Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1901-11-25
THE BELIEF OF CATHOLICS. "
Sermon BY Rev. Father Sigl
AT St. Mary's Roman
Catholic Church.


fence in St. Mary's Church Father Sigl
explained the belief OF Catholics in re-
gard to the Pope. He said in part
Catholics believe that Christ appoint
ed St. Peter as head and ruler OF the
church; that the Pope is the legitimate
successor 10 ST. Peter in that office, and
that Christ conferred on ST. Peter and
successors, in other words on the Pope,
the privilege of iniallibIlity whenever he,
as head OF the church. defines any doc
trine concerning faith and morals.
"This belief OF Catholics is very much
misunderstood by Catholics. There
fore. ! am delighted 10 be able to show
you from Holy Scripture and common
sense, how reasonable, yea, how abso
lutely certain II IS. As long as Christ
lived on earth He was the visible head
of the church as He still is and will be to
the end OF time its invisible head During
our Lords mortal life there was no need
of any head but Himself. but when He
returned to the Father in Heaven il was
necessary that He should institute some
governing power In the church.
Common sense tells us that. No
state. no community. no org rganizaiion can
exist without a head. In our country
we have no King or monarch, but we are
not without a governing power. We
have President for the entire Union, a
Governor for each state, a Mayor for
each city. Take the smallest and most
insignificant of human associations and
you will find that they elect officers to
make and enforce rules for the proper
management of the society. The anar-
chists themselves, whose ayowed object
is to do away with all government, have
their John Mosts and Emma Goldmans
to act as leaders and guides. Now,
since every society requires governing
power. the church beng a society, also
requires such power and the question
is what ruling power did Christ establish
in His church
"This question regards fact, and it is
only by history-the record of facts
that the question can be answered. Now,
we have the best history in the inspired
word of God. and there we find that
Christ made St. Peter the head of the
church. The preacher then read from
the first chapter OF the gospel OF St. John
how Christ promised Simon new name.
"Thou shalt be called Peter, the rock"
how Simon actually received the name
OF Peter year later, when he was chosen
an apostle, as ST. Luke relates in the
sixth chapter of his gospel. "Months
rolled on, the third year of Our Lord S
public life had begun; Calvary was be-
ginning to cast its shadow before, and
the instructions and conversations of the
Lord contained more frequent illusions
to His sufferings and death. He had
from the beginning tried to make His
apostles understand that He was the
Son OF God.
"He had claimed divine powers, and
now He wished His disciples to make an
open act OF faith in His divinity, and at
the same time He desired to foretell the
incident is related in St. Matthew, 10Th
chapter, 1919 verses. Let us consider
the passage attentiyelY. Bear in mind
the solemnity of the occasion. For two
years Christ had been instructing His
apostles with the rest OF His disciples,
and tor year past He had made them
His special associates in His work, and
now He, so to speak, puts them to the test
to see whether they have grasped His
teaching, He asks them !: Whom do
men say that the Son of Man is But
they said Some John the Baptist.
some Elias and others Jeremias, or one
of the prophets. We notice that the
apostles answered freely, each for him.
self declaring what he had heard.
"Then Jesus asked But whom do
you say that | am?" Now the
apostles realized the solemnity of the
occasion. They remain SILENT
Even John, whose heart was so full of
faith in his divine Master, did not speak.
But Peter, from the bottom of his heart,
cried out Thou art Christ, the Son of
the living God Up to this time Christ
had not explained the dignity that was
to be conferred upon Peter, nor the posi-
ton he was to hold in the church of
Christ. yet we see that the apostles look
ed upon him even then as their leader
and guide. because Christ had from the
beginning, in solemn though mysterious
words, pointed him out as the rock, and
had actually conferred that name on
him when He made him an apostle.
"When Peter made his sublime act Of
faith in the divinity of his Master, Jesus
at once praised and approved his ac-
acknowledgement: Blessed art thou. Simon
Bar iona, because flesh and blood hath
not revealed it to thee, but my Father
who is in heaven And now comes the
solemn promise of Christ to Peter And
say to thee, that thou art Peter, and
upon this rock viii build My church,
and the gates OF hell shall not prevail
against it. And / will give to thee the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, il
shall be bound also in Heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth,
shall be loosed in Heaven Now think
Of the meaning OF these words. Christ
saws to Peter : Thou art the rock, and
upon this rock viii build my church.
sThe most important and necessary
part cs a building is the foundation. The
walls, the roof. every part of them and
every appendage to them rests on the
foundation. If the foundation is poor,
the house will not stand. A house bull
on sand or loose earth will fall. but a
/ house built on a rock will stand immov-