In Baptism, according to the USCCB, the Holy Spirit moves us to answer Christ’s call to holiness. In Baptism, we are asked to walk by the light of Christ and to trust in his wisdom. We are invited to submit our hearts to Christ with ever deeper love.

The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. -Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Learn more by viewing the OSV Publication, Frequently Asked Questions About the Mass. Click here to preview the pamphlet.

The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. “By the sacrament of Confirmation [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Sin harms our relationship with God and damages our communion with the Church. Conversion of heart is the beginning of our journey back to God. Liturgically this happens in the Sacrament of Penance.

To help prepare for Penance, download the Examination of Conscience for Adults and Teens published by FathersofMercy.com.

This “is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures and spiritual attitudes. – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Ordination to the priesthood is always a call and a gift from God. Christ reminded his Apostles that they needed to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Those who seek priesthood respond generously to God’s call using the words of the prophet, “Here I am, send me” (Is 6:8). – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people, and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systemic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life” (CT 18).

Access the Catechism online by clicking here.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clear that Catholics are given the responsibility of performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The list of the works of mercy can be found by clicking here.