Father Kleppner - July 15, 2007
The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith released a
document on Tuesday of this week regarding the nature of
the Catholic Church and her relationship to the Orthodox
churches and Protestant communities. The reason for this
document was to address the erroneous idea that has become
prevalent even among Catholics that all churches are the same
and it really doesn’t matter to which church we belong. The
document affirms the traditional teaching that the Catholic
Church is the Church founded by Christ himself. It affirmed
that in the Catholic Church we find the fullness of Christ’s
teaching and the fullness of the means of salvation. It affirms
that we share a close union with the Orthodox churches, which
have maintained apostolic succession and the sacraments. It
affirmed that God’s grace is also operative in churches of the
sixteenth century reformation, i.e. Episcopalian, Lutheran,
Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. It states that the Orthodox
churches lack full unity with the pope, the successor of Peter. It
affirms that the churches of the reformation do not maintain
apostolic succession and the full sacramental life. It does not
say that only Catholics can be saved. I share with you
questions and answers from that document.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
RESPONSES TO SOME QUESTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE ON THE CHURCH
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Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic
doctrine on the Church?
The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to
change this doctrine, rather it developed, deepened and more
fully explained it.
This was exactly what John XXIII said at the beginning of the
Council. Paul VI affirmed it and commented in the act of
promulgating the Constitution Lumen gentium: “There is no
better comment to make than to say that this promulgation really
changes nothing of the traditional doctrine. What Christ willed,
we also will. What was, still is. What the Church has taught
down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that
which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain,
is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and
sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear
formulation”. The Bishops repeatedly expressed and fulfilled
this intention.
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What is the meaning of the affirmation that the
Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?
Christ “established here on earth” only one Church and
instituted it as a “visible and spiritual community”, that from its
beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and
will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements
that Christ himself instituted. “This one Church of Christ, we
confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic. This
Church, constituted and organized in this world as a society,
subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of
Peter and the Bishops in communion with him”.
In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium
“subsistence” means this perduring, historical continuity and the
permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the
Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely
found on this earth.
It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly
that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the
churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion
with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of
sanctification and truth that are present in them. Nevertheless,
the word “subsists” can only be attributed to the Catholic
Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that
we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe… in the “one”
Church) and this “one” Church subsists in the Catholic Church.
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Why was the expression “subsists in” adopted
instead of the simple word “is”?
The use of this expression, which indicated the full identity of
the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church, does not change
the doctrine on the Church. Rather, it comes from and brings
out more clearly the fact that there are “numerous elements of
sanctification and of truth” which are found outside her
structure, but which “as gifts properly belonging to the Church
of Christ, impel towards Catholic Unity”.
“It follows that these separated churches and Communities,
though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither
of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In
fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as
instruments of salvation whose value derives from that fullness
of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic
Church”
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Why does the Second Vatican Council use the term
“Church” in reference to the oriental Churches
separated from full communion with the Catholic
Church?
The Council wanted to adopt the traditional use of the term.
“Because these Churches, although separated, have true
sacraments and above all – because of the apostolic succession –
the priesthood and the Eucharist, by means of which they
remain linked to us by very close bonds”, they merit the title of
“particular or local Churches”, and are called sister Churches of
the particular Catholic Churches.
“It is through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each
of these Churches that the Church of God is built up and grows
in stature”. However, since communion with the Catholic
Church, the visible head of which is the Bishop of Rome and the
Successor of Peter, is not some external complement to a
particular Church but rather one of its internal constitutive
principles, these venerable Christian communities lack
something in their condition as particular churches.
On the other hand, because of the division between Christians,
the fullness of universality, which is proper to the Church
governed by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in
communion with him, is not fully realized in history.
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Why do the texts of the Council and those of the
Magisterium since the Council not use the title of
“Church” with regard to those Christian
Communities born out of the Reformation of the
sixteenth century?
According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy
apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are,
therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church.
These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the
absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the
genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery
cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called “Churches” in
the proper sense.
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