L&D and S&F

• Life and Death Keywords

  • Death
  • Eternal Life
  • Heaven
  • Hell
  • Judgement
  • Magisterium
  • Resurrection
  • Soul
• A sarcophagus is a tomb in a church or sacred place that has carved images on it
• Example of a sarcophagus


  • The sarcophagus with scenes of the passion of Christ in the Museo Pio Christiano in the Vatican in Rome
• Carvings on sarcophagi


  • Visual expression of Christian beliefs
  • Symbols of faith
  • Hope for the community after one's death
• Jesus suffered and died, but death was not the end
• Jesus being crowned with the crown of thorns suggests the Resurrection
• Early Christians were reluctant to depict Jesus either dead or suffering
• An empty cross hints at the Resurrection
• If Christ’s tomb is empty, then so will ours be one day
• Death does not have the final word. New life awaits because of Jesus’ sacrifice
• Magisterium


  The teaching authority of the Church, exercised by the Popes and Bishops
• Ordinary Magisterium


  • Teachings that have always been taught from the first apostles, passed down, teachings from the Bible and natural law, teachings that have not changed for 200 years
• Extraordinary form of the Magisterium - General Council

  Issues discussed and debated between bishops and the Pope, concerned with the Church
• Extraordinary form of the Magisterium - Papal infallibility


  After discussions and prayer, the Pope has the final say on matters
• Magisterium applies only to matters of faith and morals
• Vatican II was the most recent version of the extraordinary form of the Magisterium in the 1960s
• Key documents from Vatican II

  • Dei Verbum - ‘The word of God’
  • Lumen Gentium - ‘The Light of the Peoples’
  • Sacrosanct Concilium - ‘The Sacred Council’
  • Gaudium et Spes - ‘The joy and hope’
• Altar was moved so that the priest faced the congregation

  Translation
• Before Vatican II, the Church was seen as keeping itself separate from society. However after, the Church got involved in more social issues and agencies like CAFOD grew in awareness of their responsibilities to help around the world
• Catholics BELIEVE in life after death, this is due to a number of different things
• The resurrection of Jesus - The empty tomb is mentioned in all 4 of the Gospels. The resurrection of Jesus showed that he must have gone somewhere after death
• The teachings of St Paul - St Paul that if we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, we too will be resurrected. St Paul teaches that we will have a spiritual resurrection – after death, our souls will be reunited with God. This idea of the soul being eternal and surviving after the death of the body, is known as ‘immortality of the soul’
• Catholic beliefs about life after death

  • Heaven
  • Hell
  • Purgatory
• Heaven - It is in heaven where you are in the presence of God, where we can finally know God and know ourselves
• Hell - The idea of hell in the Catholic faith is the terrible idea that a person may reject God forever, no matter how much mercy is shown. They are beyond redemption
• Purgatory - Catholics are the only Christian denomination to believe in purgatory. Purgatory is a place of purification and is necessary in order to enter the presence of God
• Eschatology – the part of theology focused on beliefs concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind after judgement
• Types of judgement in Christianity

  • Particular judgement
  • Final Judgement
• Particular judgement: This is when a person dies, they are held accountable for their deeds
• Final Judgement: This is concerned with the second coming of Christ and the judgement of all people
• Some people who DO NOT believe in God, still believe in some sort of afterlife. This may include: Reincarnation, Near-death experience, Paranormal, Mediums
• Some people DO NOT believe in any sort of life after death. These people are called materialists. They believe that the only reality is the physical world which can be measured, and there is nothing more. Our minds are just our brains working and when the brain dies, we are gone. Humanists also DO NOT believe in Life after death. They believe we only have this life and that is why we should make the most of it
• The Parables: The Unforgiving Servant - This parable is about particular judgement. It is about a man who owes a great deal of money to the king. He is about to be thrown into prison, when he begs for mercy. The king decides to set him free and lets him off. The man then sees a man who owes him a small amount of money. The first man throws the other man into prison. The King
• It is about a man who owes a great deal of money to the king. He is about to be thrown into prison, when he begs for mercy. The king decides to set him free and lets him off. The man then sees a man who owes him a small amount of money. The first man throws the other man into prison. The King hears about this and is furious and decides to throw the first man back into prison
• Speaker: 'Jesus'
• Jesus teaches in the ‘Our Father’ prayer that in order to be forgiven, we must forgive others
• It was the lack of love and generosity shown by the first man that caused his downfall
• The Rich Man and Lazarus parable is about particular judgement. The rich man ignores the poor and diseased Lazarus, whom he passes at his gate every day. After death, the roles were reversed and the rich man saw Lazarus in heaven, while he was in hell. He begs to go back and tell his brothers about what will happen to them if they ignore those in need. Jesus says “They have been told, by Moses and the Prophets”. We must listen to the teachings in the Bible now, during this life. This will enable us to do the right thing and live a good Christian life, so that after death we can be rewarded
• The Sheep and the Goats parable is about final judgement. Christ returns and judges his people. Those who showed charity and loved others in fact loved him by doing this. These he called the sheep and they were rewarded in heaven. For the goats, they failed to recognise Jesus in others and were too selfish to help. They did not get welcomed into heaven. Mother Teresa once said ‘they failed to recognise Jesus in his most distressing disguise’. We should help all those in need, as by doing so, we are also helping Jesus
• Sin and Forgiveness: Keywords - Absolutism, Eucharist, Evangelisation, Forgiveness, Punishment, Relativism, Salvation, Sin