Before I leave for the summer, I thought I should update my blog. Please forgive me, everyone, for failing in this. The last month of the semester was so full, and things demanded a great deal of my time. But I remembered all of you in prayer, and I kept up on my subscriptions, and even came to know a few more of you along the way; I love all of you very much. I hope that the summer camp I am headed to has internet access that I can use to check up on things once in a while, so please be patient with me this summer! I am being missioned, and with that comes a priority to the mission. If I have the time and the permission as well as the opportunity, I will look in on all of you. If not, please always remember that I am praying for you throughout the summer and will be back in late August.
I thought for this update I would talk about something I’ve been meaning to for many, many months. I have come to know many Catholics here on Xanga, and a common sense among them is a feeling of unwelcome at Revelife, a blog I enjoy most of the time. But among comments on many posts I, too, find many people referring to the Catholic Church with a degree of hostility, and very rarely (thankfully) even a degree of hatred. I know that most people who frequent Revelife are not Catholic Christians, so it is understandable that most Revelifers understand very little about Catholicism and Catholic teaching. In the hope of bringing peace to this conflict and a higher degree of understanding to Revelife readers and Catholics on Xanga, I thought that I would offer this post reminding all Christians of what I call their “Catholic roots.” It is very important for Catholics to know their history and their faith, and I think that it is important for Protestants to remember, too, where they came from and, hopefully, where they are going. Most of all, with these things in mind I think it is important for both groups to love and respect one another, Catholics in that all other Christians are at least their brothers and sisters in the same baptism and saved by the same cross, and Protestants for the same as well as (hopefully) a tremendous gratitude for all that they have come to have from their Catholic heritage.
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When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
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They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
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He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
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Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
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Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
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And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
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I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Here in Matthew 16 we have the laying of the foundation of the Church, with Christ choosing Peter specifically for a special leadership role, which we see affirmed after the resurrection along the seashore when Christ entrusts “the flock” to Peter, making him shepherd once Christ ascends to heaven. I read this, and other parts of the Gospel (one flock, one shepherd, for example) and notice very quickly and clearly, as the apostles and early Church Fathers did, that Christ established one Church and intended it to be one. While there was a dispersion of Christians across the known world at the time, apostles spreading out to various population centers such as Ephesus, Rome, Alexandria, etc., there was a great effort to keep everyone on the same page. This led to the gathering of several councils of bishops, all men appointed directly by the apostles, who appointed others and so on, or sometimes bishops were chosen by groups of other bishops and appointed to a particular city. Regardless, there was an established chain of authority going all the way back to the apostles, which leads to Christ himself, the point being that the men gathered at the councils (Nicea, for example) were not just a bunch of random people making decisions for everyone (neither is this the case today).
Two efforts to come of these councils that I would like to point out in particular would be the Nicene Creed and the canon of the Bible. The Nicene Creed, one of the most widely used articulations of fundamental Christian beliefs, is a part of many Christians’ heritage today and, though perhaps not employed by some Christians, the theology summarized in the Creed (one baptism, virgin birth of Christ, Trinitarian things) are still seen in every Christian group I have encountered. All of that is part of everyone’s Catholic heritage.
The canon of the Bible is another part of the same heritage. Certainly, the Bible is scripture and being scripture is important (some Christians would say it is the most important), but the canon or layout of the Bible is not itself scriptural. The books of the Bible were chosen, ordered and assembled by human beings. The Old Testament was fairly set by the time of the apostles and the very early Christians, and they also circulated letter written by apostles (such as Paul) and their followers. Also around that time some apostles and close followers of them began recording Gospels. Over time various communities preferred different texts, and by the 5th century the canon of the New Testament was set basically to what we see today in the Catholic Church. Since the Reformation, some denominations have altered the canon a little, removing some things and placing varying degrees of doctrinal value on others, but all in all the Bible has reached the people of today through the Catholic Church, its texts painstakingly copied by hand throughout the centuries until the printing press.
Touching on the Reformation; this is for me a very painful time in Christian history. What once was one became two, three, and today the Body of Christ has been fractured into approximately 38000 denominations, the Catholic Church and those churches in communion with her remaining the largest by a large margin. Granted, there was the Great Schism which caused a great division between the East and West Church, but with the split did not come the radical alterations of doctrine and tradition that the Reformation would eventually see.
