Modern day Apostles

[T4214U14ME]

I was looking into what some protestants think about the Catholic Church claiming to have modern day Apostles and about the direct lineage that the church has to Jesus Christ.

I found a website that claimed that no one today can be an Apostle because one of the requisites of becoming an Apostle was for them “to have seen the Lord and been an eyewitness of Christ’s resurrection.” The biblical cite Acts 1:22 was used to support this persons claim.

A little about what this person said was that when the 11 remaining Apostles, after Judas’s death, were deciding who should take up the office of Judas, one of the things they took into account was that the candidates had to have been with the rest of the Apostles from John the Baptist to the Resurrection. He said that if this is what they took into account, then that means that no one today can be an Apostle.

This has not made me doubt my faith in the Catholic Church, but I would still like to get to the bottom of this.

(The website I went to was apologeticspress.org/articles/2279)

 

[tee_eff_em]

I think your/their premise is flawed.

I am not aware that the Church claims to have modern day apostles – But the Church does teach that the bishops are *successors to *the apostles.

While I appreciate that the eleven chose one who was a witness to Our Lord’s ministry to take Judas’s place, we also call Paul an apostle.

A piece of evidence against “modern day” apostles – It is also commonly taught that the canon of scripture was closed with the death of the last apostle – If there were modern day ones, this would not be defensible.

:twocents:
tee

 

[sunnygirl807]

I haven’t heard modern day apostles used within the Church either. I have noticed, especially here in the south, several protestant pastors are adding apostle to their names. If anybody knows, what makes them an apostle?

 

[Todd_Easton]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses this topic in paragraphs 857-865, the section entitled, “The Church is Apostolic.”

 

[Leopard]

…several protestant pastors are adding apostle to their names. If anybody knows, what makes them an apostle?

Nothing. They can call themselves giraffes if they want to, but that doesn’t make them giraffes.

 

[NotWorthy]

There were two types of Apostles. There were the Twelve, who were witnesses to Jesus. There had to be twelve, it seems, at the Pentecost to represent the twelve judges of the twelve tribes of the New Covenant Church.

Even though Paul called himself an Apostle, he never included himself among “The Twelve”. This seems to confirm that there was something different about the twelve Apostles of Pentecost. Paul also mentions a few other apostles, none of which were part of the twelve - I believe Timothy and Barnabas?

But Apostle means “One who is Sent” or “Sent ones”. Aren’t we all sent to preach the Gospel to the world? What does the Mass end with, “The Mass is ended, go in peace”. The origin of these words were “Este Missa” (Latin - I hope I spelled it right) which means, “Go, it is sent”.

We are all “Sent Ones”, so in a way we are apostles.

 

[Nita]

From “Jesus of Nazareth” by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI (p. 169):

That was why Jesus formed the group of the Twelve. The title “apostle” originally extended beyond this group, but was later restricted more and more to the Twelve.

Nita