Jesus Christ's Mission Continues in the Church

Christ Established His One Church to Continue His Presence and His Work

Images of the Church (Partial Insights of Church Sharing in Trinitarian Communion)

The Marks of the Church

The Church in the World

Implications for Life of a Believer

Challenges

The origin, foundation, and manifestation of the Church (CCC, nos. 778-779).

The descent of the Holy Spirit (CCC, nos. 696, 731- 732, 767, 1076, 1287, 2623).

Holy Spirit is present in the entire Church (CCC, nos. 737-741).

Holy Spirit inspires Apostles’ mission (CCC, nos. 857, 860).

Handing on the teaching of Jesus (CCC, nos. 787-789, 792, 796).

The role of the Apostles in the early Church (CCC, no. 857).

In the Old Testament (CCC, nos. 753-762).

From the New Testament (CCC, nos. 763-776). 

Images rooted in Scripture and developed in Tradition.

The Church is one (CCC, nos. 813-822).

The Church is holy (CCC, nos. 823-829).

The Church is catholic (CCC, nos. 830-856).

The Church is apostolic (CCC, nos. 857-865).

The Church is sign and instrument of communion with God and unity of the human race (CCC, no. 760).

Christ founded the Church with a divine purpose and mission (CCC, no. 760). 

The Church and her mission of evangelization (CCC, nos. 861, 905).

Visible structure of the Church: a hierarchical communion (CCC, nos. 880-896).

Teaching office in the Church: the Magisterium (CCC, no. 890).

Sanctifying office of the Church (CCC, no. 893). 

Governing office of the Church (CCC, nos. 894-896).

Belonging to the Church is essential (CCC, no. 760).

Jesus Christ enriches us through the Church.

The Church at prayer.

Living as a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, means we live as disciples, proclaiming the Lord Jesus’ teaching to others (CCC, nos. 520, 1248).

Why do I have to be a Catholic? Aren’t all religions as good as another (CCC, nos. 760, 817-822, 836)?

Isn’t the Church being hypocritical in telling other people to be holy and avoid sin when many Catholics, including the clergy, are guilty of terrible wrongs (CCC, nos. 823-829)?

Who needs organized religion? Isn’t it better to worship God in my own way, when and how I want?

How is it that the Catholic Church is able to sustain the unity of her members even though they live out their faith in different cultures and sometimes express their faith in different ways? 

The Church—planned by the Father (LG, no. 2; CCC, no. 759).

Preparation for the Church begins with God’s promise to Abraham (CCC, no. 762).

The Catholic Church was instituted by Christ (CCC, nos. 748-766).

The Holy Spirit revealed the Church at Pentecost (CCC, nos. 767-768).

Church is pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tm 3:15; CCC, no. 768).

Fifty-day preparation.

Jesus remains with us always.

The events of the first Pentecost.

Spirit present in and through the Church.

The Holy Spirit bestows varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts upon the Church.

The Spirit’s gifts help the Church to fulfill her mission (CCC, no. 768; LG, no. 4).

The Great Commission (CCC, nos. 858-860).

The preaching of Peter on Pentecost (CCC, nos. 551-556). 

The growth of the Church (CCC, nos. 766-769).

Conflict with Jewish and Roman authorities (CCC, no. 2474). 

The Church spreads to the Gentiles (CCC, nos. 762, 774-776, 781).

Apostolic Tradition (CCC, nos. 857-865).

The development of the New Testament (CCC, nos. 124-133).

Chosen and appointed by Jesus Christ (CCC, nos. 857-860).

The Council of Jerusalem: the Apostles recognized as leaders of the Church (CCC, no. 860).

Community of Apostles continued in community of pope and bishops (CCC, nos. 861-862).

Prefigured in Noah’s ark (CCC, nos. 56, 753, 845, 1219).

The call of Abraham, and the promise to him of descendants (CCC, no. 762).

Israel’s election as the People of God (CCC, no. 762).

The remnant foretold by the prophets (CCC, no. 762).

The Body of Christ (CCC, nos. 787-795).

The temple of the Holy Spirit (CCC, nos. 797- 801).

The bride of Christ (CCC, no. 796).

The vine and branches (CCC, no. 787). 

The seed and the beginning of the Kingdom (CCC, nos. 541, 669, 764, 768).

The family of God (CCC, nos. 791, 1655-1658, 2204-2685).

The People of God (CCC, nos. 781-782). 

The way to salvation.

Marian images (CCC, nos. 507, 773, 967, 972).

The community of disciples.

A pilgrim people.

