BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Catholicism questions about Catholic beliefs.

Hello all! Happy New Year!

I have lots of Question. I hope I dont offend anyone. I was not rased in a Catholic church but I have been curious about some of the things I have heard about the Catholics.
CzarinaOz answered some of them in the other thread and did a wonderful job! So hear is some others:
1.How did the Pope come to be?
2.What are the Orders- branchs-denomenations in or of the Catholic church?
3. Why do you believe Mary was a Virgin all her life when Jesus has a Brother named James?

Again, I dont mean to start a war or anything I would Just like to know the answers to some questions. thank you for your help.

Here's a good, brief article for #3:
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#2 branches and denominations? please elaborate a bit on that question. I'm not sure I understand what your question is.

These aren't exactly short answer questions. Number one sounds like a good basis for a thesis paper

Well I am not sure myself, Someone told me that there are differences in Catholic churches depending on the orders they follow. I am not sure what an Order is unless it is a Denomenation or something like that but I could very well have it wrong too.

Keven Thank you for your link I will go Check it out now. and I knew that they would be long essay type questions that is why I just posted 3 to start with!

Happy New Year Mystic,

You could never offend a true Catholic by asking about The Faith. St. Paul tells us to be ready to answer any and all things concerning Christ, so we gladly answer out of our love of Christ and you.

1. The Pope came to be this way: there has always been a spiritual leader of the House of Faith (the true religion given to mankind by God). In the very beginning, when man knew God personally from the day of his creation, Adam was the first "Pope" so-to-speak. Pope means Papa as in father, like our own, and even as in Abba Father, God the Father. Adam was the first Patriarch (also means Father). Abraham, Moses, Noah and other great men were also Patriarchs. They were responsible for leading those of the true monotheistic religion to God and to obeying God's commandments.

Before the arrival of the first Pope (Peter) and the founding of the Church, God used the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem as His Old Testament "Pope". The intention was to have the High Priest as the Pope of the New Testament also, but the Jews rejected their Messias.

The Jewish religion and their sacrificing priesthood of the Temple was the True Religion up until Christ. It was exclusively the True Religion. It ceased being the true faith after the Crucifixion of Christ and subsequently the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. by Titus the Roman. Then the true religion, the Catholic Church, went underground because of the great persecution as evidenced by the Catacombs.

When the Jews rejected Him, Jesus chose Simon Bar-Jonah to be the rock upon which He would build His Church (Matt. Chap. 16). After Peter died, Linus was the second Pope then Anacletus, Clement I, Evaristus, Alexander and so it was continued until this day. You can visit any secular encyclopedia and follow the succession of Popes since Peter (all 265 of them) up to and including Benedict XVI.

2. The orders of the Church are religious orders. The concept of religious life goes back to the Old Testament where the Carmelites hold the tradition that their order, the oldest, dates back to the prophet Elias who lived on Mt. Carmel. The purpose of religious orders is to more closely imitate Christ and to follow Him in the spirit of Matt. 19:29: "And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting."
And also: "Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." Matt. 19:21 And again: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Matt. 16:24


Those in religious orders give up everything to follow Christ as did the Apostles. The three main orders are the Carmelites, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, although there are many other religious orders such as the Jesuits, Redemptorists, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by branches or denominations in the Catholic Church, so I'll wait for some specifics or examples.

3. The term brother for the Jews is not as specified as in English or other Romance languages. When a Hebrew called someone his brother, it simply meant there was a relation such as cousin, nephew, uncle, etc. This is true even today. Naming specific relatives is purely a Western designation in our languages. The Old Testament is replete with examples.

Just for the record, no Christian ever denied that Mary was always a virgin (before and after Christ's birth). This would include any and all of the Reformers, including Martin Luthor and Henry VIII. We do not see an attack on Mary's perpetual virginity until relatively recent times.

But the most important reason for Mary's perpetual virginity is that she is the Mother of God. How could such a mother NOT be a virgin? The prophecies of the Old Testament refer to a virgin conceiving a child (Who is the Messias). "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (meaning God with us). Isaias 7:14

The perpetual virginity of Mary is singular. There will never be another woman like The Virgin Mary, just like there could never be another Eve. Mary is the second Eve - she righted what was wronged by the fall of Adam and Eve. She bore the Messias.
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! by Deminations I ment like Baptist once saved alway saved and Methodist "fall from Grace" and those like that. but What is a REligous Order? What you described above is different I think?.. So is the Orders different churchs or is this like ahhh....calling that you join like Nuns (is that the right word?) and Monks?

So Peter was the first Pope in a since because he founded the church after the fall of the Temple of Jews?

