DO WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING THE CHURCH SAYS

DO WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING THE CHURCH SAYS? by claire

Well, let’s see. You have a moral dilemma and don’t know whether, say, umm, polygamy, can be justifiable. You sit up all night thinking about it, reflecting on it, praying about it. By morning, or perhaps by the end of the month, you realize that in your specific case, it’s ok after all.

Sounds ridiculous. But believe it or not, I’ve had friends, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who previously were staunch opponents of various actions deemed sinful (I won’t mention specific sins to protect their identity) but who, all of sudden, confronted with different circumstances, were now “thinking through” the belief or “praying about” whether it was right. (this despite the fact that the actions at hand had been considered wrong throughout Christian-Judaic history.)

In the end, in every case, these people came to the conclusion that it was OK after all. And, in a mammoth coincidence, in each case, the decision was exactly the more convenient and more desirable thing for them.

Hmmm. The human mind has amazing powers to rationalize (especially mine). Chances are, that our first hunch about a sin, (i.e. the hunch that would lead us down the more difficult road), is the correct one. That’s because God has written natural law on our hearts.

But our minds get clouded by sin. And once we submit to one sin, we lose grace and our ability to recognize sin. We have less strength and power to avoid other sins. Because our consciences are not infallible, we have the duty to form our consciences by turning to the Church.

Now, even if the Church were not infallibly preserving God’s unchanging moral plan, I would think that someone like Pope John Paul II, who is so thoroughly immersed in Scripture and in prayer, and who is so knowledgeable of Christian history and thought, would be a better person to be a better judge of the situation than we would be.

But lucky for us, we have something even better than an individual. We have an authoritative Church founded by Christ Himself.

Jesus promised that Church would be led into “all truth” by the Holy Spirit. We can have no doubt that the doctrines and morals passed down through the Church are those of God Himself. To doubt His promise, is to not trust in Christ Himself, who would never leave us orphans when it comes to knowing his plan for giving us eternal life.

Jesus promised he’d be with His Church until the end of the world “…I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28:20) We know He wasn’t just speaking to his apostles, since they wouldn’t live that long.

Now, sure enough, if we look back over the last 2,000 years, we see that the Catholic Church is the only one to preserve all Christian morals, reversing none of them. Other churches have given in on remarriage. Other churches have reversed themselves on birth control (which was considered immoral by all Christians even until the 20^th century, and the Jews before that). The list could go on and on.

But no doctrines that existed from the beginning can ever change or be reversed. They can only be more clearly understood. You have to feel bad for the pour souls who waste their time holding posters advocating female priests. They can protest for the rest of their lives and it will not have one iota of effect. As a doctrine protected by the Holy Spirit from ever changing, the rule has NO possibility of ever being changed. Cut to 3,000 years from now, and there will never have been a female priest because the Holy Spirit will not allow that to happen in the Church founded by Christ.

Jesus did not even make his Mother a priest, and she was the greatest, holiest human being who ever lived, except for Jesus (who was also God.) Mary was crowned Queen of heaven, yet she could not be a priest.

Besides preserving Christ’s doctrines and morals, which are unchangeable, the Church also was given the authority to establish practical ways in which the faithful of each age can best live out their Christian mission. Such practices are changeable. They would not fit the definition of an infallible pronouncement.

But even so, Catholics are bound by these guidelines because Jesus told the apostles, “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Here are some examples of practices established by the Church in order to uphold doctrines:

A. An unchangeable truth is that Christians must do penance and fast. What the Church has done is set the very minimum guidelines for those who wish to be called followers of Christ: Currently, the minimum obligation is to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays of Lent. On Ash Wednesday, we have just one regular sized meal, and two light ones, with no snacking.

Of course, most devout Catholics I know do much more to show sorrow for their sins….they give up sweets or TV or attend daily Mass or do charity work or donate extra money to the poor, etc.

“Unless you do penance, you shall perish.” (Lk 13:5)

“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they

will fast” (Mt 9:15)

"I pommel my body and subdue it...." 1 Cor 9:27)

"If any man wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and

follow me." (Mt 16:24)

B. An unchangeable truth is that Christians must celebrate the Mass. What the Catholic Church has done is set the day of worship to Sunday and has said that minimally, we must attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

Of course, many devout Catholics I know also go to daily Mass, which is celebrated

at almost every Catholic Church around the world.

C. An unchangeable truth is that the Christ granted His power to forgive to his representatives (Jesus told his apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained.”) The Church has set the guidelines for Confession, commanding it for mortal sins, encouraging it for venial sins, offering both face-to-face and anonymous confessions, but rejecting the validity of phone or e-mail confessions.

Because not everything is discussed in specifics in the Bible, God knew we would need an authoritative Church to guide us. For example, we know from the Bible that murder is evil. But is abortion in the category of murder? Euthanasia? Waging war? Removing a person’s feeding tube? Embryonic stem cell research? Cloning humans and destroying them to manufacture organs?

It’s the Holy Spirit that prevents error from seeping into the Church’s official teaching. It’s not the individuals themselves. Like Peter, who denied Christ three times, our popes and bishops are fallible men. They may even unwittingly mess up a doctrine while giving a speech, mistakenly departing from official Church teaching.

We know the infallibility of our Bible is not due to humans but to the Holy Spirit who spoke through them.

When the Catholic Church decided which books would be part of the Bible, it wasn’t the Church creating a Bible. God had already created His Bible. Only the Church had the gift that enabled it to distinguish God’s books from Man’s books. Try doing this yourself, and you will find that distinguishing the inspired epistles from the non-inspired epistles is one impossible task for mere humans.

Only the Church led by direct successors of the apostles is incapable of erring when it comes to distinguishing God’s truth from man’s opinions.

So don’t believe something because the Church told you to. Believe it because God told you through His Church. God was the One who created natural law, and He gave the Church the gift of being able to distinguish His law from man’s distortions of His law.

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Example of Christ giving the Church His authority to teach us:

In Mt 28:18-20, Jesus delegates all His power to His apostles, promising He’ll be with the Church until the end of time (we know he wasn’t speaking exclusively to the 12 apostles, because He knew they would live until the end of the world):

And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.

Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Mt 28:18-20)