Welcome to another Keep the Faith Program. I’m Father Ray Suriani, Assistant Pastor of St. Pius X Church in Westerly. I’ll begin today’s show by quoting from a homily I gave several weeks ago at my parish. On that particular Sunday, I began by saying this to my congregation:

But amazingly, this is the very reason why other people hate her so passionately. This makes her the most loved woman on earth, and the most hated woman on earth at the same time!

In case it’s still a mystery to some of you: the subject we’ll be discussing today is "the Church." Now, without a doubt, this is a topic that elicits many questions. People want to know: Why is there a Church? Why do I need the Church? Why have there been so many changes in the Church since Vatican II?—and on and on the list goes. People are deeply inquisitive about the Mystical Body of Christ on earth. Perhaps that’s because people have such strong feelings about it—one way or the other. Let’s face it, you very rarely meet anyone who takes a neutral position when the subject of the Church comes up in casual conversation. As I indicated in the opening lines of that homily: normally the Church is either passionately loved or passionately hated. Rarely do you encounter someone who has "no opinion" on the subject. Of course, very often negative feelings toward the Church are rooted in ignorance. People think they understand what the Church is about and what the Church teaches, but in reality they don’t. That’s because they’ve received most of their information about the Church from the secular media: information which is almost always incomplete or wrong. In this regard, Bishop Fulton Sheen said something many years ago which is still true today. He said, "There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing. . . .’

‘The hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we would probably hate the Church a thousand times more than they do." Sheen was right.

This brings us to the foundational issue: Why is there a Church? If the existence of the Church elicits such hatred, why not eliminate it? Then we could all follow Jesus and love one another! Well, the simplest and most direct way to answer that question is to say that we have a Church because that’s what Jesus Christ wanted! It’s his will, not the will of human beings. Recall what Jesus said to Simon Peter at Caesarea Philippi: "I declare to you, you are ‘Rock,’ and on this rock I will build MY CHURCH." The Church is not our idea; the Church is Jesus’ idea. The Bible speaks of the Church as "the Body of Christ." This means that it has a divine element as well as a human element. As it says in Colossians 1:18, Christ "is the head of the body, the Church." The New Catechism echoes this truth in paragraph 807: "The Church is this Body of which Christ is the head: she lives from him, in him, and for him; he lives with her and in her."

Through the Church, Jesus brings us salvation. Through the Church, he continually ministers to us from birth to death in the sacraments. Through the Church, the Lord guides us to all truth, which is a promise he made to his apostles at the Last Supper. (John 16: 13)

I’m convinced that one of the reasons Jesus established a Church is because he knew how weak we are. As the invisible head, Jesus knew that if he didn’t establish a visible body with an earthly head (namely Peter), then everybody would soon be "doing their own things," and preaching their own versions of the gospel. And isn’t this what we’ve seen in all those groups that have separated themselves from the Roman Catholic Church? They divide-- and they continue to divide--because they disagree on various issues. That type of division is not the will of God. Jesus wanted his family to be one--to have a real, visible, deep unity of faith and love. In John 17: 20-21, Jesus says, "I do not pray for them alone [meaning the apostles there at the Last Supper]. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their word [referring to us], that they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; I pray that they may be [one] in us, that the world may believe that you sent me."

But Fr. Ray, what about the evil in the Church? Well, here we encounter the human element in the equation. The fact that there is a human dimension to the Body of Christ on earth means that members of the Church will not be perfect. The New Catechism, quoting from the documents of Vatican II, has this to say on the issue: "[Jesus] Christ, ‘holy, innocent and undefiled,’ knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." The Catechism continues, "All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ’s salvation but still on the way to holiness." (# 827)

Now this is not an excuse in any way for the serious sins of people who claim to be Catholic. But it should help us to keep things in perspective. The Church teaches the truth of Jesus Christ in its fullness. Whether or not a given Catholic lives that truth in his or her personal life is a separate issue. Some people imply that we should reject what the Church teaches because certain Catholics live immoral lives. Not so. That is not a valid reason for rejecting Catholicism. After all, should we reject everything that Jesus said in the New Testament because one of his apostles turned out to be a thief and a traitor? Of course not. We should not reject the truth of the gospel simply because Judas failed to believe it and live it. Neither should we reject what the Church teaches simply because some Catholics (including a few popes) have followed Judas’ example. And here’s an interesting fact about those "bad popes" you sometimes hear about: they never changed Church teaching! They might not have lived the faith themselves, but neither did they try to change the Faith. As Professor Scott Hahn from the University of Steubenville has said, "They were too busy sinning to worry much about teaching." So the "gates of hell" did not prevail against the Church, even in the days of the bad popes (of which, thankfully, there have only been a few in the 2,000 year history of Catholicism).

