Tag Archives: Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catholicism 101

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These are all pretty basic things, but they're essential, too. Sometimes it's helpful to review things that are obvious, and this article from Our Sunday Visitor does just that.

10 Things Catholic catechists should know
A back-to-the-basics look at what Catholics should know
By Emily Stimpson – OSV Newsweekly, 10/23/2011

Fish have to swim. Birds have to fly. Catholics have to go to Mass on Sundays. Once, it all seemed self-evident. Especially the Catholic part. Being Catholic simply meant you knew and did certain things — again, like go to Mass.

Not anymore.

In the years that immediately followed the Second Vatican Council, experimentation, ideological agendas and good — albeit wrong-headed — intentions often confused how the Faith was taught in parishes, schools and homes. The result was a catechetical breakdown that left countless Catholics not knowing what they were supposed to believe or do.

Over the past 20 years, with the publication of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, The General Directory for Catechesis and the National Directory of Catechesis, that trend has reversed itself. In more than a few places, however, the effects of post-conciliar catechetical chaos unfortunately linger.

Recently, Our Sunday Visitor surveyed religious educators across the country about that problem, asking for help compiling a list of catechetical basics, things every Catholic should know, but many don’t.
Here’s what we learned.

1. We all are called to holiness

Sainthood is not the special province of a chosen few. Nor is it something reserved for priests, nuns and quirky medieval souls prone to levitation. God calls everybody to sainthood. But we have to choose to answer that call. We have to learn to say “yes” to the grace God wants to give us and “yes” to his perfect will in every moment of every day.

On a practical level, that means tapping into the font of graces available in the sacraments, especially holy Communion and confession. It also means getting to know the source of grace — God — and through that relationship learning to image him more perfectly in our daily lives, becoming more loving, just and merciful as we encounter him in his creation, Word and Church. It likewise means living by his law, not the world’s. And it means loving our neighbors as ourselves, serving God by serving his children, especially the littlest and the least.

That continual “yes” is, of course, never easy. Especially when it’s a “yes” to joining him on the cross. But the ultimate reward for our “yes” is eternal peace and joy. It’s the attainment of the end for which we were created. And there’s no better end than that.

Check it out: Mt 5:48; CCC 826, 897-913, 941, 1426, 2015

2. We all have fallen short of that call

With the exception of Jesus and Mary, every human soul has inherited the problem of original sin from our first parents. Which means, in part, that we’re born without the sanctifying grace we need to adequately combat temptation.

With baptism, we receive that sanctifying grace, as well as forgiveness for any actual sins committed. But the effects of original sin remain. For as long as we live, each of us retains a great capacity for turning our backs on God. And, to varying degrees, we exercise that capacity daily.

Some do it in big ways — murder, violence, embezzlement, adultery, etc. The rest of us do it in smaller, but still potentially deadly ways. We lie, cheat and hide our mistakes. We gossip and speak ill of our neighbors. We watch television when we should study and check Facebook when we should work. We lose our temper and don’t apologize. We fail to give our time and treasure to the poor. We fail to worship God. We envy. We covet. We judge.

All those sins have temporal consequences, i.e., time in jail or the loss of a friend’s trust. They also have spiritual consequences.

Some cost us that sanctifying grace we so desperately need. Others weaken our capacity to love. All make us susceptible to more sin. All likewise are an offense against God. Which is why we all need to be forgiven by him. We all need to be saved by him. His mercy, and his alone, is equal to the weight of our transgressions.

Check it out: Rom 3:23; CCC 404, 1263, 1849-1869

3. A personal relationship with Jesus isn’t just a Protestant thing

Catholics don’t believe in a generic god. We believe in a personal God, a God who is an eternal communion of Three Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — sharing One Nature. We know that because the Son became man and revealed that truth. He also revealed the way to God: himself. “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life,” he said, “No one comes to the Father but by me.”

Accordingly, a personal relationship with Jesus isn’t a nice option for Catholics in the life of faith. It’s a requirement. If we want heaven, happiness and holiness, we need to know who Jesus is, what he teaches and what he wants from us. We also need to pursue loving and serving him with our whole hearts.

To do that, we need to study Jesus in his Word and the words others have written about him. We need to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. And we need to talk to Jesus about everything — about what we love and hate, fear and desire, think and feel. Every decision, every struggle needs to be brought to him. Praying Our Fathers and Rosaries are good. Necessary even. But more is required. More is wanted. Hence the injunction to “pray at all times.”

Jesus also wants us to invite others to do the same.

His commission to the apostles — “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” — wasn’t just a commission for 11 men. It was a commission for all who call themselves Christians.

