What Does the Catholic Church Teach?

Catholics consider themselves to be members of the oldest Christian church. Catholic doctrines and teachings have had a heavy influence on mankind for centuries. Though Catholicism is relatively complex, there are a few core beliefs and doctrines that are essential to understand when considering the Church.

Catholics draw the authority for their beliefs from several sources: The Bible, creeds, traditions of the church, the bishops and the Pope are a few of them. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is their final authority, but His authority has been passed on to His disciples. Catholics believe that the authority was passed directly to Simon Peter (the "rock"), and from him to the next Pope, etc. This is known as "Apostolic Succession". Though they esteem the Bible as the Word of God, and cannot preach something contrary to its teaching, they do not believe that it alone is the final authority.

The Catholic, or, Universal Church teaches that it is the Church which Jesus established when He was on earth. The church thus considers itself "Apostolic" because it derives its authority from the Apostles themselves.

Catholics affirm the existence of the Trinity (One God in three Persons, or Entities) and that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man.

The Catholic church teaches that there are seven sacraments through which a person may receive grace from God. They are: Baptism (typically done to babies by mode of sprinkling), Holy Eucharist (Communion is believed to be transubstantial. This means that the actual body and blood of Christ is consumed during the taking of communion), Reconciliation (the sacrament of conversion or confession to a priest), Matrimony, Holy Orders (becoming a priest) and anointing the sick (last rites).

Salvation, in the Catholic Church, is attained through God's grace working through us. Grace is stored by partaking of the Holy Sacraments as often as possible. Baptism is the beginning of the process of obtaining grace from God. Salvation is thus obtained through the Grace of Christ as distributed by the sacraments. They do not believe in the concept of the Reformation that justification is by faith alone.

Catholics are perhaps most well-known for their beliefs concerning Mary. They believe she was born without original sin and remained a virgin throughout her entire life. She is referred to as the "Mother of God" and is believed to have always remained sinless. She is considered the "New Eve", as Jesus is considered the "New Adam", and is believed to have been ushered into heaven after her death, similar to the way Elijah was.

Though this is not an exhaustive study of the Catholic Church, I hope it will give you insight into some of its beliefs and teachings.