Posted on 01/13/2014 7:47:32 AM PST by cleghornboy
Monday, January 13, 2014 The "Catholic" Free Press: Pope Francis' example makes it possible to accept heresy
The Catholic Church claims, and has pronounced on many occasions, the infallible truth that Christ both willed and established a hierarchical Church. Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., in his book entitled Fundamentals of Catholicism, Volume 3, notes how, "In the course of her long history, there have been many heretics and dissenters who have denied, in one way or another, the hierarchical constitution of the Church. Some have said that Jesus had no intention of establishing a visible Church with bishops, priests and sacred authority; for them, the Church is an internal, invisible reality of the heart that arises from the preaching of the Gospel and faith in Jesus. Others rejected the special priesthood and the hierarchy, and acknowledged only the general priesthood of all the faithful. Against them the Council of Trent solemnly declared: 'If anyone says that in the Catholic Church there is no divinely instituted hierarchy consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers: let him be anathema.'" (Fundamentals of Catholicism, Vol. III, p. 102, citing Canon 6 of the Council of Trent's Canons on the Sacrament of Order).
The word anathema comes from the Greek meaning hated or accursed. An anathema is an excommunication. Saint Paul employs this term to describe those who have separated themselves from the Christian community by sins such as teaching a false gospel [See for example Galatians 1].
Those who produce The "Catholic" Free Press [Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts] have now separated themselves from the Church's communion by embracing the very notion that the Council of Trent anathematized: that the hierarchical constitution of the Church is not divinely instituted.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasalettejourney.blogspot.com ...
....Those who produce The "Catholic" Free Press [Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts] have now separated themselves from the Church's communion by embracing the very notion that the Council of Trent anathematized: that the hierarchical constitution of the Church is not divinely instituted.
PFL
Unfortunately, this definition of ‘the church’ cannot be true, unless Christ is a liar. Look at the Church in context of Scripture.
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Mat 5:14-15
So here Christ says His Church will be visible.
“Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Eph 4:3-5
The Church is to be one, not many. “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Mat 6:18
Here Christ says his Church will not be destroyed.
“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:12-13
“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1Tim 3:15
Here Christ says, and Paul reaffirms, that the Church will always teach the TRUTH.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."Mat 28:18-20
Again, here Jesus assures us that He is always with us, to the very end.
So Christ says His Church will not be destroyed or fall away from him, that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church to always teach the Truth, and He will always be with us. The Church is much more than a collection of nice people who read a Bible and believe anything they want.
No, they must be told what to believe and how to believe it.
“Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
Is somebody confused by Christ’s meaning in this?
Hierarchy is a “hot button”. Misunderstood and intentionally misused. The parables of vine and vineyard do more justice to God’s hierarchy than comparisons to secular hierarchies.
There has to be Hierarchy in any organization or it fails miserably.
There has to be someone who says “Thus saith The Lord”.
As it is in “The Church” (meaning all of Christianity) there are many different versions of “Thus Saith The Lord” and they all say different things.
While I do not believe that Christ built His Church on Peter I do believe he left Peter in charge and left the Apostles as the ruling body to oversee the various churches through out the world.
This Hierarchy means that one person answers to Christ for the condition of The Church. One person speaks for Christ on earth. Through The Holy Ghost God can speak to all of us but on matters affecting the whole or even part of the church there can only be one voice.
"Trust in the Lord [not the pope] with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding." This applies to everyone - even some guy who wears a lot of fancy robes and is obeyed by foolish people who can't cope with life without another human being telling them what to do.
I believe history show that the Church inherited hierararchy, long with schools, courts, hospitals, and infrastructure administration from the fall of Rome. Necessary functions a sent governments during the dark ages but not really part of the core mission. Most of what people who don’t like the RCS don’t like comes from this part of history, IMHO. Carrying Christ’s message and mandates has been pretty clear apart from the admin responsibilities mentioned. Even today’s Catholic s need to distinguish between the two. Francis seems to get it and will be helpful in deemphasizing the non-Christ cruft in the Church.
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Mat 5:14-15
Matthew is referring to the faithful in Christ – THEIR LIGHT, not an institutional hierarchy.
“Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Eph 4:3-5
Again, the reference is to the faithful in Christ – THAT THEY BE VISIBLE, it is not a reference to an institutional hierarchy.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Mat 6:18
The context is in the framework of a question Yeshua put to the disciples – upon what would His Church be founded, a question that Peter answered – that that foundation is belief that Yeshua is the Christ, and Yeshua’s answer to Peter is a play on words (Petra = rock) that is saying that Peter’s ANSWER, NOT Peter, is the rock the Church is built on.
As to: ““I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:12-13 and “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1Tim 3:15
The “house of God”, as written by the learned Jewish-Christian Saul/Paul is not a physical place, it is a relationship, as in:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [see When And Where Your Eternal Life Will Begin and The Eighth Day: Empty Cemeteries], I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
The “house of Abraham” was not a physical place, it was all the kin of Abraham including all descended from Abraham, as is the case with the “house of Jacob”, and as it is for all who by faith and practice dwell in the “house of God” spiritually, keeping to the foundation of His Church that He is the risen Christ. That is NOT faith in a human hierarchical institution, nor “dwelling” in a human institution, but “dwelling” that is LIVING, in His Church by faith and practice from the foundation of that Church which is that He is the risen Christ.
And yes: “Again, here Jesus assures us that He is always with us, to the very end.”
It is quite true that Jesus did not establish any formal institutions during his earthly ministry. That was designated to St. Peter. And the Apostle St. Paul also did much to spread faith in the known world and among the gentiles.
It is also quite true that Jesus never promoted mandatory celibacy nor is such a practice ever mentioned in any part of the Bible in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. In point of fact priests were EXPECTED to be married men in good standing.
Nor was mandatory priestly celibacy a part of the early Church tradition. Many if not all of the early popes were married as were the overwhelming majority of priests and archbishops for the first ten centuries of the Church’s history.
Mandatory clerical celibacy was implemented in the Middle Ages as a direct result of rampant corruption in the Church, especially nepotism and as a response to the Protestant Reformation.
Good post.
2000 year history and going strong says Christ did establish the Roman Catholic Church to continue His truth.
Paul gives us ... a good read.
Good to see him back.
Obviously, we don’t know if you have a pastor. But some may say that you speak as if you do not recognize his authority in your church.
Makes total sense.
Not.
“to establish a Church that could be interpreted by anyone to mean whatever they think it to means by anyone who reads a bible”
On one hand it is not hard to say that that is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church has done in self-surving Roman Catholic theology that ascribes to itself and itself alone what a proper expression of Christianity is, in spite of many errors in that doctrine and practice.
But Yeshua never gave temporal authority to an institution of men - he gave his authority to individuals and it is to Him, not their human-made institutions (in which they may or may not have always lived up to Christ’s mandate to them) that they have always owed their worship - founding His Church on the rock of salvation of belief that He is the risen Christ, not on a temporal foundation of a human institution that only imperfect humans create.
Christ’s Church - the Church I just described - WILL continue to the end of time and humans will continue to participate in THAT church - a personal relationship with G-d, no matter how often scripture, their faith and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit leads them to end, alter, change and reform human temporal institutions that other humans built. Christ is not against that process, He is part of it, part of keeping his only real Church present among men - his spiritual Church, whether they claim to be part of this or that human institution, or not.
Makes no sense whatsoever. So everyone can make up what they want to believe.
What do these four words of Scripture mean - "This is My Body."
Does is (estin in Greek) mean is, or does it mean 'represemts' as so many believe? How do you know with certainty?
We know is means is because of the Church Christ established. You know it means represents because of man-made traditions and beliefs.
The Lord left Peter in charge and gave him the keys of the kingdom, who else has them?
When The Lord through The Holy Ghost tells you that the leadership is invalid then go somewhere else where it is valid. A church without leadership is anarchy and will never survive and will never bring large numbers of people to Christ.
“Makes no sense whatsoever. So everyone can make up what they want to believe.”
That’s a straw man argument, made up by you, not me.
It only means that other Christians do not have to accept the Roman Catholic Church as “the only true Christian Church”, nor do they have to accept many Catholic practices as Christian.
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