Catholic Church True Church

1. What is the Catholic idea of the Church of Christ?

The Church is that visible society of men upon earth which was founded by Jesus Christ, guaranteed by Him to exist all days until the end of the world, and sent by Him to teach all nations with His own authority. It is one definite society for man's spiritual good, and its members are bound together by the profession of the same and complete Christian faith, by the same Sacraments and worship, and by submission to the same spiritual authority vested in the successors of St. Peter the present successor being the Bishop of Rome.

2. When did the Church established by Christ get the name Catholic?

Christ left the adoption of a name for His Church to those whom He commissioned to teach all nations. Christ called the spiritual society He established, "My Church" (Mt. xvi, 18), "the Church" (Mt. xviii, 17). In order to have a distinction between the Church and the Synagogue and to have a distinguishing name from those embracing Judaic and Gnostic errors we find St. Ignatius (50-107 A.D.) using the Greek word "Katholicos" (universal) to describe the universality of the Church established by Christ. St. Ignatius was appointed Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome. It is in his writings that we find the word Catholic used for the first time. St. Augustine, when speaking about the Church of Christ, calls it the Catholic Church 240 times in his writings.

3. What positive proof have you that the Catholic Church is the only true Church?

The proof lies in the fact that the Catholic Church alone corresponds exactly to the exact religion established by Christ. Now the Christian religion is that religion which—

(a) Was founded by Christ personally;

(b) Has existed continuously since the time of Christ;

(d) Demands that all her members admit the same doctrine;

(e) Exercises divine authority over her subjects, since Christ said that if a man would not hear the Church he would be as the heathen.

Now the Catholic Church alone can claim—

(a) To have been founded by Christ personally. All other Churches disappear as you go back through history. Christ said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." Matt. XVI, 18. There are many claimants to the honor of being Christ's Church. But among all non-Catholic Churches, we find one built on a John Wesley; another on a Martin Luther; another on a Mrs. Eddy, etc. But the Catholic Church alone can possibly claim to have been built on Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and one-time Bishop of Rome.

(b) To have existed in all the centuries since Christ.

(d) To be Catholic or universal.

(e) To speak with a voice of true authority in the name of God.

4. Where in Scripture does It mention that Christ founded any such system?

In general, Christ terms His Church a kingdom, which supposes some organized authority. However the explicit steps in the establishing of an authoritative hierarchy are clear. Christ chose certain special men. "You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you." Jn. XV., 16. He gave them His own mission. "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you." Jn. XX., 21. This commission included His teaching authority: "Teach all nations ... whatsoever I nave commanded you." Matt. XXVIII, 19-20; His power to sanctify -"Baptizing them," Matt. XXVIII., 19-forgiving sin, "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven," Jn. XX., 23—offering sacrifice, "Do this for a commemoration of Me." 1 Cor. XL, 24; His legislative or disciplinary power - "He who hears you, hears Me, and he who despises you despises Me," Lk. X., 16; "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven," Matt. XVIII., 18. "If a man will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen," Matt. XVIII., 17. The Apostles certainly exercised these powers from the beginning. Thus we read in the Acts of the Apostles, "They were all persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles," II., 42. St. Paul himself did not hesitate to excommunicate the incestuous Corinthian. 1 Cor. V, 3-5. And he wrote to the Hebrews, "Obey your prelates, and be subject to them." Heb. XIIII., 17.

5. Cannot the Congregationaliat make out an equally strong case for a universal Spiritual Brotherhood, but with local independence of churches?

There is no evidence of independent local churches in Scripture, nor in primitive documents. There is evidence that there were distinct groups of Christians in various places, just as there are Catholics in New York under one Bishop, and Catholics in London under another. All true Christians certainly formed a universal spiritual brotherhood, as Catholics do today; but local autonomy existed only in the sense that there were Bishops in charge of various localities, the Bishops themselves being subject to St. Peter, and after his death, to the successor of St. Peter.

6. Whilst I walk in the Spirit, I do not think it necessary to be subject to any visible organization.

You may say that you believe it unnecessary. But pay attention to the words of Christ I have just quoted. He thought it necessary, and He has the right to map out the kind of religion we accept. If Christians had to accept such disciplinary authority in the time of the Apostles, they must accept it now. Christianity is Christianity. It does not change with the ages. If it did, it would lose its character, and not remain the religion of Christ, to which religion alone He attached His promises. And remember His prediction that His flock would be one fold with one shepherd. Jn. X, 14-16. You would have sheep, not gathered into one fold, but straying anywhere and everywhere, having no shepherd with any real authority over them.

