Posts Tagged ‘Catholic Church’
Church Councils
09
Oct
Two weeks ago in our Acts of the Apostles Bible study we covered Acts 15 where we heard about the Council of Jerusalem in AD 52.
In our discussion we also spoke about Ecumenical Councils, when the bishops of the world are gathered together to settle issues facing the Church. I said I would put something up here listing those councils. Here they are…
AD 325: Nicea
Issue: The Divinity of Christ
AD 381: Constantinople
Issue: The Divinity of Holy Spirit
AD 431: Ephesus
Issue: Mary as “Theotokos” (“God Bearer”)
AD 46I: Chalcedon
Issue: The two natures in Christ
AD 476: The Fall of Rome
AD 553: Constantinople II
Issue: Condemned a variety of writings.
AD 680: Constantinople III
Issue: The two wills in Christ
AD 787: Nicea II
Issue: The veneration of images
AD 869: Constantinople IV
AD 1054 Eastern Schism. The East has never held another council.
AD 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215: Lateran I, II, III and IV
AD 1245 & 1274: Lyons I & II
AD 1311: Vienne
AD 1414: Constance
Western Schism
AD 1453 Fall of Constantinople
AD 1512: Lateran V
AD 1545: Trent
Issue: Dealt with Luther’s teachings and made Church reforms
AD 1869: Vatican I
AD 1963: Vatican II
How do Catholics view the Bible?
30
Aug
I just received an email from someone asking for a copy of my recording of “Dei Verbum”, the document on Divine Revelation from the Second Vatican Council.
My blog seemed to be the easiest way to share them. Each of the chapters is in a separate MP3 file:
Chapter 1 (MP3) Chapter 2 (MP3) Chapter 3 (MP3)
Chapter 4 (MP3) Chapter 5 (MP3) Chapter 6 (MP3)
I hope these help you with your studies Alyson 
Hating The Roman Catholic Church
07
Feb
“Not one hundred people in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is” - Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Wise Words On Wednesday: Authority and Conflict
18
Jan
I’ve given Brent a bit of hard time recently over on Devin’s blog so I thought this week’s quotation should come from him.
This is something great I heard him say during his episode on “The Journey Home”…
“An authority is only as good as its ability to resolve a conflict” – Brent Stubbs
Okay, now go listen to his new podcast with Devin!
Catholic Family Tree
09
Jan
Last Thursday I celebrated the Feast of Theophany at Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Parish with four of my Roman Rite friends. While we were there I attempted to explain how all the different rites of the Catholic Church relate to one another. I don’t think I did a very good job at explaining it, so I’m going to have another go now…
The Church began in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and, over time, major Christian centres developed in the cities of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria. It was from these cities that the major rites of the Church developed. This can be seen more clearly from the following diagram I found on a friend’s Facebook page:
The Second Vatican Council had this to say concerning the different rites of the Church:
“[In] faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity, and that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way” - Sacrosanctum Concilium
“If Protestantism Is True” Review
26
Sep
About a month ago I received my copy of Devin Rose‘s new book “If Protestantism Is True”. I’ve been a subscriber to Devin’s blog for some time, distributed some of his podcasts at the JP2 Group and occasionally interacted with him over the Internet.
I was therefore looking forward to read his book. Unfortunately, I had Vocation Director prescribed reading this month and that had to be done first! Last week I finally completed my reading assignments and so I finally got started on Devin’s book and, since it’s nice and compact at 162 pages, I read it from cover-to-cover this weekend.
A year of blogging
11
Jun
Today marks my blogging anniversary. I have now been writing this blog for one year exactly.
[Pause for applause]
Over of the 365 days of this blog’s existence I have written 137 posts, which works out at about a post every two or three days. Not bad at all.
Not a lot of people know this, but I was officially declared dyslexic at school when I was ten years old. As such, writing has never come easily to me. Even if you see a post on this blog which is composed of even just a few sentences, I can guarantee you that I put quite some time into its composition. Therefore, the fact that I’ve managed to regularly write on this blog every two or three days for a year is really quite an achievement for me
Introduction to Islam (Part 5 of 5): The Catholic Response
06
Feb
Today I would like to conclude my introductory series to Islam. This series wasn’t intended to be an apologetic response to Islam, just an accurate and objective description of Islamic belief and practice. It is my hope that this will lead to a better understanding of Islam by Christians.
Over the course of this series we have looked at the origins of Islam, Muhammad, the teaching of the Qur’an, as well as the faith and obligations of Muslim life. I would now like to conclude by looking at what the Catholic Church had to say about Islam at the Second Vatican Council.
The Catholic Church sets forth its binding teaching regarding Islam in the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions” (also known as “Nostra Aetate”, literally “In our time”):
#1 In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.
One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. One also is their final goal, God…
The church says that she sees it her task to “promote unity and love”. This unity and love is fostered by considering what unites humankind and, in this “big picture” vision of the world, we are reminded that every single person comes from God and every single one will, some day, return to Him.
#2 … The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.
Know your Rites
06
Sep
The other week I resumed a former “hobby” of mine. When I was living back in London I would often go and visit Eastern Rite Catholic churches…
What’s Rite?
A “Rite” in this context generally refers to a group within the wider Catholic Church which is associated with a particular liturgical tradition. The main Rite with which most people will be familiar is the “Latin Rite”. This is what is followed in most Catholic churches in Western Europe and the United States. However, what most people don’t know is that there are six other Rites in the Catholic Church. The Catechism in paragraph #1203 lists these other Rites as Byzantine, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite and Chaldean. The majority of married Catholic priests (yes, you heard me right) will be found in these Eastern Rite Catholic churches where the discipline of celibacy is not exercised in the same way.
I love visiting Eastern Rite churches – I get to explore an unfamiliar liturgy, but unlike when I visit Protestant churches, I also am able to receive communion because the churches which I visit are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. So far, I have participated in Maronite and Byzantine (Melkite & Ukrainian) liturgies.
