How can the Catholic church claim an unbroken line of popes

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majick275:
So are you saying that everyone ordained, baptized, etc. by oliver cowdery, sidney rigdon, david whitmer, john d lee, etc. didn’t receive valid ordinances?
i believe my view only is when we sin the priesthood goes with the spirit. they lost the spirit and the priesthood. probalily not church teaching but iam simple so when a person regains the spirit he can recieve the priesthood. just my view and its probably wrong
 
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ben_dy:
One thought - a somewhat personal question and I will understand if you choose not to answer, for I admit that I ask out of a somewhat morbid curiosity: have you had your 6-7th generation uncle “sealed” in baptism in an LDS temple?
yes i tried but his work had been done for him.

when i found out about him i learnt that the bishop of salford still had his skull. i thought relics were in the past but i guess not. i wounder if i can do what the native american are doing demanding the bones of there relatives back for burial.
 
Paul,
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. This seems a difficult one to live by. I always taught (when LDS) that even if a priesthood holder is unworthy the faith of the individual makes the ordinance valid. I got that from numerous articles in the Ensign.

You may very well be correct in your belief but think of what that implies… every ordinance must be viewed in light of the worthiness of the person performing it AT THAT TIME!
 
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tkdnick:
Paul,
Here is what I have so far (from a friend):

Basically talking about the late middle ages when there were multiple popes and the papacy moved to Avignon, France (mid to late 1300s). First, we can’t deny that there were politics involved. The pope wielded political as well as religious power. Most of northern Italy was a papal kingdom. The long and the short of it is that one of the popes (and I’d have to go look it up) got captured by the French (Burgundians?) and was forced to evacuate Rome and move to Avignon in southern France. The Holy See was in exile for I believe 75 years or so. Meanwhile, a group of cardinals stayed in Rome and elected their own pope. Each pope mutually pronounced anathema and excommunication on the other. The crisis was eventually settled and the Holy See moved back to Rome. The secular power of the Papal Kingdom did not end at this point - not by a long shot. Julius II (of Michelangelo fame) was a warrior pope and led armies into battle. The Swiss Guards were created because they sucessfully protected the Holy Father and got him safely out of the Vatican when an invading German Army came. Eventually, the secular power of the papacy became less and less during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Bottom line, we have to acknowledge the politics and that there were times when there were multiple people claiming to be pope. However, the Holy Spirit guides the Church and it is He who settled the question of who was the “real” sucessor of Peter. And secular historians generally agree on the succession of popes - who was real and who was false.

Does that help?
yes it does thank you
 
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tkdnick:
NO WAY! You’re related to St. Ambrose??? Very cool!
very intresting story. he basicly lost his temper with the judge and told him to do his worst. he did. he seems to have a family trate of saying what he felt even at the wrong moment. i know i have that fault to.
 
paul barlow:
i believe my view only is when we sin the priesthood goes with the spirit. they lost the spirit and the priesthood. probalily not church teaching but iam simple so when a person regains the spirit he can recieve the priesthood. just my view and its probably wrong
Paul, I think that just about the worst sin one can commit is to deny Christ when they KNOW he is the Son of God, would you agree? How bad would it be if he didn’t just do it once, but did it over and over again? I would think pretty bad.

Well, one of our popes committed that very sin. It was Peter the apostle, the first bishop of Rome and the first pope. He certainly never lost his priesthood.
 
paul barlow:
yes it does thank you
Let me know if there’s other info you may want. I’m no Church history expert, but I’ll do what I can.
 
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Tmaque:
Paul, I think that just about the worst sin one can commit is to deny Christ when they KNOW he is the Son of God, would you agree? How bad would it be if he didn’t just do it once, but did it over and over again? I would think pretty bad.

Well, one of our popes committed that very sin. It was Peter the apostle, the first bishop of Rome and the first pope. He certainly never lost his priesthood.
don’t you think he may have repented i think he would have had to.
 
paul barlow:
don’t you think he may have repented i think he would have had to.
I wouls say he DEFINITELY repented. Otherwise he wouldn’t have gone on to be the head of The Church.
 
paul barlow:
yes i tried but his work had been done for him.

when i found out about him i learnt that the bishop of salford still had his skull. i thought relics were in the past but i guess not. i wounder if i can do what the native american are doing demanding the bones of there relatives back for burial.
Actually there is a UK law about the preservation of bones in “sacred places”, too - I know that just from watching “Time Team”! It’s OK to dig up the bones of Romans and those who have fallen in battle but you CAN’T just go about digging up or removing bones from consecrated ground or sacred places. (I recall some controversy about those who claim to be Druids trying to halt excavation of some site that was supposed to contain remains of Druidic practitioners but don’t recall what the outcome was).

