A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 16: The Catholic Church is the Only True Church

OLRL ^ | Fr. William J. Cogan

[NYer]

Lesson 16: The Catholic Church is the Only True Church

"Whom do you say that I am?  Simon Peter answered and said:  Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answering, said to him:  Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona:  because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father Who is in Heaven.  And I say to thee:  Thou art Peter; and upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."  (Matthew 16:16-18)

JESUS GIVES HIS AUTHORITY TO THE APOSTLES

"And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying:  All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.  Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:  and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."  (Matthew 28:18-20)

1. Can you learn to save your soul just by reading the Bible?
      No, because some of the things in the Bible can be misunderstood and because the Bible does not include everything that God taught.

   "Understanding this first, that no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation."    (2 Peter 1:20)
   
   

   "As also in all his [St. Paul's] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest [twist], as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction."    (2 Peter 3:16)

• What did Jesus do to make sure that His teaching would never be misunderstood?
     He established a church.

  "The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."    (1 Timothy 3:15)

• When did Jesus establish His Church?
     Nearly two thousand years ago.

• How many churches did Jesus establish?
     Only one.

  "Upon this Rock I will build My church."    (Matthew 16:18)
  
  

  "There shall be one fold and one shepherd."    (John 10:16)

• How long did Jesus plan His Church to last?
     Until the End of the World.

  "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."    (Matthew 28:20)

• How did Jesus establish His Church?
  By giving His authority to the Apostles to rule and to teach.

  "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."    (Matthew 28:20)

• Did the people have to obey the Apostles?
     Yes, because they spoke with the authority of Jesus, and therefore, to disobey them would be a sin.

  "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me."    (Luke 10:16)

• Did the authority of the Apostles die with them?
     No, they handed down their authority to others, since Jesus instituted His Church to last until the end of the World.

  Some of the men who received authority from the Apostles:  Matthias (Acts 1:22), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2), Timothy, Silas, Sylvanus, Titus, Luke, Mark (Acts 17:14; 2 Corinthians 1:19; 2 Timothy 14:11)

• Which Church today has the same authority?
     The Catholic Church, because it is the only Church established by Jesus Christ.

• How do you know the Catholic Church is the only true church?
     History shows that it is the only church that can be traced back to Christ.

• Does everyone have to obey the Catholic Church?
     Yes, because She alone has the authority of Jesus to rule and to teach.

  To disobey the Catholic Church knowingly is just as much a sin as to disobey Jesus Christ or His Apostles.

• Where did the Protestant churches come from?
     They were established by men who had no authority to start churches of their own.

• Who started the first Protestant church?
     The first Protestant church was established less than 500 years ago in Germany by Martin Luther, in 1520.

• Name the founders of other leading Protestant churches.
  

  Name of church	Founder	When	Where
  Episcopalian	King Henry VIII	1534	England
  Presbyterian	John Knox	1560	Scotland
  Congregationalist	Robert Browne	1583	England
  Baptist	John Smith	1600	Holland
  Methodist	John Wesley	1739	England
  Adventist	William Miller	1831	New York
  Christian Scientist	Mary Baker Eddy	1879	Massachusetts

PRACTICAL POINTS

1. A non-Catholic who suspects that the Catholic Church is the one true Church of God and does not investigate Her claims with a mind to join if Her claims prove to be true, cannot be saved, because outside of Christ's Mystical Body (the Catholic Church), there is no salvation.

2. You should try to bring others "to the knowledge of the Truth"  (1 Timothy 2:4)  by prudently suggesting that they take instructions in the True Religion.

[WhoHuhWhat]

Another helpful post. Thank you.

I assume most RC's, as with most denominations, stop their catechism training with this kind of "short" or "brief" catechism. Am I wrong?

Did the people have to obey the Apostles? Yes, because they spoke with the authority of Jesus, and therefore, to disobey them would be a sin. "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me." (Luke 10:16) Did the authority of the Apostles die with them? No, they handed down their authority to others, since Jesus instituted His Church to last until the end of the World. Some of the men who received authority from the Apostles: Matthias (Acts 1:22), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2), Timothy, Silas, Sylvanus, Titus, Luke, Mark (Acts 17:14; 2 Corinthians 1:19; 2 Timothy 14:11) Which Church today has the same authority? The Catholic Church, because it is the only Church established by Jesus Christ.

A simply amazing jump from "The Apostles" to "The Catholic Church". Forget the poo-pooing of their validity (for now), they are more talking points than catechism. Again:

Name the founders of other leading Protestant churches. Name of church Founder When Where Episcopalian King Henry VIII 1534 England Presbyterian John Knox 1560 Scotland Congregationalist Robert Browne 1583 England Baptist John Smith 1600 Holland Methodist John Wesley 1739 England Adventist William Miller 1831 New York Christian Scientist Mary Baker Eddy 1879 Massachusetts

An 8-10yr Sunday School student should fail a Church History test with these answers.

Do "cradle catholics" get better catechism at a later point?

[ichabod1]

Pope Leo XIII’s Apostolicae Curae (1896) declared the Anglican apostolic succession invalid.

