From Birth to Death: Catholicism Role in Latino

From Birth to Death: Catholicism Role in Latino

Communities and Families in the United States

Throughout the world, religion is now and has always has been present in people's lives. Religion itself can be explained as any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life. To this day religion is a very important aspect in life, yet it continues to take on new shapes and different forms as time progresses. In the following I will be discussing the role that religion plays in Latino communities and families in the United States in specifically Catholicism, throughout their life cycle. In doing so I will commence with Catholicism's foundation and way of life of the followers, followed by the spread to the Unites States and how this religion is incorporated in Latinos lives in the United States.

Before hand in order to be able to discuss what role religion plays in Latino families and communities, we must first find out the religions Latinos are a part of. According to Pew Research Center, sixty-eight percent of Latinos in the United States, which is more than two-thirds of the population, identify themselves as being Roman Catholics. Born again or evangelical Protestants are the second largest category making up for fifteen percent. Lastly nearly one-in-ten of Latinos do not identify themselves with any religion accounting for merely eight percent of Latinos. [1] For this reason the focus of this paper will be mainly on Roman Catholic and how it influences Latinos lives in the United States.

Roman Catholicism doctrine that is based on teachings that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, keeping of the Ten Commandments and receiving the sacraments teaches us that Jesus Christ, at the Confession of Peter, founded the Roman Catholic Church. [2] During this event the Apostle Peter proclaims Jesus to be the expected messiah. [3] In this same occurrence Jesus also selects Peter as the leader of the Apostles who were the holy chosen men. [4] The twelve apostles were sent by Jesus to preach about the kingdom of God and continue his work, however their mission becomes even clearer once Christ has resurrected from the dead, which is emphasized in The New Testament. The Book Acts of the Apostles states how the Apostles made laws, taught the word of God, administered sacred rites, and provided successors. [5] Thus setting the foundation for the early church.

The spread of Catholicism is dated back to the Roman Empire when it was first being established without people knowing it. However that the spread of the Catholic faith was not always noticeable until Spain and Portugal were determined to convert the new world, no matter what the religious practices were in the new territories or what measures had to be taken. Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were not only to spread faith through indigenous conversions but for the profit of trade. It lasted for over four hundred years, from 1492 to 1898. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus, over nearly four centuries after the Spanish Empire expanded across most of present day Central America, the Caribbean islands, Mexico and much of the rest of North America including the Southwestern, Southern coastal, and the California Pacific Coast regions of the United States and the western half of South America. [6][7][8]

Catholics hold both the scripture and the bible to be very sacred. The Hebrew Scriptures (usually known to Catholics as the Old Testament) and the New Testament lay the basic groundwork for the Catholic understanding of all reality. Both Testaments show God as the creator of the world and everything in it, including humanity. Humans according to the bible were initially created to live in harmony with God and the world, but being human we break that harmony through sins. However through our ongoing interaction with God we can resume and repair this broken relationship; and a future end of this world, once again fully in harmony with God. [9] Catholics believe in one God in three persons: a Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Saints are also a big part of Catholic faith; they are people who are perceived to be examples of holiness and considered to be capable of interceding to God for the person who prayed to them. The Virgin Mary is a central role in the church for having carried and given birth to the messiah. Symbols also play an important role by keeping many Latinos close to their faith. This is done by surrounding themselves with physical images of virgins, stamps of saints, bibles, and even crosses and rosaries hanging in many homes. Apart from The Old and New Testament, The Ten Commandments and Seven Sacraments are also a part of what dictates how a Catholic should live their life. The Ten Commandments are a set of biblical principles or rules relating to ethics and worship that one should abide by. In Catholicism, they are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth and serve as the basis for social justice teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the Old and New Testaments and the writings of the early Church Fathers. [10] In the New Testament, Jesus acknowledged their importance and instructed his disciples to go out into the world to spread the words. These sets of rules and beliefs can also be found in the bible in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:4-21.

There are seven holy Sacraments are to point out what is sacred and important in the faith. Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are the sacraments of initiation into the faith, bringing the infant or the converted adult into the life as lived in the Church. Baptism was traditionally understood as washing away the stain of original sin, but is now seen as welcoming the new believer into the church community. The Eucharist is the sacrament that is a "symbolic" meal "remembering" Christ's last supper. Confirmation is an affirmation of the gift of grace through the Holy Spirit, usually made after the child is of an age to make decisions for him or herself. Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick are the sacraments of healing, the first dealing with the spiritual sickness of sin and the second with illness of the body. The Sacraments of vocation, Marriage and Holy Orders, are designed to lead someone other than the recipient toward salvation; they confer a mission on the recipient as well as the grace to carry it out. Marriage is the sacramental joining of a man and a woman into a communion.

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