Catholic and Protestant

The source of Catholics knowledge of religion would have to start with sacred scripture and tradition. At the time of Jesus, so much was happening and changing because of Jesus, all of the information couldn't be retained. So what happen was that Christ told the Apostles all that they needed to know and they wrote in down on the new testament. We continue to learn about these teachings in Mass.

The protestant's knowledge of religion comes from an interrelated series of schisms that took place from 1517 - 1648. In 1517, Martin Luther began publishing criticism against the sales of Indulgences, which are a means for the faithful to obtain remission from the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. It is important to remember that even before the time of the Reformation, there was a growing tension between these rising nation-states and the Church as rulers wished to consolidates control of the local Churches under their own power.

Apostolic Marks

The four marks of the Church:

• One- is of foundational importance for understanding the other three. When we say that the Church is one, we are saying that we acknowledge the uniqueness and singularity of the Church. We recognize that we only have one God and that we believe Jesus has instituted One Church. One also represents unity and Church is all about that. The Church doesn't separate its people and put others before one another. The Church believes that we are on Body, like a unit.
• Holy- received from Christ her founder through the indwelling of the H.S. Christ sanctifies the Church and fills her with his grace so completely that she becomes sanctifying herself. It is the Church's goal to bring glory to God. The Church is also Holy in the means that she has been given to bring all men into communion with God.
• Catholic- the word, "Catholic" typically is used today as a denominational term, much like Baptist. This indicates that Catholic is referring to something in specific, such as a limited group of Catholics but this gives a false representation. Catholic comes from a Greek word katholikos, meaning "universal." The Church is said to be Catholic in a way to where she is whole and complete. The other way being that she receives universal authority from Christ to fulfil her universal mission.
• Apostolic- The fourth mark of the Church, indicating that the Church was founded by Christ and given to the Apostles. The Church is Apostolic in three ways; It has an Apostolic foundation, having been built and remaining on the foundation of the Apostles; it has Apostolic Faith, because she guards and transmits the teachings of the Apostles with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in her; and it has an Apostolic succession because she continues to be taught, sanctified, and directed by the Apostles in the persons of their successors in the pastoral ministry; the College of Bishops, presided over by St. Peter’s successor, the Pope.

 

A Strange Unity

If the Catholic Church is supposed to be unified, than why does it need different rites?

 First of all, what is a rite? A rite, in a catholic sense, is a mode of worship that a certain part of the Church uses in its liturgy. These rights can vary across the different diocese of the Catholic Church. They are morphed and developed by the impact of local culture, ethnicity and background. There are twenty-one different recognized rites in the Catholic Church. Their main difference is the language that they are spoken in; these languages vary from Arabic to Armanian.

So why does the Church allos such variation if it preaches "oneness" as one of its marks? Mostly because the core of what these liturgies are saying remain unchanged. If all the rites where communicating seperate truths about Christ there would be a serious problem, but this is not the case. These rites simply serve the universal quality of the Church. They makes sure that the Church can reach every language and preach in a way that the local population can understand and relate to. If every Chruch spoke in english and followed our customs, we would have a serious problem in the French Church, don't you think? That is why these rites are so important, they unite the Church by preaching the same message, but in a way that the local Catholics can understand

Remembering the Heresies

So why should we care about what we learned in theology this week?

Starting last monday, our theology class at Strake Jesuit studied the early heresies of the Catholic Church and up to reformation. The last sentence I typed might be enough to put someone asleep at first glance, but what we learned was important and I am going to tell you why.

A heresy is the denial of a declaired Christian truth by a baptized member of the Catholic Church. It can be anything from claiming Christ had a little sister to claiming that Jesus never died for us. Mistakes and miscomunnications made ridiculous ideas like this prevalent in the early Church and caused serious division within it. But why should we care about it now? Why should we care now that Arius denied Christ's divinity or that Nestorus decided Christ was two people? Personally, I think its so we can avoid repetition. You see, we need to remember these things because if we forget about them, whats to stop them from happening again? How easy is it for a Catholic to absent mindedly mix in a little of his or her own opinion with their understanding of the truth of God? After this is done, these ideas can spread quickley. These misteachings can cross continents and turn Catholics against eachother. They can and have split our Church apart, disrupting the Unity that Christ wants for his Church.

We can prevent heresy from spreading. By remembering that the authority to decide Catholic truth lies with the Catholic Magisterium and not with the individual, we can prevent their birth. By staying connected with and obeying the the Vatican, with the Pope and his bishops, we can prevent them from spreading. And by continued efforts in Ecuminism, efforts toward Christian Unity, we can erase the wounds that they have left on the Unity of Christs Church.

But  as pointed out above, to do these things, we must remember. Remembering these events helps prevent them from happening again. Through study, we remember. Through prayer, we remember. Through paying attention in Mr. Cole's class, we remember. History repeats itself, but only if we are ignorant of our past.

A special thanks to Mr. Cole for preserving the unity of the Catholic Church.