BY JOE SIXPACK
Many modern Catholics seem to want to pick and choose what to believe among the Church’s teachings. They apparently think that only what they like is true and what they don’t like isn’t. This is how Protestants think, not the way Catholics are supposed to think, but I believe the reason many modern Catholics believe this way is because they don’t understand the true nature of the Church.
Unlike the churches of our separated brethren, the Catholic Church is not founded by mere men. Ours is founded by Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God Himself.
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do men say that the Son of man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’” (Matt. 16:13-19).
It was at this event when Jesus announced the foundation of His Church — the Catholic Church. And as history alone proves, there was no other church until the year 1517, when Martin Luther protested against the Catholic Church and gave the world Protestantism.
During the three years of Christ’s public ministry, He performed many miracles and used them as an avenue for teaching the Good News to the children of Israel. Those three years were also the apostles’ seminary training. Jesus ordained them incrementally, giving the apostles more and more powers and authority as He and they went along — especially St. Peter.
Giving the apostles authority established the Magisterium and the hierarchy of the Church. As Jesus gave them more authority, He also gave them an understanding of that authority and what it means to believers, that is, what it means to those who profess belief in Jesus Christ. Jesus made many wonderful promises to those who believe in Him, but He didn’t make those promises without conditions, because He’s not a divine lottery. He would be neurotic to be a divine Santa Claus if He didn’t require certain things from us as a condition for the good things He promised.
Speaking to the apostles another time, Jesus told them, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). Jesus also said, “He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day” (John 12:48). Then the last time the apostles saw our Lord alive, after His Resurrection and just before He ascended to the Father, He told them, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
The apostles clearly understood that they had the divine authority of Jesus, and that Peter had the supreme authority as our first Pope. Peter’s authority and its acceptance by the apostles and other bishops of the infant Church is proven at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, when Peter made his decision about whether to insist upon the circumcision of Gentile converts. There had been a great debate over the issue, but when Peter made his decision on the matter “all the assembly kept silence” (verse 12).
From St. Peter to Pope Francis, we have a record of every single Pope in the succession of Pontiffs from the Chair of Peter. It has always been understood, from the event in Matthew 16 on, that Peter and his Successors had the ultimate authority in matters of faith and morals. Jesus made it abundantly clear that we must accept all that Peter teaches through the Church built on him or pay the price with an eternity in Hell.
The Second Vatican Council was a marvelous work of the Holy Spirit and much needed for the Church in modern times. It was both a completion of the work of Vatican I and a preparation of the Church for modern Catholics to live and share the faith in the rapidly changing world. Unfortunately, there were those within the Church who did their level best to destroy her from within.
It was inevitable that they would fail, but one of the things they did manage to do was dumb down catechesis and how it was conveyed to the young so that Catholics born after about 1955 have been left largely ignorant of the faith. As a result, today’s religion teachers continue to teach a watered-down version of Catholicism to students, but out of ignorance rather than malice.
There was a time when all Catholic school children had to memorize the acts of faith, hope, and charity, something they prayed daily for the rest of their lives. The Act of Faith is especially telling of a Catholic’s obligations to believe: “O my God, I firmly believe that You are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; I believe that Your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths that the holy Catholic Church teaches, because You have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”
In order to call ourselves Catholics, we are not permitted to dissent from the official teachings of the Catholic Church. To do so places us outside the communion of the Church and places us in grave danger of eternal punishment. We cannot dissent from teachings about things like contraception, homosexuality, same-sex unions, and sexual activity outside the bonds of Matrimony, the ordination of women — the current biggies in society. If we dissent from any single teaching of the Catholic Church, whether openly or in the silence of our hearts, we reject Jesus and His Church. This puts us in a state of grave sin, and anyone who does this compounds his sin by committing the additional mortal sin of sacrilege each time Communion is received.
Communion is a Catholic’s right — but only if the Catholic is in a state of grace. By its very nature, rejecting any of the Church’s teachings places one outside the Catholic Church and in a state of sin that takes away the ordinary right to receive Holy Communion. Even worse, unrepentant cafeteria Catholicism can result in only one thing: “He who does not believe will be condemned.” Those are Christ’s words, not Joe’s.
Due to the bad catechesis of the late 1960s through the 1990s, many Catholics dissent without realizing they are in dissent. In using a parable to explain the outcome of this anomaly, Jesus said, “But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating” (Luke 12:48). Even though some people dissent out of ignorance, this passage explains that punishment is still meted out — there is no escape. If one chooses to remain a cafeteria Catholic, then the honest thing to do is to become a Protestant. To remain in one’s obstinacy can lead others to reject Christ’s teachings as well, and of those persons guilty of leading others into such rejection, Jesus said it would be better for them to have a great millstone hung about their necks and cast into the depths of the sea (Matt. 18:6).
For those who adhere to dissent out of ignorance, though, the remedy is to learn all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches and then live those truths.
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
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