Thursday 28th March 2024

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Currently Reading:

Origin, Foundation, And Mission

April 25, 2015 Our Catholic Faith No Comments

By DON FIER

Part 2

The beginning of the Church in the mind of God can be traced back to the creation of the world. As taught by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life” (n. 760). Christoph Cardinal Schönborn states the same notion with different words: “Its goal [God’s plan for creating the world] is the ‘family of God,’ in which all creatures become united with their creator” (Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 104).
Our first parents were, in fact, created in communion with God but lost this magnificent gift not only for themselves but for all of mankind through original sin.
God’s response to man’s loss of communion with Him was immediate. In what is referred to as the “proto-Gospel” of Gen. 3:15, the Church Fathers see an early foreshadowing of God’s “plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10).
In this verse, one can see in veiled and figurative language a heralding of God’s plan to reestablish man’s communion with Himself and each other, a reuniting that will be “brought about by the ‘convocation’ of men in Christ, and this ‘convocation’ is the Church” (CCC, n. 760).
God began the process of reassembling His family, scattered and at enmity with one other, with one person, Abraham, and one nation, the Chosen People of Israel. As such, the Church “was prepared for in the Old Covenant with the election of Israel, the sign of the future gathering of all the nations” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 149).
“All these things, however,” teach the Vatican II fathers, “were done by way of preparation and as a figure of that new and perfect covenant, which was to be ratified in Christ, and of that fuller revelation which was to be given through the Word of God Himself made flesh” (Lumen Gentium, n. 9 § 1).
Thus, it was Christ who instituted the Church. “In the Father’s eternal plan,” explains St. Pope John Paul II, “the Church was conceived and desired as the kingdom of God and of his Son, the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ” (general audience, September 11, 1991). The Son inaugurated the Church by becoming “one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22 § 2) and “by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Kingdom of God, which, for centuries, had been promised in the Scriptures” (LG, n. 5 § 1).
Jesus began His messianic mission, a mission carried forward in our time by the Church, with the proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Not only was the Kingdom of God at hand with His coming — it was already at work in human history as attested to by Jesus Himself: “Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). It was by His accomplishment of “the Father’s plan of salvation in the fullness of time…[that] Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth” (CCC, n. 763).
Who is part of this kingdom? Who is invited to join? St. Peter makes it clear: “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). In other words, “everyone is called to enter the kingdom” (CCC, n. 543). Indeed, as Jesus said to His followers, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
The Catechism calls to mind one of the symbols of the Church that was discussed earlier in this series to indicate those who first accepted His life-giving words: “The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the ‘little flock’ of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is” (CCC, n. 764).
The Catechism next makes reference to the historical and foundational underpinnings of the Church’s hierarchical structure by stating that “the Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved” (CCC, n. 765), that is, until the end of time when Christ comes again in glory.
We see this structure being formed when Jesus went up on the mountain, calling a select group to join Him, and “appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons” (Mark 3:14-15). As recounted in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus appoints Peter as their head and declares: “On this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

Symbolic Perfection

Why did Jesus choose precisely twelve apostles as the foundation for His Church? Symbolic importance is attached to the number twelve by many biblical scholars and it is often associated with perfection in governance. An important connection between the Old and New Testaments is apparent: “As the twelve sons of Jacob were representative of the Old Covenant Israel (Gen. 49:3-28), so Jesus gathers twelve patriarchs to found his New Covenant people in the Church” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible — Mark, p. 23).
Or as the Catechism expresses the same point: “Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, [the twelve Apostles] are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem” (CCC, n. 765).
In the Book of Revelation, the heavenly Jerusalem is described as having “a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed…and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:12, 14).
And likewise, it is not by chance that Jesus said that His Father could send twelve legions of angels to His aid when He was being handed over in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matt. 26:53), or that Jesus spoke His first recorded words in Scripture at the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve (see Luke 2:41).
So it is clear from Scripture that “from the beginning of his public life Jesus chose certain men, twelve in number, to be with him and to participate in his mission . . . [and] through them he directs the Church” (CCC, n. 551). However, as the Catechism is now vigilant to point out, “the Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross” (CCC, n. 766).
The Last Supper was “the moment in which Christ, anticipating his death on the cross and his resurrection, started the church. The Church was begotten together with the Eucharist” (St. John Paul, ibid.).
As we saw in an earlier installment on the Holy Spirit (see volume 147, n. 23; June 5, 2014), the birth of the Church is also oftentimes ascribed to the time of Christ’s death on Calvary. We see this in the writings of the fathers of Vatican II:
“The Church, or, in other words, the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God in the world. This inauguration and this growth are both symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of a crucified Jesus (cf. John 19:34), and are foretold in the words of the Lord referring to His death on the Cross: ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself’ (John 12:32)” (LG, n. 3).
We likewise see this in Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: “For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth ‘the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church’” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 5 § 2).
In beautifully symbolic language, St. Ambrose, fourth-century bishop and Early Church father, similarly describes the relationship between Christ’s death on Calvary and the beginning of the Church: “As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross” (cf. In Luc. 2, 85-89; as cited in CCC, n. 766).
But it was not until Pentecost Sunday that the Church was openly manifested and began to spread. On that day she “was publicly displayed to the multitude, the Gospel began to spread among the nations by means of preaching, and there was presaged that union of all peoples in the catholicity of the faith by means of the Church” (Ad Gentes, n. 4 § 1).
From that day forward, the Church, “endowed with the gifts of her founder, . . . receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God” (CCC, n. 768). Yet, she “will attain [her] full perfection only in the glory of heaven” (LG, n. 48 § 1), at the time of Christ’s triumphant return in glory (cf. CCC, n. 769).

+ + +

(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)