Before we take a break, let me quickly address one other issue which is a rather basic one: the name of the Church. Why do we call it "the Catholic Church," since believers are called "Christians" and not "Catholics" in the New Testament? Well, first of all, the word catholic means "universal". This, of course, was Jesus’ desire for his earthly body: he wanted it to be a worldwide, universal phenomenon. Remember his final words to his disciples in Matthew 28, spoken just before he ascended into heaven: "Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth; go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!" Now the first record we have of an individual actually using the term "Catholic" to describe the Church is from the late first century or early second century. It’s from St. Ignatius, the great bishop of Antioch who was martyred in about the year 107. In his Epistle to the Smyrneans, he wrote this: "Where the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." If it’s true, as some scholars maintain, that some of the books of the New Testament were not completed until 110 or 120AD, then it’s clear from the writings of St. Ignatius that people were calling the Church of Jesus Christ "Catholic" even during New Testament times.

And let me add one small footnote to all this: many people like to call themselves "Catholic." But there’s more to being Catholic than having your name on a parish registration card! A true Catholic is a person who is making the effort to live a life of charity, and who willingly embraces everything that the Catholic Church authoritatively teaches. Some of you may know that before a baptized adult is received into the Catholic Church, he must make a personal profession of faith. He must say these words in a public ceremony: "I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God." Everyone who is truly Catholic would say "Amen" to that proclamation. In other words, a true Catholic does not qualify his Catholicism. He doesn’t say, "I am a Catholic, but . . .": "I am a Catholic, but I live by my own rules." "I am a Catholic, but I believe in abortion." "I am a Catholic, but I think pre-marital sex is okay." People who make qualifications like those are, as the New Catechism would say, Catholic "in body" but not "in heart."

Let us pray that every Catholic will be so "in heart."

Before we move on, let’s take a short break. Please stay tuned. We’ll be back in a minute.

Welcome back to our program. If you’ve just joined us—today we’re answering some commonly asked questions concerning the Church. Here’s one that comes up quite often when subjects like artificial contraception and the ordination of women are being discussed: If the majority of Catholics disagree with the Church on something, why doesn’t she change her teaching? This question has a presumption behind it—the presumption being that the majority is always right! Wrong! The majority of white people in the southern part of our nation supported slavery before the Civil War. They thought it was a legitimate social institution. The majority was wrong! The majority of Germans supported Hitler (at least outwardly) when he came to power in Germany in the 1930’s. The majority was wrong! The majority of people on Good Friday rejected the Son of God and clamored for Pontius Pilate to release a murderer named Barabbas. The majority was wrong again! In a free and democratic society like ours, it’s easy to buy into the notion that the majority doesn’t make mistakes. But even a cursory look at history should make it clear that this is not the case. Frequently the majority does err. So the Church should not teach a given proposition just because a Gallup poll has been taken, and its been discovered that most Catholics agree with it. The majority of Catholics, especially in a secularized age like ours, can easily fall into error. The Church should teach something because it’s true. The Church should teach something because it’s part of the revealed Word of God. And that’s exactly what the Church has done for two thousand years. There’s a beautiful line in the Catechism about this. Referring to God’s Word, it says that the Church "listens to [it] devotedly, guards it with dedication, and expounds it faithfully." G.K. Chesterton, himself a convert to Catholicism, once said, "We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world." And what will move the world is what the Catholic Church teaches, namely, the full truth of Jesus Christ. A wishy-washy, truncated Christianity moves no one.