7. Why do yon reserve the Hierarchical authority to men? Why not give women a chance?

His name and with His authority. St. Paul explicitly forbids women to attempt to exercise such functions. People who would ordain women in the Church seem to believe that they know more about Christianity than St. Paul. 1 Cor. XIV, 34-35, says: "Let women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith. But if they would learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church." America is today a marvelous example of how people obey the Bible. 1 Tim. II, 11-12 says, "Let the women learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man; but to be in silence."

8. Protestant principles demand that the Catholic Church is wrong,

They must say that the Catholic Church is wrong or else why are they Protestants? Yet they must also admit that not one of their denominations has any right to declare itself to be the one True Church. And that, for the simple reason that Christ did not establish any institution which could be known by men to be His Church.

9. You Catholics claim to see what cannot be seen.

We Catholics claim that Christ did establish a visible and discoverable Church. You Protestants do not deny that Christ established a church of some kind. But you must deny that the Catholic Church is the True Church prior to the Reformation, or there could be no excuse for setting up the Protestant Churches. Yet, since these Protestant Churches did not exist prior to the Reformation, where was the True Church then? There is but one way out. It was there invisible! And it is here today—invisible.

10. Luther said that the True Church consisted of the Saints, the Saints being true believers whose sins are not imputed to them, but who have the merits of Christ imputed to them instead. People belong to the True Church by the invisible bond of grace. And as no man can judge who are in God's grace and who are not, no man can definitely locate the True Church in this world.

From this we can say that the Catholic Church must be wrong in her claim to be the True Church precisely because she can be identified and located in this world. The Protestant Churches must at least be more right because they don't claim to be right. For although the Church is for men, it is undiscoverable by men. The only right answer to the question, "Where is the True Church?" is that nobody can say. Luther's idea is not antiquated by any means. Recently I read a Protestant clergyman's article in a Sunday newspaper, maintaining that "the Church does not make saints; saints make the Church." But alas for the theory! Those alone would then be members of the Church who are in a state of grace. "Fall into sin and you fall out of the Church" would then be the rule! Yet Christ says clearly that many not in the grace and friendship of God will belong to His Church. He likened that Church to a net holding good and bad fish. Matt. XIII, 47-48. The net was to be quite good, but there would be bad fish within it. It was to be as a field with cockle and wheat growing side by side. Matt. XIII, 24-30. Or again, the members of the Church would be like the ten virgins, five with oil in their lamps, and five without. Matt. XXV, 1-12. It is certain, then, that the Church is not composed only of those with God's grace within their souls. Some other bond must be found which unites men within the fold of the Church of Christ. ^;

11. How about the invisible theory?

The invisible theory is useless, unreasonable, and against the teachings of Christ. That any Protestant Church is the visible Church of Christ, the authorized guide of all nations, directly established, commissioned, and guaranteed by Him, will not bear examination. The Catholic Church alone fulfills requirements. Christ certainly intended that men of good will should be able to find and become members of the True Church of this world. His Church was to be a visible organization.

12. What do you mean by a visible organization?

When I say that the True Church must be a visible Church I intend the word in a very special sense. As I can find the visible brick building representing a Presbyterian, Episcopalian or Lutheran Church in the same sense I can certainly discover the visible building used by the community. But that is not the sense I intend when speaking of the visibility of the True Church. I mean that the True Church must be obviously existent in this world, and that it must always have obvious signs distinguishing it as the True Church from all other claimants. , :

13. Did Christ establish any Church?

Christ certainly intended His Church to be visible and discoverable, not only as an existent fact in this world but as being His. Talk of a purely invisible bond of grace fails utterly in the presence of Christ's words likening His Church to a city which, set upon a hill, "cannot be hidden." Matt. V, 14. If He establishes a Church to which He invites all men to come, it must be a Church discernible as His. The Apostles and the early Fathers condemn schism, which can only mean separation from a visible, historical, and organized Church. Were the Church not a discernible Church, the forbidding of schism would be absurd. No man would know whether he had left the True Church or not. St. Cyprian who died as early as 258 A. D. had no misgivings on the subject. "Whoever is separated from the Church," he wrote, "is separated from the promises of Christ; nor will he who leaves the Church of Christ obtain the salvation of Christ. He becomes a foreigner and an enemy. One cannot have God as a Father who has not the Church as his mother." If a man who is separated from the Church is separated from the promises of Christ, it is of the utmost importance that he should be able to know which is the True Church to which he must cling.

(more to come)