The Church

Refer to our Sunday Experience pages to find different prayers to pray as a family sometime during the week as well as setting up a prayer space and other activities as a family.

For the Learn do the following:

1. Watch Video at the top of the page. (if you want more resources, or are interested in learning more about the topic click on the Extra tab).
2. Click on the appropriate grade for your child.
3. Read the "relates to..." section at the beginning.  This is helpful to understand what to convey to your child is important about this lesson.  It will        help make the lesson both an intellectual and a lived lesson.
4. Read through and familiarize yourself with the sample script. 
5. Teach your child the lesson, either using your own words or the sample script.
6. Either discuss the questions with your child (best option), or have your child write out answers to the questions.
7. Have your child do the activities and/or do the activities with them.  
8. If working with a parish return the appropriate material in the way they have requested.


All Content for "The Way", Learn, is original content and copyright of the Diocese of Kalamazoo and may not be copied, reproduced, or used without prior written consent of the Diocese of Kalamazoo.   © 2020 Diocese of Kalamazoo

Relates to Jesus: Jesus wants to be in a relationship with you and me. He never wants to leave our side and so gave us the Catholic Church to best reach and encounter Him.

Relates to my Faith: The Church is home to our faith for it is here that we learn about God, receive His holy word, and encounter Him in the Sacraments; these important ways help us to grow in our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Sample Script:

Being Catholic, we are blessed to have a home. This home is like no other house that we have here on earth. The Catholic Church, no matter what name a particular church has or what the building looks like, is a place where men and women and children gather to give God worship by participating in the Mass. The Mass is the prescribed way that God has asked to be worshipped, for it is at Mass that we encounter His Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. No matter what Catholic Church we go to, we are united with all the Catholics at Mass in our church, in the Catholic churches throughout our town, state, country, and world as we worship God within the Mass that unites us each to Jesus Christ.

The Mass is just one example of how we are united within the Church, but it is perhaps one of the most important examples. Our worship of God returns to God the love that He freely shows to us and opens us up to receive from God His love and His words so that we can be the good girls and boys that we are called to be. Going to Mass each Sunday makes God very happy and allows us to be close friends to God who wants to help us live life in the best ways possible. The Mass is the only true worship of the Father. This is because it is Jesus who does the worshipping on our behalf. The Mass is the remembrance and reality of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection--the offering of himself to the Father. In every Mass, Jesus unites all the redeemed--that's all the baptized who are in the state of grace--to himself, and presents the whole package to God the Father, through the Holy Spirit like a Christmas present. God sees the present made perfect through Jesus's love and accepts it lovingly and returns grace to us and the gift of his Son back to us in Holy Communion.

There are many different ways that we are united to God through His Church. One really cool way to know is that the Catholic Church is a living entity, which is to say that the Church is alive and exists just like a human body! How does this make sense? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, during His life on earth, set-up the Church so that God might remain present to and journey with all people. Jesus, beginning the Church, is the leader and is the head of the Catholic Church. We, the members of the Church, make up the followers and thus the body of the Church. Just like you and I have a head and a body, the Catholic Church is made up of the head being Jesus Christ and the body being the members of the Church.

The body of the Church, being made up of the members of the Church throughout the world, has an important role to play in order for the Church to be the living body that it is. Each of us as members are called to use our own gifts and talents to be an active member of the Body. When we use the gifts and talents that God gave us for good and to help others, we give God glory by using His creation well and share His love for the entire world to see. The members that make up the body in the Church consist of many people; you and me, boys and girls, moms and dads, police and teachers, and many more who make up what is called the laity or the lay faithful. The body of the Church also consists of deacons, priests, and bishops, including the Pope, who make up what is called the clergy or the ordained men who give their lives in service of God and His Church.

For you and me, this means that we need to be active members in our role as being part of the body of the Church. We need to worship God at Sunday Mass and continue to use our gifts and talents to the best of our ability so that we can show God that we love Him by using these gifts and talents well. We should pray for all the members of the body so that we can follow and can to love all the more our head, our leader, Jesus Christ.

Questions:

How does Jesus unite us as a Church in the Mass?

Who makes up the "body of Christ" when we are talking about the Church?

How does the Church help make us holy?

What is the present that God sees given to Him?

What does he give us in return?

 

Activities:
Discuss with your family how the Church is a family. Just as within a family each person has a certain role to play, talk about how at the church each person has a role to play. Draw a picture of the roles you see on displayed each Sunday at Mass.

Talk to your parents/guardians about one role that you could do the next time you are at Mass. Ideas here include holding the door open for the person coming in behind your family or greeting the ushers as you walk to your pew.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus established the Church as the means through which his grace would assist us, through the sacraments, for our salvation. It is the means he established to help us attain everlasting life, without which it would not be possible. The Church is where we encounter Jesus most truly and really, most especially in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. 

Relates to my Faith: We can have confidence in our Catholic faith as being the authentic and primary brand of Christianity as begun by Jesus, handed onto the Apostles, and continued in the Church through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Sample Script:

When Jesus Christ came to the little town of Bethlehem as a newborn baby, He came with a mission, a divine task as the Son of God. Jesus came to talk about the love and mercy of God and to call people back into relationship with God, but this relationship was destroyed by sin and required the obedience of Jesus to God his Father, once he became an adult, in his suffering, death, and resurrection, as an offering to destroy the power of sin and death in the world. While this could have seemed something that just took place in the past and does not mean anything for you and me today, guess again! Jesus's suffering and death is still saving us today in every Mass offered. He came over 2,000 years ago for sure, but His desire and intent is for all people to hear His message and to know about the love and mercy that God has for all. So, Jesus chose 12 Apostles (see Matthew 10:1-4) to not only assist Him in speaking about God, but also to carry on His message after He had returned to Heaven.

Thus, after Jesus ascended to God the Father, the Apostles, being sent the Holy Spirit and guided by that same Spirit, took the lead role of proclaiming and teaching the faith. The Apostles thus were the first bishops of the Church, having the authority from Jesus Himself to go out and preach the Good News of the Gospel (see Matthew 28:16-20) just as our bishops today have been given. Much like the people who made up the Church during the Apostles time, the people that make up the Church today, like you and me, are called to hear the words proclaimed at Mass through our bishops (or through our priest who assist the bishop much like the Apostles assisted Jesus) and bring what we have received to all the people that we come in contact with.

So, to back up a little bit, remember that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins, and thus come to be reconciled to God and experience His divine love. Jesus’ most profound work came through the sacrifice of His very self for our sake by dying on the cross. By offering His Body and Blood for our salvation, He won the possibility for you and me to go to Heaven. In the Gospel of John, in the sixth chapter, Jesus speaks about how His Body and Blood are to be consumed so that He who is life and love Himself might dwell within us and give us the grace necessary to live a life destined for eternity. At the Last Supper, Jesus shows the Apostles how communion with Jesus, through the Eucharist, is available within the Catholic Church and unites us together not only within the community of the Church but with God as well. Our life with the Eucharist is a tremendous gift that is the real presence of Jesus Christ dwelling within you and me. This experience with God is one that is given to every soul who reverently receives the Eucharist through the Church and connects every Catholic who has received throughout history with the Lord Jesus Christ in His body the Church.

All of this really shows us how Jesus Christ does not want any one of us to feel alone. He loves you and me so much that He instituted the Church for us to encounter Him in this life so that we can prepare to live our lives with Him for all eternity. The Eucharist is the ultimate gift of Jesus’ very Body and Blood, which unites us to Jesus and His Church so the life of grace and community might be with us through our good times and through our bad times. May you and I do our best to always stay close to Jesus and His Church so that we never lose the presence of God in our lives.

Questions:

What group of men did Jesus choose as the bishops of the Church? 

How did Jesus reconcile (re-unite) us with his Father?

How does the Church help us encounter Jesus?

What sacrament unites us with Jesus most fully?

What are we as Catholics called to do with what we hear and learn at Mass?

 

Activities:
Have your child draw a picture of Jesus speaking to His Apostles about setting up and continuing His Church. What are some of the things Jesus wants to make sure His Apostles know? Have them write down as many things that they can think of that they hear each time you go to church.

Jesus desires to be with you and me throughout each moment of our life. Interview 5 people who are older than you and ask to tell you about moments in their life when they have experienced Jesus' presence in their lives.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus desires that you and I participate in the life of the Church. We participate by being holy daughters and sons by following God's Commandments of love and mercy and respecting our parents and elders.

Relates to my Faith: The Church guides us in being the children of God that we are called to be.  We need to seek her direction in finding fulfillment in our life. That fulfillment can only be found in God through the graces of Christ dispensed through the ministry of the Church.  

