The Church

Chapter 5 – Part 1Theology llMr. Perrotti

Prayer for the Church

• In reflection today, let us pray for our Church and all of its members. Remember our priests, bishops and Pope as they allow the Holy Spirit to guide them.

• God created the Church as a means for us to share in the Mystical Body of Christ, his Kingdom. Today, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you there by example, service and worship.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXV2S8nEWtY.com

The Four Marks of the Church

• This should be a review:

– One– Holy– Catholic– ApostolicIn this Chapter we will get into more detail about each Mark and some of the growing pains of the early Church.

The Church as “One”

• There is only “One “ Church whose source of unity is the unity of God Himself.

• We can see the unity of the Church in its:

– Faith– Worship: Sunday Mass– LeadershipLeading us to the Mystical Body of Christ

Unity of Faith

• Through the Creed we process our faith and renew the promises we made at Baptism and Confirmation.

• The Catholic Church is the only Church with:– The Unity of Doctrine – Our Catechism and Canon – The Unity of the Sacraments– The Unity of Government under a single head, our

Pope.

Unity of Worship

• The Liturgy of the WORD and Eucharist is the primary way that all Catholics are as One,

• Jesus gave us the seven sacraments to help us formally celebrate and grow in the Church as One.

• Whether or not the Eucharist is present, Jesus instructed the Church through service to others to act as ONE.

Unity of Leadership

• Through the sacrament of Holy Orders given to us on the first Holy Thursday, Jesus appointed the first leaders (Bishops of the Church)

• His instruction was one of service to all (washing of the feet), celebrating the sacrament of the Eucharist (Do this in memory of me)

• He provided the Church with its first leaders –The Apostles• Through the Sacrament of Holy orders, the Church’s

Apostolic Succession emerges and continues uninterrupted with the teachings and leadership of St. Peter.

Unity of Leadership

• This sacred “first council” was formed by Christ but through faith in Him and the Eucharist.

• With that Creed, they grew the Church and its early leadership.

• Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God has revealed to our Church leaders His divine Love, Paschal Mystery and desire to serve us as we must serve Him.

The Wounds of Unity

• Since the beginning of the early Church, divisions and diversity have arisen by Christians that threaten and sometimes “Wound the Unity of the Church”

• We all remember the “First Council of Jerusalem whenPeter solved the first real question of Christianity – “Who did Jesus come to save –

• His decision to bring Christianity to all who wanted Baptism (not just for the Jews) helped solve one of the first great questions between Peter and Paul and the early Church leaders.

The Wounds of Unity

• The there are times when Christians reject the teachings and leadership of Christ’s Leaders –The Pope and the Bishops. The wound usually take the form of one of the following:– Apostasy – the total rejection of the Christian faith by

someone already baptized– Heresy – the deliberate and persistent postbaptismal

denial of the Faith taught by the Church– Schism – a postbaptismal refusal of unity with the Pope

or the refusal of communion with the members of the Church – The Schism of 1054AD

The Wounds of Unity

• All of these are grave sins!• The most tragic is a schism as it usually

involves entire communities of baptized people.

• The two largest schisms of the Catholic Church came in 1054AD with the Great Schism of the Orthodox Church and in the 16 Century for which we refer to as “The Protestant Reformation”

The Wounds of Unity

• The wound of unity and the grave sin that followed is only for those who caused and participated in full knowledge of the separation.

• Those who were born into the particular faiths and raised in the teachings of Christ have committed no sin.

Heresies in the Early Church

• What Is Heresy?– To commit heresy, one must refuse to be corrected– A person who is ready to be corrected or who is

unaware that what he has been saying is against Church teaching is not a heretic.

– A person must be baptized to commit heresy. This means that movements that have split off from or been influenced by Christianity, but that do not practice baptism (or do not practice valid baptism), are not heresies, but separate religions

What Is Heresy?

• Examples include Muslims, who do not practice baptism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not practice valid baptism.

• Finally, the doubt or denial involved in heresy must concern a matter that has been revealed by God and solemnly defined by the Church – For example the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real

Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the Pope’s infallibility, or the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary

Gnosticism

• The Gnostics claimed a secret knowledge of Christ.• That Jesus only revealed himself to a select few.• They questioned John’s use of the word “Logos”

saying that Jesus had come to give select knowledge to a few, not to all as described in the Gospels.

• The early Church opposed the Gnostic teaching that the Church is “One” (unity and communion with all).

ArianismFourth Century

• Denied the divinity of the Son of God.• They did not believe that anything coming from

God could be equal to God which contradicted the Christian belief of the Holy Trinity and Jesus as the transcendent Son of God.

• The Arians did not believe in the Holy Trinity as being three persons in one God.

• This is the cornerstone of our Catholic Faith.

Apollinarianism

• These heretics denied Christ had a human mind and will.

• As Catholics we believe that the Son of God was made man through His incarnation.

• Jesus was truly man and divinely God.• Jesus “The Son of Man” is the central teaching of

the Gospels and the core of the Paschal Mystery.• As a human, Jesus rose from the dead which is

the core of our Faith.

Nestorianism

• Their basic belief was that Christ was two persons, one human and one divine.

• Like the other heretics, this belief went against the essential mystery of faith of the Incarnation of Christ.

• That Jesus is fully divine and fully human.• The resurrection of Christ is the most important

event in our Christian Faith. The belief that Jesus was two persons contradicts this core belief directly.

Monophysitism

• These heretics believed that there was only one nature in Jesus Christ, not two.

• Their main belief was that the human nature of Jesus was incorporated into his divine nature like a drop of water is consumed by the ocean.

• As Catholics we believe that Jesus was as human as he was divine. His ministry was a result of both these separate and equal natures.

Our Religious Beliefs

• Where do our religious doctrines come from?– The Deposit of Faith revealed to us by Christ

during his ministry– The Cannon, the collection of sacred writing

supported by the Church– The Catechism of the Catholic Church– Our Dogma - a doctrine or body of doctrines

concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by our church

Heaven

• The Kingdom of Heaven!

• OUR END GAME!!!!!!!

• The Church asks us the be “Voices that Challenge”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToVA6VfVof4.com