[AnAmericanMother]

Um, I used to be an Episcopalian, and that legendary origin for the Anglican church is wishful-thinking and legacy-creating, primarily political with an eye towards England's claims on the Continent.

If there was such a Christian church in England, it was long gone by the time Pope Gregory sent missionaries to the Angles. The Celts were driven out of England by successive waves of invaders.

The English claim for precedence over the French and Spanish was political in origin, and the Joseph of Arimathea legend was pressed into service of that claim. Sadly, it has no basis in fact.

[AnAmericanMother]

Easy, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

But the Episcopalians right this minute are claiming that the Holy Spirit has led them to consecrate practicing homosexuals as bishops and 'bless' homosexual partnerships. The Holy Spirit has led them to reinterpret Scripture so that the proscriptions against homosexuality in the Bible are only against "temple prostitution."

How do we distinguish valid promptings of the Holy Spirit from promptings by Something Else, or from maliciously or negligently fraudulent claims of promptings of the Holy Spirit?

[Pyro7480]

But what you said was wrong, and I was correcting the record.

[Ransomed]

That’s what I thought. Rome did consider them apostolic for a long time, right? Did the other apostolic Churches quit considering them apostolic at the same time or what?

Freegards

[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

How self-serving.

[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

Wrong, on both counts.

[Pyro7480]

You said Many predate the Roman church! (Eg: Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Coptic) So, knock it off already!

The Eastern Orthodox and Coptic doesn't predate Christianity in Rome. They both date from the Apostles. The Anglican Church was created with Henry VIII's schism.

[AnAmericanMother]

Apostolicae Curae was basically the formalization of a consensus that Anglican orders were rendered invalid during the reign of Edward VI, Henry VIII's son. Edward's radical Protestant advisers changed the manner of consecration of bishops and ordination of priests to remove the words empowering a priest to celebrate the Eucharist and perform the "office and work" of a priest. That omission from the traditional form was intended to separate from the Catholic Church by omitting any special power of the Holy Spirit, because the radical Protestants believed in "every man his own priest" and denied any special power in ordination. So both intention and actual words severed the line of Apostolic Succession.

In 1555, after Queen Mary's accession to the throne and the return of England to Catholicism, Pope Paul IV issued the Bull Praeclara Charissimi, directing that "those who have been promoted to ecclesiastical Orders . . . by any one but a Bishop validly and lawfully ordained are bound to receive those Orders again." Apostolicae Curae also notes that converting priests were reordained in the 17th and 18th centuries, thus indicating that their orders were not valid.

[ichabod1]

I believe it sort of came and went. Henry took the English out of the Church, but then when Bloody Mary got in she took them back, then James took them out again, for good. The bishops that joined Henry were validly consecrated bishops. Therefore, in my understanding, those they ordained were validly (but illicitly) done. However, Leo XIII declared that they were indeed INVALID, due to defects in the form of ordination.

So, yes, for centuries, apparently, they were considered schismatics, but validly ordained. One hundred eleven years ago, that was overturned.

It’s interesting that this was just about the time that the C of E stoppped persecuting Catholics and allowed them to have their own churches.

[ichabod1]

You explain things so well. Thank you.

[dan1123]

I don’t think the Episcopalians believe that the Bible is really God’s word. I had a female Episcopalian priest(ess) illustrate their “3 legged stool” approach to religion and downplayed the Bible in a discussion about homosexuality back in 1998.

“How do we distinguish valid promptings of the Holy Spirit from promptings by Something Else, or from maliciously or negligently fraudulent claims of promptings of the Holy Spirit?”

It’s pretty easy to tell if someone is being genuine to their own religion or using touchy-feeley language to rationalize their position. Squirming around direct Bible verses is your first hint.

[ImpBill]

Apparently not the only disease!

[Pyro7480]

That hierarchy you condemn was set up by Christ Himself with the Apostles. Ecclesiastical egalitarianism lead to societal egalitarianism, and we know what the fruits of societal egalitarianism are.

[Ransomed]

Wow!! You guys rock! Thanks very much fer taking time to help a less edjumcated Catholic out!

Freegards

[AnAmericanMother]

But lots of folks "squirm around direct Bible verses", as you put it.

John 6:48 et seq. is a usual suspect.

What is the authority for distinguishing interpretation from ill-intended parsing?

[dan1123]

“Arrogant words such as these have started wars in the past. Shame on whoever uttered them.”

I’m pretty lenient with people claiming their way is the only way. I consider Catholicism a different religion from Christianity, and it is their right to make claims to their superiority, and back it up with what they wish. There are quite a few groups who make exclusivity claims on Jesus, including Mormonism and Islam.

[AnAmericanMother]

I just knew all that time spent as an Episcopagan would come in handy some day . . . < g >

[AnAmericanMother]

Wow, I knew there were some folks around who didn't think Catholics were Christians. Do you really believe that, or is it just for rhetorical effect?

They're sure more Christian than the Episcopalians right now . . . maybe that's damning with faint praise, but it sure was nice to get into a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church! I haven't noticed any absence of Christianity in my new parish -- our priests preach the Gospel and "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."