Sample Script:

Jesus’ mission was certainly a saving mission to tell everyone about God’s loving presence and to proclaim God’s desire for all to return to Him, but to make that return possible, He had to overcome the obstacle of sin which separated us from God. To overcome that separation, Jesus took on all of mankind's sins and died on the cross for them, offering his life as a ransom (i.e. in place of ours) for these sins. Mankind deserved death as a punishment for our sins against God, but Jesus died instead for our sake so that we could have that loving relationship with the Father both now and forever in the life to come. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead showed that death no longer had the ultimate say for any one of us and that by uniting ourselves to Jesus, we can truly live the life that we are called to. Thus, Jesus' passion (i.e., suffering), death, and resurrection opened the way to our salvation, but that was only the beginning.

By ascending into Heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to remain with us in the Church. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s continual loving presence among us each and every day. The Church exists and is guided by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus’ presence may be encountered, the Gospel message may be proclaimed, and that strength may be given through the Sacraments to guide us to that promise of new life that is participated in now and experienced in full in Heaven.

These gifts given by the Church to help us encounter and live with Jesus gives us both sanctifying grace in the sacraments, and actual grace to experience the presence of God and live the life of the disciples; which is to say that we are given the ability to choose Jesus and live the life of the Christian that tells all that we encounter that Jesus Christ is alive. This message of discipleship of proclaiming the presence of God in the Church and by our life is handed on down to the Church from Jesus, to the Apostles, and to the bishops in every time and place, even up to today.

Once Jesus ascended into Heaven and the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles, they were given the sufficient grace to be the leaders of the Church that they were called to be. The Apostles were the first bishops, with Peter being the first Pope as the leader of the bishops. Peter and the other Apostles taught and upheld the teachings of Jesus and proclaimed the truth of Christianity in a time when it wasn’t easy because of persecution by the Roman government. The Pope and the bishops do the same thing today as successors, or followers, of Peter and Apostles. One of the really cool things about the Catholic Church is the reality of apostolic succession, which is the handing on of the office of bishop from one bishop to the next. For example, our current bishop, Bishop Paul Bradley, can trace his succession to the bishop who ordained him; the bishop who ordained that bishop can do the same, so on and so forth. Well, Bishop Bradley can trace his ordination all the way back to, can you guess which Apostle? St. Peter! Pretty cool right?!?!

For you and me, it is pretty awesome to think of the history and connectedness that exists in the Catholic Church! Perhaps the most special thing to remember is the fact that the same God who created the universe, who became man to save us from our sins, who inspired the early Church, and who sent the Apostles out on mission is the same God who loves you, blesses you at baptism, that you receive in the Eucharist, who guides you throughout your life, and who sends men and women into your life to proclaim His name. Let us respond by doing the same and be a loving model of God’s grace to all that we meet.

Questions:

What was Jesus' saving mission and what did he have to do to make it possible and why?

Why was it difficult for the apostles to proclaim the truth of Christianity during their time in history?

What is the Holy Spirit's role in the Church?

What is apostolic succession?

From which apostle did the office of our current bishop, Bishop Bradley, originally descend in succession? 


 

Activities:
Together as a family, read Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus tells us that He will be with us always. As a family, share ways that you see Jesus with you and your family.

Ask your priest or deacon about the day that they were ordained. Ask them to tell you how their ordination connects them to Christ and the Church.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus came to fulfill the law and thus show us the path to eternal life. Our adherence to Christ and His Church shows us how to live life well and as God intended us to.

Relates to my Faith: Our faith life in the Church serves as a guide to keep God-centered in our life's journey and to give us the best possible path to maintain union with the Lord.

Sample Script:

Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, meaning He is the lead High Priest that offers Himself on our behalf to God the Father. Jesus’ work of salvation completed historically some 2,000 years ago is continually offered at each Mass to represent the great sacrifice so that, through Jesus’ intercession for us before the Father, we might offer ourselves and our prayers to God. Jesus is always with us in the Church and as the Mass makes present the offering of His Body and Blood given on the Cross to the Father, we are able to unite ourselves to Jesus and give our own sufferings and struggles and the sufferings and struggles that we have been asked to pray for in sacrifice to the Father as well. Here, we are being active in the Mass and in our worship of God. This sharing in the saving mission of Jesus Christ unites us to Him and the Church and gives God His proper due in being worshipped and praised.

The Catholic Church, in her wisdom, as guided by the Holy Spirit, has given us a list of precepts or principles to guide us in our life of faith so that we might remain united to Jesus Christ and be the holy girls and boys that He has called us to be. The Precepts of the Church give us the minimal guidance necessary to order our lives towards God, but God does not call us to be minimalists, and if we think we will make it to Heaven by being minimalists, we ought to re-think that position. God does not desire that He is merely a part of our lives, like our social life, our work life, and a little 45 minute part on Sundays. He wants all of us. Christ must be at the center of our lives, All our decisions should revolve around the question, "What does Jesus want me to do?" Our first waking moment should be one of prayer. We should be in dialogue with God all day, and prayer should be our last conscious action of the day. Far from some sort of "fanaticism", this centrality of Christ in our lives is actually the minimum we need just to hope to make it to purgatory according to many Saints! Jesus said in the Gospels, "Once you have done all the things I have commanded you, say, "I am a worthless servant having done only that which is my duty" (Luke 17:10). Yes, Jesus actually does expect this of us. Now, the Precepts of the Church are as follows:

1.  Observe Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation by going to Mass – This is our first duty to God who has given us everything we have and are, including life itself. The Mass is the only true worship of God on earth. It was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper and not only recalls, but makes real again his suffering, death, and resurrection. It is the primary way that we give God worship and praise, as we encounter Jesus Christ in Word and Sacrament and offer back to God Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist while also uniting our own life and prayerful petitions in uniting with Jesus’ saving mission. It is our baptism that makes our own worship possible, because it makes us part of Christ's mystical body, the Church. In return, God gives us the precious body and blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus, his Son in Holy Communion. This sacrifice of worship is God’s most intimate design in order to unite with and be in relationship to His people, making Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation so very important in one’s spiritual life. When God commanded Moses to keep Holy the Lord's day, he ultimately would mean by means of the Mass. Thus, it is a grave sin to ignore or belittle this obligation and puts us in peril of eternal separation from God--by our own choice!

2.  Confess your sins at least once a year – We are sinners. By being born as a human being, we inherit and take on the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, and are subject to all the effects of that sin (e.g., illness, death, bad decision-making, giving into sin easily even when we know its wrong, etc). And while we are cleansed in the waters of baptism, the effects of sin endure, causing us to fall into sin in our thoughts, words, deeds, and neglects or omissions. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is important for us to do at least once a year, more if possible, so that we can be washed of our sins, be protected against falling back into sin easily, and restore our relationship with God who loves us so. The Church recommends going to confession at least once a month in order to strengthen us against sin and close to God. However, we ought to go to confession any time we find ourselves in mortal sin because neglecting to do so can put us in spiritual peril.

3.  Receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season – The Eucharist is referred to as the "source and summit" of our faith, which means that Jesus’ Body and Blood is the most important gift for us to be in close relationship with God. The Church asks us to receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season, so that we can receive the grace of having our Lord so very close to us in our hearts while celebrating the resurrection, the victory over sin and death and the promised hope of spending eternity in the presence of God, as experienced in the Eucharist, at least one time a year. Again, in order to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, we must receive him with our souls properly ready, free from major (i.e., mortal) sins, with a heart of love and desire for him, and seek to receive Him every week as much as possible.

4.  Observe days of fasting and abstinence – On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the Church asks us to fast (one full meal and two small meals not equaling a full second meal) and abstain from meat. Also, on Fridays during Lent, the Church asks us to abstain from meat. But did you know that on ALL Fridays throughout the year, the Church asks us to abstain from meat as well? However, in place of abstaining from meat, we can offer some other act of penance or something else to participate in the ascetic practice of self-denial, turning us from focusing on ourselves to focusing more intently on God. This can take any form such as prayer or giving something to the poor, or some other form of self-denial, but this should be done intentionally, that is, deliberately. Many Catholics have forgotten this precept, but we are still morally bound by it and should confess it if we have not been practicing it. Catholics age 14 and older are bound to the laws of abstinence (no meat during the prescribed times above) and those of the age of 18 to 59 are bound to the fasting laws.

5.  Provide for the needs of the Church – It is God who has given us our talents and gifts, and through, and in cooperation with, our birth parents, placed us in the circumstances under which we were born. Being good stewards of the gifts and talents he has given us and sharing them along with our time and treasure is one of our obligations to God as members of the body of Christ, the Church. We are called to use the gifts God has given us not for ourselves and our own profit, but to help build his Kingdom. Jesus is very serious about this and makes it very clear in the Gospels. Most basically, this means assisting in providing for the needs of the Church which has real expenses and has no means to pay them except for the contributions of its members. Just as the apostles and the early Church shared a common purse, so do the members of each parish share a common purse with their parish community. The sharing of our "stewardship", that is, our time, talent, and treasure, looks different for each and every one of us, but we should pray about and ask God how you and I can best help the Church so the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be proclaimed.

