Presented below are SOME of what would be termed, at a minimum, erroneous, but probably more correctly, "cultic" teachings contained in the "New Catholic Catechism" as found on the Internet. I have not seen an official "hard-copy" version of the NCC, so if this is in error, or is misrepresenting the NCC, please notify me.
TRADITION EQUAL WITH SCRIPTURE
80 Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound
closely together and communicate one with the other.
82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and
interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not
derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy
Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be
accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and
reverence.
BIBLE INTERPRETATION THE SOLE RIGHT OF POPE AND
BISHOPS
100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically
has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church,
that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with
him.
MARY, SINLESS, PERPETUAL VIRGIN, MOTHER OF GOD, QUEEN
OF HEAVEN, CO- REDEMPTRESS WITH CHRIST
491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more
aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was
redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the
dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX
proclaimed in 1854...
494 ... As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became
the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human
race." ...
495 ... the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother
of God" (Theotokos).
508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin
Mary to be the mother of his Son. "Full of grace,"
Mary is "the most excellent fruit of redemption"
(SC 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was
totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she
remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.
964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union
with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of
the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made
manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to
his death"; it is made manifest above all at the hour of
his Passion. ... enduring with her only begotten Son the
intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his
sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to
the immolation of this victim, born of her ...
966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from
all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly
life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly
glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so
that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son
..." The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular
participation in her Son's Resurrection ... "In giving
birth you kept your virginity... You conceived the living God
and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death"
(Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August
15th.).
968 "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her
obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour's
work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason
she is a mother to us in the order of grace."
969 "... Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this
saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to
bring us gifts of eternal salvation. ... Therefore the
Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of
Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."
ROSARY AND PRAYERS TO MARY
971 "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is
intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly
honours "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion.
..." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of
God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome
of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the
Virgin Mary.
FULLNESS OF SALVATION ONLY THROUGH THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH
The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism explains:
"For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which
is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of
the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the
apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we
believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New
Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of
Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who
belong in any way to the People of God."
846 Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council
teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary
for salvation ... thereby affirmed at the same time the
necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as
through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing
that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God
through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain
in it.
ALL GRACE COMES THROUGH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
819 Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial
communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from
the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to
the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and
lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic
unity."
834 Particular Churches are fully catholic through their
communion with one of them, the Church of Rome "which
presides in charity." "For with this church, by
reason of its pre-eminence, the whole Church, that is the
faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord" (St.
Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres, 3,3,2:PG 7/1,849; cf. Vatican Council
I: DS 3057).
NO CHRISTIAN UNITY APART FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
820 Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning.
This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as
something she can never lose ... The desire to recover the
unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the
Holy Spirit.
SALVATION INCLUDES THE MUSLIMS
841 The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge
the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims;
these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with
us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the
last day.
SUPREMACY OF THE POPE
882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is
the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity
both of the bishops and of the whole company of the
faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his
office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church
has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church,
a power which he can always exercise unhindered."
891 The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys
this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme
pastor and teacher of all the faithful--who confirms his
brethren in the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a
doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. ... The infallibility
promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops
when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the
supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical
Council. ... This infallibility extends as far as the deposit
of divine Revelation itself.
PRAYERS OF THE DEAD
956 "Being more closely united to Christ, those who
dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.
... They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as
they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through
the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. ... So by
their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped."
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
958 "In full consciousness of this communion of the
whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its
pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian
religion, has honoured with great respect the memory of the
dead; and `because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to
pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins'
she offers her suffrages for them." Our prayer for them
is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their
intercession for us effective.
SALVATION THROUGH BAPTISM
1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all
personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.
1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for
salvation. ... The Church does not know of any means other
than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this
is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has
received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized
are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound
salvation to the sacrament of Baptism...
1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes
the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of
God, who has become a "partaker of the divine
nature," member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a
temple of the Holy Spirit.
1267 ... From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of
God of the New Covenant...
PENANCE NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized
can be reconciled with God and with the Church: "Penance
has rightly been called by the holy Fathers `a laborious kind
of baptism.' This sacrament of Penance is necessary for
salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as
Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet
been reborn" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1672; cf. St.
Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 39, 17: PG 36,356).
THE CHURCH CAN FORGIVE SINS
982 There is no offense, however serious, that the Church
cannot forgive. ... Christ who died for all men desires that
in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open
to anyone who turns away from sin.
PURGATORY
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal
salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as
to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final
purification of the elect, which is entirely different from
the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her
doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Council of
Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference
to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.
"As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that,
before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire."
INDULGENCES AND GOOD WORKS FOR THE DEAD
1032 From the beginning the Church has honoured the memory of
the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all
the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may
attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends
almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance undertaken on
behalf of the dead.
SACRAMENTS AND LITURGY COMMUNICATE GRACE
1084 By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit
they [the sacraments] make present efficaciously the grace
that they signify.
1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which
divine life is dispensed to us.
SACRAMENTS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of
the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ... The fruit
of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes
the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them
in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour.
INFANTS BORN AGAIN THROUGH BAPTISM
1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original
sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to
be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the
realm of the freedom of the children of God ... The Church
and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of
becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism
shortly after birth.
THE MASS A RE-SACRIFICE OF CHRIST
1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in
reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to
obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.
1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the
Eucharist is also a sacrifice. ... In the Eucharist Christ
gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross,
the very blood which he "poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins."
1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the
Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ... "In this divine
sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ
who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of
the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody
manner."
THE MASS IS A CONVERSION OF BREAD AND WINE INTO THE
VERY CHRIST
1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by
declaring "... by the consecration of the bread and wine
there takes place a change of the whole substance of the
bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and
of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his
blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and
properly called transubstantiation."
1413 By the consecration the transubstantion of the bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about.
Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ
himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real and
substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and
his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).
1374 ... In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist
"the body and blood, together with the soul and
divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole
Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained."
PRIEST HAS THE POWER TO CONVERT BREAD AND WINE INTO
CHRIST
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into
Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this
sacrament. ... The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces
these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my
body, he says. This word transforms the things offered. ...
The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature,
because by the blessing nature itself is changed.
MASS CONDUCTED IN COMMUNION WITH THE DEAD
1370 ... In communion with and commemorating the Blessed
Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the
Eucharistic sacrifice.
ELEMENTS OF THE MASS TO BE WORSHIPPED AND CARRIED IN
PROCESSIONS
1418 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of
the altar he is to be honoured with the worship of adoration.
1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we
express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the
species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting
or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. ...
reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care,
exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and
carrying them in procession.
ALL SINS MUST BE CONFESSED TO A PRIEST
1493 One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and
with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed
grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his
conscience. The confession of venial faults, without being
necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by
the Church.
1456 All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent
self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in
confession, even if they are most secret and have been
committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue. ...
those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place
nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the
mediation of the priest, `for if the sick person is too
ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot
heal what it does not know.'
1497 Individual and integral confession of grave sins
followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of
reconciliation with God and with the Church.
FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND ESCAPE FROM PURGATORY THROUGH
INDULGENCES
1471 An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal
punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven,
which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under
certain prescribed conditions through the action of the
Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and
applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of
Christ and the saints. ... Indulgences may be applied to the
living or the dead.
1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who ...
intervenes in favour of individual Christians and opens for
them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to
obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the
punishments due for their sins. ...
1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also
members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help
them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal
punishments due for their sins may be remitted.
SALVATION THROUGH THE GOOD WORKS OF THE
"SAINTS"
1475 In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits
others ...
Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite
sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the
punishments for sin.
1476 We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of
saints the Church's treasury....
1477 This treasury includes as well the prayers and good
works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense,
unfathomable and even pristine in their value before God. In
the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the
saints. ... In this way they attained their own salvation and
at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the
unity of the Mystical Body.
VENERATION OF RELICS
1674 Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis
must take into account the forms of piety and popular
devotions among the faithful ... such as the veneration of
relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the
stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals,
etc.
VENERATION OF IMAGES
2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word the
seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against
the iconoclasts the veneration of icons--of Christ, but also
of the Mother of God, the angels and all the saints. By
becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new
"economy" of images.