In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them ?their own position of teaching authority.?
Thus, the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time. Hence, the apostles, in handing on what they themselves had received, warn the faithful to maintain the traditions which they had learned either by word of mouth or by letter….
The Catechism adds,
This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, ?the Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.? ?The sayings of the Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.?
Tradition is Living
Roman Catholic Tradition then is the apostles? preaching, example, and institutions passed down through their successor bishops and expressed in the life of the Church. This Tradition is said to be living in that the Holy Spirit maintains the continuity of the unwritten, apostolic Gospel in the Church, and provides growth in insight into the Tradition through its expression in the lives and worship of the faithful.
Catholic theologian Avery Dulles explains,
It had become common, especially since the Counter-Reformation, to think of tradition objectively, as a collection of truths communicated to the apostles and preserved in the church. Without re-jecting this notion, contemporary Catholicism shows a deeper awareness that tradition cannot be adequately understood as a body of explicit teaching. Many doctrines are contained in a merely implicit way in tradition considered as an activity or process whereby faith is expressed and trans-mitted.
So, Tradition is not simply a body of truths, but is a ?process whereby faith is expressed and transmitted.? The expression of the Roman Catholic faith collectively by the faithful continually elucidates the Tradition in such a way that previously unseen elements of its content become unobscured. In this way, insight into the Tradition grows,
The Tradition that comes from the apostles makes progress in the Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on. This comes about in various ways. It comes through the contemplation and study of believers who pon-der these things in their hearts. It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth. Thus, as the centuries go by, the Church is always advancing towards the plenitude of divine truth, until eventually the words of God are ful-filled in her.
McCarthy comments about this growth in insight,
Since what the Church does reflects what the Church believes, the universal practice of the Church is also considered a reliable witness to the Roman Catholic faith.
The Sensus Fidei
?The sensus fidei refers to the instinctive sensitivity and discrimination which the members of the Church possess in matters of faith.?
The holy People of God shares also in Christ?s prophetic office: It spreads abroad a living witness to him, especially by a life of faith and love and by offering to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips praising his name. The whole body of the faithful who have an annointing that comes from the holy one cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural apprecia-tion of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people, when ?from the bishops to the last of the faith-ful? they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals. By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the the sacred teaching authority (magisterium), and obeying it, receives not the mere word of men, but truly the word of God, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life.
Further Revelation
Catholic theology holds that no further revelation is to be expected prior to the return of Christ. The sacred deposit is complete, though not yet fully understood. The significance of the Word of God will be increasingly under-stood over the course of time.
…no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it re-mains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.
Boettner adds,
…the Roman Church…denies that it formulates any new doctrines at all. Rather it insists that in ex cathedra pronouncements the Holy Spirit enables the pope to draw out and proclaim what be-longed to the original revelation.
For Discussion:
1. What is meant by the concept of ?objective truth?? What are the dangers of defining doctrine on the basis of truth that is not objective?
2. How accessable is the Catholic ?Word of God??
3. How is ?growth in insight? validated in the case of non-objective truth?
4. Based on the Roman Catholic understanding of Tradition, would it be true that the practice of the Church at any given time accurately reflects the Gospel of Christ? Can the Church become heretical?
5. Which of the two, Tradition and the Bible, would seem to be more encompassing? What could this imply about the authority of Tradition versus that of the Bible?
Church Hierarchy
The sacred deposit, Scripture and Tradition, were entrusted by the apostles to the whole Church. The re-sponsibility for interpreting the sacred deposit, however, lies with the Magisterium–the bishops headed by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The bishops and the Pope are formally considered to be the apostles? successors.
Apostolic Succession
This sacred synod [Vatican II], following in the steps of the First Vatican Council, teaches and de-clares with it that Jesus Christ, the eternal pastor, set up the holy Church by entrusting the apostles with their mission as he himself had been sent by the Father (cf. Jn. 20:21). He willed that their successors, the bishops namely, should be the shepherds in his Church until the end of the world. In order that the episcopate itself, however, might be one and undivided he put Peter at the head of the other apostles, and in him he set up a lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and communion. This teaching concerning the institution, the permanence, the nature and import of the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching office, the sacred synod proposes anew to be firmly believed by all the faithful, and, proceeding undeviatingly with this same undertaking, it proposes to proclaim publicly and enunciate clearly the doctrine concern-ing bishops, successors of the apostles, who together with Peter?s successor, the Vicar of Christ and the visible head of the whole Church, direct the house of the living God.
That divine mission [the spread of the Gospel], which was committed by Christ to the apostles, is destined to last until the end of the world (cf. Mt. 28:20), since the Gospel, which they were charged to hand on, is, for the Church, the principle of all its life for all time. For that very reason the apostles were careful to appoint successors in this hierarchically constituted society.