6.  Obey the laws of the Church concerning marriage – The Church teaches and upholds that marriage is a lifelong institution of exclusive love between one man and one woman for the betterment of each other and for the procreation and education of children. This definition of marriage, as given us by God, through the teaching authority of the Church, is being challenged from many different perspectives, but our culture and the world around us act as if it is the first time in history that people have strayed so far from God's laws. This attitude has never ended well for those who have given in to the shifting sands and fickle winds of the culture. Christ calls us to perseverance and faithfulness to God and to his marriage laws. We should pray for marriages, that they be holy and reflect God’s presence. The Church calls families to be "the domestic Church". This means that each home should be a little church where families can grow in peace, love, and holiness. Parents and children must pray for one another in their own families and strive to live in harmony and selflessness putting our brothers and sisters and spouses ahead of ourselves and our own selfish desires offering these spiritual sacrifices to God for the good of souls--both our own and others. This is easier said than done, but with practice, like anything else, selfless love can become the habit it ought to be.

7.  Participate in the Church’s mission of evangelization of souls – No matter who we are, the Pope, the Bishop, a priest, deacon, Dad or Mom, a 4^th grader, whoever; we are called to live and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ by our life so that souls that don’t know about God can come to know and love Him and invite Him into their lives. We do this each in the context of our vocations. The bishop must tend his Church. Parents must lead their children to God through and in the Church, Children are called to be obedient to their parents, and the people charged with authority over them. All of us are called to obedience to the laws of God and the Church. We live our vocation of mission by being examples of Christ's love to others, of gently inviting them to church or not being afraid to share how God has worked in our lives. This kind of sharing and our good example of love are the most effective ways of witnessing to Christ's love and drawing others to the Catholic faith.

While these Precepts give us a foundation for living the faith of the Church, we should each reflect on these and ask Jesus how we can grow in and live these Precepts more intentionally. Here, we’ll grow closer and closer to the God who loves us.

Questions:

Why is the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of the utmost importance in our lives? 

What sacrament makes our worship at Mass possible? Why?

How often, at a minimum must we go to confession to remain in good standing with the Church according to the precepts? How often does the Church recommend we ought to go? 

What does it mean that families should be "the domestic church"? 

How do we live our mission?
 

Activities:
Review the Precepts above together as a family. Discuss which of these you collectively are good at. Which one's do you need to work on? Choose one that is particularly challenging and draw up a plan to work on living this particular Precept more intentionally.

Choose one of the Precepts on your own and briefly write how this Precept brings you closer to Jesus and His Church.

Relates to Jesus: Baptism is the sacrament that incorporates us into (makes us part of) the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Church. Jesus modeled in His own life the importance of intentionally uniting ourselves to the Father through the Sacrament of Baptism and thus opening ourselves to His will being constantly present in our lives.

Relates to my Faith: The Sacraments of Initiation open the gateway of the Church's salvation and privileges to me, and provides me with the foundation, strength, and gifts to faithfully live the life of a disciple and live our call to be holy members of the Catholic Church.

Sample Script:

We are all created in the image and likeness of God, and finding our origin in the loving God, we know that it is His desire that we live as His children. Being a child of God consists of coming to know Him living in relationship with Him, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Living as a child of God is not always easy, but God desires us to live in His loving relationship, which means that He does not leave us on our own to figure out how to live as His child. God gives us certain encounters with His grace which helps us experience His presence in our lives and tells us that we are children of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Church, through His Word in the Sacred Scriptures, and through our parents, even though our guardian angel. We can learn to hear and recognize His voice by developing the habit of listening through prayer and interior silence and letting that voice be confirmed through the Church.

When Jesus gave us the gift of the Church, He left us the Sacraments as intentional points of encounter with Him. Specifically, in the Sacraments of Initiation, we are given the grace to encounter God and live in the reality of His love by receiving certain gifts that strengthen you and me to be children of God.

The first Sacrament of Initiation, which is referred to as the gateway Sacrament since it begins our life of grace in our life lived with the Sacraments, is Baptism. Baptism offers the recipient Sanctifying Grace, washing the soul of the person clean from the stain of Original Sin, and marking the person as a son or daughter of God with an invisible mark or "character" on our soul. Although we cannot see this mark, God and angels, both good and bad can. Bad angels will work especially hard at pulling baptized souls away from God. So, it is important that baptized souls stay close to God. The sacrament of Baptism restores our relationship with God broken by Original Sin and opens for us the graces of redemption and salvation and to become and remain close to God. Baptism also incorporates us into and unites us to the Church, infuses the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity in us, and opens our minds and hearts to receive the love of God, beginning the journey of holiness that God desires for each and every one of us. It also initiates us into the "apostolate" that is, the Church's apostolic mission, that is, her priestly (or sanctifying), prophetic (or teaching), and kingly (or governing) missions.

The second sacrament of initiation is the Sacrament of Confirmation whereby the recipient is sealed or confirmed in the faith. Like baptism, confirmation marks the recipient with an additional mark or "seal" by the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a fully initiated member of the Body of Christ.. The gifts received at baptism are strengthened as is the sanctifying grace of the recipient. It deepens our "divine affiliation" that is, our union with God as adopted sons and daughters, and with the seven Gifts of the same Spirit, the person confirmed is strengthened to begin living fully the life of the Church and confirms us in her apostolic mission. The confirmed person is called to carry on the Church’s mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and often does so by serving the Church according to one’s call. Living as a witness to the reality of God present in one’s life affords others that you speak with or interact with to come to recognize that God is a God of love, peace, joy… These and other Fruits of the Holy Spirit proclaim Jesus and invite others to participate in this grace.

With the Sacrament of the Eucharist, here the faithful receive the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that is promised to the Church and offers the daily grace of being not only in close union with but in actual contact with God. Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus gives the recipient the tremendous gift of intimate union with our Savior, who is taken into our very body so that He might dwell in and experience every aspect of our life and enables us to participate in His. This Most Blessed Sacrament is the center of our worship, for Jesus in the Eucharist reminds us of God’s love for His people, sending His only Son to suffer and die for our sins so that we might be brought back into relationship.

These three Sacraments of Initiation invite us in and sustain us in our spiritual life in the Church. Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist give us the spiritual foundation to say yes to God, participate in His life of grace, and strengthen us to maintain this relationship throughout our life. We should take very seriously and respectfully the love God has for us and hold fast to the teachings of the Church so that we stay close to God through these Sacraments. For truly, the grace and life with God present through these Sacraments and supported by the Church, we can weather any storm that this life may throw at us.

Questions:
Why is baptism called "the gateway sacrament"?

What are the effects of baptism (what does it do for us) according to the lesson?

What does confirmation do for us?

Why is Holy Communion so important for us (what does it do for us)? 

True or False: When we receive Holy Communion, we are in actual contact with God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.  
 

Activities:
On a sheet of paper, write out your experience as a child of God in the Church. How do you experience Jesus' presence in the Church and how does this effect your relationship with Jesus? Before you begin this activity, spend some quiet minutes in prayer.

Ask your mom and dad about your baptism and your first communion. Ask your mom and dad about their confirmation. How do these important moments in one's faith life connect one to Jesus and the Church?

Relates to Jesus: Jesus founded the Church as the primary means through which his salvation and grace come to those he redeemed. 

Relates to my Faith: The Catholic Church holds the Holy Spirit in the seven Sacraments and gives these to her people so that you and I might be guided in coming to know and live the authentic faith.

Sample Script:

Think of a time in your life when you planned something out and you were able to see your plan work. You were probably pretty happy to see this thing work from start to finish? Seeing our plan come together and watching the good things that come forth from the success of this plan is quite satisfying indeed!

Jesus Christ came to fulfill God the Father’s plan for our salvation and to remind the Father’s beloved creation that the Holy Trinity loves us and desires to remain with us always. Since humankind’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden through Original Sin, God the Father has sent a number of messengers to call back the people. Eventually, when He wasn’t getting a response, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to ensure all the face of God, preaching and teaching the love and truth of the Kingdom of God. While Jesus named twelve Apostles and had many disciples who were all followers, Jesus was ultimately betrayed and rejected and forced to suffer and die. The difference this time of the people turning away from God was that Jesus, being fully God and fully man, was able to actually take on all of humanity’s sickness from sin and crucify sin, offering in Himself the sin He had taken on so that humanity’s debt of destroying their relationship with God through their Original and personal sin would be paid in full. Jesus thus destroys sin and death, conquering these and canceling the separation caused by sin and the consequences of humanity’s pride so that we might be restored in our relationship with God.

