WEST NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

AND SCCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

AN ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FUFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT OF THE
COURSE(REL122) RELIGIOUS DOGMA

TOPIC:

CONGREGATIONAL RESEARCH ON ROMAN

CATHOLIC CHURCH

BY
IGWEALO JEREMIAH NNABUIKE

LECTURER

MR BASSEY ANTHONY
18th OCTOBER 2021
INTRODUCTION

The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest institution in the western world. It can trace its history
back almost 2000 years.

Today there are more than a billion Catholics in the world, spread across all five continents with
particular concentrations in southern Europe, the United States, the Philippines and the countries
of Central and South America. What binds this diverse group of people together is their faith
in Jesus Christ and their obedience to the papacy.

Catholics believe that the Pope, based in Rome, is the successor to Saint Peter whom Christ
appointed as the first head of His church. He therefore stands in what Catholicism calls
the apostolic succession, an unbroken line back to Peter and has supreme authority. Popes can
speak infallibly on matters of faith and morals but in practice do so rarely.

ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH

The Roman Catholic Church traces its unbroken history and tradition to the life and ministry of
Jesus of Nazareth in ancient Israel. In the decades following Jesus’ death by crucifixion, a new
religion emerged founded upon the life and teachings of an itinerant peasant who challenged
religious legalism and embraced the marginalized in society. Over a period of six centuries, Jesus’
teachings and practices evolved into a religion distinct from Judaism that spread throughout the
Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Christianity emerged amidst waves of persecution from the
Roman Empire, as well as in the work of early theologians to understand how Christianity was
distinct from Judaism and Greek and Roman philosophy. Christian responses to martyrdom shaped
the understanding of discipleship as an imitation of the suffering of Christ. The emphasis on
imitation meant that practice was a central component for a follower of Christ and early Christians
were known throughout the Roman Empire for their care of the sick and needy. An egalitarian
spirit, modeled on Jesus’ treatment of women and the marginalized, distinguished the earliest
communities. As Christianity evolved,

In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine ended persecutions and made Christianity legal.
Constantine called the first council of bishops (synod) at Nicaea in 325 CE to address theological
battles over conflicting interpretations of the nature of Jesus as both human and divine. The council
produced the Nicene Creed, a statement of belief that defines orthodoxy for many to the present.
A further result of Constantine’s eventual conversion was the elevation of Christianity from a
persecuted minority to the state religion. The Church adopted a monarchical structure in which the
pope serves as an absolute monarch, the representative of Christ the King on earth, and cardinals
as princes of the Church. For nearly a thousand years, the Roman Catholic Church was the locus
of both temporal and spiritual power in the West.

A disturbing outcome of the adoption of a hierarchical structure was that the oppression of the
powerless by the powerful carried no consequences. The institutional church reversed the model
embodied by Jesus where “God stands at the bottom. And any who would serve God and meet
God must do so at the bottom, not the top” (Gonzalez, 2001, p. 64). In the gospel understanding,
sins that take place against the powerless and the disenfranchised are considered more serious than
sins against the powerful.

The Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation presented challenges
to the Church’s role as the mediator and protector of dogma (revealed truths). A particularly
difficult period in the Church was the rejection of modernity, which lasted from 1910 until 1967,
and required all priests, pastors, and professors to take a negative oath against modernism because
it rejected the human capacity to examine supernatural claims with the “objective criteria of truth”
(McBrien, 1994, p. 49). The rejection of modernity included a suspicion of the field of psychology,
perhaps a key factor in the Church’s difficulty in facing the evil of pedophilia.

The history and thought of the Church is long and complex, with cycles of reform and scandal;
soaring philosophical and theological understandings; and periods of the violent enforcement of
orthodoxy. One of the most significant sea changes occurred in the Church when Pope John XXIII
opened the Second Vatican Council in 1962, inaugurating a wave of renewal and reform. The
Council used the term aggiornamento, an Italian phrase meaning bringing up to date, to depict the
Church’s opening to the modern world. The reforms inaugurated at the Council changed the face
of the church as it reclaimed an understanding of church as the “people of God,” called for
increased involvement of laypersons, and affirmed plurality and dialogue with other Christian
churches and other religion.
 THE ARTICLE OF FAITH

Article 1: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. This affirms
that God exists, that he’s a Triune God (one God in three persons, known as the Holy Trinity), and
that he created the known universe.

