Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them.

Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 9)

One of the most important things Jesus did while He was on Earth was to start a Church to carry on His teachings and to administer His sacraments. It wouldn’t have made sense for Him to go through all He did and then leave people to figure out for themselves what to do next. Jesus wanted His followers to have a sure and certain source of the truth so that they would know what to believe and how to behave. That reliable and authoritative source is the Church.

How do we know that Jesus founded a church? We have to go to chapter 16 of Matthew’s Gospel to see that Jesus chose an apostle named Simon and changed his name to Peter, which means “rock.” After Peter declared that “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus told him that he would be the solid foundation of the new Church when He said, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Notice that Jesus uses the word “church,” and He uses the word “you” four times in referring to Peter, so there can be no doubt whom Jesus made head of His new Church. Jesus also promised that “the gates of the netherworld,” a reference to Satan and Hell, would never overpower or destroy His Church. This is good to keep in mind when there seems to be confusion among Church leaders today and it looks as if the Church might not survive the many attacks against her. Remember, too, that Jesus promised that He would be with His Church “always, until the end of the world.”

When a person goes on vacation, he may give a neighbor the keys to his house. It is the neighbor’s responsibility to guard the house. So, too, Jesus gave Peter, and his Successors, the authority to guard and protect the Church. He gave them the power and authority to make laws and issue prohibitions in His name, and to release persons from those same laws and prohibitions. Some people say that they don’t have to obey the Church since it is a “man-made” institution, but this institution was established by Jesus and given full authority to speak and rule in His name.

Shortly after the Resurrection, on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus asked Simon Peter three times, “Do you love me?” And three times Peter responded, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” After each response, Jesus told Peter to “feed my lambs” and “feed my sheep.” In addition to reminding Peter of his triple denial of Christ on the morning of Good Friday, the Lord was also instructing His chief Apostle to feed His people with the food of truth and to protect them from the poison of error.

Was Peter recognized as the head of the Church in its early years? Yes, he was. It was Peter who presided over the selection of Matthias as a successor to Judas, who had killed himself after betraying Jesus. It was Peter who delivered a rousing speech in Jerusalem on Pentecost, calling people to “repent and be baptized” and persuading 3,000 of them to join the new Church. And it was Peter who ruled at the Council of Jerusalem in AD 49 that nonbelievers did not have to become Jews before being baptized as Christians. Thus was Peter acknowledged as the supreme authority in the early Church.

Lastly, was Peter’s authority passed down to his Successors and is there a church today headed by the Successor of Peter? Yes, to both questions. The only Church in the world today whose leader, the Pope, claims to be a descendant of Peter is the Catholic Church. No other religion makes this claim. It has been true from the time of St. Peter down through history and has been reiterated in recent years by Pope St. John XXIII (1958-1963), Pope St. Paul VI (1963-1978), Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005), Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), and Pope Francis (2013-).

List of Answers:

BOUND

CATHOLIC

FEED

KEYS

MATTHEW

MATTHIAS

MESSIAH

NETHERWORLD

PETER

POPE FRANCIS

ROCK

SHEPHERD

SIMON

THREE

THOUSAND

Quiz:

  1. ______is the Gospel writer who talks about Jesus’ founding a church.
  2. Peter’s name was ______________before Jesus changed it.
  3. The name Peter means “__.”
  4. When Jesus asked who people thought He was, Peter replied: “You are the _, the Son of the living God.”
  5. Jesus told Peter He would give him the ________to the Kingdom of Heaven.
  6. He told Peter, “Whatever you declare __ on Earth will be bound in Heaven.”
  7. He told Peter the “gates of the __” would never destroy His Church.
  8. Peter was the first __ of Jesus’ flock.
  9. Jesus asked Peter __ times if he loved Him.
  10. Each time Jesus said, “_ my lambs or my sheep.”
  11. _________was recognized as the leader of the early Church by the decisions he made.
  12. Peter presided over the selection of __ to succeed Judas.
  13. Peter persuaded three __ persons to be baptized on Pentecost.
  14. Only the _ Church is headed by Peter’s Successor.
  15. The only person today who claims to be Peter’s Successor is __.

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