I always feel blessed that I have Christian friends of different denominations who will pray for my family’s well-being, and of course, I do likewise. They are often just a text message away. But occasionally I would feel uneasy when it turns out they don’t always share the same beliefs. Sometimes I am hit by brickbats. Your Church is evil! Why do you need to pray to Mary? Why pray to Saints?
On 29 June, the Catholic Church remembers Saints Peter and Paul, who are also known as the co-founders of the Church. As I am on my journey to unravel what it means to be Church, I came across a stance that you should not just belong to any church. The Catholic Church is the Real Church. The Original Church. The Church that will inherit God’s promises of eternal salvation.
How do we know we are the Real Church?
Apostolic Succession
Catholics believe in the Apostolic Succession. In a nutshell, we believe that we can trace our leaders all the way to the apostles. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus acknowledges the practice of succession, probably with some disdain. He could see how the leaders of God’s people and the religious elite were behaving badly.
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe what they say; but do not do as they do.” (Matthew 23:1-3)
You may grimace at how true this is even today but take heart all men will be judged equally, and all are prompted by the holy spirit to do their duty.
Establishing the apostolate
Everything is by God’s plan. So when Judas was ‘lost’, Peter the rock (Matthew 16:18) referred to the Book of Psalms (Psalm 109:8) where it is written ‘His office be taken by another’ and asked the apostles to choose another apostle (Acts 1:20) to replace Judas. And they chose Matthias.
A promise of eternal honour has been extended to these chosen men. “Jesus said to them [disciples], “You who have followed me, listen to my words: on the Day of Renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his throne in glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28).
This promise shows the glory and status reserved for these saints who had suffered persecution on earth for the cause of Christ. In Revelations, the new Jerusalem in its glorious splendour, will see:
“The city wall stands on twelve foundation stones, on which are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelations 21:14)
Today our bishops are the successors of the apostles. They are not physical descendants of the apostles. They are and were men chosen from among the members of the Church to lead the flock as shepherds. These bishops are the primary pastors of the Church.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), it states that …
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.”
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.”
Priests (presbyters), who are ordained by the bishops, are their assistants in ministry. They have valid orders because they are connected to the original apostles through their bishops’ succession.
In a secondary sense, our priests too have apostolic succession.
So if we believe that Jesus entrusted Peter with leading the church and if each successor of Peter has that same responsibility, and the Catholic Church alone can provide the fullness of salvation… based on such evidence, should we not share this Good News with someone today?
That we are all about the REAL thing. The Real Church.
Karen Roberts-Fong
Excerpts from: www.catholic.com & allaboutjesuschrist.org