Article 2: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. This attests that Jesus is the Son of God
and that he’s most certainly divine. The word Lord implies divinity, because the Greek Kyrios and
the Hebrew Adonai both mean “lord” and are ascribed only to God. So, the use
of Lord with Jesus is meant to profess his divinity. The name Jesus comes from the
Hebrew Jeshua, meaning “God saves.” So, Catholics believe that Jesus is Savior.

Article 3: Who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin
Mary. This affirms the human nature of Christ, meaning he had a real, true human mother, and
also affirms his divine nature, meaning he had no human father but by the power of the Holy Spirit
was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He’s therefore considered both God and man by
Christians fully divine and fully human.

Article 4: He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The human
nature of Christ could feel pain and actually die, and he did on Good Friday. The mention of
Pontius Pilate by name wasn’t meant so much to vilify him forever in history but to place the
Crucifixion within human history.

Reference is made to an actual historical person, the Roman governor of Judea, appointed by
Caesar, to put the life and death of Jesus within a chronological and historical context. It also
reminds the faithful that one can’t blame all Jews for the death of Jesus, as some have erroneously
done over the ages. Certain Jewish leaders conspired against Jesus, but the actual death sentence
was given by a Roman and carried out by Roman soldiers. So, both Jew and Gentile alike shared
in the spilling of innocent blood. Anti-Semitism based on the Crucifixion of Jesus is inaccurate,
unjust, and erroneous.

Article 5: He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. The hell Jesus
descended into wasn’t the hell of the damned, where Jews and Christians believe the devil and his
demons reside. Hell was merely a word that Jews and early Christians used to describe the place
of the dead. This passage affirms that on the third day he rose, meaning Jesus came back from the
dead of his own divine power. He wasn’t just clinically dead for a few minutes; he was dead then
he rose from the dead. More than a resuscitated corpse, Jesus possessed a glorified and risen body.

Article 6: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty. The Ascension reminds the faithful that after the human and divine natures of
Christ were united in the Incarnation, they could never be separated. In other words, after the
saving death and Resurrection, Jesus didn’t dump his human body as if he didn’t need it anymore.
Catholicism teaches that his human body will exist forever. Where Jesus went, body and soul, into
heaven, the faithful hope one day to follow.

Article 7: He will come again to judge the living and the dead. This article affirms the Second
Coming of Christ at the end of the world to be its judge. Judgment Day, Day of Reckoning,
Doomsday they’re all metaphors for the end of time when what’s known as the General Judgment
will occur. Catholics believe that after the death of any human person, immediate private judgment
occurs and the person goes directly to heaven, hell, or purgatory (an intermediate place in
preparation for heaven).

Article 8: I believe in the Holy Spirit, this part reminds the believer that God exists in three
persons the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What’s
referred to as the Force in the movie Star Wars isn’t the same as the Holy Spirit, who is a distinct
person equal to the other two God the Father and God the Son.

Article 9: the holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, Catholics believe that the
Church is more than a mere institution and certainly not a necessary evil. It’s an essential
dimension and aspect of spiritual life. Christ explicitly uses the word church (ekklesia in Greek)
in Matthew 16 when he says, “I will build My Church.”

Article 10: the forgiveness of sins, Christ came to save the world from sin. Belief in the
forgiveness of sins is essential to Christianity. Catholicism believes sins are forgiven in Baptism
and in the Sacrament of Penance.
Article 11: the resurrection of the body, From the Catholic perspective, a human being is a union
of body and soul, so death is just the momentary separation of body and soul until the end of the
world, the Second Coming of Christ, the General Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. The
just go, body and soul, into heaven, and the damned go, body and soul, into hell.

Article 12: And in life everlasting. As Christ Our Savior died, so, too, must mere mortals. As he
rose, so shall all human beings. Death is the only way to cross from this life into the next. At the
very moment of death, private judgment occurs; Christ judges the soul:

THE BELIEF OF FAITH

To belong to the church, one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in
tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope. Fundamental in this divine
tradition is the Bible, its text determined and disseminated by the church. Adherents must also
accept the church as possessing the fullness of revelation, and the church, according to the Roman
Catholic catechism, is the only Christian body that is one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic.

The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the keystones of the Catholic faith; it holds that the
pope (the vicar of Christ) and the bishops have in varying degrees the spiritual authority Jesus
assigned to his apostles. The voice of the pope, either alone or in conjunction with his bishops in
council, is regarded as infallible when speaking on matters of faith and morals taught in common
with the bishops. Many features of the traditional teaching (dogma) have been analyzed and
restated, by the councils and by great theologians (see council, ecumenical; creed; Thomas
Aquinas, Saint; Trent, Council of; Vatican Council, First; Vatican Council, Second).

