Oieee,
I have had the opportunity to visit Brazil for 5 weeks with the exchange student that lived in our house for 5 months… It´s a great chance to experience another culture and to learn some new things…
One of the things I´ve been thinking about is their religion… Leticia, the exchange student, is Catholic. So are her parents, brother, friends and the rest of her family. On Sunday, I went to church with them to experience how it is and so on. In the front of the church there was a `statue´of Jesus hanging on the cross and in the Christmas ceremony afterwards, there was a little show with a Maria, Joseph and a little baby boy symbolizing Jesus…
In every shop or store we go into, somewhere against the wall there is a little statue hanging on the wall with a crucified Jesus. There is also a huge statue of Jesus in the town. In the Catholic religion, they believe in saints and that they have to confess all their sins to the priest atleast twice a year. A lot of Brazilians wear little necklaces with a picture of Jesus and/or one of the saints and they have art like `the last supper´ or angels or statues everywhere…
Although protestant is also popular in Brazil, according to Leticia, about 78% of Brazil´s population is Catholic… I would like to hear some thoughts on this religion to be able to learn more about it, about how it differs from being protestant and to be able to understand their religion better…
Here’s some info I found on a website…
Distinctive beliefs and practices (i.e., Roman Catholicism)
Catholicism Beliefs
Most of the Roman Catholic Churches share certain essential distinctive beliefs and practices. The Anglicans differ among themselves on these matters:Direct and continuous organisational descent from the original church founded by Jesus
Possession of the “threefold ordained ministry” of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
All ministers are ordained by, and subject to, Bishops, who pass down sacramental authority by the “laying-on of hands”, having themselves been ordained in a direct line of succession from the Apostles.
Their belief that the Church, not any one book, is the vessel and deposit of the fullness of the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. This teaching is preserved in both written scripture and in written and oral church tradition. Neither is independent of the other.
A belief in the necessity of sacraments (although not necessarily seven in number).
The use of images, candles, vestments and music in worship.
The making of the Sign of the Cross in a variety of contexts.
Belief that the bread and wine of the Eucharist really are Jesus’s body, blood, soul, and divinity — not just “symbols”.
Veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus as the Blessed Virgin Mary or Theotokos, and veneration of the saints.
A distinction among worship (latria) for God, and veneration (dulia) for saints, with the term hyperdulia used for a special veneration accorded to the Virgin Mary among Roman Catholics. This “hyperdulia” is not universal to all Catholics.
The usefulness of prayer on behalf of the dead.
Salvation through faith lived out through good works, rather than by faith alone.