Through our baptism and confirmation in Christ, we’re all commissioned to share our faith and invite others to know Jesus. We’re all likewise commissioned to be living witnesses to Christ in the culture — to extend mercy, defend truth, protect life, serve the poor and give hope to a world crying out for it. In short, we’re all commissioned to be agents of the new evangelization, showing all whom we know and all whom we meet the face of Christ. Love, real love, for God and neighbor, requires nothing less.

Check it out: Mt 11:27, 28:16-20; John 14:6; Eph 6:18; Phil 3:8; CCC 422-429, 456-478, 2558-2564

4. Reading the Bible is not just a Protestant thing

A big part of forging that personal relationship with Jesus is reading his Word. In the Sacred Scriptures, we encounter him. We also encounter ourselves, our story — the story of salvation history.

From Adam and Eve to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, the Bible tells the tale of God’s plan for the world. It reveals his love and spells out man’s destiny, with wisdom, adventure, and the highest of high drama. It also teaches us our spiritual family tree, tracing our religious roots back to ancient Israel, the Hebrew people, and beyond.

We need to know that genealogy, that story, and the wisdom dispensed through both. They’re essential for the life of faith. And again, as St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Check it out: Dt 6:1-9; Jos 1:8; 2 Tm 3: 16-17; CCC 80-81, 101-133

5. The Church is not one equally valid choice among many

Rather, it is the Bride of Christ, established by him to be his Kingdom on Earth. Peter was the first one handed the keys to that Kingdom, to bind and loose as the Holy Spirit led him to see fit. Throughout history, the Holy Spirit has continued to guide its popes, ensuring that the Magisterium — the bishops in union with the pope — teaches the truth and nothing but the truth.

Those truths are, importantly, unchanging. Disciplines can (and do) change. Doctrines don’t. They develop, which means new insights are gained and old understandings deepened, but no new understandings can ever contradict the old. Truth cannot contradict itself.

Likewise, the Church does indeed have the corner on truth. To her God has revealed all the truths necessary for our salvation. That’s not to say other religions and ecclesial communities don’t contain pieces, even big pieces, of what subsists in the Church in full. They do. Nor is it to say that everyone who is Catholic will be saved, and everyone who isn’t will be damned. It’s a safe bet that they won’t and they aren’t.

Nevertheless, when we have a choice between the sound ship stocked with all we need for a safe, speedy journey or the leaky dinghy with scant provisions, the wise choice is not the dinghy.

Equally unwise is appointing our selves captains of the ship and attempting to decide where it should go or which provisions can be chucked. Like a ship, the Church is not a democracy. Someone wiser than us has already picked the captain and given him his orders. Those are orders we can trust.

Check it out: Mt 16:18; Acts 15; CCC 74-100, 811-870

6. Hell, sadly, exists

And if we so choose, we can go there, separating ourselves from God for all eternity.

God, being Love, doesn’t desire that separation. Not for anyone. But he respects our choices, and if we choose to separate ourselves from him, dying in a state of freely chosen serious sin, he respects that choice, too.

That, of course, begs the question: Why would anyone make such a choice?

In truth, we do it every day. In countless ways, both big and small, each of us chooses heaven or hell. Every time we choose God — his way, his will — we choose heaven. Every time we choose ourselves — our way and our will over God’s — we choose hell. And all those choices? They add up.

If we spend a lifetime choosing God — saying “yes” to his grace, his law and his love — come the day of our death we’ll find the journey to God reasonably short and choosing heaven reasonably easy. That’s not to say a pit stop in purgatory won’t be required. It might be. But even there, we’ll be among the blessed, getting spruced up through the prayers of the saints in heaven and the faithful on earth so we can see God face to face.

On the other hand, if we spend a lifetime saying “no” to God — cutting ourselves off from his grace, living by the culture’s rules and not his, ignoring him, even denying him — we’ll find ourselves far from God when the end comes. Maybe not so far that we have eternally separated ourselves from him, but far enough that a choice for heaven won’t be easy.

Regardless, come Judgment Day, when we enter the presence of the bright, beautiful, living God, no momentary pleasure sought through sin will seem worth the sadness we’ll feel for that choice. And what if we’ve hardened ourselves through sin to the point where we have no remorse, no sadness for all our wrong choices? That will be a choice for hell indeed.

Check it out: Lk 16:19-25; 1 Jn 3:2; 1 Cor 3:1; Mt 7:13-14; CCC 1023-1037

7. The Church doesn’t think ‘sex’ is a dirty word

It really doesn’t. It thinks it’s a beautiful, holy act of love that can echo the life-giving union within the Trinity.

According to Catholic teaching, sex and sexuality are precious gifts. Through the gift of our sexuality, men and women image God in a distinct and glorious way, and through the gift of sexual intimacy, we possess the ability to give ourselves to another, body and soul, becoming not two but one.