But Fr. Ray, hasn’t the Church added to the gospel message? What about all the doctrines the Church has tacked on to the Bible? Here we encounter a very common misunderstanding. The Church does not add anything to the truth of Jesus Christ. Public Revelation—in other words, the totality of revealed truth that we need to embrace for the sake of our salvation—that revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. Nothing can ever be added to this Deposit of Faith. However, as time goes on, the Church’s understanding of the truth of Jesus Christ can grow--and does grow. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, brings this about. And this is nothing new. You even see this phenomenon evidenced in the Bible. For example, most (if not all) scholars agree that John was the last gospel written—probably sometime toward the end of the first century. Mark’s gospel, on the other hand, was one of the first written (probably between 60 and 70 AD). Compare those two inspired writings sometime. If you line the two up side by side, I think you’ll notice that there’s a depth to John’s understanding of Jesus that you don’t find in Mark. Now please do not misunderstand: both gospels teach us the truth—the one truth of who Jesus is and what he’s done for us. But John wrote his account of our Lord’s life and ministry 20 or 30 years after Mark penned his. The Church during that time had continued to reflect on Christ and his message. And that deeper penetration into the meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus comes through clearly in what St. John wrote.

The Church would say that every dogma of the faith that she has solemnly defined in the last 2,000 years is an expression of something that was either explicitly or implicitly believed prior to the death of the last apostle. That includes Marian dogmas like the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.

As I was preparing this program, I realized how the Church is consistently misunderstood when it comes to the subject of "change." For example, as I just noted, non-Catholics mistakenly believe that the Church has changed the gospel message of Jesus. The world, on the other hand, wants the Church to change her moral teaching on matters like abortion and artificial birth control—not realizing that these teachings are rooted in the gospel and can’t be changed. And finally we have those Catholics who mistakenly think that everything has changed in the Church since the Second Vatican Council. I can see why they say we live in a confusing age of human history!

Well, concerning that last point, let me simply say: No! Everything has not changed in the Church in the last 30 years. In fact, NOTHING contained in the Deposit of Faith has changed or will change—ever! Oh, yes, certain disciplines have changed; the way Mass is celebrated has changed. But the teachings of the Church on matters of faith and morals are the same! Now I must add a sad footnote to this: there are some Catholic educators, and even some Catholic clergymen, who have compromised their faith, and who now teach things that are contrary to Catholic belief. But they teach in their own name, not in the name of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. This is why all of us need to take responsibility for our own spiritual growth and education. Because if we don’t know the basics of our Catholic faith, we won’t be able to recognize bad teaching when we hear it. And if we don’t recognize it, chances are we’ll make the mistake of believing it. And so—if you don’t own a copy of the new, official, universal Catechism of the Catholic Church—then please, buy one! It can be a real faith-saver!

I’ll bring this program to a close by asking you, in sincerity and with a sense of urgency, to pray for the Church--and especially for those who are called to shepherd the Church: the Holy Father; your bishop; your priests. Remember what Jesus once said: "It would be better if anyone who leads astray one of these simple believers were to be plunged into the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck." Those of us who are entrusted with authority in the Church have an awesome responsibility to teach and shepherd correctly. That is not an easy task. And so, we need your prayers. Look in the New Testament and see how often St. Paul sought prayers from the people in the Christian communities that he founded. For example, in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, he said, ". . . brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may make progress and be hailed by many others, even as it is by you." That’s a very typical Pauline request. At times well-meaning Catholics will say to me, "Fr. Ray, you’re a priest, you don’t need prayers." Wrong. Precisely because I’m a priest, I need more prayers than the average person. So does everyone who has a leadership role in the body of Christ.

I also ask you today to try to appreciate your role as a baptized member of God’s family. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12: "You are the body of Christ. Every one of you is a member of it." Jesus Christ calls each of us to be his witness--to help convert the world and build up the Church, by using the gifts he’s given us. We all need to discover, accept and fulfill the particular call that God has for us in this life.

Let me conclude now with a prayer that’s found in the Didache, a ancient Christian document that was written in the first or second century:

Remember, O Lord, Your Church; deliver it from all evil and make it perfect in Your love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Your Kingdom which you have prepared for it, for Yours is the power and the glory forever [and ever].