Catholic Resources & History

"In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it." Deuteronomy 4:2

In Deuteronomy 4:2, we read, "In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it." One of the objections raised by people who do not understand the Catholic Church is that it adds to the teachings of the Lord.

This is a misunderstanding of the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church does not offer its teachings to add (or subtract) to what the Lord asks of us. Rather, the church offers its writings to help us discover what the Lord's teachings mean in our world today.

For example, in the years that Jesus walked on earth, nobody would have ever imagined the scientific advances that we have seen in the last one hundred years. Perhaps one of the areas that most touches upon our Christian beliefs in the scientific field is medical research. The church offers its teachings on such questions as "Is stem-cell research morally acceptable."

With that in mind, here are some of the documents written by the church in the last three centuries.