Not surprisingly, the power of such a gift is immense.

Through the marital act, men and women can become co-creators with God, the means by which a new life comes into being. Even when no child results from the union, it still can be an entry point for grace, a means by which God draws the spouses closer in love and friendship, helping them more fully live their vocation and shaping the nature of their relationship.

The power of the gift, however, works both ways. When the gift is abused or misused, it can be an equally powerful force for destruction — doing untold damage to individuals, families, and cultures.

The Church recognizes that. It recognizes that the problems of pornography, premarital sex, contraception, cohabitation, abortion, sexual addiction, adultery, no-fault divorce, homosexual acts, poverty, depression, loneliness and violence are often all of a piece, consequences as much as causes of the misuse of God’s gift of sexuality. That’s why it remains a tireless defender of the truth about human sexuality. Even when its individual members fail to live those truths, it is still their guardian, tasked with protecting them and proclaiming them. And thank God for that. Because those truths? They’re beautiful.

Check it out: Col 3:5; 1 Cor 6:18-20; CCC 2331-2391

8. Sunday Mass is still mandatory

When the Church says Catholics must go to Mass on Sunday, it means every Sunday. Even Sundays when we’re on vacation. Even Sundays when we went to a wedding at 2 p.m. the day before. And even Sundays when the Steelers play.

There are, of course, reasonable exceptions. For example, it prefers we keep our nasty flu virus at home. If we’re at sea for 100 days with no priest in sight, it’s equally accommodating. And it understands when flight delays, a sick child, or an unreasonable boss make it impossible for us to get to Mass from time to time.

It does ask, however, that we do everything possible to avoid making plans that get in the way of Sunday worship. Missing Mass is acceptable for serious and unavoidable reasons. But when those reasons aren’t serious, when Mass is missed because it’s inconvenient, because we’re tired, or because we simply prefer doing something else, then we commit a mortal sin. Which is bad and must be confessed to a priest before we receive Communion again.

That can seem like legalism, but it’s not. It’s actually one of the Church’s most loving provisions. It wants us at Mass because we need to be there. We need to make God the priority. We need to worship him publicly as part of a family of believers. We also need to worship with words and actions that are true, that teach us and form us. Above all, we need to receive Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Spiritually, we can’t live without it. It’s like trying to run a marathon on an empty stomach. Barring a miracle, we won’t get very far.

Check it out: Heb 10:25; CCC 2175-2183

9. Sacramental confession is a must

Just as all of us, from the pope on down, have fallen short of God’s grace, all of us, from the pope on down, need to express contrition to God through one of his priests so we can receive the healing and forgiveness God gives through confession.

For those in a state of mortal sin — the knowing and willing violation of God’s will in serious matters — confession is necessary for regaining sanctifying grace. We cannot be restored to right relations with God until we confess those sins, express true repentance, and have a sincere intent to sin no more.

For lesser sins, the venial ones, frequent sacramental confession isn’t mandatory, but it’s still strongly recommended. The accumulation of sins on our consciences, no matter how small those sins might be, lessens our capacity to love and increases our capacity to sin.

Through sacramental confession, we receive God’s forgiveness, as well as an outpouring of grace to help us resist future temptations.

And he wants us to have that grace. There’s no sin God can’t forgive. More importantly there’s no sin God doesn’t want to forgive.

Mercy, the Church teaches, is God’s greatest attribute. Everything he does is an expression of his merciful love.

It is the how and why behind all his interactions with creation. It’s the reason we know who he is, and it’s what God wants to shower on every one of his precious creatures.

Giving him what he wants is a choice no one lives to regret.

Check it out: Mt 16:19; 2 Cor 5:18; CCC 277, 1422-1470, 1864, 2001

10. All Christians are obliged to do penance

God is big on partnerships. Being a communion of Three Persons, he doesn’t do “alone.” Accordingly, in his work of redeeming the world, he asks us to be his co-workers. One of the ways we do that is through suffering — through willingly accepting pain, sorrow, and difficulty as he did, hanging upon a cross one Friday afternoon.

Christ asks more of us, however, than just to accept the trials given to us. He also asks us to occasionally take on voluntary trials, to do penance. Traditionally, that consists of fasting, praying and almsgiving.

To remind us of that, the Church asks Catholics to perform some act of penance every Friday throughout the year (solemnities excepted), and nearly every day during Lent. It also invites us to perform small acts of penance whenever else we so choose.

Doing penance can include (and sometimes must include) abstaining from meat. We can also skip dessert, say an extra Rosary, send a big check to a good cause or just go have coffee with our mother-in-law. When it comes to penance, the choices are endless. As long as we don’t take on anything too stringent without the counsel of a spiritual director, we’re free to choose from among them.

