catholic church history

The absurd claims that Catholics have always existed, Popes started with Peter, they wrote the Bible, and that Veneration no longer means worship are just a few of the hilarious make-up-history-as-we-go style of Catholic Church History.

Their own documents contradict their outrageous claims. Yet people believe them.

The problem is that there are not many independent historical documents and facts available, given that the Catholic Church spent centuries torturing and killing those who would not submit to its authority and destroying all those dissenters' literature. Well, most of it. The Catholic Church branded huge numbers of sincere Christians as heretics if they did no more than disagree about infant baptism or read manuscripts of the Bible for themselves. And we all know what the Catholic Church did to 'heretics' centuries ago.

An excellent book giving an alternative history is 'The Pilgrim Church' by E H Broadbent (a Pickering Classic). Read this and understand what Jesus meant when he said, 'The gates of hell will not overcome [my Church]' - his Church incorporating millions of non-Catholics!

2008-01-11 06:56:40 by realchurchhistorian

The purpose of this video is to help Protestant Christians and others develop a better understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, its history and ...

Do you mean Vatican II?

This was in 1962, I think. A lot of people point to VII as a turning point, when people started to lose reverence for the Mass, and especially the Eucharist. I don't happen to agree and believe that people are reverent or not based on their own depth of faith and personalities.

It changed the GIRM so that Masses would be in the vernacular language instead of Latin, with the priest facing the people instead of back to the people. The congregation was able to more actively participate in the Mass. Traditionalists argue that this made the Mass more about us, and less about worshipping God. Previously, when you received the Eucharist, you would kneel at a communion rail and a priest would place the Eucharist on your tongue. Now we stand, and receive the host in our hands from a priest or a extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, a lay person who is authorized to assist at communion. Many traditionalists don't like the use of the EMs except in extreme circumstances. They prefer that communion is distributed only by the priest, even if it takes a long time. Personally, I think if the Vatican says it's ok, the laity should accept that.

Other changes due to VII were to the structure of new churches. My parish's church was the first to be built in St. Louis with the new regs...it's a beautiful church, and even though it was built in the 60s, it's very modern. There's no choir loft at all. You can see this church at http://www.holyr.org/. Again the Traditionalists prefer the old style church with the altar against the back wall, choir hidden away up in the loft. The location of the choir is a bone of contention because when they're in front of the congregation, it's thought they become performers. If they're out of sight, the voices just augment the liturgy.

VII also allowed the laity to serve as lectors and cantors at Mass, and women were allowed to participate in these positions. Previously, the only thing a woman could do was wash the altar linens. Again, Traditionalist don't like women in any position or girls to be servers...all of which is allowable.

Please check these facts. It's all coming just from my memory and experience, and if I was in grade school in 1962, you KNOW I'm old and forgetful. Here's a website about Vatican II: http://vatican2voice.org/.

2008-03-04 10:08:57 by Victoria Wales

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The inquisition has been highly over rated in High School History courses because protestants and others have been taught exagerations. If it weren't for the inquistion you would be speaking in Arabic and praying to Alah. Many protestants criticise the Catholic Church for teaching about the Eucharist and the 7 Sacraments, yet the Eastern Churches and the Orthodox Church teach the very same things? Yet High School history in many places, doesn't even teach about the "East." The Middle Ages are called the "Dark Ages?" Why, only to make the church look bad. But the reality is that the Catholic Church built western civilization. Why not look at various issues in the Catholic Encyclopedia in your local library and see the Church's side of the issues? Because High School History courses have the motivation of making the Catholic Church look bad in order to promote a false idea of the Reformation. But the reality is that now kids are having no faith at all, except secularism.
I have been a Public School teacher and Instructional aid for many years. Public Schools teach Evolution as a fact! Not a theory. The public should consider why their local public school is spending so much time and money on Evolution. I don't care if you believe in evolution or not. My point is that evolution is being used to divide christians. Its doing a very good job at it too. The government's support of evolution (Your local public school IS GOVERNMENT) is only promoting the "take god out of everyting" today.
I got an idea. Why not read your son's or daughter's science textbook? Why not sit in on some science classes? Why not ask your kid what was taught in school today? Or you can do the stupid thing and blindly send your kid to school and think that the "teachers know what they are doing."
One person replied that the Catholic Church has killed millions. Can you give me names, places, dates and statistics. Not just "I feel" but actual historical data to back up your point. Please be as specific as you can be.
Public schools have no business picking on the Catholic Church. If the government is to remain neutral towards religion then why is it ok to teach bad things about the Catholic Church yet tell nothing of the protestant inquisition in Geneva with Calvin? You can't have a double standard, one for atheism, secularism, protestantism and then target Catholicism.

Where did you learn your high school history? in Catholic school no doubt.

2007-11-30 20:43:21 by hossteacher

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Why was the Council of Trent such a momentous event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church?

If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well...

http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26

2008-12-13 09:07:37 by Apostoli S

Im doing a timeline and i am doing this one part about the roman catholic church what did it do to help us in mankind today like what is its importance to mankind please i need your help.

The church sort of moved into the gap left by the Roman Empire. It was, or tried to be, a Universal (that's what Catholic means) institution.

I'm not real sure of your dates, so I'll include a link to an essay on Church History from the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. It's a good source generally on Church movements, people and dogma. The first part of the essay is more about the study of Church History, scroll down a ways to find dates and names associated with the three periods in Church History this article describes.

2007-12-05 17:53:34 by cartucho135