Third and Final Blog!

At first, my blogs were talking about the Catholic and the Lutheran Faiths, and how they are similar in some aspects, but how they are very much different. I had interviewed some people about the Catholic faith and got a little more inside about the religion. I noticed that there are a lot of things that we have talked in our class and that is in our books that relate to the Catholic faith, like cultural spaces, religion or family rituals and traditions, and religion and cultural identity.

    In this blog, I kind of narrowed down instead of doing only just the Catholic faith in the whole world, and I kind of decided to just do where I am from Wilber, Nebraska because it is what I based my whole idea of doing the Catholic faith idea came from. Since Wilber is mainly a Czech Community because it is the Czech Capitol of the United States. I wanted to see what or if there was a correlation to the Czech Community and the Catholic religion, because there are a lot of Catholics in our town and 80 percent of the people in Wilber is Czech.

    In the Czech- American communities, the Catholic religion plays an important role in the rural areas; many Czechs in the cities supported progressive ideas.  In Wilber there are three churches, the Catholic Church has the largest membership and plays an important role in the community and Wilber is located in the area that is covered by the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.

Many Catholic churches in Nebraska Czech communities are named after Czech saints St. Wenceslaus being the most common.

In the Czech Republic Today, 39.2% of Czechs are Roman Catholic. As I mentioned in my earlier blogs was that there are 1.18 billion known Catholics in the world and half the world’s Catholics live in North and South America.

When I interviewed my friend Eric who is mainly Czech and is a very strong Catholic, I asked him what kind of family traditions he has, and he mentioned saying prayers before meals, not eating meat on Fridays, and going to stations when it is around Lent. I also asked him if he thinks the Catholic religion kind of dominates all other religions because of its popularity, and he said that maybe not always in small towns, but in the World there are so many churches and members that it is a possibility it dominates other religions, and he said it helps that they have the Pope, because he is so widely known that that’s how the Catholics can get there word out. Which kind of ties into Globalization, because the Catholic Faith had to start somewhere and it is so worldwide known and practiced so much.

“Religion is intertwined with culture, and therefore, cultural identity.” (from Martin & Nakayama 2010) I thought that this was a very correct statement that I found in our book. I think that culture has a huge impact in what our religion is. I think if I were born in a different area and was born into a different culture, that my faith would most likely be different. 

Cited Sources

Interview: Eric Uher 

Martin & Nakayama 2010

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=11611

http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Czech-Republic.html

http://www.cirkev.cz/en/

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/czech.html

http://www.dioceseoflincoln.org/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.city-data.com/county/religion/Saline-County-NE.html

http://www.unl.edu/Czechheritage/article2.html

The Catholic Faith- Cultural Blog

    The culture that I am studying and doing my cultural reporter project is the Catholic Church. I wanted to study this culture because my town is made up of the religion Lutheran, which is what I am, and Catholics. I know there are a lot of differences and similarities between the two religions, which I have had debates about with my friends and so I want to try and learn about their religion so that I can get a better idea about the differences and similarities. I am learning about the differences of the Church by attending church services, interviewing people such as Catholics, and the Priests. I have attended two different Catholic church services, one is the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, and the other is the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish at the Newman Center. I will be comparing these churches to the Lutheran church I attend which is the Southwood Lutheran Church.

   The last two Sundays I have attended two different mass services, one at the Newman Center and the other at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. The first thing I noticed about these Churches is that they had the most beautiful windows that told the story of Christ. The both had water in bowls where the Catholics put their fingers in and then make the action of the cross from their head, to their chest, to their one shoulder and then to their other shoulder. Then they go sit in the pew but before they sit in the pew, they kneel to acknowledge that Jesus is in the room. Next a lot of people kneeled and at the Newman Center they just prayed, but at the Cathedral they were saying the Rosary which is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them. (How to Pray the Rosary) Next it started with certain prayers and hymns that are assigned to that certain day, which can be found in a book. After prayers and some hymns, the sermon took place. At the Newman Center, I thought that the Priest did a really good job, explaining that God has a plan for everyone, when he shared a story about a boy who had a brain tumor and was going to pass away and had accepted it. Next it was more praying and hymns and the greeting which the people shake hands and say “Peace be with you.”

Then the Communion took place, which is a holy time of worship when we corporately come together as one body to remember and celebrate what Christ did for us. (Fairchild) When Communion takes place, the people go up to the front of the room and take a wafer which is symbolized as the body of the Christ. I am not supposed to go up and attend the communion because I am not Catholic. I don’t really know the reason why but when I plan to talk with the priest, it will be one of the questions I have for him. Finally the service closed with announcements and then parting and shaking hands with the Priest.

 

I noticed there are a lot of differences between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church. My church says the Apostles Creed where at the Catholic Church they say the Nicene Creed. (Reardon) Also at Southwood Lutheran, we do communion every other week and we eat the bread and drink the wine( body and blood of Christ) and the Catholic Church does communion every week and they just eat the bread and only on special occasions like holidays, do they drink the wine. Also I noticed that we sang a lot of the same songs, but the differences weren’t the words, they were the sound of the music which is what was different.

I spoke with one of my friends about the Catholic Church and his name is Eric Uher, I interviewed him because he is a really strong Catholic which has probably missed two church services in his whole life time. He said that the Catholic Church is a lot stricter than the Lutheran Church. He explained why they do certain things in the Church and I am planning on speaking more with him and talking to the Priest for my next blog.

