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The Sacraments
A sacrament is a ritual
act in which the Sacred (God) is present.
Participation in a
sacrament is participation in the Holy, a way of communing with God, of building
or renewing one’s spiritual life
Seven sacraments are
observed in the Roman Catholic Church:
:
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Baptism (a
purification for the elimination of original sin, initiation ritual)
-
Confirmation
-
Communion (Eucharist,
The Lord’s Supper)
Understanding
transubstantiation
-
Reconciliation
(Confession and Penance) (spiritual healing)
-
Anointing of the sick
(Extreme Unction, "Last Rites") (physical healing)
-
Sacraments of Vocation :
(one chooses one or the other, not both)
Protestants recognize only
two of these as Biblically mandated: Baptism and Communion
-
Most Protestant
churches practice the others in some form or another but do not consider
them to be "sacraments"
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Confession is communal:
a statement read in unison as part of the liturgy
-
Protestants may
interpret these practices differently, may practice them differently and
less often than Catholics; some non-mainline churches do not even practice
Baptism and Communion.
Learn
more about the sacraments, the origin of the term, why Protestants only observe
two of the seven
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