Sun Chat: June 21 THE CHURCH

As Catholics, we do not make our way through life alone, but as members of God’s family, his Church. Its members, those baptized into the life of Christ, are brothers and sisters with each other and form a body with Christ as its head. The Catholic Church is the living and saving presence of Jesus Christ in the world.

In a pastoral letter, The Church: Our Spiritual Home, I reflected more at length on this article of the Creed. The Church was established to be God’s family; and as a family it has a certain recognizable form. It is distinguishable from other institutions and associations. The Church is a family that can be identified by distinctive characteristics it has had since the start of its life — a beginning we find described in the Bible’s account of the first Christian Pentecost and the days that followed (Acts 2-4).

At that first Pentecost the Spirit fell upon everyone, but gave different gifts to different people. Peter preached in the name of the Church. Peter and the Apostles emerged also as the Church’s primary healers, teachers, rulers, judges, and administrators. Gradually, but still in the New Testament era, we find the offices of bishop (1 Timothy 3:1-2), presbyter (James 5:14), and deacon (Philippians 1:1). When Saint Ignatius of Antioch writes letters to the churches of Asia Minor in 107 A.D., he assumes that all of the congregations have this same structure.

Sometimes we can get a better picture of something once we know precisely what it is not. The Church is not a business, a club, or a special-interest group. The Church is not the result of like-minded people coming together and deciding to form an organization, nor are her moral teachings decided by popular vote or societal trends.

The Catholic Church is not a manmade institution at all. Her origins are found in the will and actions of Christ. The Church, a people gathered into the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ as a sacrament – a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all people (Lumen gentium, 1).

Her hierarchical structures and charter come from Jesus, who announced, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). The Lord established his Church on this foundation rock – Saint Peter, the first pope – to ensure that each subsequent generation would have the opportunity to hear of his kingdom, to know his Gospel and to receive his invitation to follow him, as well as the assurance of knowing that what they hear is true. Jesus chose Peter and the other Apostles and charged them and their successors with the responsibility of passing on the Good News, making sure that it is presented clearly and applied to the problems and needs of the day. Catholics recognize in Peter, who today bears the name Francis, the touchstone that keeps us in contact with the truth of divine revelation entrusted to the Apostles.

Every time we make the profession of faith, we say, “We believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Here we are simply affirming that we are Catholics and that Christ is present in his Church, as we also renew our dedication and offer our fidelity to the Church that brings us his truth and love every day. The Catholic Church is also the home of the seven sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The sacraments continue visibly to manifest and effect the saving work of Christ in our world and in the lives of the faithful, giving us the grace to live the Gospel.

To be a Catholic is to recognize the role of the Church as the very means created and given to us by Jesus so that his work, accomplished in his death and Resurrection, might be represented in our day and applied to us.