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