Unity is in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit; it is visible unity in the world.

The Church is united in charity, in the profession of one faith, in the common celebration of worship and sacraments, and in Apostolic Succession (CCC, no. 815).

Unity in diversity.

Wounds to unity.

Ecumenism.

Interreligious Dialogue.

Holiness is from the all-holy God: all human beings are called to live in holiness. 

Christ sanctifies the Church through the Holy Spirit and grants the means of holiness to the Church.

Church members must cooperate with God’s grace.

Church members sin, but the Church as Body of Christ is sinless.

Mary, Mother of the Church and model of faith.

Canonized saints: models of holiness.

The members of the Church are always in need of purification, penance, and renewal (LG, no. 8, cited in CCC, nos. 827, 1428; UR, no. 6, cited in CCC, no. 821).

The Church has been sent by Christ on a mission to the whole world and exists worldwide.

The Church exists for all people and is the means to salvation for all people.

Salvation comes from the Church even for nonmembers (see Dominus Iesus, section 20; CCC, no. 1257).

Founded by Christ on the Twelve with the primacy of Peter.

Has apostolic mission and teaching of Scripture and Tradition.

Guided by successors of the Twelve: the pope and bishops.

Christ calls all Church members to share Gospel of salvation.

Jesus—not the members—endowed Church with authority, power, and responsibility (CCC, nos. 763-766).

Church transcends history yet is part of history.

Church continues Christ’s salvation, preserves and hands on his teaching.

Church scrutinizes “signs of the times”—interprets them in light of Gospel.

Definition and description of evangelization.

Missionary efforts.

Call to a new evangelization.

The College of Bishops in union with the pope as its head.

The various vocations of life.

The teaching role of the pope and bishops.

Indefectibility and infallibility.

The law of the Church.

The Eucharist is the center of life in the Church.

Bishops and priests sanctify the Church by prayer, work and ministry of the Word, and the sacraments.

Goal for all is eternal life.

The pope, the bishop of Rome, exercises supreme, ordinary, and immediate jurisdiction over the universal Church.

Bishops have responsibility to govern their particular churches; they are to exercise their authority and sacred power with the Good Shepherd as their model.

Christ willed the Church to be the ordinary way and means of salvation (CCC, no. 763, 772-776).

We receive Christ’s redemption as members of his Body the Church.

Christ entrusted Word and sacraments to the Church for our salvation.

Church has fullness of truth and totality of the means of salvation.

Through the sacraments beginning with Baptism; regular reception of the sacraments is essential for members of the Church.

Through a life of prayer, communion, charity, service, and justice in the household of faith.

Through association with others who want to follow Christ in the Church.

Liturgical year (CCC, nos. 1163-1178).

How we pray.

Celebration of the Christian mysteries (CCC, nos.1273, 1389). 

As disciples of Christ we are “salt and light for the world.”

Necessity of prayer (CCC, nos. 2612, 2621).

To be a Catholic is to be a member of the one true Church of Christ. While elements of truth can be found in other churches and religions, the fullness of the means of salvation subsists in the Catholic Church (CCC, nos. 816, 836-838). 

Christ willed that the Catholic Church be his sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and man (CCC, nos. 774-776, 780).

Christ established his Church as a visible organization through which he communicates his grace, truth, and salvation (CCC, no. 771).

Those who through no fault of their own do not know Christ or the Catholic Church are not excluded from salvation; in a way known to God, all people are offered the possibility of salvation through the Church (CCC, nos. 836-848).

Members of the Catholic Church have the duty to evangelize others (CCC, nos. 849-856).

Some members of the Church might be hypocritical. Members of the Church, like all human beings, are guilty of sin, but this doesn’t make the Church wrong or hypocritical.

The Church teaches what God has told us about how to be holy and the necessity of avoiding sin. Failure by members of the Church to live out what God has taught does not invalidate the truth of the teaching we have received through the Apostles and their successors.

The Church is guided and animated by the Holy Spirit and, as the Body of Christ, remains sinless even if her members sin.

God desires us to come to him as members of his family, his new people, so he established the Church to accomplish that purpose (CCC, no. 760).

No one and no community can proclaim the Gospel to themselves (CCC, no. 875). 

Because human beings are social in nature, we need each other’s encouragement, support, and example (CCC, no. 820).

Worship of God has both a personal dimension and a communal dimension: personal, private worship is encouraged to complement communal worship (CCC, nos. 821, 1136-1144).

The Church offers us authentic worship in spirit and in truth when we unite ourselves with Christ’s self-offering in the Mass (CCC, nos. 1322-1324). 

