Upon This Rock . . .

     The Roman Catholic Church has taught for over 2,000 years as witnessed in the early Canons of the undivided Church that this Church was founded by Jesus Christ, when He told Simon, 

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter (Πέτρος), and on this rock (Πετρα) I will build my church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (St. Matthew 16:18-19)

Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon Bar-Jonah? You shall be called Cephas ('Rock', which means Peter)." (St. John 1:42)

Jesus further warned him, predicting Simon's trial/betrayal: 

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren." (St. Luke 22:31-32)

     Having established Peter as Pastor of the Apostles, he instructed him to "Feed my sheep" (John 21.15-17).   So, St. Luke informs us, at the Feast of Pentecost, " . . . Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them . . ." (2.14).  Antiochan tradition notes that after Peter's release from prison (Acts 12), he is in Rome until the Claudian expulsion of the Jews (AD 49), that ended with Nero's revocation of the decree in AD 54.  Having been Antioch's first Bishop, St. Peter returns to Rome where he is executed on October 13, AD 64 on the occasion of the Dies Imperii of Emperor Nero.  

     In 1961, his crypt was discovered in a rennovation under the high altar in St. Peter's Basilica, with words etched in Greek, "Here lies Peter."  This was announced publicly by Pope Paul VI in 1968.  St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons records:

 . . . [the] Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops . . . The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate." (2nd Century,  Against Heresies 3.3)

     It was acknowledged by St. Ignatius of Antioch (a student of the Apostle John) in his prologue To the Romans, that the Church at Rome "presides in charity" over all other churches.  The connection of the Papacy to St. Peter was acknowledged by both Eastern and Western bishops at the Council of Chalecedon (451 AD).   At the council, a letter from Pope St. Leo the Great to Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople was read to the bishops, and they replied,

This is the faith of the fathers! This is the faith of the Apostles! So we all believe! Thus the Orthodox believe! Anathema to him who does not thus believe! Peter has spoken thus through Leo!

Unity and Diversity

     The ancient church has inculturated throughout the world, and organized early in five geographical areas: Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Jerusalem.  This has led to the growth and development of 24 ancient churches and liturgical traditions (the most recent is the Anglican Usage) all governed by their own Patriarchs and bishops in full communion with the Bishop of Rome (CCC,  813, 845, 1200 - 1206).

   The visible head and source of unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ is the Bishop of Rome and Successor to St. Peter; he is universal pastor to the entire Catholic Church (CCC, 882), but he is Patriarch of only the Latin Rite.   All other expressions of the Christian religion have splintered from this one foundation (CCC, 817-819).  

     The "universal Church" is equivalent to Catholicism itself, from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos,  "of the whole"). A "particular church" is served by Deacons, Presbyters (Priests) and governed by a Bishop (or equivalent), and includes the dioceses of the 24 autonomous (or sui juris) churches, which include:

The Roman Catholic Church -- (the Latin Rite in 16 minor variations is the largest)

The Eastern Catholic Churches

The universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the particular Churches, or as a federation of particular Churches. It is not the result of the communion of the Churches, but, in its essential mystery, it is a reality ontologically and temporally prior to every individual particular Church."

-- Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, on
"Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion" (1992)

The Bible: Gift of the Church

     Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit to lead the Apostles and their successors into all Truth (John 16.13). As an outgrowth of Israel, the Christian Jews inherited the Scriptural tradition of their people.  It was not until the Council of Rome (381 AD) that the Christian Bible came into existence. and continues today.  

     St. Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 383 AD to translate a "vulgar" or "common" Bible into Latin (called the Vulgate).  This was based upon the 46 Greek texts of the Jewish scriptures (the Septuagint) and included the 4 Gospels, Acts, 14 Letters of St. Paul, the 7 Catholic epistles and the Apocalypse (Revelation).  The Septuagint was translated in Alexandria for Greek-speaking Jews roughly 200 years before Jesus and presented to Ptolemy by Jewish scholars for the Alexandrian library.

     However, the Pharisees despised anything "non-Hebraic" and rejected the Septuagint in use by Christian Jews for use in synagogues.  The question of a canon ("standard") of Scriptures to be read at Mass was settled in the Western Church by two Councils:  Florence (1439, to attempt to reunite with the Orthodox) and Trent (1545, in response to the Protestant rejection of the Vulgate).

     In the English-speaking world, Catholic monks had translated the Vulgate into English in various places by the 7th century.  The "official" English version is the Douay Rheims Bible (1609/1610) to aid in the efforts of the Counter-Reformation.

Wounds to the One Body of Christ

Heresies and Dissent

     The bishops have always encountered dissent from within their dioceses.  Led by the Holy Spirit and informed by the teachings of the Apostles and their successors, they encountered a variety of challenging beliefs by self-appointed teachers.  Heretics have been excommunicated and their heresies condemned by Popes and Councils.  Most of the heresies of the Christian era concerned the doctrine of God in relation to the Jewish man Jesus.  These issues were soundly and cogently discussed at the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Church.  A detailed list of heresies rejected by the Catholic Church can be found here.  These universal councils are as follows:

1. First Council of Nicea, (325) - condemned Arianism, adopted the Nicene Creed.
2. First Council of Constantinople (381) - revised the Nicene Creed; affirmed the Deity of the Holy Spirit and full humanity of Jesus.
3. Council of Ephesus, (431) - condemned Nestorianism and Pelagianism; affirmed the Virgin Mary as the "Mother of God" (Greek, Θεοτόκος) and confirmed the necessity of divine grace in Christian conversion.
4. Council of Chalcedon (451) - condemned Monophysitism; affirmed the two natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed and affirmed the universal pastorate of the Bishop of Rome.  This and all following councils are not recognized by the Oriental Orthodox Church, who persist in schism.
5. Second Council of Constantinople (553) - reaffirmed decisions and doctrines by previous Councils, as errors still persisted in both East and West, accompanied by conflict between Pope Vegilius and Emperor Justinian.
6. Third Council of Constantinople (680-681) - condemned Monothelitism; affirmed the human and Divine will of Jesus Christ.
7. Second Council of Nicea (787) - restoration of the veneration of icons/ sacred images and end of the first iconoclasm.

