Q. 1. I keep hearing Catholics talking about the Sacraments. What are Sacraments?

A. 1. In the Catholic Church, there are 7 Sacraments, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church.

The Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.

The 7 Sacraments are: the Sacraments of initiation (into the Church, the body of Christ), consisting of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Confirmation; the sacraments of healing, consisting of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick; and the sacraments of service: the Holy Orders and Matrimony.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the Sacraments as follows: "The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony."

These seven Sacraments were codified in the documents of the Council of Trent[3] (1545–1563), which stated:

CANON I.- If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or that they are more, or less, than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament; let him be anathema.

CANON IV.- If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous; and that, without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain of God, through faith alone, the grace of justification; -though all (the sacraments) are not necessary for every individual; let him be anathema (means excommunicated).