Second and third pillar of the Catholic Faith

THE SACRAMENTS & MORALITY (Used from the Catechism of the Catholic Church – and the ASC “doctrines” are taken from my experience talking with people during my 20-years in Catholic media.)

Annointing the Sick

What the Church teaches about it: 1511 The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick: This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord.125 1512 From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings of the sick with blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was conferred more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it received the name "Extreme Unction." Notwithstanding this evolution the liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord that the sick person may recover his health if it would be conducive to his salvation.126

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1513 The Apostolic Constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum,127 following upon the Second Vatican Council,128 established that henceforth, in the Roman Rite, the following be observed: The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil - pressed from olives or from other plants - saying, only once: "Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up."129 What the ASC holds: When someone you know was Catholic, you call a priest when he is about to die.

Third Pillar of the Catholic Church

MORALITY DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL & THE SO-CALLED NON-NEGOTIABLES (Again, used from the Catechism of the Catholic Church – and the ASC “doctrines” are taken from my experience talking with people during my 20-years in Catholic media.) – These are coupled to the whole moral law, which is The Ten Commandments, thoroughly exercised. ABORTION What the Church Teaches: CCC 2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish. God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. What the ASC’s hold: No one can tell me whether or not to have a baby. If I do not want to give birth to a baby I don’t have to. You don’t understand, you’ve never “walked in her shoes,” she has no choice but to kill her baby. No one can know I am pregnant, I am a Catholic school teacher; I am having an affair; I can’t afford another child; et cetera, et cetera. The bottom line: The vagina is magic; before the baby passes through it, I can kill it. Euthanasia What the Church Teaches: 2324 Intentional euthanasia, whatever its forms or motives, is murder. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. What the ASC’s hold: If I don’t have a quality of life, why should I be forced to live? I don’t want to have to pay doctor’s bills when I am crippled. I don’t want to be a burden to my children. I don’t want to have to care for sick, old people, not even my parents. Who am I to judge what people want to do? Anti-natural Birth Control What the Church Teaches: The birth control Pill makes the inner lining of the uterus very hostile to implantation. It is not known how often the Pill acts in this way, but it cannot be denied that the Pill may be acting as an early abortion agent in any given cycle in any given woman. Does the Church teach that the unnatural or artificial means of birth control are immoral and blameworthy? Yes. -- in Humanae Vitae, the unchangeable official teaching of the Church. What the ASC’s hold: My body, my vagina, my womb. If I/we don’t want kids, no Church will ever tell me what to do.