Catholic Points: A Primer On The Catholic Faith

Prologue:

Though this pamphlet is by no means a complete and systematic account of the Catholic Faith,
outside of which there is absolutely no salvation, nonetheless it is a recitation of what I think are
some of the most pertinent and important points. As such, some of my own opinions and
elaborations have made itnto the text. If I accidentally wrote anything against the Catholic
Church obviously I am heartily sorry. Yet also, this primer is intented for someone who already
believes in some form of theism. For those who don't the following paragraph is intended for
you.

Now it would be inappropriate to be too philosophical or systematic in establishing God's

existence here as a matter of certain fact, however I believe some considerations do make His
existence probable or convincing. Now we all have experience of hardship. Suffering is a
universal condition of life and those who are not suffering will usually suffer in some way, or
even then those who escape suffering are only the few who are either hypocritical or selfish.
Therefore far from the world being naturally good, either morally or physically, it is naturally
evil as can be predicted from the Catholic dogma of Original Sin. But though good is transitory
and evil permament this fact should make us even more amazed at the existence of any good at
all and aware that at base, in essence, the world is physically good and man is called to moral
perfection; as well as make us suspect that the world was at one point at least created good. So
then this more or less makes one confident that the Christian God exists for He alone created a
world good, which then fell, and now He seeks to redeem it, and He created the Church as a
school to train new believers to pursue this spiritual work; and the following will show how you
you can redeem yourself and it.

I. On Authority Within the Church and Who Has It

1. What today calls itself the "Catholic Church" is not the Catholic Church
2. Rather, the true faith lays with a remnant of believers; as such the papal throne is
considered unoccupied and Catholics refer to this as a state of sedevacante.
3. All authority rests with the pope and he has both supreme temporal and spiritual
power.
4. As such he has the power to even overthrow kings and governments and to dispense
subjects from any obedience to these.
5. The pope may even, without the aid of a council, define dogma fully of himself and
by himself.
6. However, just because someone calls themselves a pope or a bishop and yet speaks all
manner of heresy does not make such a one an authority in the Church; but rather he
is a heretic outside the Church and those who are his followers are outside the Church
though they occupy it's buildings.
7. For all authority comes from God and the supreme authority on Earth is to serve God,
not betray Him. The very nature of the supreme authority is not to invent new
teachings, but to define and preserve the old ones. The supreme authority must abide
by tradition and scripture which are just as authoritative as him, so that he cannot
contradict these, but yet these are not fitting for nor useful as guides for the
majority's faith and morals.
8. Therefore, the Bible and it's interpretation have always and ever will be only open to
the wise and learned theologians in the Church and primarily by Her head theologian
the pope.
II On Justification and How to Acheive It

1. The Church has a community of saints and souls both on earth and in heaven which
help each other attain salvation. This is part of the Church's treasury of grace.
2. From this treasury the Church can dispense it's graces in the form of indulgences as it
sees fit.
3. But the sacraments, from which the Church ordinarily gives grace, given to it by God
ordinarlily and without it's own merits coming into play; are the streams of life from
which the sacramentals and indulgences are derived.
4. The sacraments give grace simply by their operation. Intention is necessary but only a
nominal intention to "do as the Church does" is sufficient for some of them, for others
a greater intention is needed.
5. But merits are important for salvation too and not just the aid given by God. The two
actually work together -simultaneously overlapping as it were -and together help to
produce good works.
6. Faith without good works is a loveless faith, and good works without faith is just an
aping of virtue not truly the constant performance of good acts, though it may be
inconstantly good. Therefore the only good person is someone who is both Christian
and who acts good, whereas infidels may sometimes act good but they are prevented
from achieving lasting virtue because they lack that principle of virtue, which is
knowledge, and the desire of man's final end -the contemplation of God -and the
instruments that produce the result; the grace from the sacraments.
7. Because of the few who are both good and Christian there are only very few who are
saved. And because only the Christian is eligible for salvation, it has always been
anounced that outside the Church there is no salvation. But all men ought to enter the
race for their salvation and for God since these are all inherently desirable goods.
8. If a man commits a sin which is bad enough that it takes him totally away from God's
love, then he can regain his justification, with the proper disposition, through
confession of his sins to a priest, who then -acting in the person of God -forgives the
sin and imposes a penance.
9. It is presumptuous to assume that grace causes man to be good in an infallible way.
Such are the heresies of Luther and Calvin. It is simple common sense that most
people are bad and will act bad without proper incentives both positive and negative.
Grace then, helps man and strengthens him, and the body and blood of Christ
nourishes his soul while forgiving his non-mortal sins; but in no way does it make a
man into an impeccable being. For then (1) where would be the man's merit of heaven
if God did all the work? or (2) what would be the glory of God if He had to stoop to
do mankind's job? Man either does work and merits honor or he does not and remains
evil those are the only two alternatives!
10. Indeed so wicked is man that he his even born in that sin which is called original. It
proceeds from Adam and exists within the soul. Though it is not a personal act of sin
it is still a personal sin. For origiinal sin denotes, the habit of being, from the moment
of one's conception, anti-God or disposed to lukewarmness towards the Divine. This
is the original blot which must be removed from the conscience and without baptism,
that person is sent to hell for being fundementally directed against his own good
which is God.
11. Then how may we be strengthed that we may acheive the Kingdom of Heaven for our
own glory and more so, for God's? This is the role of Saint Mary, the Mother of God,
who is our especial intercessor and ambassador if you will, between Heaven and
Earth. Just as a king listens to his queen and a prince his mother, so too this Queen of
Heaven has been given to mankind so that she can by her humility and grace, turn the
head and -as it were -the heart of the Almighty to greater leniency and gentleness
towards the race He created. So then it is Catholic tradition to pray the Rosary, that
we might be all the more connected to this Mother of Mothers who will show us, the
 fastest and best way to her Son.
12. In like manner, but to far lesser degree, the saints of heaven extend their friendship,
that by thinking of and praying to them, we may imitate their example and share in
their graces which will if we are zealous, lead us to God.

III. On Current Problems for Sedevacantism and Catholicism

1. We own, that the Roman Catholic Church -the Universal Church -does not now have
a Catholic hierarchy, but that does not mean it cannot acquire through conversions or
indeed, a miracle, a priest and/or bishop and eventually even a pope if at all possible.
But how can the Church defect as long as it believes in the dogmas, come what may?
2. In like manner, how can we follow men now, when our spiritual ancestors during the
Arian crisis, folllowed no man but Christ and those who taught what He taught?
3. Lastly is it so incredible that just as the misrule of the judges led to the kings, and the
tyranny and apsotasy of the kings led to the fall of Israel, with only a small remnant
surviving; and then these last being almost universally degraded by the heresy and
false teaching of the Pharisees, that it was necessary that Christ come to save them;
that today, the present should be any different? Just as Christ came to oppose true
dogma to false, and Athanasius came to oppose the mighty Arians, so too in this next,
great, apostasy, is it not fitting that only the few should resist and opposing truth to
lies, charity to lust, and good to evil carry themselves heroically for God?