The Church
Chapter 5 – Part 1
Theology ll
Mr. 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=DXV2S8nEWt
Y.com
The Four Marks of the Church
• This should be a review:
– One
– Holy
– Catholic
– Apostolic
In 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
– Leadership
Leading 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).
Arianism
Fourth 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=ToVA6VfV
of4.com