Next, Jesus rises from the dead and eventually ascends into Heaven, sending forth the Holy Spirit to descend upon the Apostles, the first leaders in the Church. The power of the Holy Spirit of God dwells here in the Catholic Church and by the handing on by Jesus to the Apostles the work of proclaiming the Gospel, of leading the people, and of performing the ministry of service, the Church is handed on through the decades and centuries by their teaching, governing, and sanctifying. The Apostles, who handed on the Church’s beliefs in faith and morals, exist today in an unbroken line of succession in our bishops that uphold the development of the Church’s Tradition, or her teachings, so that there is a continuity of belief among the faithful so that we can, as authentically as possible, come to know the living and true God.  All of this, from the work of God the Father in the beginning to the saving action of Jesus down to our Church today show God’s plan for humanity to be one with God in the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The teaching authority of the Church is given by Christ directly to Peter and the apostles (Mt 16:16-19, and Mt 28:16-20), the authority to forgive sins (John 20:22-23), and the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide them (John 14:26, and Jn 16:13). With the replacing of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and hung himself out of self-pity with Matthias by the other apostles (Acts 1:16-26), and in the words and symbols used in Mt 16:16-19, it is clear that Jesus intended that the prophetic, teaching, and governing offices of the Apostles be carried on by successors chosen by them. This teaching office, called, the Magisterium, consists of the Pope, together with the Bishops united with him when they teach the truth handed down from the apostles in what is called, "the deposit of faith", which is the teachings of Christ and the apostles. The Magisterium is the authentic interpreter of the deposit of faith.

For you and me, this is important to know because it details for us the authenticity of the Catholic Church and supports her claim as possessing the fullness of truth. God’s call for humanity to be one with Him finds its possibility in Jesus Christ and is supported by the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church through her ministers and people. Further, the power of God is supportive of this effort because the Church, from our human perspective, is far from perfect, making many mistakes and committing many sins throughout her history. If the Holy Spirit was not guiding the Catholic Church, there is no way it would have lasted this long with so many sinful issues. However, the sinfulness of individuals in the Church, even the sinfulness of Popes, bishops, and priests, does not contradict the promise of the guidance of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Jesus never said that any of these people would be sinless (impeccability). Even Judas, who was an apostle, and therefore a pre-cursor of the bishops, betrayed Jesus. So, we can expect that if even Jesus picked men who would sin, we can bet that others in the Church will, too. What he did promise them and us was that the Church, in her Magisterium would teach free from errors on matters of faith and morals (infallibility). History has shown that sometimes errors in theological doctrine crept in some regions where the Church existed teaching for periods of time, which affected large number of the faithful, but in the end, they are always corrected in the long run, usually through councils, which are official gatherings of the Pope and bishops to determine major issues in the Church. Since the Council of Jerusalem (seen in Acts 15), there have been twenty-one councils. The last one was held from 1962 to 1965, called the Second Vatican Council.

We must remember that God is in charge and continues to call all of us, from the Pope, to you and me, to the lowliest person, to conversion and holiness and provides each and everyone who desires this relationship with God with the grace to make such a thing happen. God wants us to love and to be in harmony with Him; to live saintly and holy lives that find us full in this life that point us and others to the reality of eternal life after we die here. In order to achieve our goal of eternal life, we need to allow the mission of God to become our mission and do what we can, living the life of the Church, to do our part in assisting to bring God’s plan of relationship together for each and every one of us.

Questions:

What is the Magisterium, who does it consist of, where does it get its authority, where are these passages in the bible, and what is its function?

Look up the Council of Jerusalem in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. What major issue(s) did the Council of Jerusalem resolve? How did they resolve it (them)? How did they let the rest of the Church know what they decided? 

Who handed on the beliefs and morals of the Catholic Church as it exists today?

What is infallibility?

Who is the apostle that replaced Judas?


Activities:
With your family, review paragraphs 880-887 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and discuss the hierarchy of the Church and how Jesus put this structure in place to guide His people. How do we see this hierarchy working today? List all the ways that you see the Church's hierarchy working in our local area.

Visit the Diocese of Kalamazoo's website at www.diokzoo.org/bishop-bradley. Review the page and click on some of the links and list 5 things that the Bishop does to spread the message of Jesus Christ to the faithful of the Diocese.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus Christ wants to be Lord of our entire life, start to finish, and the life He lived in the Gospels is meant to be our spiritual roadmap for embracing all in our personal lives with Him.

Relates to my Faith: The Catholic Church affords us grace, particularly in the Sacraments, that allows God to walk alongside us and thus to carry things out as they should.

Sample Script:

After Jesus suffered and died, he was placed in a brand new tomb. Our Nicene Creed, professed and recited at each Sunday Mass during Ordinary Time and on Holy Days of Obligation, states that Jesus descended to the dead. What does this mean? Jesus went to preach the Gospel and free the just souls who had gone before Him, fulfilling His saving mission that is available to all in any age (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 633-634).

On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, removing the burial clothes and exiting the tomb. He spent the next 40 days with the disciples continuing to teach them and to prepare them for the gift of the Holy Spirit (see John 20 and 21). The Apostles and the disciples were still very much afraid and confused about the whole situation. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He promised to send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who would be with and guide the Apostles and the new Church to be with us until the end of time. The Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church is to comfort us and give us courage that we are never alone and need not fear with God at our side. Further, through our participation in the Church as baptized sons and daughters we ourselves are in fact temples of the Holy Spirit and called to share His presence with us to all those that we encounter through acts of love and kindness.

The end of Jesus’ earthly time with us commonly sparks questions regarding one of the Church’s most interesting topics, namely the four last things, which are death, judgment, heaven, and hell. And there is little mystery as to why these topics are so interesting. We simply don’t know a ton about these but each of us gets to experience 3 of the 4 to close out our earthly life. Let’s talk about each of these topics a bit to explore these further:

1.  Death – Each of us, at the end of our earthly life, will experience death. While one of the certainties in life, it is also a great mystery, and yet one of the most difficult to consider. Few of us even want to think about it. Yet, the Saints say we should always act in such a way that death is always before so that we might act as Jesus would want us to in every situation. While it is clear from the beginning of the Book of Genesis that God did not desire that death ever enter the world. Our choice to be disobedient to God beginning with the sin of Adam and Eve brought it into the world until the end of time. Death is the final stop before our body shuts down and our soul travels on. As Christians, we believe that because of Jesus’ saving action on the Cross, death has been transformed from something to fear to the transition of the beginning of our life eternal with God--IF we do his will in all things, which Jesus tells us is possible if we place our trust in Him, the thousands of Saints have shown us it is, but it is "the road less traveled". Jesus calls it, "the narrow and difficult path and few there are who find it" (Mt 7:13), and warns the road that leads to Hell is broad and wide, and many there are who travel it (Mt 7:13), so choose the narrow path.

2.  Judgment – At the moment of death, when the soul separates from the body, our soul goes immediately to the particular judgment. Here, we will be individually judged by Jesus Christ based on how we either loved God/loved neighbor or how we didn’t (see Matthew 25:31-46). Judgment will result in either eternal bliss in Heaven, a temporary, but uncomfortable stop in Purgatory to be purified before entering Heaven, or eternal separation in Hell. The key difference between Purgatory and Heaven and Hell is that Heaven and Hell are permanent, while purgatory is temporary, and all the souls in purgatory are saved, meaning they will all eventually go to Heaven. Also, At the Second Coming of Jesus, as discussed in the Book of Revelation, the general judgment will occur in which all the nations of humanity of every time and place will see the presence and work of God. Here, the holy souls and their bodies, including all those in purgatory, will be resurrected and reunited with their souls to reside in eternity. Tragically, those souls who remained obstinate in their disobedience to God will be "cast into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels" (Mt 25:41).

3.  Heaven – The Beatific Vision, in which the Saints and Angels will behold the face of God to offer adoration, praise, and worship in the Divine Liturgy for all eternity. The souls in Heaven are perfected (the Church Triumphant), without any sin before the All-Holy God and these intercede before His Heavenly throne for us here on earth (the Church Militant) journeying toward our Heavenly homeland. Souls of the deceased that still have venial or some attachment to sin are sent to Purgatory (the Church Suffering) to endure their final purification before entering their heavenly homeland. Our prayers here on earth for the souls in purgatory offer relief and assistance for those who are assured of the bliss of Heaven.

4.  Hell – The eternal separation from God and from love, Hell is the place for souls who persistently and intentionally choose themselves and sin (mortal sin), over and above God and their neighbor. Hell is the domain of Satan and the fallen angels or demons. The souls in Hell are the goats in the Matthew 25 verse above that did not look out for their fellow man. In Dante’s Inferno, the souls in Hell are eternally frozen, stuck in on themselves to spend eternity in isolation. Souls in Hell lose all their free will. However, the greatest punishment in Hell is the final and eternal realization that a soul has chosen to be apart from God in his or her life, and that they will live in regret of their decisions for all eternity. It is very important to understand that Hell is our choice. God won't force us to love him if we don't want to. However, Jesus warns us that it is the only choice available to those who do not want God in their lives. Many people who do not believe in God live with a false understanding that they simply die and that will be the end or have some other not-so-bad, maybe-even-better than-this-life fate, but Jesus warns us of only two possibilities: life with God in Heaven or death in a state of permanent separation from God in Hell.

