Section 7: The Holy Catholic Church Key Points

This is the most complicated and densely theological book that we have covered so far. There is a lot of material here, but more, the material that is here is somewhat harder to grasp than much of what we have looked at before this.

• The first key take-away is that our Church is in fact the One Church founded by Christ. This fact leads protestants who choose to study Church history and the faith deeply enough to our Church.
  • if you are not willing to be taught by the Church, you should not be Catholic at all
  • "cafeteria" Catholics are a contradiction in terms. If you can reject what the Church teaches in something, you are saying that you know more than Christ.
  • The Church is the Body of Christ, and yet, it is equally true that Christ is the head of that Body. This is not meant to be a paradox, but it is a mystery.
  • The Holy Spirit is the soul of Body of Christ, in this same mysterious sense.
• Mary perfectly models the Church.
  • Mary carried Christ within her, the Church holds the Word of God within it.
  • Mary brought salvation to the world through her "yes" to God. The Church brings salvation to the world through the sacraments, in which we say "yes" to God.
  • Mary is so united with God that the angel gives her the title "Full of Grace." The Church's saints give examples of lives illuminated by grace.
  • Mary directs us to follow Christ "Do whatever He tells you." The Church teaches us to follow Christ, through its evangelization and catechisation efforts.
• Magisterium
  • this is a fancy word for teaching authority.
  • The Church has authority because it speaks in Christ's name
  • The Church has this authority only when it it proclaims that which has been handed down from Christ through the apostles. We are an "apostolic" Church.
  • The bishops are the successors of the apostles and are thus the ordinary source of authentic teaching in the Church
• Authority and Tradition
  • tradition in this sense means "that which is handed down"
  • Not everything taught by the apostles is written down in the Bible.
    • The nature of the Trinity is not clearly defined in the Bible
    • The nature of the Bible is not clearly defined by the Bible
    • The authority of the Bible is not defined in or by the Bible Protestants will misquote The Bible and deny this point. Recall that when the Bible says "all scripture is useful for teaching" it does NOT say:
      • that all scripture is all that you need.
      • that nothing else is needed
      • that nothing else is useful
      • that the New Testament exists at all (that line as quoted by the Protestant actually refers to the Old Testament only).
  • The Church, and more particularly the Pope, are protected by "Infallibility"
    • This means that the Holy Spirit protects the Church (and more particularly the Pope) from error
      • when teaching on matters of faith and morals
      • to the universal Church
      • in an official teaching capacity.
    • Private opinions of the Pope, or any other Bishop, are not covered by infallibility.
    • teachings on politics, economics, or science are not infallible. Only matters of faith and morals.
    • infallibility does not mean that a Pope or bishop will teach, only that we can trust what is taught. Most Popes have never exercised the ability to teach infallibly.
    • There are three forms of Infallibility.
      • Ordinary Magisterium
        • exercised by each bishop in teaching his own diocese
        • the least definitive form of Infallibility.
        • We, the faithful, are required to assume our bishop is correct until and unless it contradicts the teachings coming from the Popes.
      • Ecumenical Councils
        • the college or body of bishops when united with the successor of Peter (the Pope), exercise "supreme Magisterium"
        • This applies only to the written teaching coming out of these councils.
        • This applies only to the documents that the Pope concurs with. Note that in our definition above it says "when united with the Pope." A council cannot act on its own.
        • This does not apply to drafts, statements made as part of the debate, or a nebulous sense of the bishops' intent (IE the "spirit of the council").
      • The Pope,
        • when acting as the successor of Peter,
          • not his private opinions
          • not his opinions as a priest
          • not his opinions as a scholar
        • when teaching the universal Church
          • not when addressing a subset of that Church
          • not when making off the cuff remarks to reporters
        • on matters of faith and morals
          • see the notes on things not covered above
        • proclaims something to be held as definitive
          • even most documents written as pope do not explicitly state that we MUST believe something.
          • the most recent instance of this was Pope John Paul II on the Church's inability to ordain women.
    • The Church is given the gift of infallibility because it speaks for and in Christ's name.
      • The Church cannot add to doctrine
      • The Church cannot change doctrine
      • Christ does not change what He came to teach us.
• The Church is necessary for Salvation
  • however, this is like our understanding of baptism earlier. Sometimes a person's connection to the Church is not clear, even to that person.
  • Vatican II writes that
    • no one who, knowing that the Catholic Church is necessary, would still refuse it can be saved
    • those who through no fault of their own do not know it is necessary but still seek God, can be saved.
    • We believe that anyone validly baptized, even in a Protestant Church, is, in a mystical sense, connected to the Church.
  • We send out missionaries because we are commanded to do so by Christ. Protestants do so because they believe that only their particular version of Christianity offers any salvation at all.
• There are four marks of the Church
  • we use the word "mark" here as in the mark made by a fingerprint, in this case God's fingerprints on the Church He created.
  • Oneness
    • we are one because Christ is one
    • we are one because we obey the Pope as Christ's deputy here on Earth
    • we are one in that we profess one creed
    • we are one in that we have the same sacraments
    • we are one despite the great diversity in the Church
      • this caused a great deal of confusion to the class.
      • The Church does have great diversity. I attempted, with mixed success, to explain this.
      • The One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is divided into Rites.
        • Each Rite has a Patriarch
        • We belong to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church
        • All Rites are equally Catholic.
        • The other Rites are often lumped together and referred to as "Eastern" Rites. This does not really do them justice. They are each as distinct from each other as they are from the Roman Rite of the one Catholic Church.
        • Each Rite is further divided into diocese.
          • The Pope is
            • Christ's "prime minister" or deputy here on Earth and thus the visible head of the universal Church (Christ is the actual, but invisible, Head).
            • The patriarch of the Roman Rite
            • The Bishop of Rome
            • A priest
            • A Deacon
            • He is all of these things.
        • A Catholic who is a member of the diocese of Rome is not more Catholic than we are here in the Arlington Diocese.
          • We have Bishop Michael Burbage as our bishop
          • Someone in Rome has the Pope has his/her bishop.
          • We are equally Catholic.
        • In the same way we are not more Catholic because we are a member of the Roman Rite than someone who is a member of one of the other rites that are united to the Pope as part of the Catholic Church.
        • The "Orthodox Churches" are not united to the Pope, and are not true rites, but differ from true rites only in that they are not united to the Pope, and thus are granted the title of being Churches. The Protestant religions are not granted this title, because they are not Apostolic, and lack one or more of the sacraments.
  • Holy
    • Our faith is from Christ, who is holy
    • our sacraments are a source of grace, the life of God within us.
    • as humans, we still sin, and fail in the call to holiness
    • the saints are still members of the Church "For God is not God of the dead, but of the living" and have achieved permanent holiness
  • Catholic
    • The word "catholic" means "universal"
    • we are universal in that the Church exists in every country of the world
    • we are universal in that the Church exists in every time since the coming of Christ
    • we are universal in that we send out missionaries with the intent to convert the entire human race
    • we are universal in that
      • "baptized, believing and practicing Catholics are 'fully incorporated into the society of the Church'"
      • "those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church"
      • the book enumerates further degrees of lesser unity to the Church as you look at first other Christians, then other religions that acknowledge one God, then other religions, then others who look for God, then others who try to follow good as they understand it. Each of these is responding to God, and is united to the Church imperfectly.
  • Apostolic
    • the word "apostle" refers to the call to preach, and be missionaries
    • we are apostolic in that the Apostles lead the Church in Christ's name
    • we are still lead by their successors
    • all baptized Catholics share in some way the mission to evangelize