Beliefs
Old Catholic theology views the Eucharist as at the core of the Church. From that point the Church is a community of believers. All are in communion with one another around the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the highest expression of the love of God. Therefore, the celebration of the Eucharist is the experience of the Lord's triumph over sin. The defeat of sin consists in bringing together that which is divided.
Through communion, differences between people are reconciled and that which was scattered is brought together. In Old Catholic theology, “Church” means reconciliation. “Church” means the restoration of broken relations between God and men and men with each other.
The Old Catholic Church believes in unity in diversity. As a result, more diversity of belief and practice is to be found among its churches than is characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox churches. Old Catholics often refer to the Church Father St. Vincent of Lerins and his saying: "We must hold fast to that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all the Faithful."
Read more about this topic: Old Catholic Church
Famous quotes containing the word beliefs:
“Our inherent human charity and our religious beliefs will be taxed to the limit. No poor, rural, weak, or black person should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity of an education, a job, or simple justice.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
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“A man who has humility will have acquired in the last reaches of his beliefs the saving doubt of his own certainty.”
—Walter Lippmann (18891974)