The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-30


which they attain the perfection to each; that
in the church founded by Christ call who
wished to be the sons of God by adoption
might attain to perfection demanded by their
high calling and might obtain salvation"
The church is "man's guide to whatever per-
tains to heaven. This is the Office appointed
TO it by God: That it may watch over and
may order all that concerns religion and may
without let or hinderance exercise according
to its judgment its charge over christianity
Wherefore they who pretend that the church
has any wish to interfere in civil matters or to
infringe upon the rights of the state either
know it not or wickedly calumniate it"
Besides being the guardian of faith, the
church must afford the means of obtaining
the salvation purchased by Christ. The dis
pensation of the divine mysteries was not
granted by God Unfortunately to alI Chris
tians, but the Apostles and their successors
and, in this way, according to Gods provl-
dence, duly constituted society twas formed
out of the divided multitudes OF peoples-one
in faith, one in end, one in the participation
of the means adapted to the attainment OF the
end and one a subject to one and the same
authority"
GAS no true and perfect human society can
be conceived which is not governed by some
supreme authority" so Christ of necessity
gave to his church a supreme authority to
which all Christians must be obedient. For
the preservation of unity there must be unity
of government jure divine, and men may be
placed outside the one fold by schism as well
as by heresy.
The nature of this supreme authority can be
ascertained from the positive and evident will
of Christ. AS he willed that his kingdom
should be visible, Christ was obliged to desig-
nate a Vice-gerent on earth in the person of St.
Dafa ua Cd hot ha
given to him for the salvation of mankind in
perpetuity should be inherited by ST. Peters
successors.
1t cannot be doubted from the words OF Holy
Writ that the church by the will OF God rests
on st. Peter as building on its foundation.
ST. Peter could not fulfill this duty without
the power of commanding, forbidding, judg-
ing, which is properly called jurisdiction" 1t
is by the power of jurisdiction that nations
and commonwealth are held together.
primacy of honor and the shadowy right of
giving advice and admonition, which is called
direction, could never be unity or strength to
any society of men.
The metaphorieal expressions of "the keys"
and of "binding and loosing" indicate the
power of making laws, of judging and punish
ing-a power which our Lord declares to be OF
such amplitude and force chat God would
ratify whatever is decreed by it"
Thus the power of st. Peter is supreme and
absolutely independent, so that having no
other power on earth as its superior, 1t en-
braces the whole church and all things com
mitted to the church. AS the governing
authority belongs to the constitution and
formation of the church as the very principle
of unity and stability, it was clearly intended
to pass to St. Peters successors from one to
another Consequently the Pontiffs who sue
coed him in the Roman episcopate reserve the
supreme power in the church jure divine. and
this is declared fully by general councils and
is acknowledged by the consent of antiquity.
But though the authority of St. Peter and his
successors is plenary and supreme, it is not to
be regarded as the only authority. The
Bishops, who are the successors of the Apostles,
"inherit their ordinary power" and 1.-The epis-
copal order necessarily belongs to the essential
constitution of the church" They are con-
sequently not to be regarded mere Wears of
the Roman Pontiffs, since "they exercise a
power which is really their own, and are most
truly called the ordinary pastors OF the people
over whom they rule"
For the preservation of unity in the Chris
tian church, 1t is above all things necessary
that there should be union between the
Roman Pontiff, the one successor of st. Peter,
and the Bishops, the many successors of the
apostolic college. at is necessary to bear in
mind that no prerogative was conferred on the
Apostles in which st. Peter did not participate,
but that many were bestowed upon st. Peter
apart from the Apostles"
He alone was designated by Christ the
foundation of his church. To him he gave the
power of forgiving and retaining, and to him
alone was given the authority to iced"
From this it follows chat Bishops are de-
prived of the right and power of ruling if they
deliberately secede from Peter and his sue
arated from the foundation upon which the
whole edifice rests"
AS the divine founder of the church decreed
that his church should be one in faith. in
government and communion, so he chose Peter
and his successors as the principle, and, as it
were, the center of this unity. ''The episco-
pal order is rightly judged to be in COM
munion with Peter as Christ commanded, if
it is subject 10 and obeys Peter; otherwise it
necessarily becomes laWless and disorderly
crowd"
For the due preservation of unity of the
faith it is not sufficient ''that the head should
have peen charged merely with the office of
superintendent or should have been invested
solely with the power of direction, but it is
absolutely necessary that he should have re-
ceived real and sovereign authority, which
the whole community is bound to obey"
1t is opposed to the truth and is in evident
contradiction with the divine constitution of
the church to hold that while each Bishop is
individually bound to obey the authority of
the Roman Pontiffs, the bishops, taken collect
lively, are not so bound. For it is the nature
and essence of a foundation to support the
unity of the whole edffce and to give stability
to it rather than to each component part It
was through 'the strength and solidity of the
foundation" that Christ promised that the
gates Of hell should not prevail against his
church, promise to be understood of the
church as whole, and not of any certain por-
tions of it
Moreover, he who is set over the flock must
have authority not only over the sheep dis
persed throughout the church, but also when
they are Assem- bled together. Do all the sheep
gathered together rule and guide the shep-
herd? Do the successors of the Apostles as
sembled together cons titute the foundation on
which the successor of st. Peter rests, in order
to derive therefrom strength ana stability
The Popes have ever unquestionably exer-
eised the office of ratifying or rejecting the de-
crees of councils. sfLeo the Great rescinded
the acts OF the Conciliabulum of Ephesus.
Damascus rejected those of Rimini and Adrian
l those OF Constantinople The twenty-eighth
canon Of the Council of Chalcedon, by the very
fact that it lacks the assent and approval of
the Apostolic See, is admitted by all to be
worthless