chapter summaries | cruxchfaithformation

What it Means to be Catholic

By: Monsignor Joseph M. Champlin

Chapter 1: Caring About Ourselves

As succinctly as such a profound message can be put, this chapter does it. We were made by God, we are loved by God. We rejected that love when our first parents chose to sin and we continue to do so every time we sin. By rejecting this love we separted ourselves from God and it was Jesus, God and Man, who came and reconciled our relationship to God through His sacrifice on the cross. This is called the Redemption. It is through this sacrifice and our participation in the Sacraments, Baptism being the first, that we receive this reconciliation to God, this Redemption.

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Chapter 2: The Search for Happiness

First Published: 1986

Pages: 67

Chapters: 12

It is a natural human pursuit to find happiness. This is natural because God wants us to be happy. God wants us to be happy not only because He loves us, but, as the Bible says, God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). Becuase God made us to be happy in relationship wih Him, the only place we will find true, everlasting happiness is in relationship with God, which is true freedom. This freedom and the happiness it creates comes with responsibilities that the Church expects. While its moral techings may seem difficult and even arbitrary when not properly understood, it is the way that one welcomes the love of God and relationship with Him, giving us true freedom and happiness.

2010 - present

Chapter 3: Our Roots

Chapter 4: Words of Wisdom and Power

A basic human need is community. With this communit comes a sense of origin, roots. The Church not only recognizes this in humanity, but also in Herself. The Catholic Church boasts an incredily rich history that is over twenty centuries old, dating back to the ancient Israelites, God's chosen people. In this chapter, one will not only examine the origin of the Church, but also the various aspects of the Church's identity. With origin and identity, there follows Her history, with some important, Church-shaping events highlighted.

In the chapter devoted to "God's love letter to man," His written Word, the Bible, we learn not only the central uses for the Sacred Scriptures, but also some technical information as well as its origin. While all information in the Bible as well as information about the Bible is important, what may be most important and central to this chapter is that the Bible has a very specific purpose, provide us with God's plan for our salvation, and that purpose must also be remembered when reading, studying and meditating on the Bible.

Chapter 5: Heroes and Heroines

The Bible tells us to "be imitators" of Jesus. While the life and teachings of Jesus in the Bible are certainly invaluable to this directive, Catholics are also blessed with countless past and present examples of "imitators" from cultures around the world. They are the holy men and women on whom the Church has bestowed the honor of canonization and go by the title of Saints. In this chapter we learn about the Saints in general, including the principal Saint, Mary the Mother of God, and the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, which helps us not only celebrate the Saints, but the events in the life of Christ.

Chapter 6: Talking with God

Prayer is the act of communication between creature and Creator. While prayer is something that comes naturally to many, it is also something to which we all need to be taught, especially if we hope to improve in this practice. We are told to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17), and the Catholic Church provides a variety of means for us to do so. The "source" and "summit" of this prayer life is seem most easily in the Mass, the culmination of prayer that can be found on earth.

Chapter 7: Faith

The Catholic Church is replete with mysteries. Things that we, as humans, can only understand parts of which and not fully. To accept these mysteries requires faith, a mystery in and of itself. Called the "foundation for all prayer" because of the trust it requires. This trust has had its own journey over the Church's 2000 years, highlighted by the formation of the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. One of the hallmarks of the Catholic faith is the many ways Christ is present in our Church, articulated in this chapter.

Chapter 8: The Need to Belong

Fulfilling one of the many innate human needs we all have, the Catholic Church provides for its members the sense of community that only God can provide. Being the "body of Christ," the Church has a unique collectivity. Despite the stress that the Bible places on unity, there is also a strong identity that each member of the Church,and particular Parish, is afforded. This community is illustrated by the many ways that parishes have worked to make parishioners and guests feel welcome.

Chapter 9: Yearning to be Free

A strong objection to many outside of the Catholic Church, and unfortunately by some in it, is its perceived restriction on freedom, evidenced by its many rules, commandments and moral obligations or prohibitions. This chapter seeks to show the necessity and the love that comes with a caring guide for our lives, especially in the area of morality. It is actually through our guide the Church that one realizes one's true freedom, is open to receive true love, and ultimately finds true happiness.

Chapter 10: Making Up and Starting Over

One of the primary points of Jesus Christ's mission was to communicate His to reconcile us to God. He made this reconcile possible through His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus also gives us several exmaples in the Bible of forgiveness, being highlighted by the forgiveness he bestowed on those who killed Him. He makes it continually possible through His gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, performed through the Catholic Church. Not only are we in need of God's forgiveness, but we are also required to forgive others. It is by these two means that complete spiritual healing is found, and we can go in "pardon and peace".

Chapter 11: Strength in our Weakness

As the candidate approaches the end of his/her journey towards reception to the Catholic Church, he/she sees in this chapter a glimpse of the new and final journey on which he/she will embark upon entering this communion with God. The normal way the Christian enters into this communion is through the Sacraments. It is through the seven Sacraments that we are given, in a special way, God's grace, which carries us through this life to our ultimate destination with Him in heaven. This chapter quickly examines each Sacrament, from its biblical origin to the way it brings us into greater participation into Jesus' life, ministry, death and Resurrection.

Chapter 12: Coping with Life's Hard Knocks

The closing chapter of this preparation for the new Catholic in one sense recapitulates the main idea of the entire book, and our life, and in another sense sends us forward as we experience our lives in light of this new faith. This idea is humanity's discovery of our need for comfort and healing in the face of such anger and pain in the world. This ultimate comfort and healing can only be found in the embrace of God. It is in God, through His Son Jesus, that our peace and joy is found.