Do Catholics practice the act of Circumcision?

Answer 1

Unfortunately yes.

Answer 2

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:


1150 Signs of the covenant. The Chosen People received from God distinctive signs and symbols that marked its liturgical life. These are no longer solely celebrations of cosmic cycles and social gestures, but signs of the covenant, symbols of God's mighty deeds for his people. Among these liturgical signs from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of hands, sacrifices, and above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the sacraments of the New Covenant.


This is not to say Catholic's can't be circumcised. From the Christian perspective, nowadays circumcisions are done primarily for medical reasons rather than spiritual.

Answer 3

It is not part of the Catholic doctrine.

Acts 15:24: "... we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the law' -- to whom we gave no such commandment ..."

Gal. 5:6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."

Gal. 6:15: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."

Galatians 5:2 forbids it, saying "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."



It is a terrible procedure.

No medical institution in the developed world actually recommends the practice.
The following link contains the position of medical societies in English speaking countries on circumcision. Specifically British Medical Association, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Canadian Paediatric Society, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Australian College of Paediatrics and Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons:
http://www.circumcision.org/position.htm


Here is a video of the operation. Watch it if you want to learn more. Please do watch it.
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=352478&fr=ybr_sbc
It is not just a little snip here and there. Watch the above video of a circumcision in progress.


The foreskin keeps the glans soft and moist and protects it from trauma and injury. Without this protection, the glans becomes dry, calloused, and desensitized from exposure and chafing.
Specialized nerve endings in the foreskin enhance sexual pleasure.
The foreskin may have functions not yet recognized or understood.
[ http://www.nocirc.org/publish/pamphlet7.html ]

"Circumcision removes the most sensitive parts of the penis and decreases the fine-touch pressure sensitivity of glans penis. The most sensitive regions in the uncircumcised penis are those parts ablated by circumcision. When compared to the most sensitive area of the circumcised penis, several locations on the uncircumcised penis that are missing from the circumcised penis were significantly more sensitive." Circumcision removes as much as 75% of sensation [ http://www.nocirc.org/touch-test/bju_6685.pdf ].

The foreskin reduces the force required by the penis to enter the vagina. It also increases the sexual enjoyment of the female partner. Here is a study to back this up: http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/ohara/

Performing circumcision on a child can and does result in the deaths of children due to blood loss and/or failure of the immune system.
It can and does result in very significant scaring.
It can and does result in sexual problems later in life.

Circumcised males have a much higher rate of sexual dysfunction. [ http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/ ]

Answer 4

No.

Matthew 19:17-78 states:

Now someone approached him and said, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"

He answered him, "Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

For Christians, Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses.

Christians are not held to the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law concerning circumcision, dietary purity and temple worship.

Christians are held to the moral law of God, some of which is expressed in the Ten Commandments.

However Jesus took the Ten Commandments to the next step summarizing them into the two Great Commandments:
+ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
+ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And teaching things like
+ Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
+ Everyone is our neighbor including our enemies.

Therefore we have to go much farther than the original recipients of the Ten Commandments ever dreamed.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

If you mean having a special ceremony for it such as a bris in the Jewish tradition, the answer is no. In general though I would say that most Catholic males are circumsized as infants.

Answer 6

I don't know if it was ever part of Catholic doctrine - as an offshoot of Judaism, it may well have been. But if it ever was, it is certainly not doctrine now, nor has been for a long time.

Answer 7

We're not supposed to. The Council of Florence (I believe) said that Catholics weren't supposed to.

Answer 8

People dont even know the importance of things anymore, to busy following traditions of man.

Answer 9

We practice every day

Answer 10

Not in any catholic church I have ever been in and I have been a catholic for over sixty years now.