Romanus Chesadio is the Adam Cardinal Maita Chair of Theology at Ave Maria University. His books are

The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics, a short history of Thomism, and Christian faith and theological

life. His new book is The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church. That's our topic today. Welcome, Father

Cesario. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here. Okay. Now, you open by stating that the

sacraments are, quote, the backbone of ordinary Catholic life and that they, quote, accompany

baptized Catholics all along the way of life.

Now, do most Catholics in the United States experience the sacraments in that abiding way?

I hope so because, in fact, the sacraments as accompanying the various moments and stages of life is what gives,

so to speak, flesh and blood to the church's mediation.

And there are two ways of organizing the sacraments.

One is around the Eucharist.

The other, and what you refer to is that the sacraments mark life's moments, birth, adulthood, the Eucharist and penance go together to bring about the unity and charity within the community, and then the sacraments of service to the community,

marriage, matrimony, and holy orders provide for the growth of the church,

both are necessary, one of course for human reproduction and the other for spiritual generation.

And then the final sacrament, anointing of the sick, prepares everyone for the inevitable circumstances

of life that we call death.

And I would say that Catholics who participate in a normal parish life will observe that sequence that I just outlined.

You know, that that jumps ahead to a question I was going to ask, and I'll go ahead and

I'll go ahead and pursue that. As you say, you say actually in the book, deeper into the book, that the Severn Sacraments

operate, quote, in resemblance to the stages of a human life.

So they're not only out there to give structure and expression and participation in the faith,

but really they are sort of a very general roadmap of our earthly existence.

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