So I doubt you could get your great(xX) uncle’s head returned… however, his hand is preserved at Stanbrook Abbey in Worcester so you could give that a go!
 
paul barlow:
don’t you think he may have repented i think he would have had to.
Certainly, but my point is that committing sin, even grave sin, does not necessarily take away one’s priesthood authority. Peter was given the keys to the kingdom before he denied Christ. I’m saying he never lost those keys even though he sinned grieviously.
There is no account of him receiving them again later, so he must have never lost the authority.
 
paul barlow:
i believe my view only is when we sin the priesthood goes with the spirit. they lost the spirit and the priesthood. probalily not church teaching but iam simple so when a person regains the spirit he can recieve the priesthood. just my view and its probably wrong
This was part of the Donatist heresy of the early Church. The outcome was the declaration that the unworthiness of the Priest does not detract from the Sacraments he confects. Brief description here: carm.org/heresy/donatism.htm
 
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Tmaque:
Certainly, but my point is that committing sin, even grave sin, does not necessarily take away one’s priesthood authority. Peter was given the keys to the kingdom before he denied Christ. I’m saying he never lost those keys even though he sinned grieviously.
In the LDS Church, if someone commits a sin, it would not deprive him of his priesthood, but he would not be permitted to exercise his priesthood until he had repented and been forgiven. Even a relatively minor sin such as breaking the word of wisdom would deprive him of the privilege of exercising his priesthood (even of passing the sacrament) until he had repented. Now let us suppose that someone had committed a serious sin, but was duplicitous enough not tell anybody, and then he was asked to perform a sacred ordinance such as baptizing someone into the Church. Two weeks later he confesses to his bishop that he had committed such a sin. Would that make his ordinance invalid? I have no personal experience of such a thing ever happening; but my understanding is that it would not, although it would put the person responsible for it in very serious trouble with the Church. The only thing that would actually deprive a person of his priesthood would be excommunication form the Church. Interestingly, however, even after excommunication, when he repents and is eventually readmitted into the Church, he will not need to be “reordained” into the priesthood. What happens then is that he is first “rebaptised” into the Church; but when the time comes for him to receive his priesthood back (which can takes a long time after his rebaptism, and must be approved by the First Presidency), then his priesthood (and his entire membership records in fact) are “restored” to him as though he had never lost it! Everything is put back, including the date of his original baptism and church membership, as though nothing had ever happened! It is performed as a priesthood ordinance, usually by a General Authority. The ordinance is called the “restoration of blessings”. Everything is effectively put back to its original place, as though the person had never been excommunicated.

The contrast with the Catholic Church here (and I am not trying to be critical, just making a comparison) is that the RCC has a track record of allowing unworthy priests to continue in high office, and perform their priestly duties, even though they are known to be sinners and transgressors, under the pretest that the moral worthiness of the priest does not detract from the priestly office under which he performs his priestly duties. Such a thing could simply happen in the LDS Church. In the LDS Church it is extremely difficult and rare for an unworthy priesthood holder to be able to continue to function in his office without it being detected and the matter rectified. It has happened in the past, but it is a very rare event. The whole culture of the LDS system and the way it is set up makes it a very difficult thing to happen. That is the real difference between the LDS and RCC practices.

amgid
 
paul barlow:
then explain aarons sons
Huh? Nadab and Abihu’s catastrophe was caused by the fact that they offered somthing that the Lord had not been commanded. That was why their fire was called “profane” – even though the incense and the censer and everything else was in order. This incident goes to tohe offering not to the moral rectitude of the priests. Actually, much of the best commentary on this passage is from Protestant sources. 👍
 
the RCC has a track record of allowing unworthy priests to continue in high office, and perform their priestly duties, even though they are known to be sinners and transgressors, under the pretext that the moral worthiness of the priest does not detract from the priestly office under which he performs his priestly duties.
I strongly disagree with you on this. Priests who encounter difficulties in their lives are OFTEN relieved of their priestly duties for such time as it takes them to resolve those problems. There may be some laxity in some dioceses.

Yes, I agree that moral worthiness is not the issue. The real issue is public scandal and leading the faithful astray.
 
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Jerusha:
I strongly disagree with you on this. Priests who encounter difficulties in their lives are OFTEN relieved of their priestly duties for such time as it takes them to resolve those problems. There may be some laxity in some dioceses.
You could be right, as I do not have direct personal experience of the RCC; but my impression was somewhat different.
Yes, I agree that moral worthiness is not the issue. The real issue is public scandal and leading the faithful astray.
Moral worthiness very much IS an issue (at least in the LDS Church). If you have ever watched an LDS ordinance (sacrament) being performed, you will notice that in many of the ordinances the person officiating then pronounces a blessing on the person receiving the ordinance. These blessings must be inspired by the Holy Ghost. It requires faith and worthiness. If the person is in transgression, he cannot have the Holy Spirit with him to enable him to perform the ordinance in holiness and in purity of heart. There is something wrong there when that happens.

