To Catholics, what is the core of your faith?

Question

I guess a better question is this: What is the central belief that you hold? Let me ask it another way: if you were being tortured to renounce your faith, what is the one thing you would not renounce?

Answer 1

A core of Catholic beliefs is contained in the Nicene Creed (from the year 325):

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

For a complete description of what Catholics believe, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

None of it. I believe that there is no "central core". Sure the Nicean Creed is a good encapsulation but it is far from the totality of the belief and there is much left out that is required for salvation. Catholicism is a complete package. Everything is linked as chain mail armor. Disbelieving one piece allows one to break the next related belief and so on until no faith is left. (don't believe me? Chart the beliefs of any main stream liberal Protestant denomination over time, it all falls away. They all started out very Catholic and lost little by little, link after link)

Answer 3

The central beliefs are embodied in the Nicene Creed. i.e., CREDO. The " core" of the faith is embodied in the daily ritual of the Eucharistic, the re-enactment of the Last Supper.

Answer 4

It fairly insects me to no end that the RC ceremony makes use of in ordinary words the bread, not the wine. Or flesh, and not in any respect the blood, because the case ought to so be. This changed into between the most difficult issues for me to get used to when I were given married. I wish they could replace that because it makes me cry that His useful Blood is withheld from the persons He needs to have it. i am going to make certain the consequences of this in the international. the international has certainly became right into a non secular desolate tract.

Answer 5

The Nicene Creed as stated above.