The chief teachings of the Catholic church are: God's objective existence; God's interest in
individual human beings, who can enter into relations with God (through prayer); the Trinity; the
divinity of Jesus; the immortality of the soul of each human being, each one being accountable at
death for his or her actions in life, with the award of heaven or hell; the resurrection of the dead;
the historicity of the Gospels; and the divine commission of the church. In addition the Roman
Catholic Church stresses that since the members, living and dead, share in each other's merits, the
Virgin Mary and other saints and the dead in purgatory are never forgotten.
The church is seen as having from God a system of conveying God's grace direct to humanity. The
ordinary Catholic frequents the sacraments of penance (required at least once a year) and
the Eucharist (required once every Easter time; see also sin). The Eucharist is the center of public
worship, often embellished with solemn ceremony (Mass).

Private prayer is also regarded as essential; contemplation is the, and all believers are expected to
devote some time to prayer that is more than requesting favors. Different methods of prayer are
recommended (see rosary; Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Thomas à Kempis). Self-renunciation is a
necessary part of prayer.

LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE

The pope is not the only leader in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, like every structured
environment from governments to corporations to schools to sports programs has a chain of
command.

 The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. He is God’s representative on Earth.

 Cardinals are a team of close advisors to the Pope. When the Pope dies or resigns, the next
Pope is usually chosen from the cardinals.

 Archbishops and bishops normally oversee a number of churches in one area.

  Priests are the people in charge of individual churches.

The government of the Catholic Church, called the hierarchy, is more like a monarchy than a
democracy. Catholicism is hierarchical in that one person, the pope, is supreme head over the
universal Church. Yet bishops govern the local churches in a geographical district called
the diocese, and pastors (or priests) represent the bishop in each local parish. Individual Catholics
don’t vote for the next pope or for their bishop or pastor.

The Catholic hierarchy operates like a military chain of command as opposed to an elected,
representative government.

THE WORSHIP

Liturgy & Sacraments

The public worship of the Roman Catholic church is its liturgy, principally the Eucharist, which is
also called the Mass. After the recitation of prayers and readings from the Bible, the presiding
priest invites the faithful to receive communion, understood as sharing in the sacramental presence
of Christ. At the Sunday liturgy the priest preaches a sermon or homily, applying the day's biblical
texts to the present lives of believers.

The church observes a liturgical calendar similar

to that of other Christians, following a cycle of
Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and
Pentecost. It also follows a distinctive cycle of
commemoration of the saints.
The worship of the church is expressed as well in
rites of baptism, confirmation, weddings, ordinations, penitential rites, burial rites or funerals, and
the singing of the Divine Office.

The Sacraments
The sacraments are Christ's own gift that provide us with his grace. They are the divine helps
which God gives us to enable us to: believe the truths of his faith, Live according to his moral
code, and grow in his gift of divine life. The seven sacraments are a fundamental part of the
Catholic faith.
We receive the supernatural life, called sanctifying grace, which dissipates the spiritual emptiness
of original sin.

And there is imparted to the soul a permanent and distinctive quality which we call the character
or the mark of Baptism.

Eucharist

In the Presence of the Lord Himself

This is often called the greatest sacrament because Christ himself is present in the consecrated
bread and wine. The catechism points out that the Holy Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a
sacrament. As a sacrifice the Holy Eucharist is the Mass. The Mass is that divine action in which
Jesus, through the agency of the human priest, changes the bread and wine into His own Body and
Blood and continues through time the offering which He made to God on Calvary the offering of
Himself for mankind. It is at the consecration of the Mass that the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
comes into being. It is then that Jesus becomes present under the appearance of bread and wine.
As long as the appearances of bread and wine remain, Jesus remains present and the sacrament of
the Holy Eucharist continues to there exist. The act by which we receive the Holy Eucharist is
called Holy Communion. We might say that the Mass is the "making" of the Holy Eucharist and
Holy Communion is the receiving of the Holy Eucharist. In between the two, the sacrament of the
Holy Eucharist continues to exist (as in the tabernacle) whether we receive it or not.
Reconciliation
Rising Again to New Life

This sacrament brings us God's forgiveness through the words of a priest, makes us holy and
reconciles us with God and the Church (previously called "Penance" or "Confession"). The
sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament in which the priest, as the agent of God, forgives sins
committed after Baptism, when the sinner is heartily sorry for them, sincerely confesses them, and
is willing to make satisfaction for them. By his death on the Cross, Jesus Christ redeemed man
from sin and from the consequences of his sin, especially from the eternal death that is sin's due.
So, it is not surprising that on the very day he rose from the dead, Jesus instituted the sacrament
by which men's sins could be forgiven.

