Learn: CCC Unit 2

Pentecost

The feast 50 days after Easter when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and Mary

Acts 2

Book and chapter that tells the story of Pentecost

Wind and fire

The two images Acts uses to describe the Holy Spirit's coming at Pentecost

Tower of Babel

Old Testament story that Pentecost reverses, since language no longer divides people

3,000

Number of people baptized after Peter's preaching on Pentecost

Birthday of the Church

Nickname for Pentecost

Red

Liturgical color of Pentecost

Advocate

Name Jesus used for the Holy Spirit in John 14:26 (also Comforter, Helper, Paraclete)

Ruah

Hebrew word for spirit, meaning breath or wind

Holy Spirit

Third divine Person of the Trinity; proceeds from the Father and the Son

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord

Mass of the Holy Spirit

Catholic school tradition of beginning the year by asking the Spirit to sustain our learning

Great Commission

Jesus sending the Apostles to make disciples of all nations and baptize them (Matthew 28)

Acts of the Apostles

Book written by Luke around AD 80 describing how the Gospel spread to Jews and Gentiles

Gentile

A non-Jewish person

Council of Jerusalem

Meeting where the Apostles decided Gentile converts did not need circumcision or Jewish dietary laws

Saul

Paul's name before his conversion, when he persecuted Christians

Road to Damascus

Where Saul encountered the Risen Jesus (Acts 9)

Apostle to the Gentiles

Title given to St. Paul

Ananias

Christian who was afraid of Saul but went to him, healed his blindness, and baptized him

Barnabas

Vouched for Saul to the apostles and joined him on his first missionary journey

Silas

Paul's companion on his second missionary journey

Lystra

City on Paul's first journey where he was stoned and left for dead

Philippi

City where Paul and Silas were jailed and freed by an earthquake

Areopagus

Place in Athens where Paul preached about the "unknown god"

Ephesus

City where Paul stayed about three years and faced a riot of silversmiths

Malta

Island where Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome

Rome

Where Paul preached under house arrest and was later martyred

Handed on and received

Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:3 showing faith is passed from person to person

Didache

Greek for "teaching"; also an early Christian handbook on the Way of Life and the Way of Death

Kerygma

Greek for "proclamation"; the core Gospel message that Jesus died, rose, and is Lord

Liturgia

Greek for "public work"; the Church's official public worship, including Mass and sacraments

Koinonia

Greek for "communion" or "fellowship"; spiritual unity among believers

Diakonia

Greek for "service"; serving others, especially the poor and vulnerable

Acts 6

Passage where the Apostles chose seven deacons to care for widows and the poor

Acts 2:42

Verse describing early Christians devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer

Martyr

From the Greek word "martur," meaning witness

Pinch of incense

What Romans demanded Christians offer to Caesar's image to say "Caesar is Lord"

Tertullian

Early Christian writer from Carthage who said the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church

St. Stephen

First Christian martyr; a deacon stoned to death while Saul approved

St. James

First of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred, killed by the sword on Herod's orders

St. Polycarp

Disciple of John the Apostle who was burned at the stake rather than deny Christ

St. Jose Sanchez del Rio

14-year-old Mexican Cristero killed for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith

Akash Bashir

Pakistani layman who stopped a suicide bomber outside a church, saving hundreds

Credo

Latin for "I believe"; from roots meaning "I give my heart to"

Council of Nicaea

Council in AD 325 that first wrote the Creed

Council of Constantinople

Council in AD 381 that completed the Creed, expanding the section on the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Early "creed before the Creed": Christ died, was buried, and rose on the third day

CCC 166

Catechism paragraph teaching that no one can believe alone

Labyrinth

Image showing the Creed gives one sure path while inviting us deeper into mystery

Almighty

Having complete power; nothing is greater than God

Begotten

Comes forth from the Father, not created

Consubstantial

Of the same essence or being

Incarnate

Took on flesh; became human through Mary

Ascended

Went up; Jesus returned to heaven

Apostolic

Connected to the apostles, the first followers Jesus sent out

Catholic

Universal; the whole Church throughout the world

Pontius Pilate

Roman governor who ordered Jesus' crucifixion

Trinity

One God in three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

God the Father

Creator and origin of all; transcendent and benevolent

God the Son

Became human in the Incarnation; fully divine and fully human, like us in all but sin

Transcendent

Above all; greater than anything we can imagine

Immanent

God within us; describes the Holy Spirit

Lectionary

Book that assigns the same Scripture readings to Catholic parishes worldwide

Eastern Catholic Churches

Churches like the Maronite and Chaldean that have their own traditions but recognize the Pope

Iconostasis

Screen covered with icons that separates the altar in many Eastern churches

Taize

Community in France started by Brother Roger where Catholic and Protestant brothers pray together

Heresy

A teaching that rejects some part of Church dogma or doctrine

Dogma

A truth the Church teaches as divinely revealed, which the faithful must believe

Doctrine

An official teaching of the Church on faith or morals

Schism

A definitive break that causes a division not easily healed

Apostasy

Total rejection of the Christian faith by a baptized person

Ecumenical council

Gathering of the world's bishops, in union with the Pope, that makes official decisions on teaching

Ecumenism

Efforts to restore unity among all Christians

Arianism

Heresy claiming Jesus was not fully divine; opposed by St. Athanasius

Nestorianism

Heresy claiming Jesus was two persons; condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431

Monophysitism

Heresy claiming Jesus' divinity absorbed his humanity; rejected at Chalcedon in 451

Oriental Orthodox Churches

Churches formed by those who rejected the Council of Chalcedon

Pentarchy

The five major centers of the early Church: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem

Constantinople

Capital of the Roman Empire after AD 330; center of the Greek-speaking Eastern Church

Latin and Greek

The languages of the Western and Eastern Church that helped drive them apart

1054

Year of the East-West Schism, when Rome and Constantinople excommunicated each other

Michael Cerularius

Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated by the papal delegation in 1054

Pope Leo IX

Pope who sent Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople; he had already died when the excommunication happened

1204

Year crusaders sacked Constantinople, sealing the split between East and West

Western Schism

Period from 1378 to 1417 when two, then three, rival popes claimed authority

Jan Hus

Reformer burned at the Council of Constance in 1415 for challenging Church authority

Martin Luther

German monk and priest who protested the sale of indulgences in 1517

95 Theses

Luther's list of questions and arguments published in 1517 that launched the Reformation

Indulgences

The Church practice Luther criticized being sold in Germany

Protestant Reformation

16th-century movement that split Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant churches

Henry VIII

English king who broke with Rome over his divorce and created the Church of England

Sola scriptura

"Scripture alone"; the belief that only Scripture transmits Divine Revelation

Sola gratia

"Grace alone"; the belief that salvation comes only through grace without human cooperation

Papal mandate

The Pope's written permission required before a bishop can be ordained (Canon 1013)

Valid but illicit

Describes a bishop ordained without a papal mandate: truly a bishop, but not authorized

Excommunication

Penalty that bars someone from the sacraments; meant to be medicinal, calling them to repentance

Apostolic succession

The unbroken chain of bishops going back to the Apostles

SSPX

Society of St. Pius X; traditionalist group that ordained bishops without a papal mandate

Eastern Orthodox Church

Christian communion of about 300 million that split from Rome in 1054