Ryan Johansen

Comm 2150
9/29/19

I studied the religion of Catholicism. It is one of the most common faiths in the world. It

is one of the bigger branches of Christianity. It also has most of the values that other Christian

faiths do. This is also a short-term value orientation. The focus a lot on the black and white of

life, there isn’t a lot of grey area. If something is wrong, it’s wrong, it can’t be justified by the

situation or other reasons. Despite this, dependence on the religion varies among membership.

This is due to many factors.

With regards to the religion, Roman Catholicism is a branch of Christianity headed by the

Pope in the Vatican. Their core beliefs are similar to that of most other Christian churches. Their

church history goes back to a time after the death of Christ. Many of their beliefs come from a

document called the Nicene Creed. It came about due to a council held in Nicaea under the

direction of Emperor Constantine. Among other things, on of their core beliefs is in the Holy

Trinity, which is that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost are the same being, and

that God is immutable, omniscient, and omnipresent. They also believe strongly in the Bible.

They also believe to be the only church on Earth with the power and authority to know and act in

the name of God. They believe that this derives from the man who they consider to be the first

Pope, one of the original apostles of Christ, the apostle Peter. The widespread reach of

Catholicism mostly came from Constantine adopting it, and making it the state religion. This

widespread adoption of Catholicism later led to other ideas being spread, which the Catholic

church discouraged. Despite the dissuasion of the Catholic church, the reformation came about,

leading to the creation of many more Christian churches. They greatly value families, and to that

end, greatly discourage divorce. The Catholic church is the largest Christian church on Earth.
They work closely with other churches trying to do good, and provide much humanitarian aid to

people in need.

I attended a mass service at a Catholic church. It was an interesting experience. Mass is

the general open meeting for members of the Catholic church. There seems to be a lot of

symbolism in their ordinances and practices. While there I did not understand all of their

symbolism, but it bore some similarities to my own church. I also noticed how they focus a lot

on images, particularly of the atonement of Christ on the cross, and much of their reverence

surrounds and is directed at that. I have also spent much time among Catholics while I lived in

Peru. It is so common there that it is strange to not be Catholic. I learned much there about the

culture of Catholicism. It was interesting to compare what I learned from word of mouth to what

I saw myself when attending this function. It wasn’t very different from what I had heard.

Despite the formality of the service, I noticed that the members are similar to those of other

churches. There are those who are all in, and live and breathe their religion, and there are others

that are more lay members, who are occasionally active in the religion, but not constantly, and

others that are consistently active, but not necessarily focused on the religion as the biggest

aspect of their lives.

Catholicism is a short-term value orientation. This mean that it has universal guidelines

for good and bad. In this short-term orientation there isn’t much justification for breaking the

values, and there are clear consequences for breaking them. There is also a strong desire to have

the whole truth, which is dependent on virtue. They also often focus on the world and its

pressure to conform. They also encourage people to overcome the world, due to which, there is

not a lot of tolerance for breaking the values, but there is often the idea and option for

redemption from breaking those values. Each religion has their own idea of what is the value,
and what is considered breaking it, due to this, it is subjective between the religions, but

internally it is more black and white.

I noticed during the sermon that there was a lot of focus on sin, and possible redemption.

This is similar to many other Christina churches. The short-term value orientation is very clear in

Catholicism. They have a strong set of values that have clear consequences. They have a clear

leader in each branch of their church, and he usually has a set manner to deal with the breaking

of these values. This is often done in confessionals to a priest, and a desire and effort to improve

and to be better. Despite that, it is up to the person to decide to be better, it cannot be forced upon

them, and if they decide to continue with it, they can continue with the same process of sinning

and repenting repeatedly, or they can change. It is up to the person, which is important because

they also believe in the idea of agency.

With regards to this project, I always have considered it important to learn about and to

understand other religions, and to be tolerant. Despite this, I do not often go out of my way to

experience other religions. I usually see it as an interesting idea to learn about other religions,

and I know that it is important to be tolerant. Due to this, I don’t take issue with other people and

their religions, they have a right to practice their religions, and I have a right to mine, and neither

has a right to discriminate against the other. Through this, though, I learned that many Catholics

are like me, just trying to do right for themselves and by God. My attitude did not change much

during this project. I still believe the same, that each has a right to their religion, and I believe

that that is a good thing. I can apply what I have learned though life with more respect for these

other religions, beyond my own, or beyond Catholicism. I have my faith in my religion, and due

to this, I need to recognize that other people have their faith, and they may believe in theirs as

much as I believe in mine.

References

Nakayama, Martin. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXTS. 7th ed.,

MCGRAW-HILL, 2019.