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Value Orientation and Catholicism

Value Orientation and Catholicism

Lindsey Christensen
Salt Lake Community College

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

Overview
Catholicism is a religion centered around Jesus Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection.
One form of worship in this religion is attending Mass, which is what I attended for the purposes
of this paper. Mass is held daily and is filled with singing, scriptures and breaking of the bread.
Mass is held in a Cathedral with depictions of Christ and Angels on the walls. The Value
Orientation is five different topics, which include Human Nature, Humans vs. Nature, Humans
vs. Humans, Preferred Personality and Time orientation. Each of these topics have three
categories, two of the categories are opposite extremes and the third is a median. The Catholic
religion values that people are good, there is harmony between humans and nature, relationships
with other humans are collateral, the optimal personality would being doing and the time
orientation is past based. It was a good experience to attend mass and research the Catholic
religion as I learned of another culture, which has helped me to appreciate my own even more.

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

Religion
Catholicism is a Christian religion. Catholics believe in the Holy Trinity, which includes God,
Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Since Jesus Christ is referred to as Lord, he is considered to be
God himself. Jesus Christ was crucified and willingly gave himself and died for the salvation of
mankind. Catholics believe in the Bible, which teaches everyone falls short and sins, but Jesus
Christ is the only one who forgive the sins committed (Church, 2016) (Basic Tenants of
Catholicsm, 2006). Catholics uphold the values of family, respecting the law, the common good
and caring for the poor (Kaczor, n.d.).
Religious Function
The Catholic religion started with Jesus Christ and his life in Judea. It then carried on
from there through Saint Peter and other church leaders. Mass is a form of worship in the church
at this present time. The entrance of the church includes a room with many candles that are lit for
those who need help (Church, 2016). The main room in the church has extremely high ceilings,
walls filled with rich colors, intricate stained glass and many depictions of Jesus Christ. The most
of the paints are of Jesus Christ who is almost always looking down with a sad, solemn look,
other pictures include depictions of Bible stories or Angels. At the front of the room there is a
large white marble box that is to represent God/Jesus Christ. Catholics bow towards the marble
box before they sit down after entering the room. The Mass ceremony includes prayers, scripture
reading and breaking of the bread. The prayers are not improvised, rather they are straight from
the Bible. The breaking of the bread includes a prayer, then anyone who wants to can participate

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

in eating the bread and drinking the wine, which represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The entire meeting was an individual experience with the exception of the part where the people
present turned to their neighbors to say, peace be with you (Church, 2016).
Kluckhohn and Strodbeck Value Orientations
The key concept to Kluckhohns and Strodbecks Value Orientation is that each group
hold core central values that create a shared perception of what ought to be, and not what is
(Martin & Nakayama, 2007). To determine the Value Orientations there are five questions, with
three different answers. First, what is human nature (Martin & Nakayama, 2007)? The possible
answers to that question are basically good, mixture of good and evil and basically evil
(Martin & Nakayama, 2007). As one might see, there are two extremes and one answer that is
between; all the questions and answers follow this same pattern. The next question concerns the
relationship of humans and nature. Does nature control human lives or do humans rule over
nature? This topic covers whether it is moral to build dams or perform a kidney transplant. The
third question is about how humans value and interact with other humans. Is the group family
oriented or is the group highly involved with extended family or those beyond the grave? The
activity subject is directed towards what one might be working toward. If one is working on
being more earth friendly and becoming one with the earth, this could be an example of spiritual
growth. Or, if one focuses on figuring how to be unique and find ones personality, that could be
placed in the being category (Martin & Nakayama, 2007). Also, one could focus on changing
the world, that would be a person who is doing (Martin & Nakayama, 2007). Finally, the final
question is about which time frame is most valued, whether it be the past, present, or future.
Does one value what the future might hold or what we can learn from our ancestors mistakes
and experiences?

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

Analysis
Starting with Human Nature, the Catholic religion seems to value that humans are good.
In the Mass meeting, Reverend Martin mentioned, we all fall short of the glory of God. It
seems that Catholics believe people are good inside, but they dont always act that way. The
relationship between humans and nature is a harmonious relationship. Since, God created the
world as well as humans, the two are to live in harmony. The relationship between humans is
valued to be collateral. In the mass meeting there was the brief moment where each person said
hello to their neighbors and there was also mention of heaven. Also, Catholicism is a Christian
religion, just has previously discussed the values caring for the poor and taking care of the sick
or otherwise afflicted. With all these aspects combined, its fair to say Catholicism is Collateral.
The value for a preferred personality in the Catholic Church would be doing, because
the religion does believe in caring for others and confessing sins (Martin & Nakayama, 2007).
This is not to say Catholics do not focus on spiritual growth as well, but the focus is on doing
and changing ones actions (Church, 2016). At last, the past is valued above all else in the
Church. The walls are covered in depictions of Jesus Christs suffering and crucifixion. A large
part of mass entailed reading the words of prophets of old. Prayers that were said were from the
Bible, which was written long ago.
Reflection
I thought that the religious function would be somewhat disconnected from the audience,
because Catholic friends of mine do not regularly attend mass. I learned that Catholics believe
that they are saved by the grace of God and from Mass it did not seem like there needed to be a
lot of personal change to be saved (Church, 2016). I learned that Catholics believe that Jesus
Christ and God are the same person, even though the Holy Ghost, God and Jesus Christ are

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

considered the Holy Trinity (Kaczor, n.d.). My attitude only slightly changed. The people who
were in mass seemed to be either devout Catholics or people who happened to drop in who didnt
participate in the actions. Then again the Catholic church is huge! I attended a weekday meeting,
which probably only has a fraction of the attendance of a Sunday meeting.
The application of the theory was difficult, because the things that Catholics value is not
necessarily the same as what they say or do. The value is something that is ideal instead of what
the culture is actually like. I can incorporate the value of the theory into my work life. If I can
tell, what qualities or work ethics my company values most, then I can know what attributes I
need to develop to be a more valuable employee. As for my future classes, the value orientation
will change depending on the class and what I plan or the teacher plans for me to get out of the
class.

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Value Orientation and Catholicism

Bibliography
Basic Tenants of Catholicsm. (2006). Retrieved from Beginning Catholic:
http://www.beginningcatholic.com/tenets-of-catholicism.html
Church, T. C. (2016, February 19). Mass. (R. M. Diaz, Performer) The Cathedral of the
Madeleine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
Kaczor, C. (n.d.). Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Retrieved from
Catholic Answers: http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/sevenprinciples-of-catholic-social-teaching
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2007). Intercultural Communication in Contexts.
New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.