     The Catholic Church has withstood the assault of heresy and dissent since its inception by the faithful promise of Jesus Christ that the gates of Hell would not prevail against her.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2089) states:

Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him. 

The Great Schism

     After centuries of debate and deliberation through Church Councils, the first major division occurred in 1054 between Eastern and Western bishops that resulted in the Orthodox ("right doctrine") and Catholic ("Universal") definitions. Consequently, over time, the Orthodox churches have organized into 14 independent churches.  Led by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, they are considered "sister" churches to the Catholic Church, though not in full communion (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 838).  Various attempts have been made since the initial division to reunite the fractured Churches. The Council of Ferrara-Florence convened on several occasions to attempt to dialogue and heal the schism: Sept 17, 1437 to January 1439 (Ferrara); January 1439 to Apr. 25, 1442 (Florence); Apr. 25, 1442 to 1445 (Rome).  

     The most recent expression of reunion occured at the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965) with the publication of Orientallium Ecclesiarum, which affirmed the autonomy of the ancient churches, their liturgies, spirituality and patrimony.  Further, Pope Paul VI noted:

All in the Church must preserve unity in essentials. But let all, according to the gifts they have received enjoy a proper freedom, in their various forms of spiritual life and discipline, in-their different liturgical rites, and even in their theological elaborations of revealed truth," (Unitatis Redintegratio, no. 4). 

     At the Council, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I officially cast the previously held anathemas of the two communions "into oblivion."  This began the process of healing.  Pope Francis stated recently at the Feast of St. Andrew in Constantinople, to Patriarch Bartholomew I, that his offer of reunion and communion is only on the basis of a common confession and unity does not require uniformity.

The Great Protest

     In 1517, after several years of corruption and power struggles and small attempts at reform, the Protestant "reform" was initiated by a German New Testament professor, Fr. Martin Luther (Augustinian).  Luther's published pamphlets soon erupted a massive, unorganized "Protest" that differed in few beliefs:

• Fr. Ulrich Zwingli -- his Swiss reform birthed the Anabaptists or "re-baptizers" who rejected infant baptism.
• John Calvin -- a French attorney; he was the architect of the new "reformed" theology and author of the Institutes of the Christian Religion.  

Soon, four other priests renounced their vows:
 

• Fr. Menno Simons -- followers of his Dutch reform are called "Mennonites" and from whom Baptists descend
• Fr. Martin Bucer -- a German Dominican
• Fr. Heinrich Bullinger -- Swiss successor to Zwingli
• Fr. John Knox -- a Scottish priest; founder of Presbyterianism and student of Calvin; author of the Book of Common Order of the Kirk of Scotland.

     It was in this milieu that King Henry VIII requested to divorce his wife and after being denied by Pope Clement VII, declared himself head of the Church of England by Act of Supremacy in 1534.  Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (a student of Calvin) was the "reformer" of the English Mass that became The Book of Common Prayer in 1662, rendering it invalid as an authentic Catholic rite.

     Thus, began the German (Swiss/ Dutch) and English schisms from the Catholic Church. However, the nearly 40,000 non-Catholic Christian divisions that followed differ on many viewpoints.  Yet, the Catholic Church maintains that these groups of Christians by their baptism still have an imperfect relation to the one Body of Christ and though in schism, are considered fellow Christians.

The Ecumenical Movement

     Since the Great Schism, the Catholic Church has convened 14  additional councils considered ecumenical and the Orthodox Churches have held "Pan-Orthodox" synods , the most recent of which was held in June 2016.  At the Second Vatican Council, the Orthodox and Oriental separated churches along with many representatives of Protestant denominations were invited as observers to the Council as a pastoral initiative by Pope St. John XXIII to open dialogue with the modern world.  The fruit of these invitations was ecumenical dialogue with various religious groups seeking common ground for the purpose of common mission in the world.  
     
     These theological meetings have attempted to recognize and promote areas of common belief.  Further, among various Protestant sects, a common calendar and revised common lectionary was produced to further unite the various divided sects and aid in ecumenical unity with the Catholic Church.

All Truth is God's Truth

     However, while we believe that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, we recognize God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to be active outside her boundaries (CCC, 870).  We recognize God's activity wherever the Holy Trinity is adored, baptisms and marriages performed, and the Holy Scriptures believed and taught --among the Orthodox, Protestants and seekers of Truth (CCC, 819).  In the words of St. Benedicta of the Cross, "All who seek for Truth, seek God -- whether or not one knows it."

     In the words attributed to St. Augustine, "All Truth is God's Truth." In light of the Ecumenical movement birthed at Vatican II, the Catholic Church dialogs with her Orthodox sister churches, the ancient Eastern Apostolic Churches, Protestants, non-Christian religions and the irreligious for the common good of all people.