Questions:

What are the four last things?

What is the key difference between Purgatory vs. Heaven and Hell?

True of False: The Church teaches that Purgatory is a place where souls can continue to choose whether they want to go to Heaven or Hell.

What is the Holy Spirit's presence in the Church supposed to show us?

What is particular judgment vs. general judgment?

 

Activities:
Since the Holy Spirit is an active participant in our life, discuss together as a family a difficult moment or two that you each experienced and how you recognized the presence God in those moments. Close with a prayer to the Holy Spirit to always be readily recognizable throughout your life.

As a family, plan a trip to the cemetery to pray for your deceased loved ones. This Work of Mercy unites us to another and reminds us that we each, whether alive or dead, are loved by God and that He desires all to be with Him now and then.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus spoke in many different parables using common themes and images from His day and so, too, the Church offers many different ways for all to come to relate to her and her mission from Jesus.

Relates to my Faith: The Catholic Church is for all and it is her mission that souls come to know God through the proclamation of His Kingdom.

Sample Script:

The Catholic Church is the church that was established by Jesus Christ that He intended for all people to encounter Him by being in loving relationship with Him in Word and Sacrament. In forming His Church, Christ appointed twelve Apostles to serve as leaders and teachers, who would be the first bishops, and that would hand on the Church’s teachings on faith and morals to each man they ordained to succeed or follow them. These men within the Church are chosen by the Holy Spirit to protect and guide the teachings of Jesus Christ so that all might come to know, love, and serve Him. The Pope, an office first held by St. Peter, is the Bishop of Rome and head of all bishops, making up the Magisterium or teaching office of the Church who with, through, and guided by the Holy Spirit teach, govern, and sanctify the Church on earth.

Jesus gave Peter the “keys to the Kingdom” (cf. Matthew 16:19), installing him as the first Pope who serves as the Vicar of Christ, which is to say that Peter and the Popes that succeeded him stand in the place of Christ here on earth, not to be worshipped or deified (the Pope is human like you and me!) but through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church is able to represent Jesus in certain ways. When the Pope teaches and upholds faith and morals as the head of the Magisterium, he is the visible principle of unity in faith and communion as Jesus’s representative for the Church. The Pope can also exercise the special charism of infallibility, or to be free from error, when proclaiming doctrine on faith and morals. This is a gift of the Holy Spirit and has only been used twice in the Church’s history: First, in 1854 with the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and, again, in 1950 with the declaration of the Assumption of Mary.

So you can see how the Catholic Church is made up of a hierarchical structure that is handed on down from God to be given to the people so that the people might be built up in the faith and grow closer to God. Unfortunately, throughout the ages, sin and human frailty have brought darkness upon the Church in various ways, causing splintering and severing to occur which has created many, many branches or sects of Christianity throughout the world who are following many different teachings, many of which are in contradiction with what the Catholic Church teaches that Christ taught. We can be assured that the Catholic Church is the authentic interpreter of what Christ taught because it is the one Church Christ founded and because of what we stated in the above paragraph and previous lessons (you can also find much more material on this in the extra material in the tab after this lesson). While Christian communities maintain a baptism like ours (using the formula that Jesus gave us of “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), they are apart from the fullness of truth that exists in the Catholic Church, living apart from God in the fullness of practice of faith and morals, most especially apart from the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity found in the Eucharist as celebrated in the Holy Mass. We need to continuously pray for our separated brothers and sisters in other Christian (and otherwise) denominations and hope for the day when one day we may all worship God together as one in fullness of love and truth.

The fullness of communion as found in the Catholic Church is seen best in what is called the four marks of the Church. We hear of these marks each Sunday at Mass when we pray the Nicene Creed. The four marks are the Church is One, which is to say that there is one Catholic Christian Church that Jesus Christ found and sent His Holy Spirit to guide until the end of time; the Church is Holy, in that the Church is the dwelling place of God holding the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and offering the direction of the Holy Spirit to all people. The people, from the lay faithful to the clergy, are all striving to be holy as they journey through life and seek to encounter the Divine Physician-Jesus Christ-through the Sacraments at the field hospital which is the Church; the Church is Catholic in that the Church is universal with the Pope and the bishops as the upholders of faith and morals that guide the entire Church in unity to Jesus Christ; and the Church is Apostolic, in that the Church is handed on down throughout the ages from bishop to bishop, showing the continuity that exists in Church teaching that points all to right relationship with the unchanging, loving God. Additionally, each Pope can traced from Pope Francis all the way back to Peter.

Because of the many different operations of the Church, teachers and theologians throughout the Church’s history have used a number of different images to help explain her reality. Some to consider: The Church is the Family of God that brings us God’s children into the loving embrace of the Trinity united with all the angels and saints. The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit that gives the Holy Spirit to her people through the Sacraments to guide and protect us throughout our life’s journey. The Church is the Refuge of Sinners that gives a home to each of us when we commit sin and turn our back on God and offers us the healing ointment of grace through the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, and Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council preferred the image of "The People of God", which hearkens back to God's Chosen People, the Israelites of the Old Testament. This reminds us that our time on earth is a long difficult pilgrimage through the desert (earth) to the Promised Land (Heaven) in which we must rely on God's Providence and grace to see us through to the end. These and many other titles help us to understand the presence of God in the Church and how He calls us continually to be with Him through the chosen means He has prescribed to us.

Questions:
What are the four marks of the Church, and what does each mean?

True or False: Infallibility means that whatever the Pope teaches is always without error under any circumstance.

How many times has infallibility been used by the Pope?

What is the difference between infallibility and impeccability? How do the two words differ in meaning? Does the Church teach that the Pope and Magisterium have both of these traits, if not which one does it have?

The splintering of the Church over the years has created what?

Activities:
Research and write a brief 1 page paper on the specific infallible statements from the Pope over the years.


Research and print out the list of Popes dating from Pope Francis to Peter. How many Popes have there been?


Bishop Paul Bradley is the bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, the nine counties that make up southwest Michigan. He is our local leader who upholds the Church's teachings on faith and morals, just as the Pope does for the entire Universal Church. Go to www.diokzoo.org/pastoral-letters and read at least one of the Bishop's letters he has written to the Diocese. What letter did you read and what are some of the things that he is saying?

Extra Material (For Deeper Study)

Relates to Jesus: The Church is the human entity Jesus chose to establish through which he would remain most fully with us in his sacramental presence and through which he intended that salvation would come to God’s people. The sacraments, most especially in the Holy Eucharist, is where Christ comes to meet us in his mystical, yet substantial presence. Without Jesus, the Church does not exist. 

Relates to My Faith: The Church is the entity through which I can most fully encounter Christ in the world, most especially in the sacraments. Christ also established it as the means of salvation in the world, without which, salvation is not possible. 

Catechism References: Nos. 748-987

Scriptural References: Mt 16:18-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2; 9:38; 13:1; 14:23; 20:28; Rom 12:4-5; Rom 12:25;1 Cor 3:17; 1 Cor 11:18; 1 Cor 12; 1 Cor 14; Eph 1:15-23; 2:19-22; 3:1-21; 4:1-16; 5:21-33; Col 3:11; 1 Tim 3:15; 5:17; Titus 1:5-9; James 5:14-15; 1 Pt 2:4-10 Rev 1:4, 20; 2:1,7-8,11-12,18,3:1,7,14,22,        

Video Resources:
1. What does it Mean to Say, “One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”? Patrick Madrid explains the history and meaning behind each Mark of the Church: (6 min 4 secs)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AotDnQO8stM&ab_channel=CatholicAnswers

2. Aren’t All Churches the Same. Ascension Presents. Fr. Mike Schmitz uses an analogy of a ship, a captain, a first mate, and a crew to discuss how Jesus left us the one Church, which is also holy, Apostolic, and Catholic. (6 min 55 secs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5G_6I4DIIE&ab_channel=AscensionPresents

3. How does Apostolic Succession Work? Catholic Answers. Tim Staples uses apologetic argument to show Jesus meant apostolic succession. (9 min 53 Sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTaJHid-auQ&ab_channel=CatholicAnswers

Extra Narrative

As Catholics, when we talk about the Church, we usually speak about it in two ways. When we capitalize the word “Church”, we can be talking about the entirety of the Body of Christ, as in all baptized Christians or specifically the Catholic Church, or a diocese or the Eastern or Western or Latin (Roman Rite) Churches. The word, “Catholic”, is implied because, as the Second Vatican Council’s constitutional document, Lumen Gentium, teaches, all ecclesial communities (a.k.a., as “denominations”) “subsist in the Catholic Church”. In the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, this meaning is determined by the word, “catholic”, lower case “c”. However, it can also mean the Catholic Church as the institution Christ established as the principle venue of salvation wherein the fullness of that salvation resides, and which pertains to those baptized therein whose members are subject to her Canon Law. By context the reader will normally be able to discern the difference. Also, when we use the word, “church” lower case “c”, we mean the building or parish community.

