Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sacraments (was Re: The End of the World!!) Message-ID: Date: 12 Mar 91 09:22:40 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln Lines: 20 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In dhosek@linus.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) writes: >Yes, one of the important things about Sacraments and Catholicism >is that the seven sacramants that are listed as such by the church >are not necessarily the only sacraments ... >The old Baltimore Catechism definition of a sacrament is something >along the lines of a visible sign of grace instituted by Christ to >show God's love (or some such. I've never actually seen a >Baltimore Catechism myself). There's a lot of room for >sacramentality in every day life with that definition. Operating from memory (I haven't seen a Baltimore Chatechism in a _long_ time, but for this sort of thing, my memory is usually pretty good), "a sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace." I think the Catholic Church's position officially is that there are seven sacraments (only), but there are many sacramentals - other actions which in one way or another serve as channels of grace. Leo Chouinard leo@hoss.unl.edu