A typical example would be the sacrament of blessing the sick (which in the RCC has been distorted into the “extreme unction”). In this ordinance, the elders anoint the head of the sick person with consecrated oil, then lay their hands on him/her and pronounce a blessing as inspired by the Holy Ghost, and may even, if inspired to do so, rebuke the illness and command the person to be healed. And James tells us that it is the “prayer of faith” that heals the sick (James 5:14-16). How could those elders perform this sacred ordinance in righteousness and holiness of heart before the Lord, and enjoy the companionship of the Holy Spirit to enable them to speak by that power to comfort or heal the individual, and exercise faith that he or she may be healed, if they are in transgression, and are either hiding it from their priesthood leaders, or worse still, act with their connivance or consent? Clearly they cannot.

amgid
 
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amgid:
You could be right, as I do not have direct
A typical example would be the sacrament of blessing the sick (which in the RCC has been distorted into the “extreme unction”). In this ordinance, the elders anoint the head of the sick person with consecrated oil, then lay their hands on him/her and pronounce a blessing as inspired by the Holy Ghost, and may even, if inspired to do so, rebuke the illness and command the person to be healed. And James tells us that it is the “prayer of faith” that heals the sick (James 5:14-16). How could those elders perform this sacred ordinance in righteousness and holiness of heart before the Lord, and enjoy the companionship of the Holy Spirit to enable them to speak by that power to comfort or heal the individual, and exercise faith that he or she may be healed, if they are in transgression, and are either hiding it from their priesthood leaders, or worse still, act with their connivance or consent? Clearly they cannot.
amgid,

(And, by the way, having just last night completed my third reading of the BoM, I have to ask - was Amgid a good or bad king? The BoM didn’t seem too clarify: but I have to assume that you wouldn’t have taken on the monicker of an unrighteous king!)

Anyway…

Anointing (unction, I’m sure you know, is simply the act of anointing) of the Sick seems fairly similar in both the RCC and the LDS rites: the major difference that I can surmise from your message is that the priest anointing in the LDS right must be in a perfect state of grace - and by what manner that is achieved in the LDS church is something I do not know - while, in the Catholic Church, even a priest in an imperfect state of grace can still be used as a ‘worthy vessel’ by God in order to impart His grace. While you seem to be saying that the “prayer of faith” comes from the perfect faith and perfect grace of the proper minister of the Sacrament, we (that is, most Catholics) would be more apt to attribute comfort and grace to the “comforter” and to God and not to the man performing the rite.
 
ben-dy

Ya, no priest is perfect. God works through sinners like us.
 
ben_dy said:
(And, by the way, having just last night completed my third reading of the BoM, …

I am glad to hear it. What you need to do now is to read the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price (if you haven’t already); to gain a good grounding of LDS doctrine.
I have to ask - was Amgid a good or bad king? The BoM didn’t seem too clarify: but I have to assume that you wouldn’t have taken on the monicker of an unrighteous king!)
I don’t think that Amgid was a particularly righteous king. I chose it simply because it is short and cute and unique, and easy to pronounce and remember, and comes from the Book of Mormon. At first I thought of choosing Gadianton; but I decided against it because it has too many syllables and not so easy to pronounce. 😃
Anointing (unction, I’m sure you know, is simply the act of anointing) of the Sick seems fairly similar in both the RCC and the LDS rites:
I admit that I do not know a lot about the practice of the “extreme unction” in the RCC; but from what little I know, it would appear that in the RCC it is effectively a person’s “last rites”. You perform “extreme unction” on someone when they are almost at the point of death. You don’t do it when they catch a cold. It is a way of preparing someone to die, rather than helping them to live! In the LDS Church, any person no matter how serious or minor their illnesses might be, may request such a blessing; and its purpose is to help them recover, not help them to die!
the major difference that I can surmise from your message is that the priest anointing in the LDS right must be in a perfect state of grace - and by what manner that is achieved in the LDS church is something I do not know - while, in the Catholic Church, even a priest in an imperfect state of grace can still be used as a ‘worthy vessel’ by God in order to impart His grace.
“perfect state of grace” and “imperfect state of grace” are meaningless terminologies in the LDS world. Everyone knows what sin is and what repentance is; and everyone knows if they have done something wrong that would render them unworthy of officiating in the office of the priesthood.
While you seem to be saying that the “prayer of faith” comes from the perfect faith and perfect grace of the proper minister of the Sacrament, we (that is, most Catholics) would be more apt to attribute comfort and grace to the “comforter” and to God and not to the man performing the rite.
I did not say anything about “perfect faith” or “imperfect faith,” and “perfect grace” or “imperfect grace”. Those terminologies are generally meaningless to me. What I said was that if a person is in transgression, he cannot act as channel or conduit through whom the Holy Spirit can operate; for the Spirit of God does not dwell in unholy temples.

amgid
 
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