches and in special cases in the Latin-Rite Church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1312-1313) - the link with the higher order is indicated by the use of oil blessed by a bishop. In the East the sacrament is administered immediately after baptism. In the West administration came to be postponed until the recipient's early adulthood; but in view of the earlier age at which children are now admitted to reception of the Eucharist, it is more and more restored to the traditional order and administered before giving the third sacrament of Christian initiation.

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The Eucharist is the sacrament (the third of Christian initiation) by which Catholics partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and participate in his one sacrifice. The bread and wine used in the rite are, in Catholic faith, considered to be transformed in all but appearance into the Body and Blood of Christ, a change that is commonly called transubstantiation. Only a bishop or priest is enabled to be a minister of the Eucharist, acting in the person of Christ himself. The Eucharist is seen as "the source and summit" of Christian living, the high point of God 's sanctifying action on the faithful and of their worship of God, the point of contact between them and the liturgy of heaven. So important is it that participation in the Eucharistic celebration (see Mass (liturgy)) is seen as obligatory on every Sunday and holy day of obligation and is recommended on other days. Also recommended for those who participate in the Mass is reception, with the proper dispositions, of Holy Communion. This is seen as obligatory at least once a year, during Eastertide.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Transubstantiation - Mass (liturgy) - Holy day of obligation

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Penance and Reconciliation are names given to the first of two sacraments of healing, which is also called the sacrament of conversion, of confession, and of forgiveness (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1423-1424).http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm#i It is the sacrament of spiritual healing of a baptized person from the distancing from God involved in sins committed. It involves four elements: the penitent's contrition for sin (without which the rite does not have its effect), confession to a priest (it may be spiritually helpful to confess to another, but only a priest has the power to administer the sacrament), absolution by the priest, and satisfaction. In early Christian centuries, the fourth element was quite onerous and generally preceded absolution, but now it usually involves a simple task (in some traditions called a “penance”) for the penitent to perform, to make some reparation and as a medicinal means of strengthening against further temptation.

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Anointing of the Sick is the second sacrament of healing. In it a priest anoints with oil blessed specifically for that purpose those who because of sickness or old age are in incipient danger of dying. A worsening of their health enables them to receive the sacrament a further time. In past centuries, when the sacrament was in fact conferred only on those in immediate danger of death, it came to be known as "Extreme Unction", i.e. "Final Anointing". It was then conferred only as one of the "Last Rites". The other "Last Rites" are Confession (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, at least absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given), and the Eucharist, which when administered to the dying is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for a journey".

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Holy Orders is the sacrament by which one becomes a bishop, a priest or a deacon. Only a bishop may administer this sacrament. Ordination as a bishop confers the fulness of the sacrament, making the bishop a member of the body that has succeeded to that of the Apostles, and giving him the mission to teach, sanctify and guide, along with the care of all the Churches. Ordination as a priest configures the priest to Christ the Head of the Church and the one essential Priest, empowering him, as the bishops' assistant, to celebrate divine worship, especially the Eucharist. Ordination as a deacon configures the deacon to Christ the Servant of All, placing him at the service of the Church, especially in the fields of the ministry of the word, divine worship, pastoral guidance and charity. (On "minor orders", see below, under the heading "Priests and deacons".)

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Matrimony, or Marriage, is, like Holy Orders, a sacrament that consecrates for a particular mission in building up the Church, and that provides grace for accomplishing that mission. This sacrament, seen as a sign of the love uniting Christ and the Church, establishes between the spouses a permanent and exclusive bond, sealed by God. Accordingly, a marriage between baptized persons, validly entered into and consummated, cannot be dissolved. The sacrament confers on them the grace they need for attaining holiness in their married life and for responsible acceptance and upbringing of their children. The sacrament is celebrated as a public ceremony in the presence of the priest (or another witness appointed by the Church) and other witnesses. For a valid marriage, a man and a woman must express their conscious and free consent to a definitive self-giving to the other, excluding none of the essential properties and aims of marriage. If one of the two is a non-Catholic Christian, their marriage is licit only if the permission of the competent authority of the Catholic Church is obtained. If one of the two is not a Christian (i.e. has not been baptized) this permission is necessary for validity.

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