In a nutshell, as I understand it, the Reformation led by Martin Luther (an Augustinian monk before he broke his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience), was undertaken to address certain issues he had with the Church at the time, including indulgences (chiefly the perceived buying and selling of them), and the corruption of the clergy (quite a valid concern in some cases, but not all clergy were corrupt), but mainly the controversies surrounding indulgences. There are other issues that arose after this initial effort, such as a dislike of priestly celibacy and religious chastity, as well as papal authority, along with the theology of the Eucharist regarding transubstantiation; forgive me if I haven’t touched all the issues.
I agree with the need to reform the use and abuse of indulgences and corruption of the clergy, at the time. Luther’s brave case came at a necessary time in the Church’s history, but the issue was handled quite poorly on both sides. Some officials in the Church were unwilling to listen to anyone who would dare suggest anything of the like, and I believe that Martin Luther could have endeavored further to be faithful to his vow of obedience and patiently and appropriately sought to have his case heard. But it seems to me that pride on both sides ended up tearing the Church apart, a wound that to this day has not healed. But looking back at the things Luther had the biggest problems with and then looking at the Church today, I can’t help seeing that the necessary reformation of indulgences did come about (patience is a virtue, especially when reforming a worldwide, millennia-old Church), and there is much more oversight and monitoring of priests today. Granted, yes, there are still problems with corrupt clergy, but they are, as they always have been, the exception; priests and men studying to be priests (like myself) are not all child-molesters, despite the media’s attempt to portray us as such whenever a new scandal breaks. But every organization, be it a police force, the US Congress, or a school is prone to corruption from within, being that all human endeavors are staffed with sinners. Again, I look back at the main problems Luther had with the Church of almost 500 years ago and ask myself, “Why and what are they still protesting? When will they come home?”
Despite the great divisions seen since the Reformation, there are many traditions, some scriptural and some completely traditional, that remain in many denominations today. For example, the Our Father; not only do we see the prototypes of the prayer in the Gospels, but the form most Christians use in the world today was transmitted orally over time, through many different tongues and translations. I’ve found it interesting that most Christians do not pray the prayer as it is found in most Bibles; we pray what we learned from our parents and teachers. Either way, this prayer that is known by almost every Christian and beloved by them is, again, a gift of every Christian’s Catholic roots.
Other traditions include pews, stained glass windows, candles, the altar, liturgical vestments, church buildings, and the other “stuff” that many Christians see within their church and use in their celebrations. The sermon, the role of pastor, the pulpit; all of these things have been handed down. Some of these things were Christianized long ago, adopted from Jewish practices for example, but all have reached us through the Catholic Church.
However, the greatest gift of every Christian’s Catholic heritage is Jesus Christ himself. If the Catholic Church, the very same church that grew from the one established by Christ with Peter, propagated by him along with the other apostles, and further by their disciples and appointees, has guarded and made available the Gospel to all people throughout history. When the Reformation and other events in the Church’s history led to the division of Christ’s flock entrusted to Peter, the one thing that always without fail went with the departing group was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite horrific persecution in her earliest years, despite every war and natural disaster since the life of Christ was put to paper, despite every effort anyone has made to rid the world of the most powerful message ever recorded, the Catholic Church has preserved Christ’s words for all peoples and all times.
Please, the next time you are on Revelife or talking about the Catholic Church, remember these things and all the rest, and show her and her members the dignity and respect they deserve or, in the very least, “love your enemies” (hopefully we are not considered such!). For all Christians owe the Church all that their faith tradition holds dear; you may as well hate your very own mother, if you decide to hate the Catholic Church! Certainly Catholics and other Christians do not see eye-to-eye on every issue, but we all have too much to be grateful for to show her disrespect, and certainly we should all at least be grateful enough for our Catholic heritage to show Christ’s love to each other, despite doctrinal differences.
I hope this post proves a little helpful, I hope it provokes much thought and promotes peace and love amongst all Christians here on Xanga. Revelife is a wonderful opportunity for Christian unity on an internet full of division. To all Catholics: love your brothers and sisters in Christ. To all other Christians: the same; remember your roots!
If anyone finds this Revelife-worthy, please let me know and let Revelife know! Rec and spread the word! And if ever anyone would like to know or try to understand anything about the Catholic Church, ask!
EDIT: I forgot to add the address of this beautiful video about the Church that has brought many people home. The actual website, www.catholicscomehome.org , is very good for people thinking of becoming Catholic, or for people who just want to learn more. Enjoy, and God bless!
http://www.catholicscomehome.org/epic/epic120.phtml
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