While the Greek term, “Ekklesia”, a feminine noun in the Greek, meaning “Church” in the books of the New Testament (NT) does not appear until the Gospel of Matthew where it appears three times the story of the Church really has its roots in the Old Testament (OT)  in the chosen people of God, meaning the Hebrews or Israelites. Interestingly, the term ekklesia does not appear in the other three Gospels, but then is found in Acts 2 at Pentecost (the birthday of the Church) which, along with his gospel, is written by Saint Luke, where it is then used over two dozen times. 

The beginning of a chosen people begins in the Garden with Adam and Eve, who represent all human creation. Through a series of five covenants in the OT, the size and scope of God’s Chosen People to whom the covenant is promised, increases. God prepares this ever-growing number of Chosen People, and through them, the entire world, for the New Covenant, which will be established in the reign of His Son, Jesus Christ, through his passion, death, and resurrection. Thus, the early Church Fathers saw in the Gospel of John at the foot of the cross in Mary and the disciples, the birth of the Church, who are the first fruits of Christ’s saving mission. 

I. Pentecost: The Birthday of the Church

However, in the Gospel of John, Christ’s resurrection does not end his work in establishing his Church. In fact, John ensures that his audience of readers understands that Christ must first transfer his authority to Peter and the Apostles. This he does in the breathing of the Holy Spirit upon them and the binding and loosing authority he bestows upon them in Jn 20:22-23. Even then, the work of establishing his Church is not quite finished, because neither in this next-to-last chapter, nor in the final chapter, does John provide closure and the establishment of the Church. Rather, we see only that John ensures his readers understand Peter’s unique authority among the apostles. We are left only wondering what happens next. Some scholars have opined that John deliberately leaves his Gospel open-ended because the Church is what happens next.

However, the Holy Spirit, who is the divine author of the Scriptures as a whole, inspires Luke to write the next chapter which is the Book of The Acts of the Apostles (or simply Acts), wherein we see Jesus ascend into Heaven and Mary and the apostles gather in the Upper Room of the Last Supper in Jerusalem at Pentecost where the Holy Spirit comes in power upon them in wind, word (they speak in tongues) and in tongues of fire (the three symbols representing the Trinity). The early Church fathers see in this event the formal beginning of the Church. This is the Chosen People of the New Covenant, and it is universal, that is God has opened it for all because Christ died for the redemption of all. Therefore, Pentecost, which, not accidentally, was the ancient Jewish festival of the first fruits of the Spring harvest, becomes the birthday of the Church.

II. The Early Church

In Matthew 16:18 and in John 20:22-23, and Jn 21 we see that from the beginning Jesus gave his binding and loosing authority to the Church primarily in Peter and the Apostles, and lastly to the Church as a whole (Mt 18:17-18). In the Acts of the Apostles, as well as in all the epistles of the NT, we see how that pastoral and administrative authority plays out over the budding Christian churches. After the initial persecutions by the Hebrew Pharisee who would become the greatest Christian apostle of all, Paul, the first problem we run across is in Acts 15, where there is a dispute among the apostles as to whether the baptized in Christ were to follow the old Jewish laws and rituals. This was resolved in what is known as the Council of Jerusalem, which was the first council of the Church. A council is a gathering of the Pope and bishops to determine a matter or matters of great importance to the Church. In this case, it was Peter, Paul, and the other eleven apostles who made and agreed upon the decisions of the council that newly baptized were not obliged by the old Jewish laws and precepts. Though not considered at the Council of Jerusalem, it became understood through St. Paul’s writings that it is baptism which is the sign of the new circumcision, and baptism that marks (not just symbolically, but in essence) the Christian as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Many of the Catholic Church’s critics will argue that from the example of the NT writings, the Church was never intended to become the institutionalized structure it has become through the ages, that Christ desired simple communities led by someone chosen by the representative lay community. However, this view fails to take into account the power Christ gave the institutional Church to govern itself as a whole, establishing her overall administrative and apostolic authority. Not to mention that without the institutional Church as a governing and teaching body promised by Christ to be guided and led by the Holy Spirit in Jn 14:26 and Jn 16:13, the individual communities would deteriorate into splintered communities of differing beliefs. This is in fact what we have seen happen in practice because the unity which is the Spirit is lacking when we are not united in the Holy Spirit through the unity of Petrine and apostolic authority. In fact, it is Papal authority, both in symbol and ontological reality, which is the principle of unity in the Church universal--sine non qua (without which none). 

III. The Ecclesiology of the Church Universal
 

The term, ecclesiology, strictly speaking means the study of the Church. In practical study, it refers to the structure and workings of the Church. It has already been said that the Church catholic (little c) is made up of all who are validly baptized. So, this includes all those not baptized in what we will artificially term here for the sake of distinction as “the institutional Catholic Church”. It is an artificial distinction because the universal catholic Church and the institutional Catholic Church are ontologically the same, meaning there is no difference in their essence or reality. It is one Church. However, only those who receive baptism within the institutional Catholic Church are bound by the Church’s canonical laws and precepts, thus we need to make a distinction. 

To understand the scope of the Catholic Church’s authority, the Pope could oblige all the baptized, even those who were not baptized within the institutional Catholic Church to all its canonical laws and precepts if he so desired. He does not for pastoral reasons of charity. For if the Church were to bind her laws and precepts upon baptized non-Catholics, the failure to follow them would subject the disobedient to the possibility of grave sin thus uncharitably opening them up to the condemnation of Hell. Despite what is portrayed in all the ignorance of the entertainment industry, the Church, in her divine understanding and compassion, moved by the Spirit, does not desire the eternal condemnation of anyone, and so does not subject those who may never have the grace to objectively hear, let alone accept, the teachings of the Church to obligations they would otherwise be required by obedience, under pain of sin, to fulfill. 

So, in the structure of the Church, as was mentioned in the opening paragraph, Lumen Gentium, which is the Second Vatican Council’s constitutional document on the Church, in paragraph 8, states, “this Church, constituted and organized as a society in this present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him although many elements of sanctification and truth can be found outside her structure; such elements, as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling towards Catholic unity". 

Perhaps a useful image to illustrate the idea of this subsistence is a Venn diagram in which a large circle represents the institutional Catholic Church, home of the baptized Catholic. Intersecting with the circle of the Catholic Church are smaller circles, each one representing a self-governing ecclesial community, sect, (or a legitimately apostolic Church such as the Orthodox) that is partially in and partially outside of the large circle. The degree to which the smaller circle resides within the large circle is the degree to which its teachings and doctrine align with that of the Catholic Church and thus is the degree to which it is in unity with the Church universal. So, for instance, the circle representing the Orthodox Church would be mostly within the circle of the Catholic Church since it has valid bishops, priests, and sacraments, though some differing moral doctrines, while, for instance, the community of Unitarians, would only have a sliver intersecting the circle representing the Catholic Church since very little of any its teachings align with Catholic doctrine. Thus, every self-governing ecclesial body subsists within the umbrella of the Catholic Church, thus making salvation possible for those not baptized into the institutional Catholic Church. 

The Two Lungs of the Church: East and West

When most people think or talk about the Catholic Church, they are thinking or speaking specifically about the Roman Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic Church is not the whole Catholic Church on earth. The Church is categorized broadly into two distinct branches, the Eastern (or Greek) Catholic Churches and the Western (or Latin) Catholic Churches. The Roman Catholic Church is actually only one of the Western or Latin rite Churches. As it happens, it is by far the largest rite of the entire Church, thus the most popular, and the one everyone thinks of when we talk or think about the Catholic Church. However, there are 23 Eastern Rite Churches, all Catholic and all united under the Pope. These are not to be confused with the Orthodox Churches, which are also Byzantine but are not united under the Pope. The second-largest Catholic rite Church, which is still much smaller than the Roman rite, is the Eastern rite known as the Byzantine Rite. The Byzantine Rite is made up of several distinct smaller rites, the largest of which is the Byzantine Ukrainian Rite, followed by the Byzantine Ruthenian Rite and others such as the Italo-Albanian Rite. The Byzantine rites use their own distinct version of the Mass or Divine Liturgy: 1. The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and 2. The Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil only differ in the length of their Eucharistic Prayers but are otherwise the same liturgy. The former is used during the normal Sundays of the Church liturgical year. The Liturgy of St. Basil is used during several days around the Lenten and Easter Season. The Byzantine Rite Church began in the region of Constantinople (currently known as Istanbul) and is largely found in Western Asia and also in the diaspora (dispersion) of Byzantine Catholics driven out by Soviet persecution in the 20th century. The Byzantine Church is the second-largest rite in North America.