When we do choose, and choose with a glad and willing heart, we find what the saints have described as a shortcut to Christ, a quicker and in some ways easier path to eternal happiness with him. We also help others find that happiness as well.

And that happiness? It’s the point of everything else the Church teaches. It’s the reason why it exists and for what we were made.

Check it out: Mt 9:1; Col 1:24; CCC 307, 793, 1430-1439, 1500

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What Is a Catholic, Anyway?

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This article appears on the website Peregrinations. The author, writing under the name of Peregrinus, lives in Toronto.

Those of us considering the Ordinariate (a structure for Anglicans coming into full communion with the Holy See) ponder what we believe, what we have been and what we are becoming in terms of our membership in the Body of Christ. We must also consider what a Catholic Christian affirms as distinct from those of other faiths or of no faith.

Catholics are not . . .

First of all it may be helpful to consider what being or becoming a Catholic is not, despite what popular opinion and prejudice may say.

1. Entering or being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church does not mean being “re-baptized”. If one is already baptized by water in the Name of the Holy Trinity, one is already a member of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Here is a helpful thought from Fr. Sam Edwards, an Anglican priest who is entering the Ordinariate:

Like Tennyson’s Ulysses, “I am a part of all that I have met,” and it is a part of me. I was baptized into the Great Belonging of Christ’s body in the Methodist Church, but that act did not make me a Methodist, but a catholic Christian. This is true in the case of all baptisms administered with water “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Methodism claims nothing less; the Catholic Church entirely agrees, for while she teaches that the Church of Jesus Christ “subsists” visibly and most fully in that body whose bishops are in full communion with one another and with the Bishop of Rome, she does not thereby deny the reality of the Christian identity and commitment of those who are outside those limits, but instead invites them inside . . .)

2. Being a Catholic does not only mean you must be a member of the Western Roman Catholic Church. Catholics may equally be members of Eastern churches – in fact Christianity, like Judaism is originally an oriental religion. Some Eastern churches are in full communion with Rome e.g. Ukrainian, Melkite (Arab) and Maronite (Syrian/ Lebanese) Catholics along with many other Eastern churches in a variety of countries using a variety of liturgies and languages.

Continue reading →

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Fr. Robert Barron: "Catholicism"

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One of the really excellent teaching priests in the Church today is Fr. Robert Barron. There's nothing glitzy about him, nothing glamorous or "rock star." He's a simple, down-to-earth man who explains the Catholic faith in simple, down-to-earth terms. He has produced a series called "Catholicism," which will be available on DVD in August. Thanks to Matthew Warner, over on Fallible Blogma, some brief excerpts have been uploaded, just to give a taste of what the series will be like. If you haven't seen any of these yet, here are a few samples from the nearly ten-hour long series.

What Christians Mean By God:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

Who Is Jesus And What Makes Him Unique?:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

The Key To Joy:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

The Mystery Of Eating Jesus' Flesh:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

Peter and Paul: The Indispensable Men:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

Papal Infallibility:
0 Fr. Robert Barron: Catholicism

Remember, these are just brief clips from lengthier and more detailed programs. When the series is available next month, it could be very useful not only for individuals, but perhaps as a group study.

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Tu Es Petrus

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You'll need to set some time aside to read it, but here's a scholarly paper titled Tu Es Petrus, "The Necessity of Peter for the Unity of the Church," by William A. Wheatley, a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont.

In the Introduction, Mr. Wheatley states, "Many who admire and respect the Catholic Church and who consider themselves Catholic Christians nevertheless reject the claims of the Papacy as not being supported by the Bible and not necessary doctrines for Christians to believe. This is true even of many who are otherwise Catholic in their faith. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Catholic claims regarding the Papacy and their foundation."

I encourage you to read the whole paper, and it may provide an opportunity for some interesting comments and discussion.

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Solus Anglicanus

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I was preparing to post another installment of "Gleanings from the Catechism" over this past weekend and I was taken aback by something as I was reading the section on the Church's catholicity, specifically regarding her missionary mandate.  The Catechism quotes from the Vatican II Decree, Ad Gentes, in Paragraph 3, of Article 9,

Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal sacrament of salvation,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the gospel to all men (849).

Pondering this declaration the word "men" (people) stood out in my mind.  As I proceeded through the rest of the paragraph another portion of Ad Gentes was quoted,

With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them, and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic.

There was something in these readings that was tugging on my heart, so I delved into the Encyclical Letter of Blessed John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio.  In this Encyclical (48-49) is contained the following,

This is part of God's plan, for it pleases Him "to call human beings to share in His own life not merely as individuals, without any unifying bond between them, but rather to make them into a people in which His children, who had been widely scattered, might be gathered together in unity.

