The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-04-20
WHAT ROMAN CATHOLICS BELIEVE.
A Short Exposition ofThcir Faith by
n Distinguished Priest.

The Rev. P. A. Baart, Of Michigan,
distinguished among Roman Catholics
as an authority on canon law, has pub
llshed short exposition of Roman
Catholic doctrine. of which we give be-
low the essential features:
"All Catholics believe that there Is
one God In three divine persons, Father
and Son and Holy Ghost; that God By
His Word only and out OF nothing ere
ated heaven and earth and all things:
that angels and men are the chief cren-
lures Of God; that some Of the angels
slnned and were punished. That Adam
and Eve, the first man and woman. dis
obeyed the command of God and were
punished by the loss Of Justice and in
nocence and by sickness and death: that
this deprivation Of justice is original
sin and all men are born with this de-
feet or sin; that through the merits of
her Divine Son and because she was to
be. His Mother. the blessed Virgin Mary
was preserved free from this original
sin, which privilege Is called her I'm
maculate Conception.
THAT God the Son, by the power Of
the Holy Ghost. assumed human nature
)
the Goldman, Jesus Christ: that for
this reason the Blessed Virgin Mary. al
though creature. Is called the Mother
OF God and is deserving of very spe-
cial but not divine honor-divine honor
is paid to God alone.
THAT Jesus Christ. by His suffering
and death. redeemed men and obtained
for them grace or supernatural help
whereby they may be saved: that the
chief channels of grace are the seven
sacrameEts, all OF which We're instituted
by Christ
THAT Jesus Christ Instituted church
or society. and that TO certain ones, !. e.,
the priesthood in this church, He in
trusted the administration of the sac
ramentS and the teaching Of his doc
triae: that the divinelH appointed Wis
ible head OF the church, the Pope OF
Rome 1.-THE invisible head is Jesus Christi
Is. by the aid OF the Holy Ghost. and
must be. infal,ihle. l. G.. he cannot err
when officially regarding faith or NOR
ais. This does not imply that the Pope
cannot sin or make n mistake in other
matters.
THAT all are bound 10 belong to the
church, and he who knows the church to
be the true church and wilfully remains
out of 1t cannot oe saved While be-
lievinG this In regard 20 the church,
they are not 10 be the Judges &c their
fellow men in re-ard TO salvation.
which finally depends on their Interior
disposition known only by God and by
themselves.
That as Jesus Christ Is God, He can
DO all things, and particularly that He
can forgive sins and thai: He can
change the substance OF bread ard
wine into the substance OF His body
and blood: that lie has given this pow
cr to certain men, viz, to the priest
hood of the church.
THAT all the doctrines of the church
are contained in the revelation of God;
that this revelation Is found In the I'M
written ard tho written Word OF God or
In tradition and Scripture; that tradi-
ton nnds It's infAlllbie expression In the
teaching church; that both are OF equal
value III as far as they. transmit the
divine NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. because /,
contains and Is the Word OF God in
spired by the Holy Ghost 10 the sacred
authors: tradition, becauss. /. Is pre-
served from error b. the assistance OF
the Holy Ghost While. therefore. the
members Of the Catholic church revere
and use the Bible. still they believe that
the scriptures alone do not contain all
the revelation Of God.
That the marriage OF Christians is
sacrament and cannot be dissolved BY
any court, but only by the death OF
either the husband or wife.
They believe in heaven. n state In
which the good are rewarded eternally;
they believe In hell, a state in which the
wicked are condemned eteraally; they
believe In purgatory, a state In which
those suffer for time who die guilty
OF venlal sins or without having satisfied
inc temporal punishment due to their
sins: they believe In general rcsur-
rect!on of the denG, followed
by n general Judgment. after which
purgatory will cease and the souls of
the Just reunited 10 their bodies will be
rewarded forever. and the souls OF the
wicked also reunited to their bodies
VIII be punished forever"