A catechism of the christian doctrine sample

A Catechism of

Christian Doctrine

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CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see

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Imprimatur John Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, 18th July 1971.

Acknowledgements Approved by the Archbishops and Bishops of England and Wales, and directed to be used in all their dioceses. This edition of the ‘Penny Catechism’ should not be considered as an abridged version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994).

All rights reserved. Published 2015 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. First published 1889. Second edition 2005, Third edition 2013. Copyright © 2015 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.

ISBN 978 0 85183 420 7

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CONTENTS Part One

FAITH Section One: Faith in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Section Two: The Apostles’ Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter One: First Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter Two: The Second Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter Three: The Third Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . 15 Chapter Four: The Fourth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . 15 Chapter Five: The Fifth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter Six: The Sixth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter Seven: The Seventh Article of the Creed . . . . . . . 18 Chapter Eight: The Eighth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . 19 Chapter Nine: The Ninth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter Ten: The Tenth Article of the Creed . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Chapter Eleven: The Eleventh Article of the Creed . . . . . 26 Chapter Twelve: The Twelfth Article of the Creed . . . . . . 27

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Part Two

HOPE Section One: Hope and Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Section Two: Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Chapter One: The Lord’s Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Chapter Two: The Angels and Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Chapter Three: The Blessed Virgin Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Part Three

CHARITY Section One: The Commandments of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chapter one: The First Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Chapter Two: The Second Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Chapter Three: The Third Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Chapter four: The Fourth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Chapter Five: The Fifth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter Six: The Sixth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Chapter seven: The Seventh Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter eight: The Eighth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter nine: The Ninth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chapter ten: The Tenth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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Section Two: The Commandments of the Church . . . . . . . 49 Chapter One: The First Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Chapter Two: The Second Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Chapter Three: The Third Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Chapter Four: The Fourth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Chapter Five: The Fifth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Chapter Six: The Sixth Commandment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Part Four

THE SACRAMENTS Section One: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Section Two: Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Section Three: Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Section Four: The Holy Eucharist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Section Five: Penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Section Six: Anointing of the Sick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Section Seven: Holy Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Section Eight: Matrimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

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Part Five

VIRTUES AND VICES Section One: The Virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Section Two: The Vices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Section Three: Good Works, Counsels, Last things . . . . . . 76 Part Six

THE CHRISTIAN’S RULE OF LIFE AND DAILY EXERCISE Section One: Rule of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Section Two: Daily Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Part Seven

SOME COMMON PRAYERS Section One: Penitential Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Section Two: Marian Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Section Three: Other prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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PART ONE

FAITH

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Section One: Faith in God 1. Who made you?

God made me.

2. Why did God make you?

God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next.

3. To whose image and likeness did God make you?

God made me to his own image and likeness.

4. Is this likeness to God in your body, or in your soul?

This likeness to God is chiefly in my soul.

5. How is your soul like to God? My soul is like to God because it is a spirit, and is immortal.

6. What do you mean when you say that your soul is immortal?

When I say my soul is immortal, I mean that my soul can never die.

7. Of which must you take more care, of your body or of your soul?

I must take more care of my soul; for Christ has said, ‘What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?’ (Mt 16:26)

8. What must you do to save your soul?

To save my soul I must worship God by Faith, Hope and Charity; that is, I must believe in him, I must hope in him, and I must love him with my whole heart.

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Faith

9. What is faith?

Faith is a supernatural gift of God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed.

10. Why must you believe whatever God has revealed?

I must believe whatever God has revealed because God is the very truth, and can neither deceive nor be deceived.

11. How are you to know what God has revealed?

I am to know what God has revealed by the testimony, teaching, and authority of the Catholic Church.

12. Who gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach?

Jesus Christ gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach, when he said, ‘Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations’. (Mt 28:19)

Section Two: The Apostles’ Creed 13. What are the chief things which God has revealed?

The chief things which God has revealed are contained in the Apostles’ Creed.

14. Say the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and

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The Apostles’ Creed 11

the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

15. How is the Apostles’ Creed divided?

The Apostles’ Creed is divided into twelve parts or articles.

Chapter One: First Article of the Creed

16. What is the first article of the Creed?

The first article of the Creed is, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth’.

17. What is God? God is the supreme Spirit, who alone exists of himself, and is infinite in all perfection.

18. Why is God called almighty?

God is called ‘almighty’ because he can do all things; ‘For God everything is possible’. (Mt 19:26)

19. Why is God called Creator of heaven and earth?

God is called ‘Creator of heaven and earth’ because he made heaven and earth, and all things, out of nothing, by his word.

20. Had God any beginning?

God had no beginning: he always was, he is, and he always will be.

21. Where is God? God is everywhere.

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