What is the Catholic Church?

The role of the church within the Catholic faith is one that I have always struggled to understand. I have to admit that it is not something that I am well informed of, and that my opinions of the church all concern either rumors that I have heard or assumptions that I have made. When I currently think of the Catholic Church, I am under the belief that it is intended to be the "mediator" between God and the individual. I currently assume this on a basis of two rumors that I have heard: 1. The Church is responsible for the establishment of regulations within the faith, and 2. The Catholic church is necessary because one cannot communicate with God unless an individual follows through with certain rituals under the presence of a priest. If that information is correct, my stance on the Catholic church would be greatly challenged. To me, the necessity of clergy presence for there to be a relationship with God sounds inaccurate, for I could never imagine that He would reject a relationship with any person who declares their faith in Him. For this reason I have developed my own perspective of what the role of the Catholic church is as a result of my experience and developing faith.

I will emphasize once more that this opinion of mine lacks any serious knowledge and therefore is mainly a result of my experience and very basic knowledge of Catholicism. I believe the role of the Catholic church is to bring together people of one faith and share in the recognition that there is a holy presence in this world and praise its existence. This holy presence is of the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). When we come to appreciate this presence as a community, we are both physically and spiritually bonded as God's creation and share a common aspiration towards salvation. However, I do not think that this excludes other members of the Catholic faith who do not attend Sabbath. I think that it is especially important to have developed a personal relationship with God prior to attending church on its own. If one does not have a personal relationship with God developed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to become publicly involved . I think that the Catholic Church and regulations ultimately serve as guidance towards how things are translated into modern day and to encourage people to expand one's relation to God to a more public level. However, I don’t think that it is absolutely necessary (although highly recommended) because all of us are striving towards the same individual goal, which is salvation. By either going to Church or praising God on your own, we share the same intention which is to reach out to God .