In order to fulfill such exalted functions [those ecclesiastical functions of the bishops], the apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming from them (cf. Acts 1:8; 2:4; Jn. 20:22-23), and, by the imposition of hands (cf. 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6-7), they passed on to their auxiliaries the gift of the Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration.
Hence, the Roman Catholic Church is said to be apostolic ?because she is founded on the apostles,? and ?continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles…through their successors.?
The Magisterium
…the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet this Magisterium is not supe-rior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith.
This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
Avery Dulles adds,
Since revelation is public, the church requires a way of publicly proclaiming the doctrine that ex-presses or safeguards that revelation. Catholics find evidence in the New Testament that Christ commissioned Peter and the apostles with the responsibility of overseeing the life and witness of the church. The pope and the other bishops are regarded as successors, respectively, of Peter and the other apostles. One of their most important tasks is to keep the church in the truth of the Gospel by proclaiming sound doctrine and condemning doctrinal deviations. In this function the hierarchy constitutes the church?s official teaching body, or magisterium.
The Papacy
The Pope, a word which comes from a Latin term meaning father, is the Bishop of Rome and the head of the Roman Catholic Church. According to Boettner, at his coronation, the Pope is triple crowned as the Father of Princes and Kings, Ruler of the World, and Vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ. Later documents (i.e. Vatican II) em-phasize the Pope?s title as Vicar of Christ and his supreme ecclesiastical authority.
…the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, namely, and as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can al-ways exercise unhindered.
The Lord made Peter alone the rock-foundation and the holder of the keys of the Church (cf. Mt. 16:18-19), and constituted him shepherd of his whole flock (cf. Jn. 21:15 ff.). It is clear, however, that the office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter (Mt. 16:19), was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head (Mt. 18:18; 28:16-20).
According to the Catechism,
The ?power of the keys? designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Je-sus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: ?Feed my sheep.? The power to ?bind and loose? connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judg-ments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church.
Papal Infallibility
The infallibility of the Pope has already been mentioned above. Vatican II addresses papal infallibility, which extends to the college of bishops when they exercise the supreme Magisterium.
The Roman Pontiff…enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful…he proclaims in an absolute decision a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. For that reason his definitions are said to be irreformable by their very nature and not by reason of the assent of the Church, in as much as they were made with the assistance of the Holy Spirit promised to him in the person of blessed Peter himself; and as a consequence they are in no way in need of the approval of others, and do not admit of appeal to any other tribunal. For in such a case the Roman Pontiff does not utter a pronouncement as a private person, but rather does he expound and defend the teaching of the Catholic faith as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the Church?s charism of infallibility is present in a singular way.
Dulles further explains,
When Catholics speak of the infallibility of the Magisterium they mean that in certain specified acts the popes and bishops, teaching doctrine concerning faith and morals in a way that binds the whole church, are divinely protected from falling into error. …the pope can teach infallibly when, in his capacity as successor of Peter (ex cathedra), he proclaims by a definitive act some doctrine to be held by all the faithful on the basis of divine revelation.
For Discussion:
1. What biblical support exists for the concept of apostolic succession? How does Hebrews 5:4-6 and 1 Peter 2:9 inform this?
2. How important is the concept of apostolic succession to the structure, continuity and claim to authority of the Roman Catholic Church?
3. Vatican II articulates the subservience of the Magisterium to the Word of God. At the same time, the Mag-isterium is vested with the sole authority to interpret it. What are the potential dangers of the Magisterium?s authority?
4. How would you respond to Roman Catholicism?s usage of Mt. 16:18-19 and John 21:15ff to support the primacy of Peter? Provide an alternative interpretation of these passages.
5. What conditions would be required for infallibility to apply to a statement from the Vatican? Would docu-ments such as Vatican II and the Catechism be considered infallible?
Two: The Church
The Catholic Church
There was a time when every Christian was pleased to identify with the catholic church–catholic with a small ?c,? that is. Following Pentecost, the gospel spread rapidly. Despite seasons of in-tense and violent persecution, pockets of believers emerged throughout the Roman Empire. These early Christians held to a common faith and enjoyed a God-given affinity wherever they met. Paul?s teaching of the church as one body made up of all true believers provided a theological under-standing of this new relationship (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
Early Christians used the term catholic, a Greek word meaning concerning the whole, to describe this worldwide nature of the church. When early Christians referred to the catholic faith, they were speaking of the faith of the whole or universal church. The oldest document containing the term is a letter by Ignatius from the early second century. He wrote, ?Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic
329