It was all there, everything we speak, hear, write, and read about here and elsewhere, groups, universality, gathering, unity, etc.  However, the tug was still there.  Then it hit me!  The source of the blow was not my keen perception, but the fine post recently submitted by Mr. Ralph Johnston entitled, Why St. Mary of the Angels Matters. While reading this post, I was nothing less than sickened by the realization that, due to the decision made that prevented St. Mary of the Angels from being received into the Church, there were people, individual souls of God's creation and infinite love, who were scattered.  The statement that I found particularly bothersome was, "Many faithful of the parish were received individually into mainstream Novus Ordo parishes, while others found other church homes including Orthodoxy."  Praise God that the former are at least in Communion with the Vicar of Christ, but what of the latter folks?  This was the subject of the tugging upon my heart: individuals!  Anglicanorum Coetibus is literally a Godsend.  Be that as it may, I submit to you that we may get caught up in the coetibus, the groups, and lose sight of the fact that it is the soli Anglicani, the individual Anglicans, that compose the groups.  If not for the individual souls, the groups do not exist.  We must minister to, and nurture these individuals.  We must avoid at all costs falling into the trap of "broad-brushing" our approach toward the groups to the detriment of the singular personage.

In preparing for last Sunday's sermon, in a different context, I was taking pains to emphasize that in our Christian walk we must not lose sight of the fact that in addition to the communal aspect of our ecclesial life there also exists an equally important individual component, our positions on the "team" so to speak, using St. Paul's sports analogy in 1 Corinthians 9:24ff.  Just as in that sermon, I want to bring to our minds that in the context of Anglicanorum Coetibus we must not lose sight of the particular souls involved.  This being said, I do not believe by any stretch of the imagination that we are, or have discounted this notion.  I merely want to ensure that we don't lose sight of the specific people that we desire to bring into the fullness of the Faith, nor the "custom tailored" ministry that may be necessary in some cases.  Let us continually be aware that each person approaches this matter of moving toward communion with Rome from a different perspective, e.g., personal background, theological understanding, current catechesis, etc.  These differences in perspective raise significant challenges for the community.  For example, there are those of us (I include myself in this group) who have for several years believed everything the Catholic Church believes.  Consequently, the move to communion is merely the logical result of our beliefs.  However, and I will speak for myself, the "baggage" I carry is when I am confronted with talk that I am a "convert."  By dictionary definition conversion is change in belief.  When I am received into the Catholic Church I will change nothing in terms of my belief.  I will merely be where I belong given those beliefs.  So, this talk of "conversion" may be a source of consternation for some.  On the other end of the spectrum, there are many who have had to, or will have to change prior beliefs to a greater or lesser extent.  These folks need a completely different approach than those formerly described.  Given the variety of personalities involved we must ensure that we are prepared to work patiently and prayerfully with each and every member to guarantee the strength of the body.

Nothing I have stated here is new, but I believe it may be an issue hidden in plain sight.  As we glory in the addition of groups to the cause, the adding of pins to the map, we must not lose sight of each person involved in these groups and pins.  Just in the short time since the announcement of Anglicanorum Coetibus we have been witness to the span of interest in the Holy Father's historic endeavor toward Church unity, but let us realize that this is the interest of specific Anglican, Episcopalian, and now Lutheran men, women, and children who desperately need our individualized, personal nurture, love, and prayers.

Take heed that ye not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven (Matt. 18:10).    

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Gleanings from the Catechism VII

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"The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to the faith…once for all delivered to the saints," and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of the world (CCC 785).

These words from the Catechism provide faithful Anglicans with an important reason for availing themselves of the opportunity to restore true communion with the Catholic Church.  This reason centers on one word in the last sentence above: "witness."  I have written previously that the crux of the matter that is Anglicanorum Coetibus is nothing less than the Gospel, taking the good news of Jesus Christ to the world.  I submit this is not being — and cannot be done — if that good news is disjointed, obfuscated, or ambiguous, and that is exactly what it is when it is presented outside the authoritative teaching office of the Catholic Church.  We are reminded in this statement of the Catechism that we share in Christ's prophetic [teaching] office, and to rightly perform this office our message must be backed by the authority of the Church.

As I have progressed along my circuitous journey toward the fullness of the Faith, the trek has become progressively easier; that is because the message I present now is always — and I do mean always — referred to the authority of the Church.  This was not the case when I served Protestant bodies.  When I taught Baptists I always had to explain why all Baptists did not believe the same.  As a Presbyterian I had the ongoing task of sorting through the variant teachings of the alphabet-soup of Presbyterian sects (sound familiar Anglicans?).  Subsequently, as a "Continuing Anglican" the chore was the same, "How come this group in our congregation believes (or doesn't believe) ___?"  Thank goodness for the old cop-out, "pious opinion."  How refreshing it is now to provide two millenia of theological thought to any given question, and when that avails nothing to confront objections with the authority of the Church, to be able to say definitively, "YES! This is what everyone in the Church believes, or should believe, because that is what the Church believes."