WORK CITED

The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds
A close look at these two creeds helps define what Christians believe.
by JoHannah Reardon

http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/churchhomeleadership/080730.html

What is Communion and Why Do Christians Observe Communion?

By Mary Fairchild

http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/f/whatiscommunion.htm

How To Pray The Rosary

http://www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm

The Newman Center

http://newmancenter.unl.edu/

Cathedral of the Risen Christ

http://www.crchrist-parish.org/

The Catholic Faith- Cultural Blog

    The culture that I am studying and doing my cultural reporter project is the Catholic Church. I wanted to study this culture because my town is made up of the religion Lutheran, which is what I am, and Catholics. I know there are a lot of differences and similarities between the two religions, which I have had debates about with my friends and so I want to try and learn about their religion so that I can get a better idea about the differences and similarities. I am learning about the differences of the Church by attending church services, interviewing people such as Catholics, and the Priests. I have attended two different Catholic church services, one is the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, and the other is the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish at the Newman Center. I will be comparing these churches to the Lutheran church I attend which is the Southwood Lutheran Church.

   The last two Sundays I have attended two different mass services, one at the Newman Center and the other at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. The first thing I noticed about these Churches is that they had the most beautiful windows that told the story of Christ. The both had water in bowls where the Catholics put their fingers in and then make the action of the cross from their head, to their chest, to their one shoulder and then to their other shoulder. Then they go sit in the pew but before they sit in the pew, they kneel to acknowledge that Jesus is in the room. Next a lot of people kneeled and at the Newman Center they just prayed, but at the Cathedral they were saying the Rosary which is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them. (How to Pray the Rosary) Next it started with certain prayers and hymns that are assigned to that certain day, which can be found in a book. After prayers and some hymns, the sermon took place. At the Newman Center, I thought that the Priest did a really good job, explaining that God has a plan for everyone, when he shared a story about a boy who had a brain tumor and was going to pass away and had accepted it. Next it was more praying and hymns and the greeting which the people shake hands and say “Peace be with you.”

Then the Communion took place, which is a holy time of worship when we corporately come together as one body to remember and celebrate what Christ did for us. (Fairchild) When Communion takes place, the people go up to the front of the room and take a wafer which is symbolized as the body of the Christ. I am not supposed to go up and attend the communion because I am not Catholic. I don’t really know the reason why but when I plan to talk with the priest, it will be one of the questions I have for him. Finally the service closed with announcements and then parting and shaking hands with the Priest.

I noticed there are a lot of differences between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church. My church says the Apostles Creed where at the Catholic Church they say the Nicene Creed. (Reardon) Also at Southwood Lutheran, we do communion every other week and we eat the bread and drink the wine( body and blood of Christ) and the Catholic Church does communion every week and they just eat the bread and only on special occasions like holidays, do they drink the wine. Also I noticed that we sang a lot of the same songs, but the differences weren’t the words, they were the sound of the music which is what was different.

I spoke with one of my friends about the Catholic Church and his name is Eric Uher, I interviewed him because he is a really strong Catholic which has probably missed two church services in his whole life time. He said that the Catholic Church is a lot stricter than the Lutheran Church. He explained why they do certain things in the Church and I am planning on speaking more with him and talking to the Priest for my next blog.

WORK CITED

The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds
A close look at these two creeds helps define what Christians believe.
by JoHannah Reardon

http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/churchhomeleadership/080730.html

What is Communion and Why Do Christians Observe Communion?

By Mary Fairchild

http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/f/whatiscommunion.htm

How To Pray The Rosary

http://www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm

The Newman Center

http://newmancenter.unl.edu/

Cathedral of the Risen Christ

http://www.crchrist-parish.org/

The Catholic Faith!!

I am interested in learning about the Catholic faith. Statistics show that the Catholic faith is 23.9 percent of the United States religion. Reports say that this old religion grows 15 million people per year. The number of Catholics reported, according to the Vatican, is 1.18 billion people. I want to study this religion, because I am Lutheran faith and a lot of people in my hometown are Catholic faith, and I want to know the differences and similarities of the two religions.


     Catholic means universal which it was up until the time the people broke away and formed Protestantism. The Catholic Church is the original church that was founded by Jesus Christ when he was present on earth. The Catholic service is called mass. There  are many symbols with the Catholic faith including the crucifix, cross, sacret heart, dove, fish, lamb, rosaries and more. Catholics use the Bible as their main book of religion. 


These are the main commandments and laws the Catholic faith follow:

The Ten Commandments of God

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.

The Chief Commandments or Laws, of the Church

1. To assist at Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
3. To confess our sins at least once a year.
4. To receive Holy Communion during the Easter time.
5. To contribute to the support of the Church.
6. To observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.

For this cultural project, I plan to interview a lot of Catholics, ask them a lot of questions about their faith and specific things they do in their church and religion. I also plan on attending some mass services and observe what they do differently compared to what I do in my church and what I know. I also plan to look in books and on the internet for more history about the faith and how it started, facts about the faith. 

http://mmdelrosario.hubpages.com/hub/catholic-symbols

http://www.culturalcatholic.com/CatholicFunFacts.htm

http://www.catholic.org/prayers/beliefs.php