An explanation of the Baltimore catechism of Christian doctrine : $b for the use of Sunday-school teachers and advanced classesDe Concilio, J. (Januarius)
Religion
An explanation of the Baltimore catechism of Christian doctrine : $b for the use of Sunday-school teachers and advanced classes
De Concilio, J. (Januarius)
Baltimore catechism; Catholic Church -- Catechisms -- English
The Catholic Church is "one," first in government and second in
doctrine. In government every pastor has a certain parish or territory
in which all the people belong to his congregation--they form his flock.
He has to take care only of these, to teach them, give them the
Sacraments, etc. He has not to be responsible for those outside his
parish. Then over the pastor we have the bishop, who looks after a
certain number of pastors; then comes the archbishop over a certain
number of bishops; next comes the primate, who is head of all the
archbishops in the country; and over all the primates of the world we
have the Holy Father. Thus, when the Holy Father speaks to the bishops,
the bishops speak to the priests, and the priests to the people. The
Church is therefore one in government, like a great army spread over the
world. We can go up step by step from the lowest member of the Church to
the highest--the Holy Father; and from him to Our Lord Himself, who is
the invisible head of all. This regular body of priests, bishops,
archbishops, etc., so arranged, one superior to the other, is called the
hierarchy of the Church.
The Church is one also in doctrine--that is, every one of the three
hundred million of Catholics in the world believes exactly the same
truths. If any Catholic denies only one article of faith, though he
believes all the rest, he ceases to be a Catholic, and is cut off from
the Church. If, for example, you would not believe Matrimony or Holy
Orders a Sacrament, or that Our Lord is present in the Holy Eucharist,
you would not be a Catholic, though you believed all the other teachings
of the Church.
Therefore the Church is one both in government and teaching or doctrine.
Now, has any other Church claiming to be Christ's Church that mark? No.
The Protestant religions are not one either in government or belief. The
Protestants of England have no authority over the Protestants of
America, and those of America have nothing to say over those of Germany
or France. So every country is independent, and they have no chief head.
Neither are they one in belief. In the same country there are many kinds
of Protestants--Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc., who do
not believe the same thing. Even those who attend the same church and
profess the same religion do not all believe the same. Everyone, they
say, has a right to interpret the Holy Scriptures according to his own
views, so they take many different meanings out of the very same words.
There must be some chief person to tell the true meaning of the Holy
Scriptures when there is a dispute about it; but they have no such
chief, and the result is they are never done disputing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account