Go to any sectarian web site and you will find some statement of faith, confession of faith, manifesto, etc., etc., and you will read what "we" believe.  Is this "we" 14 members of a Plymouth Brethren congregation?  1000 members of a Baptist congregation?  15,000 members of a Presbyterian body?  Or a "Continuing Anglican" province ("Original" or otherwise)?  It does not make any difference how large or small the group may be because the statements bear only self-proclaimed authority, not the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ.  It does not matter how high sounding or verbose these statements may be.  It does not matter how many times they pull St. Vincent of Lerins out of his historical context in an attempt to validate heterodox teaching, or to deny the development of the Church's doctrine as it "deepens its understanding (cf. CCC 785 above)".  Nor does it matter how many times they try to redefine Catholic, or one.  Unless you can say, "This is what the Catholic Church believes" — and prove it by referring to Her authoritative documents — your teaching bears no authority save that which you give it.

Theology is our knowledge of God, and we do not have license to know Him on our own terms.  Theology cannot be done as an individual or in limited groups.  Pope John Paul II of blessed memory writes in Redemptoris hominis 18-21:

[W]hen theologians, as servants of truth, dedicate their studies and labors to ever deepening understanding of that truth, they can never lose sight of the meaning of their service to the Church…and it functions correctly when they seek to serve the magisterium, which in the Church is entrusted to the bishops joined by the bond of hierarchical communion with Peter's successor, when they place themselves at the service of their solicitude in teaching and giving pastoral care, and when they place themselves at the service of the apostolic commitments of the whole of the People of God.

Nobody, therefore, can can make of theology as it were a simple collection of his own personal ideas, but everybody must be aware of being in close union with the teaching truth for which the Church is responsible.

As stated above, theology is our knowledge of God, and that knowledge is the foundation for our presentation of the Gospel.  If this good news is tainted by a lack of authority, it is salt that has lost its savor, and it is good for nothing.  So, let us teach with the authority of our Mother the Church.

Sanctae Familiae Iesu, Mariae, et Ioseph, ora pro nobis!

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At Least He Didn't Say RCIA!

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Bishop Peter Elliott, in his address on the ordinariates that is posted at The Messenger, said the following:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently approved programs of preparation for the laity . . .

I'm glad he did not say RCIA!  That's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

I confess that when in conversation with a Roman Catholic who was musing about what form of RCIA we Anglican Catholics might need, I nodded politely, but did I ever feel insulted. I told a Roman Catholic friend how my head almost exploded at hearing RCIA and he said, "Yeah, especially the way we do it."

"I know someone who teaches RCIA and I don't even think she's a Christian — never mind a Catholic," I added.  Of course, you know me by now: I go off like a firecracker.  Then I think a little further.  I eventually come around.  Okay, okay.  If I have to do RCIA, so be it.

Just recently, one of the adults who was confirmed at our little cathedral, a woman who had a devout faith but came from the evangelical world, told me how good it was for her to go through the catechism before her confirmation a few weeks ago.

I think back to my days at the Baptist Church in the months before the Billy Graham Mission came to Ottawa in 1998.  I signed up to be one of the people to "lead people to Christ" on the floor of the hockey arena where this was going to be held.  We had to take a six week course on the basics of the Gospel so we would be equipped to speak to people who might want to "accept Christ into their hearts."  This course was really basic.  Four spiritual laws basic.  I remember thinking when we started as we received a packet of professionally-designed materials what a public relations juggernaut these missions are.  I chafed a bit, as obviously I am wont to do,  but I did my lessons.  I began to realize how good it is to reexamine the basics and that maybe if I did need to share the Gospel I might need this training as a confidence-building exercise.

Then came the "Billy Graham homework."  We were given a tract — a Four Spiritual Laws sort of tract — and told to share it with someone.  Gack!  A cough, sputter tract?  I am not that kind of Christian.  I have found streetcorner preachers and tract distributors, well, a little tacky, you know?  But, since I wanted to be out there on the floor, I knew I had to complete my assignment.  And I came to understand something really awful about myself.  My reservations came from concern about how I might be received.  I realized to my great chagrin and sense of humiliation that I was ashamed of the Gospel.  So after some tears of repentance, I bucked up and, with heart pounding, and great embarrassment, asked one of my colleagues at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — another television producer — if I could do my "Billy Graham homework" with her.

