Before going into more detail, there are three points that I want to mention.   First, the Catholic Church is not the only Christian institution to recognize the seven sacraments. [1]   Second, a contemporary Catholic would find the idea of oil and salt at the celebration of Baptism to be foreign practice. [2]   Third, even if Helen was not Baptized, the Catholic Church would still hold her to be a “child of God,” in the sense that God is the “creator” of all human beings, and she would be “one of his children” (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7, 18-23).             In any case, there are two points here that Chick seems to attack.   One is the idea of Baptism being seen as a form of “rebirth,” or being “born again.”   And the other is the practice of infant baptism.   Let me tackle each point individually. Baptism as a form ...

              We now turn to the Sacrament of Penance.   The terms “Reconciliation,” “Penance,” and “Confession” are used interchangeably to describe this sacrament, but the best term is, arguably, “Reconciliation.”   A frequently asked question regarding this sacrament, which is probably also asked in Orthodox and Anglican circles, is:   Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest?   To answer this question, one needs to understand the theology regarding the early Church structure/hierarchy.             One of the traditional understandings of Baptism is that, when a person is baptized, he or she shares in the Priesthood of Christ, which, according to the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, is superior to the Jewish priesthood, as Jesus is recognized as a priest in the Order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:13-7:28).    This teaching i...

                From here, Chick begins an attack on the Sacrament of Confirmation.   He references one particular work, A Practical Catholic Dictionary , which was edited by Jessie Corrigan Pegis.   I will at times reference Pegis’s work for this particular topic, since Chick does as well.   But first, it would first be best to briefly explain the Sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation             Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of Christian initiation (the other two are Baptism and the Eucharist). [1]   Confirmation “strengthens” a person’s connection to the Church, hence its meaning in Latin, [2] and its understanding as a sacrament comes from the Gospel of John and the Book of Acts (John 7:37-39, 15:26, 16:7-15, 20:22; Acts 8:14-17). The bishop is usually the celebrant of this sacrament, but not always. [3]  ...