The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
The authority that accompanies the “Keys” is essential to the unity or one-ness of the Church.
CCC 811 "This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic."256
These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other,257
indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church
one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.
Four Marks of the Church
- One
- Holy
- Catholic
- Apostolic
CCC 816 "The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection,
entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. . . . This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."267
The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism explains: "For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God."268
CCC 1594 The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As successors of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility and mission of the whole Church
under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter.
(all above CCC bold and ul mine)
Without unity, the Church cannot be “ONE”.
**The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. **
This ONE-ness demands a very high level of moral certainty.
Let’s look at examples of this lived out in other religious and quasi-religious templates and see where it has led them.
- Some claim there is no moral certainty (oddly enough, they are certain of this).
- Some claim even if there is a moral certainty, we could not know it (oddly enough, they allegedly KNOW this).
- Some claim even if there is moral certainty, and we could know it there is no possible way to share it with others (oddly enough, they can share this uncertainty prototype with . . . you know what I am going to say . … certainty).
These are somewhat parallel to the errors of Gorgias (circa 485 - 380 BC), the nihilistic pre-Socratic philosopher. All three of the above morality motifs are self-contradictions.
Some also claim to arrive at moral certainty by . . .
- Their own mere “feelings” and experiences.
- Other quasi-religious writings and/or traditions.
- Old Covenant oral tradition and Old Covenant Written Tradition (The Tanakh).
- Written Tradition only or “Sola Scriptura” (the Bible ALONE).
- Oral Tradition AND Written Tradition (Scripture).
- Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture, using the Divinely authoritative and Divinely protected Magisterium (or “the teaching authority of the Church”) and when necessary may correct, even wayward Bishops.
If you submit to any of the above authority prototypes,
when doctrinal differences arise between two people,
only one system above can keep
unity within that communion. Which authority paradigm is it?
Eight of the above methods will result in doctrinal disarray.
One of the above methods will result in doctrinal unity.
VATICAN II (Dei Verbum Section 10) But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, (8) has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, . . . .
. . . . . It is clear, therefore, that
sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that
one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.
Go back above and plug in “When a doctrinal difference arises (only one doctrinal difference is necessary) between two people in paradigm number ___ above, HOW can the doctrinal difference be definitively settled?”
Not a robotic submission. A reasoned debate is fine. But sooner or later it gets down to “brass tacks”.
The doctrinal differences are . . . .
Not merely persuasively settled (although that should be part of it) but
authoritatively definitively settled.
Not tyrannically “settled” by force (“A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still"—Ben Franklin), but definitively settled on the authority of Jesus our Lord and Savior.
There is only one paradigm that works (
Hint: It is the system that requires the most humility from the most people).
LUKE 10:16 16 “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
