Here is a simple outline of what Catholic Christians believe.  Parents can help children learn these basic facts about our faith by explaining these key ideas when children are able to learn and understand them. Remember, these are faith-statements.  We believe these things because they explain mysteries about life in a way that makes sense to us and because we believe they have been revealed by God through Scripture and human experience.

1. There is a God who created (or caused) everything that exists.
2. God created us and the universe out of love.
3. We can know God through what God creates.
4. We know God best through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is fully God and fully human.
5. How people experienced God's presence, love and mercy long ago is recorded in the first part of the Bible, called the Old Testament.  How people experienced God's presence, love and mercy in Jesus Christ is recorded in the second part of the Bible, called the New Testament or the Good News.
6. The Catholic Church uses human wisdom and experience to help us understand what God has revealed in Scripture.  This is called Tradition.
7. Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead to show us how much God loves us.
8. After he rose from the dead, Jesus returned to heaven but he is still present with us through his Holy Spirit. 
9. The Church is called the Body of Christ, the People of God, or the Communion of Saints.
10.   People who belong to the Church are called Christians.
11.   There are different kinds of Christians.  We are called Catholic Christians because we
      belong to the Roman Catholic Church.
12.   The Church helps us experience God's presence through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
13.   The Church also helps us know and live in a way which shows God's love and forgiveness
      to others.
14.   Catholics celebrate God's presence and love through the sacraments. There are seven 
      sacraments in the Catholic Church.
15.   The most important sacrament is the Eucharist, which is also called the Mass.
16.   In the Eucharist Catholics celebrate Jesus' real presence among us in the assembly, in
      Scripture, in the priest, and in the bread and wine which become the body and blood of
      Jesus.  This sacramental presence is called "real" because it is it is a substantial presence by
      which Christ makes himself wholly and entirely present.
17.   Through the Eucharist we are incorporated into the Paschal Mystery of Jesus' life, death and
      resurrection.  The whole of creation and each of us participates in this mystery by which
      living things pass from life through change, loss and death to new life, just as Jesus did.
18.   God's creation is not finished and is not perfect; that is one reason why bad things      happen sometimes.
19.   Human beings are not perfect either. Because of original sin we are born without the
      knowledge of what is right and the desire to do what is good.  As a result, we cause bad things
      to happen by accident.
20.   Sometimes we cause bad things to happen on purpose.  This is called sin.
21.   There are different kinds of sin.  Very serious sins are called mortal sins; they are
      comparable to capital crimes.  Not-so-serious sins are called venial sins.
22.   God wants us to help make the world a better place, a place which shows God's love; we do that       when we avoid sin, do good things, and try to fix things that are wrong. 
23.   We celebrate our effort to avoid sin and do better in the Sacrament of Penance (also
      called Reconciliation or Confession).
24.   When we die our life is changed but does not end. 
25.   When God's creation is completed, the good parts of creation will be taken into "heaven;" people who have tried to live good lives and are sorry for their sins will live forever with God in heaven.