By DON FIER
Part 2
The third mark of the Church, her catholicity or universality, manifests itself in two distinct ways. As was illustrated last week, she is universal because Christ is present in her: She is the Mystical Body of Christ and He is her Head. As far back as the early second century, St. Ignatius of Antioch proclaimed, “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.”
The wondrous effect of this enduring union, as summarized by the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that “the Church proclaims the fullness and the totality of the faith; she bears and administers the fullness of the means of salvation” (n. 166). The Church teaches the same doctrines and administers the same sacraments in all places and at all times with an ordained ministry rooted in apostolic succession. Secondly, the Church is catholic or universal because “she is sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race” (ibid.).
We also saw last week that each particular Church (diocese or eparchy) is “catholic” in that it is fashioned after the model of the universal Church. “Individual bishops represent each his own church, but all of them together and with the Pope represent the entire Church in the bond of peace, love, and unity” (Lumen Gentium, n. 23 § 1). Christ is present in every diocese and each has a share in the Church’s universal unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) next takes up the question of who is called to belong to the Catholic Church. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council mince no words in providing an answer for what the will of God is in this matter: “All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the people of God. . . . . There belong to or are related to it in various ways, the Catholic faithful, all who believe in Christ, and indeed the whole of mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation” (LG, n. 13 § 4).
It is from divine Revelation that we learn that all men are called to the Church. To better understand this teaching, let us turn to Pope St. John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope (CTH) in which he explains the “Christian doctrine of salvation and the mediation of salvation, which always originates in God” (p. 136). In his First Letter to Timothy, St. Paul says, “[God our Savior] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:4-6). In the Acts of the Apostles, it is likewise revealed, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Therefore, it is “a revealed truth that there is salvation only and exclusively in Christ” (CTH, p. 136).
As taught earlier in the Catechism, the Church is the new People of God and, at one and the same time, is the Mystical Body of Christ. As formulated by Vatican II, “In the human nature united to Himself, the Son of God, by overcoming death through His own death and resurrection, redeemed man and re-molded him into a new creation (cf. Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17). By communicating His Spirit, Christ made His brothers, called together from all nations, mystically the components of His own Body” (LG, n. 7 § 1).
Elsewhere, Lumen Gentium says, “Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition,…the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark. 16:16; John. 3:5) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church” (LG, n. 14 § 1).
Thus, as Pope John Paul stated in an address on October 3, 1981, “From [the Church] alone there flows surely and fully the life-giving force destined in Christ and in His Spirit, to renew the whole of humanity, and therefore directing every human being to become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ.” However, a person can be incorporated into the one true Church in a variety of ways. The Vatican II fathers, as does the Catechism, address all classes of people, ranging from those who are fully incorporated into the Catholic Church to people of goodwill who have no knowledge of the Gospel (cf. LG, nn. 15-16; CCC, nn. 836-845).
To better understand, it would be instructive to recall the teaching of soon-to-be-beatified Pope Paul VI in his 1964 encyclical letter entitled Ecclesiam Suam (ES). Acknowledging the Church’s “own human weaknesses and failings…[and that] faith is a gift of God and God alone defines in the world the times and limits of salvation” (ES, n. 95 § 1), the Holy Father states that “the Church knows that it is the seed, the leaven, the salt, and the light of the world” (ES, n. 95 § 2). He goes on to describe the relations of mankind with the Catholic Church as “consisting of a series of concentric circles around the central point in which God has placed us” (ES, n. 96).
The outermost circle is immense and consists of all of mankind (cf. ES, n. 97). Indeed, as taught by Lumen Gentium, “In the beginning God made human nature one and decreed that all His children, scattered as they were, would finally be gathered together as one” (LG, n. 13 § 1). Included in this circle, unfortunately, are many who profess no religion and even openly espouse an atheistic ideology. The next circle, again vast in numbers, consists of non-Christians who “above all adore the one, Supreme God whom we too adore” (ES, 107 § 1). The Catechism makes special note of the Jewish people (nn. 839–840) and those of the Muslim religion (n. 841).
In its Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, the Vatican II fathers state, “In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, [the Church] considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship” (Nostra Aetate, n. 1). In other words, in her dialogue with non-Christian religions, the Church’s starting point is what we share with them.
One is reminded of St. Paul’s declaration to the men of Athens at the Areopagus when he noted their worship of “an unknown god” (see Acts 17:23). Not unlike St. Paul, “the Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved” (CCC, n. 843).
The third circle described by Pope Paul VI is that of non-Catholic Christians. Again, the Roman Pontiff teaches, “Let us stress what we have in common rather than what divides us” (ES, n. 109 § 3), but also takes care to add that “it is not in our power to compromise with the integrity of the faith or the requirements of charity” (ES, n. 109 § 4). We must always keep in mind that it is only through prayer and penance that the longed-for reconciliation will occur.
Lastly, Paul VI speaks of the innermost circle, that of those fortunate souls who by the grace of God and through no merit of their own, are fully incorporated into “the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, of which this Roman Church is ‘mother and head’” (ES, n. 113).
Noah’s Ark
The Catechism concludes its section on “the Church and non-Christians” by pronouncing the will of our heavenly Father for mankind with regard to the Church: “To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is ‘the world reconciled’” (CCC, n. 845).
Recalling a favorite image from patristic literature, the Catechism compares the Church to the Ark of Noah during the time of the great flood. In the words of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, outside of the Church “there is no prospect of deliverance from the deluge of sin” (The Catholic Catechism, p. 234).
The next topic addressed by the Catechism, closely related to membership in the Catholic Church, is the doctrine “outside the Church there is no salvation,” or “extra ecclesiam nulla salus.” In next week’s column, we will examine in more depth this dogmatic teaching, perhaps one the most easily and commonly misunderstood tenets of our faith.
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(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.)
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