What do Catholics believe is the way to salvation?

Question

I'm not a Catholic, nor have I ever been one. I'm not here to judge anyone, but rather to discover what Catholics believe in. So there are no right or wrong answers to me. Just honest ones. I'm merely curious, and want to learn new things. Also, what is confirmation and what are your beliefs about purgatory? Please correct me if I have said anything wrong. Thank you.

Answer 1

+ Salvation +

Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and other Christians.

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

There are many minor doctrine issues and some major cultural traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.

A Catholic worships and follows Christ in the tradition of Catholicism which, among other things, recognizes that Christ made Peter the leader of His new Church and Pope Benedict XVI is Peter's direct successor.

+ Confirmation +

Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments, namely Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders.

Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of initiation, namely Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. A person who has received all three of these sacraments is considered a fully initiated Catholic.

The priest or bishop lays their hands upon the person receiving Confirmation, the priest or bishop says, "Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit," the person says, "Amen," and then they are anointed with holy oil (just like King David).

Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine childhood which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!"
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross

+ Purgatory +

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves into perfect beings.

Depending on the amount of change needed by different people this can be an easy or slightly harder process.
Everyone in purgatory is on their way to heaven.

I don't think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The way to salvation for Catholics is the same as for everyone else:

1) Baptism in faith, into God's true church
2) Life long cooperation with God's grace
3) Keeping the commandments
4) Spiritual refreshment, renewal, and development through the Mass, the sacraments, and personal prayer
5) Leaving this world ready to meet your maker

Catholics understand the importance of works, once God's grace has brought them faithfully into his church.

Confirmation is the final sacrament of initiation into the Catholic church, indicating a level of spiritual maturity, and commemorating the time in life when Catholics faithfully and personally receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in full.

Purgatory is a place that resolves any issues with sin that might still remain at the time of death, particularly those sins which the faithful are attached to and very comfortable with.

Without Purgatory, either Heaven would quickly turn into a spiritual slum, or Hell would be the only other place available to send the imperfect, but not totally corrupt.

Answer 3

I am a cradle Catholic. The Church has always believed that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Purgatory is a transitional state of being. One can not enter into the presence of God with sin on their soul. Purgatory is where that reconciliation takes place. Anyone in Purgatory is going to heaven. There is no understandable time table for being in Purgatory. Confirmation simply reaffirms the promises given at Baptism by your parents. Confirmation is also one of the seven sacraments by which we receive gifts from the Holy Spirit and gain grace. I saw nothing wrong with your question.

Answer 4

Catholics believe that salvation for humanity has been "won" through Jesus' obedience to God the Father. This means that the path has been open to us; all we have to do is follow it.

Not that following it is easy. At the core of all things God expects us to do and be our very best. Sin harms our relationship with God. It is more or less inevitable - we're only human after all - but we are expected to "fess up" to it, repent, learn from our actions and (to the best of our ability) not do them again. Love God and love one another - that's a good first step to salvation.

Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments and is one of the three sacraments called the "sacraments of initiation," meaning sacraments that fully bring you into the faith community. (The other two are Baptism and Eucharist or Communion.) The sacrament is about receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirt which help strengthen us. During the rite, the bishop says "be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." It is a gift, an outward sign of the inward reality that the Holy Spirit of God is with us.

Purgatory is a bit more tricky and admittedly, is not usually in my area of theological study. Pretty much it is the belief that after death there is something before heaven. Many believe that there is no getting into heaven (which I personally define as being in the trascendental presense of God in God's purest form) until the Second Coming of Christ, so purgatory is where the souls wait until then. There are older beliefs about prayers and indulgences for the dead to speed up their "time" in purgatory, but those aren't terribly relevant nowadays.

Answer 5

There is only one way to salvation-- through faith in Jesus Christ. Quite honestly I'd say only about half of the Catholics believe in Purgatory these days. If I said that it was like washing a garment that still had the stain but, was basically clean and needed to go into a bleach soak would that kind of explain Purgatory? Purgatory has to do with getting rid of concupiscence which is the tendency to still want to sin after the sin is gone (It takes away like all the sneaky dirty thoughts that automatically pop into your head because until you have put to death sin in your body it's still there even though you are with Christ) so anyway..also Confirmation is an indelible mark on the soul that says you are a soldier for Christ. That is why they used to symbolically slap (lightly tap) a person on the face to show that they may have to go through pain for him. After reading some things here I see why.

Answer 6

Catholics believe that salvation is a free gift of God that comes to us through the obedient suffering and death of Jesus, God's Son, on the cross. We believe that while the gift is free and cannot be earned, we do have to cooperate by living as Jesus would have us live.
Confirmation is a sacrament in which the Holy Spirit comes to a person to seal their relationship with Jesus and make them strong Christians.
Purgatory is the purification that good people need to be perfect and enter into Heaven.

Answer 7

I can give you answers straight from my mother in Law, who believes all this stuff without thought.

The only way to Salvation is through the Catholic Church and to get this you must follow all the rules and regulation of the church, (not the bible), for Catholics believe that the popes have made all the rules and regulations straight from the bible and they are smarter than any other Catholic.

Now Catholics believe you can lose your salvation, if you break the rules and regulations. You go to confession and get given by the priest a list of punshments that you must carry out. Generally reciting the Hail Mary prayer over and over again.

Purgatory is reserved by us non Catholics and Catholics that died before last confession (rites). They believe it is there for us to get a chance to get out if enough people pray us out. The Catholic church as little as 30 years ago was still charging money to the surviving family for the priests to pray their loved ones out of pergatory and into heaven.

Answer 8

Basicly follow the 10 commandments, go to church, love everyone and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible. That's basicly what I could summarize for Catholicism after attending Catholic school for 12 years

Answer 9

Roman Catholic
doctrine denies justification by faith alone and says: “If any one saith,
that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that
nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace
of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared
and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema”
(Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9).
Anathema, according to Catholic theology, means excommunication,
“the exclusion of a sinner from the society of the faithful.” Roman Catholic
theology therefore pronounces a curse of excommunication, of being
outside the camp of Christ, if you believe that you are saved by grace
through faith alone in Jesus.
Does the Roman Catholic church specifically state that we are “saved
by grace and works”? Not that I am aware of. But, when the Roman Catholic
church negates justification by faith alone, it necessarily implies that
we must do something for justification, for if it is not by faith alone, then
it must be by faith and something.

Answer 10

If you want to know stuff about the Catholic Faith, then read the Catholic Catechism.