She laughed at me.  "I'd rather not.  But if you can't find anyone else, you can do it with me."  That wasn't so hard.  I survived.

Not long after being laughed at, I met a friend for coffee, a former CBC TV producer who had retired early after a bout with breast cancer.  I told her about what happened when I tried to do my Billy Graham homework.  "Do it with me!" she said.  Okay.  So I pulled out my tract in the middle of Starbucks and began to read the four spiritual laws to her.  "Slow down!" my friend said.  At the end of the booklet, there was "The Question" — something along the lines of  "Would you like to pray to ask Jesus to come into your heart?"  I rattled off the question dutifully.  To my astonishment, my friend said, "Yes."  You could have picked me up off the floor.

Not long after that I visited another friend in hospital, told her what had happened.  "Do it with me!" she said.  Same thing happened.

When Billy Graham did his altar call to the strains of "Just As I Am," on the floor of the hockey arena, little miracles took place.  Holy Spirit-inspired moments that only God could have arranged.  No public relations juggernaut at all; it was amazing.  But it was good to have done the preparation.  We did our part.  God showed up and He did the rest.  Alleluia.

All of us can use reminders and refreshers on how to share the Good News.  As for more specific catechesis we Anglican Catholics might need — well, the sticking points in our congregation have been papal infallibility, the later Marian dogmas and the Catholic Church's understanding of herself — ecclesiology in other words.  Our diehard Protestants have left us already over these issues.  The ones that remain are now studying and praying with teachable spirits.  It is beautiful to behold.  I pray that I too will have a teachable spirit.  Our bishop is taking our Wednesday evening Bible Study through the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

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Bishop Peter Elliott on Church as Communion and Next Steps for the Ordinariates

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Today as we rejoice in the Communion of the Saints of God, we might do well also to consider what Bishop  Peter Elliott, Australian delegate for Anglicanorum Coetibus has to say in The Messenger about Communion, and our options as Catholic Anglicans.

Bp Peter Elliot Extraordinary Form 200x300 Bishop Peter Elliott on Church as Communion and Next Steps for the Ordinariates

Bishop Peter Elliott celebrates Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

…it is a matter of some urgency to clarify the options that confront traditional Anglo-Catholics at this time.  At first sight there seem to be four options: 1. Rome, via the Ordinariate or by personal reconciliation;  2. Eastern Orthodoxy; 3. the Continuing Anglicans; and, 4. remaining in communion with Canterbury.

However these options fall into two groups. If you take either of the first two options, you are entering communion with traditional apostolic Churches which understand the Church in terms of communion.  In the second two options you are either joining some form of independent association of continuing Anglicans or you are choosing to remain part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The key word is “communion”.  On that we can all agree.  Across the four options, in varying degrees, this is a shared understanding of what it means to be a member of the Church.  But communion as a visible reality depends on bishops.

He turns his searchlight on the option of hanging on at all costs; the option being encouraged, it seems, by the Society of SS Hilda and Wilfrid:

An ecclesiology of communion also throws light on the last option, that is, when some Anglo-Catholics choose, even reluctantly, to remain in communion with Canterbury, “come what may” as they say.  Note that I only refer to convinced traditional Anglo-Catholics.  I do not include those Anglicans who, in conscience, do not hold to the necessity of apostolic order as taught by the Tractarians and their successors, that is, that bishops are of the esse of the Church.

Hard questions can be asked.  Could it be said that Anglo-Catholics who choose “to remain” have embraced congregationalism?  Do they contradict their own Tractarian insistence on “our apostolic descent”?  Are they now saying that the Church is a collection of local congregations of those who maintain Catholic doctrine and sacramental practices?  In this perspective, each parish becomes a Church in itself.  But how can that be?  What would St Paul, St Ignatius of Antioch and all the Fathers of East and West, say about this?

The vicar and parishioners can dig in and hold on, but others may ask whether they are in “the trenches” — or just down a bunker?  They can ignore the bishop and persistently regard their parish as a Church in itself, but whether they like it or not, official Anglicanism carefully maintains the forms of apostolic order.  Inevitably the day will come when empirical reality conquers.  The vicar will retire or die and. because this is pretend congregationalism, the parishioners know that they have no authority to provide a successor.  Then the bishop they pretended did not exist, will act.  He or she will send them a vicar not of their choosing or even close their church.  Do not these sad projections expose the unreality of the fourth option –when chosen by traditional Anglo-Catholics?

