Sacrament Overview
Sacraments are gifts of Christ, performed through the office of the Church, that impart sanctifying grace to the receiver. Briefly: Baptism is given to infants and to adult converts who have not previously been validly baptized; the baptism of most Christian denominations is accepted as valid by most Catholic Churches since the effect is produced through the sacrament and is not dependent on the faith (or lack of faith) of the minister intending to administer the sacrament (Western doctrine) or the Church is empowered to fill the empty ritual with Grace without having to repeat that ritual (Eastern doctrine).
In the sacrament of Confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit conferred in baptism is "strengthened and deepened," by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. In the Latin rite of the majority Roman Catholic Church, this sacrament is most often administered by a bishop, but in certain circumstances is administered instead by a priest using oil blessed by the bishop. In the West, administration used to be postponed until the recipient’s early adulthood, but in view of the earlier age at which children are now admitted to reception of the Eucharist, it is more and more restored to the traditional order and administered before Holy Communion is given.
In the East the sacrament is called Chrismation, and is ordinarily administered immediately after baptism by a priest using oil blessed by the bishop. Eucharist (Communion), is a partaking in the sacrifice of Christ, marked by sharing the Body and Blood of Christ, which are believed to replace the bread and wine used in the ceremony. The Roman Catholic belief that the bread and wine are transformed in all but appearance into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is known as transubstantiation.
Confession or reconciliation involves admitting sins to a priest (in Latin-Church and appendant doctrine) or admitting them to Christ in the presence of a priest (in Orthodox doctrine). In Roman Catholic practice, the priest imposes a “penance”, an action or spiritual exercise for the penitent to perform, not to obtain absolution from sin, but to make some reparation and recover spiritual health under Orthodox doctrine too, one might be given a task to perform, not to "show repentance" or "achieve absolution", but as an ascetic "prescription" or an "exercise" to help strengthen oneself against further temptation.
Anointing of the Sick involves the anointing of a sick person with oil blessed specifically for that purpose. In the Roman Catholic Church it is administered to those who are “seriously sick”; when “seriously sick” was taken to mean “in danger of death”, among the Roman Catholics the sacrament was known as "extreme unction", part of "the last rites", but it was never so limited among the Orthodox.
Holy Orders is entry into the clergy in the three degrees of deacon, priest, and bishop. |