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The Magisterium of the Catholic Church
CatholicEssentials.net ^
| 2008
| CatholicEssentials.net
Posted on 04/27/2015 7:15:21 PM PDT by Salvation
The Magisterium of the Catholic Church
Defined as "the Church's divinely appointed authority to teach the truths of religion". In other words, Our Lord gave His Church the authority to teach the faithful about what is expected of them, and that is what the Church has done consistently from the start.
The Magisterium of Catholic Church teaches the faithful in two ways;
1) Solemn Magisterium: is Church teaching which is used only rarely by formal and authentic definitions of councils or Popes. This includes dogmatic definitions by councils or Popes teaching "ex cathedra"
2) Ordinary Magisterium: this second form of Church teaching is continually exercised by the Church especially in her universal practices connected with faith and morals, in the unanimous consent of the Fathers and theologians, in the decisions of the Roman Congregations concerning faith and morals, in the common sense of the Faithful, and various historical documents, in which the faith is declared.
(Definitions from A Catholic Dictionary, 1951) See below for Scripture and Church teaching on the Magisterium of the Church.
References In Scripture to the Magisterium of the Church:
- "And the apostles and ancients assembled to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter, rising up, said to them: Men, brethren, you know, that in former days God made choice among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto them the Holy Ghost, as well as to us" Acts 15:6-8.
- And later in the same chapter: "For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us..." Acts 15:28
- "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned." Matthew 16:15
Catholic Church Teaching on the Solemn and Ordinary Magisterium of the Church:
- "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written Word of God or in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church, either in solemn judgment or in its ordinary and universal teaching office, as divinely revealed truths which must be believed." (First Vatican Council, 1870)
- "For this reason the Fathers of the Vatican Council laid down nothing new, but followed divine revelation and the acknowledged and invariable teaching of the Church as to the very nature of faith, when they decreed as follows: "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written or unwritten word of God, and which are pro posed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a solemn definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal Magisterium" (Sess. iii., cap. 3)" Encyclical On the Unity of the Church by Pope Leo XIII, 1896
- "But for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the second Council of Nicea, where it condemns those "who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind...or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church"; nor that of the declaration of the fourth Council of Constantinople: "We therefore profess to preserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by everyone of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church." Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: "I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church." Encyclical On the Doctrine of the Modernists by Pope Pius X, 1907
- "But as the Church was to last to the end of time, something more was required besides the bestowal of the Sacred Scriptures. It was obviously necessary that the Divine Founder should take every precaution, lest the treasure of heavenly-given truths, possessed by the Church, should ever be destroyed, which would assuredly have happened, had He left those doctrines to each one's private judgment. It stands to reason, therefore, that a living, perpetual "magisterium" was necessary in the Church from the beginning, which, by the command of Christ himself, should besides teaching other wholesome doctrines, give an authoritative explanation of Holy Writ, and which being directed and safeguarded by Christ himself, could by no means commit itself to erroneous teaching" Encyclical On the Church in Scotland by Pope Leo XIII, 1898
- "For these writings attack and pervert the true power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff and the bishops, who are the successors of blessed Peter and the apostles; they transfer it instead to the people, or, as they say, to the community. They obstinately reject and oppose the infallible magisterium both of the Roman Pontiff and of the whole Church in teaching matters" Encyclical by Pope Pius IX in 1873, On the Church of Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, under heading of 'Further Heresies'
- "while for subsequent ages down to our own day it continues to be theoretically true that the Church may, by the exercise of this ordinary teaching authority arrive at a final and infallible decision regarding doctrinal questions..." 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, Infallibility
- "Even the ordinarium magisterium is not independent of the pope. In other words, it is only bishops who are in corporate union with the pope, the Divinely constituted head and centre of Christ's mystical body, the one true Church, who have any claim to share in the charisma by which the infallibility of their morally unanimous teaching is divinely guaranteed according to the terms of Christ's promises" 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, Infallibility
- "Thus, from the universal agreement of the Church's ordinary teaching authority we have a certain and firm proof, demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven- which surely no faculty of the human mind could know by its own natural powers, as far as the heavenly glorification of the virginal body of the loving Mother of God is concerned-is a truth that has been revealed by God and consequently something that must be firmly and faithfully believed by all children of the Church. For, as the Vatican Council asserts, "all those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written Word of God or in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church, either in solemn judgment or in its ordinary and universal teaching office, as divinely revealed truths which must be believed." Encyclical On Defining the Dogma of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII, November 1, 1950
- "It need only be added here that not everything in a conciliar or papal pronouncement, in which some doctrine is defined, is to be treated as definitive and infallible. For example, in the lengthy Bull of Pius IX defining the Immaculate Conception the strictly definitive and infallible portion is comprised in a sentence or two; and the same is true in many cases in regard to conciliar decisions." 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, Infallibility
Examples of the Solemn Magisterium of the Church (also called "ex cathedra teaching"):
- The decisions made during the General Councils of the Catholic Church.