I would encourage you to read Bishop Peter's entire piece: but here is how he speaks towards the end of it about the practical steps needed for those considering the Ordinariate:

The steps towards establishing Ordinariates in the United Kingdom, the US, Canada and Australia are well under way.  The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently approved programs of preparation for the laity and formation for the clergy who intend to be reconciled through the Ordinariate. Here the key resource is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Clergy will also need to familiarise themselves with the magisterial sources for systematic and moral theology and the Code of Canon Law.  The “magisterium at your finger tips” may be found in an excellent series of paperback volumes, Precis of Official Catholic Teaching, obtainable from the United States.  These handy books take us into the living teaching voice of the Popes and Councils.  I also recommend the new United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

To establish the Ordinariates, two stages are envisaged next year: 1. the reconciliation and ordination of clergy who have applied for Orders in the Ordinariate and been accepted, then 2. at a later date, the first reconciliations of the lay faithful. The clergy will therefore be in place to welcome and minister to former Anglicans in a community that maintains the familiar Anglican patrimony of worship, spirituality, scholarship and pastoral care.  We saw how that patrimony has enriched English Catholicism during the magnificent papal visit to Scotland and England, particularly during the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman.

More concrete details will appear soon. I believe the model will be set by what proceeds in the United Kingdom in terms of a clear time line built around the two stages.  However, at present it is important to keep informed, for example through circles such as the Friends of the Ordinariate.

Read the entire essay at The Messenger.

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Till the Unity of the Faith

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My wife and I rarely argue about things.  Yes, we still have disagreements, but they rarely ever go beyond two different opinions that last for a short time and we always end up at the same position.  We are two different people with different views of things sometimes. Usually we see eye-to-eye and know what each other is thinking.  I'm sure many of you know exactly what I mean.  We have come to realize over the years that it is our (rare) differences of opinion on minor issues coupled together with our complete agreement on all the essentials, which actually makes us more unified in our marriage.  When we (who deeply love one another) have two different opinions, it helps us to talk through the topic and understand it better.  As a result, we find that we are stronger in our relationship and better able to handle life's challenges and difficulties.

So, what am I talking about us for?  I believe that this is a good paradigm for understanding the diversity and unity that is going to be furthered along by the establishment of the Ordinariates.  When the Anglo-Catholic heritage is brought into the Catholic Church and then protected and secured in the Ordinariates, there will be a good and proper unity and diversity present in the Church that will help it to mature and grow for future generations.  Gregory Dix, in referring to the differences between Eastern Orthodox and Catholics of the past says that, "each side was therefore only seeking to accentuate its theological differences from the other and treasuring every ground of condemnation which it could invent."  Here we see an example of people using their differences as weapons rather than as tools for growth.  The unity that will exist between the Ordinariates and their local diocese, centered on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is the prime ground for learning from each other and growing together in our love for the Lord Christ.

Diversity without Christian love and God's grace always ends up in contentious division. Diversity with Christian love and God's grace can lead to great unity.  The diversity that is coming to the Catholic Church once the Ordinariates are established will have wonderful potential to allow the Church to speak with great wisdom to this degenerating society in which we live.  As we learn from each other's successes (and mistakes) we will be able to help one another to find a deeper relationship with our Almighty God.

In Scripture we are told:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

– Ephesians 4:11-14

Maturity is not automatic; it comes only after the edification that results from the ministry of the Church's pastors.  Pope Benedict is granting to us a "work of ministry" in the Ordinariates that can lead to a wonderful witness of the power of the gospel unlike anything that has come before.  As the Apostle Paul tells us, this will bring us to the "unity of the faith" that we so desperately need.  The Anglican heritage is similar enough to Catholicism to find unity, while it is different enough from today's Catholicism to provide diversity.  This blend, when tempered with brotherly love and the grace of God, is a tremendous opportunity.  There is no way to know specifically how God is going to use this, but the future holds something that is full of promise.

Hope is a dangerous thing.  It can make us patient, and that often leads to faithfulness. When we look upon the diversity that already exists in the Catholic Church and realize that it has the means to mature into the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," then we can see that the future is truly bright.  We learn better when we can complement each other in our differences and grow together into a stronger and wiser people of God.  What an amazing age we have been blessed to live in.

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Now Here's a Good Idea…

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This was in my email inbox today. It was sent by Sean Reed, one of the regular commenters on this blog.

The Fireside Theology Series of St. Barnabas Church continues tomorrow, Thursday night, at 6:30 p.m. in the Undercroft of the Church when we will continue our study of the Apostles Creed in general and the Incarnation in particular. We will be starting with number 422 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Pizza, snacks, and refreshments will be served as we study and discuss the Catholic Faith! Come join us, as you are able!

Also, Vespers of the Dead from Breviarium Romanum will be read at 5:30 p.m. in the Our Lady of Walsingham Chapel. If you would like anyone included in our prayers for the faithful departed, please reply with the names.

Prayer, fellowship and study… what better way to prepare for entering an Ordinariate?

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