In her expression of the Divine Liturgy (i.e., the Mass), the Byzantine Church nearly always chants the Liturgy, and responses by the congregation are either sung in plain or simple chant popular and familiar to the congregation or sung by a choir. When the choir sings, the liturgy is usually much more ornate and very beautiful. The chants and responses are an art unto themselves and require much knowledge of the musical tradition as each Sunday and weekday liturgy has its own specific set of chants or "tones" depending on the festal occasion. They are led by a cantor called a "Dyak" (pronounced, "Dyahk" in one syllable, not Die-yak).

Additionally, Byzantine churches are richly adorned with icons and artwork. Eastern rite churches are built very beautifully both inside and out with much decorative art to remind us of the splendor, beauty, and glory of God in Heaven. The sanctuary is separated from the nave (where the congregation resides) by an ornate wall of icons called an "icon screen" or "iconostasis". The iconostasis has three sets of doors: the Great Doors which are a set of double doors at the center of the iconostasis which lead directly to the altar, and two side doors on each side of the Great Doors known as "the deacon's doors". When the Liturgy begins, the Great Doors are opened and remain open until the end of the liturgy when they are closed again. Only the priest may use them. One of their many beautiful traditions is that from Easter Sunday throughout and throughout Easter Week, known as "Bright Week" because the liturgical vestments worn all week are white or gold in color, the Great Doors remain open symbolizing the open tomb and the risen Christ.

Theologically, there are some different emphases and some terminology as well. In the Eastern Churches, the seven sacraments are called "mysteries", as you saw above, the word, "Mass" is not used, since it derives from Latin, but rather, "Divine Liturgy". Also, the theological emphasis is less on the person of Christ and more on the three persons of the Holy Trinity as a Divine Unity.

Other Eastern rites include the Melkite (origin Greece) rite, Maronite (origin Syria), Western Syriac (Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria), Eastern Syriac or Syro Malabar (India), Alexandrinian (Egypt), Armenian (Albania, northern Turkey), Chaldean (Iraq), and others. All have their own customs and liturgical traditions.

There are actually a small number of other Western Rite Churches as well, these include the Mozarabic Rite, which was extinct but was re-established during the reign of Pope John Paul II. Another one is the Ambrosian rite and several of the Gallican rites. A number of the Latin rites are long extinct. 

IV. The Church’s Three-Fold Structural Dimension

A. The Church in Heaven: The Church Triumphant

The Church reflects the mystery of the Oneness and Threeness of the Holy Trinity in that she, too, resides in three dimensions. The first dimension in which the Church resides is in her heavenly dimension, where she is completely perfected and beholds the Beatific Vision of God. In this dimension, we call her the Church Triumphant, because all those in heaven have defeated evil and sin and now reside with and in God in all his eternal glory, joy, perfected holiness, and beauty. 

B. The Church on Earth: The Church Militant
The Church also has an earthly dimension which encompasses all the redeemed, that is all the inhabitants of Earth. Though, not all are yet baptized, the sacrament which is the gateway to full membership in the Body of Christ, the Church on earth is, nonetheless, as Bishop Sheen called her, “The Theater of Redemption”, that is, the arena in which the redeemed may be saved, It is called “militant” because on earth is where the battle for souls between Jesus Christ, our merciful Savior, and the Church’s Adversary, Satan, our accuser, takes place. Since Christ has redeemed all humanity, the Church is the home to which all of humanity is invited. Those who are baptized, become incorporated into her Body, which is the “Mystical Body of Christ” himself, and wherein the spiritual battle which ends in eternal gain or loss occurs. It is important, especially in our modern times, to understand that Eternal Life with God (Heaven) or eternal separation from Him, is less understood in terms of “reward” and “punishment” as much as our personal choice of responding positively to the graces he freely offers, including obedience to his law of divine love, which is about our moral choices or rejecting his graces in favor of our own selfish choices. God gives us free will so that we might freely choose Him. He allows evil as the result of the free choices of disobedient human nature. Just as the sin of Adam affected all of humanity, so does all evil affect humanity, including those personal sins done in private which we think cannot possibly affect anyone but us. Even those sins have at least a spiritual effect on the body of Christ because they weaken the soul’s ability to resist greater sins, and left unchecked, they will destroy the soul, which affects the entire Body of Christ. 

C. The Church in Purgatory: The Church Suffering

The Church’s third dimension resides in a place of continued atonement in justice for venial sins left un-atoned on earth--the Church terms this place, Purgatory. Purgatory is not a second chance for salvation. The souls being purified therein are already saved. They will be in Heaven, and cannot be lost to Hell. Thus, the souls there are called, “holy”. Suffering united to Christ is salvific. We can gain much merit for ourselves and others when we unite our sufferings to Christ. While no secret, it is not spoken enough from the pulpit in our society which does not like to think of or hear things that pertain to our end on earth or of things that might make us uncomfortable. Yet, like the doctor or dentist which often subject us to some level of pain that good might come of it, understanding and accepting our sufferings from a Catholic perspective when united to Christ’s will bring much good in the long run and can save us atonement to which we might otherwise be subject in Purgatory. 

We call the souls in Purgatory the Church Suffering because even as the principal punishment of Hell and principle suffering of Purgatory is separation from God there is a great difference. In Hell, we understand that by our own choice(s), we have forever rejected God’s love, While in Purgatory, we understand that our selfish choices have delayed our union with God. The desire for this union is so intense that time would seem to drag on forever. Thus, while in terms of the physical laws of our universe there is no time in Purgatory, per se, because it exists outside of time as we know it in the physical dimension of this universe, the relativity of time in Purgatory, in whatever dimension it exists, is still in play. The analogy of time would be akin to understanding how time seems to pass more slowly when we are, for instance, listening to a boring classroom professor after lunch hour wherein each minute seems as an hour vs. how quickly time seems to pass when we are greatly enjoying ourselves and each hour seems as a minute. In Purgatory, time would appear to move much more slowly because of the greatness of our anticipation and desire for union with God knowing it is coming. 

Additionally, in Purgatory, the time we must spend in atonement for our sins cannot be commuted (lessened) except by the prayers of others. This is why it is a work of mercy that we pray for the souls of others who have passed, especially we hope to have others pray for us. That is, our own prayers, even for others, do not lessen our “time” in purgatory. Only the prayers of others for us can do that. Another consideration is that there is no “faith” in Purgatory. In the words of St. Paul, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen”. Souls that have departed this life, know God exists. Even souls in Hell, whether they actually see God (of whom they are unworthy to see) or not (because they are unworthy to see Him) understand that “God is” because of his justice (remember, Jesus stands as Divine Judge according to the Creed)..  

When we have gone to confession, the guilt of our sins is forgiven, but we must still “make satisfaction” (a.k.a., atonement) or make up for the wrong. The penance given by the priest is representative in nature. The person who is wise will not assume that “One Our Father and One Hail Mary” will not even atone for one venial sin let alone an entire confession’s worth of our sins. This is why we will do well to follow the counsel of Saint Paul who advises us, we must “make up in our flesh, the sufferings lacking in the cross of Christ”. It is also what Christ means when he says, “you must take up your cross daily and follow me” and “unless the seed falls to the earth and dies, it cannot bear fruit”. All the sayings of Jesus which tell us to “die to ourselves” and “take up our cross” are rooted in the atoning and fruitful nature of self-gift and the offering of our earthly sufferings when united to Christ who makes them fruitful through his earthly suffering, death and resurrection. We would do well to make a habit of offering our sufferings in atonement for ourselves and others in a spirit of merciful charity. We can do this, also, by making an offering of all our “prayers, works,, joys, and suffering” of each day in the traditional Morning Offering composed by Fr. Francois-Xavier Gautrelet (link here: Morning Offering. 

V. The Four Marks of the Church

The Apostles’ and Constantinopolitan-Nicene (“Nicene” for short) Creeds both teach that the Church consists of four marks or characteristics. These marks are that she is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic”. Let’s look at each with a little more depth. 

A. The Church is One

That the Church is “one” reflects the reality that Christ did not form a confederacy of churches, each operating in complete independence of one another, or each with its own doctrine. We see this in the words of St. Paul in 1 Cor 1, where he admonishes the Corinthian church for its factions and lack of unity of doctrine. Rather, in John’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus prays before the Father, “that they may be one”. The Trinity being Unity itself is, therefore, the Source of the Church’s unity, especially in Jesus’ redemptive action in his suffering, death, and resurrection, especially in the paschal feast, meaning, and ontological reality of the Eucharist which unites all humanity as the common beneficiaries of Christ’s gift of redemption. The Holy Spirit working through the guidance of the Pope and the Bishops is the principle of that unity. The bond of unity is, above, charity “which binds everything together in perfect harmony”(Eph 4:3), and its profession of faith which provides the basis for the unifying doctrine of the Church universal.

