KEY TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Jesus is the Son of God The Trinity Prayer The Saints The Creed The Immaculate Conception The Virgin Birth The Assumption of Mary Transubstantiation and the Real Presence The Sacraments The Commandments and the Beatitudes The Word of God in the Scriptures The Pope as Peter’s successor The Pope’s infallibility Slide 3 Slide 3 1

JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD Catholics believe that Jesus… Was begotten – not made Was born of the virgin Mary Is the Son of God (the Father) Was born a Jew, lived as a Jew Is fully human, fully divine (incarnate) Is like us in all things except sin Gave the Jews a new way of living via his teachings, and miracles He suffered, was crucified, died, was buried Rose from the dead Was taken body and soul into heaven 2

THE TRINITY There are three persons in the one God  God the Father  God the Son (Jesus)  God the Holy Spirit We recognise this when we make the sign of the cross before we pray 3

PRAYER Prayer is a relationship with God Prayer is a conversation with God We can pray to any of the persons in the Trinity God hears our prayers – and answers them We can also pray to the saints who will intercede with God on our behalf We can pray in our own words or with formal prayers like The Our Father and the Hail Mary We can pray out loud or silently Singing hymns is praying; Doing good actions is praying There are four parts to prayer  praising  sorrow  thanking  asking 4

THE SAINTS Saints are special men and women who are recognised for their holiness, good works and devotion to God Some saints are martyrs who died for their beliefs The process of being declared a saint is called canonization Modern saints need to have 2 miracles attributed to them Saints share heaven with God and can take our prayers to him 5

THE CREED The Creed is a statement of what we believe The two main creeds in use today are  The Apostles Creed and  The Nicene Creed We say the creed at Mass When we were baptised, the creed is said for us if we are young; or if we are older, it is said by us in the form of our baptismal vows. We sometimes repeat our baptismal vows at Mass in place of the Creed 6

MARY’S IMMACULATE CONCEPTION When Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb, she was free from original sin. Mary & Jesus were the only two conceptions with this status 7

THE VIRGIN BIRTH Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb without Mary having had sexual intercourse (with Joseph) Thus when Jesus was born, Mary was still a virgin 8

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven before her body could begin to decay On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared that it is a dogma of the Church "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.“ Her feast day is August 15 9

TRANSUBSTANTIATION AND THE REAL PRESENCE At the consecration during Mass, the gifts of bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Their visible form remains as bread and wine But they are actually the real Body and Blood 10

THE SACRAMENTS The church has seven sacraments 1.Baptism 2.Eucharist 3.Confirmation 4.Reconciliation 5.Matrimony 6.Holy Orders 7.Anointing of the sick The seven sacraments are ceremonies that point to what is sacred, significant and important for Christians. They are special occasions for experiencing God's saving grace. 11

THE COMMANDMENTS AND THE BEATITUDES God gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai They are referred to in the following passages from scripture:-  Exodus 20:2-17  Deuteronomy 5:6-21 To break a commandment is to commit a sin; i.e. they are the “shalt nots” Jesus gave us the Beatitudes in the sermon on the Mount They are referred to in the following passage from scripture:-  Matthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes are the “should dos”; they are inward qualities we should strive to possess. 12

THE WORD OF GOD IN THE SCRIPTURES The Holy scriptures contain the inspired Words of God 13

The Pope's words are only binding on the Catholic people when he speaks ex cathedra (from the chair of Peter) making an infallible statement. This occurs very rarely. When the Pope is speaking ex cathedra, the Holy Spirit will guide him on his decisions. The Pope also consult as well with the bishops of the church. THE POPE 14