Confirmation
Grace for Fullness of Faith and Life

A sacrament that bestows the special seal or mark of the Holy Spirit. It gives those receiving the
special spiritual energy to make Jesus known in the world, and the courage to live the way Jesus
would like them to live.
Root us more deeply in divine filiation (being children of God)
Unites us more firmly to Christ
Increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us
Strengthens our bond with the Church
Associates us more closely to her mission of bearing witness to Christ
Helps us and more strictly obliges us to spread and defend the faith by word and deed
Catholic Marriage
A Union Sealed by the Sacrament of Matrimony
Received when a husband and wife pronounce their marriage vows, this sacrament gives the grace
for two people to join their lives together until death. The husband and wife perform this sacrament
for each other. The priest is only the official church witness of this sacrament. Matrimony is
defined as "the sacrament by which a baptized man and a baptized woman bind themselves for life
in a lawful marriage and receive the grace to discharge their duties."
The sacramental grace of Matrimony:
Perfects the natural love of husband and wife;
Elevates this love to a supernatural level which far surpasses mere mental and physical
compatibility;
Gives to marital love a sanctifying quality, making it an instrument for growth in holiness and
marriage a path to sainthood;
Imparts conscientiousness in the begetting and rearing of children;
Gives prudence in the innumerable problems consequent upon family life;
Enables husband and wife to adjust to one another's shortcomings and to bear with one another's
faults.
Anointing of the Sick : Comfort & Healing
Typically for the seriously ill, the infirm and the very old, the sacrament of the sick sanctifies
sufferings, increases grace, forgives sins and makes us ready for heaven.
The primary purpose of the special grace of Anointing of the Sick is to comfort and to strengthen
the soul of the sick person.
This is the grace that quiets anxiety and dissipates fear.
It is the grace which enables the sick person to embrace God's will and to face the possibility of
death without apprehension.
It is the grace which gives the soul the strength to face and conquer whatever temptations to doubt,
despondency, or even despair may mark Satan's last effort to seize this soul for himself.
 Holy Orders
Priests of the New Sacrifice
Gives priests the power to forgive sins, anoint the sick, change bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, and to perpetuate Jesus' sacrifice, which is the Mass. Through Holy Orders, priests
and bishops receive the Spirit's grace to guide the church and take care of the people of God. There
are two notable ways in which the sacrament of Holy Orders differs from the other sacraments.

MISSION OF THE CHURCH

Evangelization

The Catholic Church’s mission is to carry out and continue the work of Jesus Christ on Earth. The
Church, and those in it, must:

 share the Word of God

 help those in need

 live as examples to all

Through this, missionaries aim to evangelize individuals and convert them to the Catholic faith.

The sharing of the Gospel and the life of Christ started with the commissioning and sending out of
the 12 apostles.

MANAGEMENT OF THE CHURCH

The Church is not a business, but it does have a stewardship responsibility to ensure
that all of its resources are used as effectively as possible to carry out God's work on
earth. In the case of human resource assets, good stewardship involves assisting those
engaged in ministry (whether clerical or lay) to achieve their greatest potential through
the various components of performance management, including performance
assessment. This unique collection brings together both scholars and practitioners who
tackle the tricky questions related to the performance management of lay Church
workers and clergy (priests and deacons).
 THE HEADQUARTER OF THE CHURCH

The headquarter of the church is located in Rome

POSSIBLE ERRORS
1. Human tradition is elevated or above the word of God
2. Wrong Gospel and wrong message of salvation
3. Confession of sins to priest to obtain absolution of sins
4. Penance
5. Priest
6. Celibacy of priests and Nuns (1079AD)
7. Confirmation
8. Extreme Unction (526AD)
9. Infant Baptism (370AD)
10. Devotion to sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary
11. Purgatory
12. Prayer to saints
13. Crossing Oneself
14. Names of Blasphemy
15. Peter as the rock

REFERENCES
Farmington M.O(1957). How Catholics worship.Retrieved from
https://stjosephfarmington.com/how-catholics-worship/17/10/21

John T.J & Kenneth B(1975). The twelve articles of Catholic faith. Accessed from
https://www.dummies.com/religion/christianity/catholicism/the-twelve-articles-of-
catholic-faith/17/10/21.