- Papal encyclicals on "The Immaculate Conception" (1849) and "Defining the Dogma of the Assumption" (1950)
Examples of the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church:
- Universal teaching of the Church such as other papal encyclicals (when not written in "ex cathedra" form), universal references such as the Summa Theologica, and writings of Saints that are continually utilized by the Church and passed from Pope to Pope without objection.
Summary
Whatever has been taught by the Catholic Church since the time of Christ, either through "solemn" pronouncements of Councils or Popes, or by unanimous "ordinary" every day teaching, MUST be believed by all Catholics, per what Our Lord said in Scripture and what the first Vatican Council confirmed. Refusing to do so is called "heresy" and places one outside of the Catholic Church.
TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; magisterium
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To: pieceofthepuzzle
I don’t think you are even aware of what few dogmas the Catholic Church holds. Otherwise, you would not have said what you said.
61
posted on
04/28/2015 5:51:24 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
To: ealgeone
Done, it is the same. Possible, not definite.
62
posted on
04/28/2015 5:59:00 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: verga
what is the word used in Greek and is it a noun, verb, tense, voice, preposition, etc?
63
posted on
04/28/2015 6:00:20 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ealgeone
1 Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
64
posted on
04/28/2015 6:17:24 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: verga
It’s light years ahead of “You’re wrong”.
65
posted on
04/28/2015 6:19:15 PM PDT
by
metmom
(...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
To: ealgeone
Romans 11:20-21 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.
66
posted on
04/28/2015 6:20:29 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: ealgeone
Romans 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
67
posted on
04/28/2015 6:21:45 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: metmom
Hey if thinking that helps the prots get through the dark scary night....
68
posted on
04/28/2015 6:28:38 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: ealgeone
You were given the correct translation and exegesis, as opposed to the eisegesis prots engage in, feel free to ignore the truth and have the last word.
69
posted on
04/28/2015 6:35:53 PM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: metmom
To: verga
Due you understand the concept of context in reading the Word??
71
posted on
04/28/2015 7:16:38 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: verga
Nope...I was given nothing from you on 1 John 5:13. You provided an English dictionary definition. I'm asking you to show your greek work....if you did it at all.
72
posted on
04/28/2015 7:17:49 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ebb tide
I am totally aware, and wasn't referring to ‘current’ Dogma. I actually chose to be a Catholic as a young adult (after the age of 18), after careful and deep personal consideration. My parents never had me Christened/baptised, and my background was fairly eclectic. My parents both had tough lives, for different reasons, and I didn't have a family tradition / legacy to draw from. I did a lot of soul searching before making my decision.
To: CynicalBear
>>Rome is not shy about giving herself power..<< And in many instances usurping the place of Chris Catholicism usurps NO power not granted to her by Christ....
74
posted on
04/28/2015 7:35:35 PM PDT
by
terycarl
(COMMON SENSE PREVAILS OVER ALL...)
To: ealgeone
“Simple message” - Hey - there’s no money in that!
75
posted on
04/28/2015 7:57:22 PM PDT
by
headsonpikes
(Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
To: pieceofthepuzzle
Then I’m sorry you left the One, True Church with a faulty knowledge of dogma.
Dogma does not ever change nor get invented as something “new” or “current”.
76
posted on
04/28/2015 7:58:09 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
To: headsonpikes
True, but we didn’t see many rich apostles either!
77
posted on
04/28/2015 8:13:22 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ebb tide
I never left the One True Church, but I am sincerely and honestly grateful for your concern. There are really only a few true Dogmas that we can understand as human beings. One of the most important IMHO, from a Christian perspective, is that God's forgiveness and compassion is beyond our comprehension.
We are all fallible, including the Pope, all priests, and anyone human. When my father died several years ago I arranged for a Catholic mass (he was an alter boy, went to Catholic schools, and despite having a violently abusive ‘Catholic’ father, had retained a very gentle part of his soul). In the middle of the mass, when my sister and I brought the host and wine to the priest, he leaned over to me and asked “aren't you forgetting something?”. He was referring to the monetary contribution I told him I would give the Parish for helping send off my father. He did this in the middle of the mass, and for the entirety of the rest of the mass for my father I sat there berating myself for not knowing I should have given him a check along with the host. That incident is what I remember from my father's funeral, more than anything.
It was ridiculous, and un-Christian, and exemplifies how fallible and ‘human’ we all are. I gave him a check after the mass, and it was for much more than he expected or probably imagined. He was grateful, and I have no ill will or hard feelings.
My point is that IMHO we just aren't sophisticated enough to comprehend or know ‘the Truth’ about all things, no matter who we are or what our designation is. God is beyond us, but with us and in us.
To: ealgeone
This is laughable coming from a prot. “Is” still means “is” as well.
79
posted on
04/29/2015 4:54:06 AM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
To: ealgeone
80
posted on
04/29/2015 4:54:38 AM PDT
by
verga
(I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
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