God taught in the Old and New Testaments for people to come together and worship in the way that he revealed to them (CCC, nos. 1093-1097). 

The Catholic Church is structured so that all the members, clergy and laity alike, are accountable to someone (CCC, nos. 871-879).

The Church is able to sustain unity because she has the apostolic teaching office of the pope and bishops to guide and direct her under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (CCC, no. 815).

It is the pope and bishops who are the successors in every age to St. Peter and the Apostles (CCC, nos. 815, 862).

The unity of the Church is also sustained through the common celebration of worship and the sacraments (CCC, no. 815).

Christ inaugurated the Church by preaching Good News (CCC, nos. 767-768).

Christ endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved (CCC, no. 765).

The Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving (CCC, no. 766).

Persecutions (CCC, nos. 675-677, 769, 1816).

Martyrdoms: Stephen, James (CCC, nos. 2473-2474).

The conversion of St. Paul (CCC, no. 442).

Paul’s missionary journeys (CCC, no. 442).

Multiplicity of peoples, cultures, and liturgical traditions (CCC, nos. 814, 1202). 

Communion of twenty-one Eastern Catholic Churches and one Western Church, all in union with the Pope.

Heresies (note modern parallels).

Schisms (the split between East and West).

Apostasy.

Jesus’ prayer for unity of his disciples (Jn 17:11; CCC, no. 820). 

Vatican II documents.

Ecumenical dialogues with Orthodox Churches and Protestant ecclesial and faith communities emphasized common baptism of all Christians and common service to love even to the point of joint-martyrdom.

The fullness of Christ’s Church subsists in the Catholic Church (LG, no. 8).

Judaism, which holds a unique place in relation to the Catholic Church.

Islam.

Other religions.

Divine dimensions of the Church.

Human dimensions of the Church.

Church constantly fosters conversion and renewal.

The Annunciation and Mary’s “yes” to God. 

Mary’s perpetual virginity.

The Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.

Their example encourages us.

They intercede for us.

The Holy See.

Individual dioceses.

Parishes.

Family: the domestic Church (CCC, nos. 791, 1655-1658, 2204, 2685). 

Ordained bishops, diocesan and religious priests continue the ministry of Christ the Head (CCC, nos. 1555-1568).

Ordained deacons continue the ministry of Christ the Servant (CCC, nos. 1569-1571). 

Religious: consecrated by vows to Christ (CCC, nos. 925-933). 

Laity: baptized members of Christ (CCC, nos. 897-913).

Authentic interpreters of God’s Word in Scripture and Tradition. 

Ensure fidelity to teachings of the Apostles on faith and morals (CCC, Glossary). 

Explain the hierarchy of truths.

The Ordinary Magisterium must be accepted even when it is not pronounced in a definitive manner.

Obey the mandate for evangelization.

Indefectibility: the Church will always teach the Gospel of Christ without error even in spite of the defects of her members, both ordained and lay.

Infallibility: the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gives the Church the ability to teach faith and morals without error.

Pastoral norms for living the faith and moral life, e.g., the precepts of the Church.

Disciplines of the Church can be adjusted by the hierarchy for new circumstances.

Living as Christ calls and teaches us as known in and through the Church.

Active response to call to holiness at home, workplace, public square.

Examples for Christian witness in parish and diocese. 

The Lord forms, teaches, guides, consoles, and blesses us through prayer. 

Prayer helps us understand the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church in a deeper way and live them more fully.

Early Church heresies: Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and Apollinarianism (CCC, nos. 464, 466-467, 471).

Protestant Reformation: emphasized sola scriptura (the Bible alone) and sola gratia (grace alone).

New divisions—sects and cults.

Following the Council of Ephesus in 431, those Churches which followed Nestorius established separate Churches; later returned to union with Rome. 

Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, those who accepted the Monophysite position formed what are called the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Eastern Schism of 1054: the pope in Rome and the bishop of Constantinople excommunicated each other, thus leading to the breach between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Religious orders.

Religious societies.

Evangelization and sanctification of the world.

Some of the laity work full time for the Church.

The laity live in various states of life: a) Marriage and family life. b) Single life. c) Third orders and lay consecrated people.

The pope can exercise infallibility when teaching alone on faith and morals, when the teaching is held in common by the bishops of the world and the pope declares that he is teaching ex cathedra (CCC, no. 891).

The pope and bishops exercise infallibility when they teach together either in regular teaching dispersed throughout the world or when gathered in an ecumenical council (CCC, no. 892).