B. The Church is Holy
We have already discussed in our lesson, The Call to Holiness, how we must be perfect as God is perfect, and how that is possible. The Church’s detractors are quick to point out the imperfections of the Church’s human dimension and use this as their excuse to turn away from the graces of salvation Christ offers therein. Many who were baptized or even raised Catholic fall victim to this temptation by the Church’s chief Adversary, Satan, who stands as our accuser. Christ came to call sinners. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus states, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the self-righteous, but sinners.” We must understand and expect that because every member of the Church Militant is subject to the radically negative effects of Original Sin, it is completely unrealistic for us to think those we run across in the Church, even those who work directly for her, will not make mistakes or forget they are ambassadors of Christ, even clergy, whom we should expect would hold themselves to a higher standard. Yet, as Christ was perfected in holiness, so is the Church through Christ her Bridegroom. God sees the Church through the rose-colored glasses (as it were) of the perfection of Jesus. The Church having both divine and human dimensions while perfect in its divinity, still undergoes the process of being perfected in its human dimension. This process of perfection continues as long as there is one human being not yet perfected, but because the process of perfecting is God’s it, too, is holy. 

C. The Church is Catholic

The word “catholic” comes from the Greek word meaning universal. That is, the Church calls all to incorporation within herself. This is because Christ redeemed all of humanity, but as we taught in the lesson on Salvation and Grace, not all are saved. Recall that we made a distinction between redemption and salvation, where redemption reconciled us to God closing the un-crossable gap opened by Original Sin, and salvation is the work of cooperation with God’s offered grace that sanctifies us, perfects us, and brings us to Heaven. It is to incorporation into the Mystical Body of Christ through the repentance of our sins and baptism that Christ calls all humanity. This is the universal, that is the catholic, call to holiness.   

D. The Church is Apostolic
This is where the Catholic Church is unique, and where “c”atholic becomes “C”atholic. It is the institutional Church that Christ established upon Simon Peter’s vicarage and primacy in Mt 16:18-19 wherein apostolic succession is first gleaned in the New Testament. The idea of passing on the torch of divine authority to human vicarage is first seen in the Patriarchs and, especially, in the prophets of the Old Testament, who are chosen and appointed by God and anointed as the incoming Prophet by the Prophet preceding him. Thus the prophets of the OT are the “type” of the NT apostles. Christ sets the stage for the continuation of apostlic authority, specifically Peter’s apostolic authority when he uses the phrase, “keys to the Kingdom”. Jesus’ use and meaning in bestowing the “keys of the Kingdom” upon Peter is seen in Isaiah 22:19-22. From the death of Peter, the Church already understood that he would have a successor. These successors are recorded in Church records. The successor of Peter would be the Bishop of Rome, where Peter would eventually be martyred. The first nine Popes succeeding Peter, in order, were Linus, Cletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, and Pius I (d.155 A.D.).    

However, the apostolic succession does not only apply to Peter, but to the replacement of the apostles as Christ’s first “sent” missionaries of the Gospel as well. With the death of Judas Iscariot, the other apostles understood that he was to be replaced. The story of his replacement is recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:15-26). Since that time, apostles became episkopoi (Greek word in Acts 20:17 denoting “overseers”,  later developing into the title, “Bishop”, in the English) who succeeded the apostles carrying apstolic authority. To this day, every Bishop, in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches can trace their roots to one of the original twelve apostles. Apostolic succession is important because it is through apostolic succession which came from Christ through Peter, that the Church has the authority to govern herself, to baptize, to preach the Gospel, sanctify, worship, and pass on the teachings of Christ without error.      

,     

VI. Images of the Church

A. Mystical Body of Christ/Bride of Christ
In both image and reality, the Church is the Body of Christ, also called, the Mystical Body of Christ. It is mystical in the sense that the Church as the Body of Christ is a mystery. It is a body of believers, the body directed by Christ the Head, and the body united to Him as the Bride for which he laid down his life. Saint Paul uses this imagery in 1 Cor 6:15, 1 Cor 12, and Eph 5:30-32. It is also used in Rev 21:2 and 22:17. 

B. The People of God
The Church as People of God is the primary image used for the Church by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. The roots of this image come from the Old Testament of God’s Chosen People, the Israelites, with whom he made his five covenants and whom he formed through 400 years of slavery in Egypt and after freeing them, and purified for forty years in the crucible of the burning Sinai desert. Though we see in this image how the Israelites reject God time and again, we also see how God chastises them, cares for them, beckons them, and takes them back after every cycle of rejection and chastisement. When we ask why God allows evil, we only need to recall the Old Testament story of the People of God to understand even when God has made it blatantly obvious that he is with us and loves us, we would still reject him. We see this again when God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, walks among us. The image is meant to remind us that we are a “pilgrim people” on a journey that is meant to end in the Promised Land, Heaven. Thus, the imagery of the OT, is a type of the journey that the Church of the New Covenant is fulfilling, and we are part of that story.

C. The New Jerusalem/City of God
Beginning at Revelation 21:9, the image of the Church as the New Jerusalem is described in symbolic terms with symbolic measurements. The word “Salem” is an anglicization of the Hebrew word, “shalom”, which means, “peace”. “Jeru” means “city”, so the word Jerusalem means “City of Peace”. Jerusalem was the political and religious center of Israel’s nation until it was sacked and the temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. after years of religious rebellion against Roman authorities who, to some degree, tolerated the Jewish people’s religion. During the time of Christ and before, the Roman Emperor, of course, had set up Herod and later Herod Antipas as puppet political leaders as a bone to throw to the people of Israel to try to placate them and show themselves as benevolent dictators. By the time Revelation was written by St. John, apostle and evangelist, the Temple had long been destroyed and a series of deadly persecutions against Christians, who were seen by the Romans as an outlawed Jewish sect, had been inaugurated which would last for over 200 years. The Church would be the New Jerusalem, the restored City of Peace, reigned over by Jesus Christ.    

Moreover, in the old Jerusalem, only the high priest could enter the temple, and then only once a year. The New Jerusalem fills the entire earth. God dwells with all his people in the temple, we will see him face to face (Rev 22:3) and reign with him forever (Rev 22:4). The New Jerusalem is the fulfillment and final product of what he started in the Garden in Eden, complete with the river of the water of life and a tree of life (compare Gen 2:6-10 with Rev 22:1-2). 

D. Additional Images

In addition to these principal images, Sacred Scripture refers to the Church as the Sheepfold which references Christ as the Shepherd and his disciples the sheep who hear his voice; Vine and Branches (Jn 15:5), where Jesus is the vine, which is the source of nourishment and sustainment for the branches, which are his disciples.   

Also, the City of Zion is an image used often in the Old Testament which is literally translated as “indication” or “marking” and was, by location, was a Canaanite hill fortress within the city of Jerusalem captured by David and later called, City of David.
The image of the Church as City of David, refers to Jesus’ royal and priestly lineage. King David was the greatest and most famous of the Kings of Israel. It was his line, from (scandalously) his sinfully gotten wife, Bathsheba, that Jesus came. Jesus, is the perfect fulfillment of what King David was supposed to be. King David, in all his riches, splendor and faithfulness to God was still greatly flawed. Even while the human author(s) that seek to bring out the best of King David, the divine author (the Holy Spirit) who is the hidden inspiration behind all of Sacred Scripture, paints a different picture of what happens to even the best of men when they are given too much power and too many riches. In Jesus Christ, there is only divine perfection in whom all who “hear the Word of God and keep it” will find full beatitude.     
 

VII. Mission of the Church: The Great Commission
Lastly, it should be pointed out that we cannot discuss the Church without discussing mission. The Church militant, that is, that third of the Church which exists in time in the earthly plane, does not exist without a purpose and mission. We find this mission and purpose in Matthew 28:19-20, in what is called, “The Great Commission”, in which Jesus gives his final words to his apostles and disciples telling them, “...All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me..” (indicating his Kingly authority in his Kingdom), then, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (indicating the Church’s mission). As an interesting side note, the final words of the Gospel of Matthew are, “I am with you always, even until the end of the age,” closes out what Matthew points out at the very beginning of his Gospel (in Mt 1:23), that “the child to be born (Jesus) shall be called Emmanuel, which means, “God with us”, and so he remains. Christ's work of salvation cannot continue without her disciples continuing to spread the Good News of salvation. In Luke 18:18, Jesus questions the disciples as a prophetic warning, "Will the Son of Man find any faith on earth when he returns?" This great general lack of faith also warned about by St. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians (2 Th 2:1-12) as "the mass apostasy", in which the great majority of humankind will have rejected Christ, portends the end of our times and the return of Christ. Let us not get caught sleeping unprepared like the foolish virgins awaiting the arrival of the groom (Mt 25:1-13). Rather, let us work diligently in the vineyard to continue to bring the Good News of salvation to those God puts in our path.