text: I know you asked Monica, not me, and she has already responded, but I'll add my three cents for what it is worth. I think the sacraments are wonderful and a great help to being a Christian, but I don't think they are necessary. People can be and have been good Christians when totally unable to attend a Mass or receive communion. But because we are weak and human and need others, it is much easier WITH the sacraments. I would say if we had to boil Christianity down to the essentials, it would be belief in Jesus as the Christ, and a commitment to following what he said to do: love God and our neighbor.  Mass and sacraments are helps to faith , they are not themselves faith.