So in the artical posted from the link Keven Posted it says that the brothers of Jesus could be Cousins or Josephs kids from his first wife. I know that there a big difference in lanauge and idioms from English and Hewbrew or any langauge for that matter.
I find it interesting that the Vigin Mary is called the Virgin Mary but Jesus and maybe Joseph if he was a Virgin witch I read somewhere as well are not called the Virgin Jesus or Virgin Joseph. Why is it that Mary is the only one defined by her sexual state?
this is a sticky question but... How would it change the Catholic Faith if Mary was not a Virgin after the Christ was born? Would it really matter?

Welcome to our forum, MysticSophia!


There are no denominations within the Catholic Church. There are different Rites - the majority of the Western Churches are Latin/Roman Rite and there are several Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, like Maronite and Byzantine.

Here's a link that explains the various Rites within the Catholic Church:
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I have come upon this topic in more than just the forums, having to do with "saving" and who's right and what's wrong. What if we're all a little bit right and a lot left yet for discovery in our growing transitions and last but not least political/human interpretation making it into print?

I am from a Catholic family but most of the people/St.'s, priests, nuns, etc. I've been called upon by my elders to be guided or learn upon seem to be, when you look into their lives, realy be just people who had themselves, situations they were tested by and have inspirational qualities to share in the name of faith?

I use to ask my mom about other people, outside of the church - via third world countries or people who may have ended up having the opportunity to be introduced to Christ but had their lives shortened for some reason, be it an accident or illness gone terribly wrong.

My mother's words, "Boy, you sure know how to ask the difficult questions don't you?"

I guess I just want to introduce the possibility that we do have human interpretation within the Catholic church and anywhere really. Where God is perfect, maybe it loses something in man-made translation somewhere, let alone anything they experienced personally. Could any of our salvations be better interpreted as simply who and what we are and believe that saves us. As in, it's us who makes the final journey to be saved or not either in the purest or evilness of ourselves.

___________________________

Elleise
Clairvoyance Editor

thank you Melissa! I will look at the links tomorrow it is late tonight or I would do it now.

Elleise, I have to agree with you. I grow up hoping church to church and each church put down the other churches and said there truth was the real and only truth. They used the same bible and every church could back up there dogma with verus from the bible. the problem for me was that they seemed to only see the bible in like of the Dogma and they couldnt see any verus or interpretation that went against there dogma and when you pointed it out they would say something about the devil leading me astray or give a condecending remark about how when they had very little faith they asked the same thing but now they had a Good Strong Faith and believe but they can never say why they believe....
I think that is why I have such a hard time with christian religious groups. I like to think and reseach and come to my own understanding and interpreate for myself what I believe with out the guilt and condecention of the church. I have never been to a Catholic church so they maybe different. but the churches I went to as a kid...Methodist, Babpist in all forms, Nazarine and Jehovah's Witnesses plus a few non denominationals... they always had a brainwashed everyone think this way or you are going to hell kind of mentality to them. I never want to go back to that!!!

another comments about the Pope and I would write more but I have to go to work -

Matthew Chapter 16
Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
17 Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
18 So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'

Sophia I think maybe it might be easier to understand if you think of it like this--other churches/faith communities may have some truths, but the Catholic Church is the repository of all Truth. We respect Truth where we find it, but bring it into Fullness in the Catholic Church. It is like the difference between a convenience store like Seven Eleven and Sam's Club!

Ravyn

Rayvn,

I attended a seminar this past fall and one of the speakers described the Catholic Church as being the homeplace. When the children left (Lutherans, Anglicans, etc.) they only took the things they wanted and left behind what they didn't want. The Catholic Church still has everything. We may not use it at all times, but it is there.

Rayvn and Angie - those were both good analogies.
The one about the children is close to the "Prodigal Son" - he was forgiven only after he repented and returned. Christ says "Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you." Actual Graces are for everyone, to do the right thing (these are things like when you see a beautiful flower you think of God.. or music that makes you think of God.. etc).
When you accept these graces you turn towards God.. He in return showers you with more graces for you to accept until you have a complete conversion - other than the graces that are everywhere for everyone, the first move is yours - repent, turn to God and only then are your sins forgiven.

The word "catholic" itself actually means whole or universal. An excellent example of this point is in the creeds (Apostle's or Nicene for example) the word catholic should not be capitalized as it is referring to the universal church. Saying the Catholic Church isn't really accurate, it's the Roman Catholic Church.

That's true - RC it is.

I find it funny that protestiant church often call the catholic church pagan and not christian but they often follow the Pope It may be months or years but they will more often then not follow the Catholic church at some point in time.