When I think about catholic religion, I think about the way things are today. Quite honestly, before this class, I didn't think that there were many differences in the way things were and how they now are in the church. I never knew that the church had gone through so many more in depth changes than some that I have know about including speaking English in mass instead of Latin. My grandma is always telling me that I should realize how lucky I am that things like that have changed, and now when she says that I think about how lucky I am that other things have changed too. I started learning about different aspects of the church in this class. Things such as the way things are today and the way that things used to be. I never knew that things like the pope, the bible, the issues of church and state, integration and other various subjects had such dominating impact on the way the church has evolved to the way it was today.
As I think of the Catholic Church certain images come to mind. I think of Sunday masses, bible study, and authority figures such as priests bishops and the pope. I think of things such as the sacraments, and how I fear going to confession; not because I have done something wrong, but because it's difficult for me to explain myself to someone else. There are things that I like about the church and its teachings and there are things that I have just been too ignorant to realize. My eyes have been opened in this class to see that the church has seen many reformations throughout its history in the United States enabling it to be at the point it is today. .
While the church was being formed in early America, many attempts for it to be rid of previous rule of the pope tried to be erased. In many ways this happened. This time in which the church was trying to strive with lay trusteeism was known as the Republican style of the church. It was a progressive time in the ways of trying to free itself from the Papal ways that the church was previously guided by.
