Crash Course of The Catholic Church

Mugga Please · 04-03-2005, 03:54 PM

Can anyone give me a quick overview of just the catholic church. i'm not looking for any big theology or anything. With the passing of the pope i would like to be quickly informed about how the catholic church works. why is there a pope? what's he do? Whats the purpose of cardnals and priests? stuff like that. Thanks.

goldenchild · 04-04-2005, 01:35 PM

hmm, that's a pretty loaded request. I'm not exactly adaquate to giving you an overview of everything because there's so much to it.

But, we believe that Christ is the head of the Catholic Church. We believe that He put in place a man who would take His place until the second coming. We believe that He appointed Peter as this man, and that all of Peter's successors also have this position. We believe that the Pope is the earthly shepherd, so to speak. Christ told Peter to "Feed my sheep ... tend my sheep ... feed my lambs". We believe this goes for Peter and all of his successors. The Pope is the bishop of Rome, as a result of Peter's going with Paul there and that's where he set up. We believe that the bishop's of all the other areas of the world also have power given by God, because Christ gave power to all of the apostles. But we believe Peter was given a unique position. All of the bishops are the head of their local area, they oversee the parishes under their responsibility. The pope oversees not only the parishes of his surrounding area(Rome) but also all the parishes of the world.

We believe that the Catholic Church is led by the Holy Spirit in all truth, and that the Church can accurately and infallibly teach the truth of Christ, not because of the men who run it, but because of the Holy Spirit who is truth itself.

The structure of the Catholic Church is as the following:
1. The Pope: the Pope is elected by the cardinals.
2. The cardinals: They elect the pope, only a cardinal can be elected Pope. They are the government of the Church.
3. Archbishops: They oversee what is known as an archdiocese, basically a large area containing churches, normally consists of multiple cities. They are responsible for making sure the bishops follow the rules of the Church.
4. Bishops: The Bishop is responsible for a diocese containing parishes. They visit the parishes in their diocese to make sure things are running smoothly and is responsible for the teaching in his diocese. The Bishop is similar to the archbishop except that the bishop answers to the archbishop.
5. Priests: The priests run the individual parishes within the diocese. They have the same duties as the bishop does, except the priest is responsible for one parish, while the bishop is responsible for numerous parishes. The priests must answer to the bishop.

6. Deacon: There is a deacon for each parish. He is responsible for helping the priest in running the parish.

Without getting too much into theology and stuff, this kind of the breakdown of how the Church is run and by whom.

Mugga Please · 04-04-2005, 05:48 PM

alright, ya cool thankyou

OneHope · 04-04-2005, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenchild

2. The cardinals: They elect the pope, only a cardinal can be elected Pope. They are the government of the Church.

I read in the news that theoretically any Roman Catholic male who is of age could be elected Pope. Is this true?

DonCamillo · 04-05-2005, 07:43 AM

I saw the same thing on TV.

But according to this
http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/election.asp
it is a cardinal.

Quote:

To be elected Pope, one Cardinal must receive more than two-thirds of the votes.

Also after the election, the cardinals ask "Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff? And, if so, what new name he would like to be known as.".
So, the person must be present somehow in the Sistine Chapel.

kepha · 04-05-2005, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonCamillo

I saw the same thing on TV.

But according to this
http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/election.asp
it is a cardinal.

Also after the election, the cardinals ask "Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff? And, if so, what new name he would like to be known as.".
So, the person must be present somehow in the Sistine Chapel.

I would hope that 99.99% of Catholics are praying for the Holy Spirit to guide the cardinals in the election, so let's not leave Him out of the picture. Should they elect a fool, then the fool will not err their in. (Isaiah 35:8)

Jer. 33:17 - Jeremiah prophesies that David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the earthly House of Israel. Either this is a false prophecy, or David has a successor of representatives throughout history.

Dan. 2:44 - Daniel prophesies an earthly kingdom that will never be destroyed. Either this is a false prophecy, or the earthly kingdom requires succession.

Isa. 22:20 - in the old Davidic kingdom, Eliakim succeeds Shebna as the chief steward of the household of God. The kingdom employs a mechanism of dynastic succession. King David was dead for centuries, but his kingdom is preserved through a succession of representatives.

Isa. 22:19 - Shebna is described as having an "office" and a "station." An office, in order for it to be an office, has successors. In order for an earthly kingdom to last, a succession of representatives is required. This was the case in the Old Covenant kingdom, and it is the case in the New Covenant kingdom which fulfills the Old Covenant. Jesus our King is in heaven, but He has appointed a chief steward over His household with a plan for a succession of representatives.

Isa. 22:21 - Eliakim is called “father” or “papa” of God's people. The word Pope used by Catholics to describe the chief steward of the earthly kingdom simply means papa or father in Italian. This is why Catholics call the leader of the Church "Pope." The Pope is the father of God's people, the chief steward of the earthly kingdom and Christ's representative on earth.

Isa. 22:22 - we see that the keys of the kingdom pass from Shebna to Eliakim. Thus, the keys are used not only as a symbol of authority, but also to facilitate succession. The keys of Christ's kingdom have passed from Peter to Linus all the way to our current Pope with an unbroken lineage for almost 2,000 years.

Acts 1:20 - we see in the early Church that successors are immediately chosen for the apostles' offices. Just as the Church replaced Judas, it also replaced Peter with a successor after Peter's death.
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/the...#the_church-II

superflyguy · 04-17-2005, 08:18 PM

It probably says 'one cardinal' because it is presumed that the one to recieve the votes will be a cardinal. Historically, only cardinals have recieved the necessary votes, and are generally the only ones considered. However, canon law states that the papacy may be granted to any catholic adult male.

kepha · 04-17-2005, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mugga Please

Can anyone give me a quick overview of just the catholic church. i'm not looking for any big theology or anything. With the passing of the pope i would like to be quickly informed about how the catholic church works. why is there a pope? what's he do? Whats the purpose of cardnals and priests? stuff like that. Thanks.

A quick overview minus big theology? Maybe I can summarize:

+

It can't be done, mugga budda!

It's too hard to put 2000 years of development into a quick overview. Your question seems focused on structure. I would like to add to goldenchild's excellent answer. Basically, the Catholic Church is the fulfilment of Judaism, and it is modelled after the Davidic Kingdom.

The Pope is a bishop like any other bishop. He is the bishop of the dioceses of Rome, just like my bishop is the bishop of the diocese of Hamilton. The difference is lineage. My bishop can document his apostolic lineage back to the Apostles, but whoever is the bishop of the Roman diocese can document his apostolic lineage back to Peter, and it can only be one guy after another. The Bible shows that the Church has the authority to appoint more bishops as she grew, but there can only be one successor of Peter in a straight line.
Here is a link that helps describe the Office of the New Testament Priesthood, fresh out of the Bible, without too much big theology

http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/ntpriest.htm

goldenchild · 04-18-2005, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superflyguy

It probably says 'one cardinal' because it is presumed that the one to recieve the votes will be a cardinal. Historically, only cardinals have recieved the necessary votes, and are generally the only ones considered. However, canon law states that the papacy may be granted to any catholic adult male.

Could you give a quote of canon law where it says this? Because I've never heard it.