Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  535 / 665 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 535 / 665 Next Page
Page Background

Appendix A. Glossary • 507

CHRISMATION:

The name

for Confirmation in the

Eastern Churches.

CHRIST:

The title given to Jesus

meaning “The Anointed One”;

it comes from the Latin word

Christus

, which in its Greek root is

the word for

Messiah

.

CHRISTMAS:

The annual celebra-

tion of Jesus’ Nativity or birth.

CHURCH:

This term refers to

the whole Catholic community of

believers throughout the world. The

term can also be used in the sense

of a diocese or a particular parish.

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY:

Citizens

should work with civil authority to

build a society of truth, justice, soli-

darity, and freedom. In conscience,

citizens may not obey civil laws that

are contrary to the moral order.

COLLEGE OF BISHOPS

(COLLEGIALITY):

All bishops,

with the Pope as their head, form

a single college, which succeeds in

every generation the college of the

Twelve Apostles, with Peter at their

head. Christ instituted this college

as the foundation of the Church.

The college of bishops, together

with—but never without—the pope,

has the supreme and full author-

ity over the universal Church.

COMMON GOOD:

By the

“common good is to be under-

-stood, ‘the sum total of social

conditions which allow people,

either as groups or as individuals,

to reach their fulfillment more fully

and more easily’” (CCC, no. 1906,

citing GS, no. 26, §1).

COMMUNION, HOLY:

See

“Eucharist.”

COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS:

This refers to members of the

Church through all time—those

presently now in the Church and

those members who have already

gone before us and are either in

Purgatory or heaven.

CONCUPISCENCE:

The disorder

in our human appetites and desires

as the result of Original Sin. These

effects remain even after Baptism

and produce an inclination to sin.

CONFIRMATION, SACRAMENT

OF:

This is a Sacrament of

Initiation in which the bishop

or a delegated priest confers

Confirmation through the anoint-

ing with chrism on the recipient’s

forehead, which is done by the

laying on of the hand, while saying,

“Be sealed with the gift of the Holy

Spirit.” Confirmation completes

the grace of Baptism by a special

outpouring of the gifts of the Holy