The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-06-05
As SEEN BY A CONVERT
THE CHURCH AND A VISIBLE
HEAD.
written for The Catholic Bulletin

fallen foul of the Anglican Church
Times because some time ago he de-
livered himself of what that organ
terms a gratuitous opinion on English
Catholicism. The Church Times OBJ
serves that Sir Samuel "only illustrat-
| ed the wisdom of the proVerb that the
cobbler should not go beyond his
last" dictum which, we are tempted
to remark, the Church Times might
appropriately apply to itself; for cob
bling might, we venture to think, prove
to be more in keeping with the intel
lectual equipment of it's editors than
the self-imposed task upon which for
some fifty years they have been so
presumptuously employed. Still, it
would be pity to have the Church
Times go out of business, seeing that
not few converts to the Catholic
| Church can trace the origin of their
restlessness under Professionalism to
the reading of it's columns. 1t GER
tainly helped the present writer on
his way to the City of Peace, as it's cor
| respOndence pages provided him with
the most obvious and conclusive proof
that Anglicanism is the City of Confu-
sion. Having had it's origin in d.
Vorce in England, possibly a judge of
the English Divorce Court may know
more about Anglicanism than even the
Church Times. In q case recently
brought before him Sir Samuel Evans
asked the plaintiff if she was not an
extremely High Churchwoman. She
replied that she was "a Catholic of the
English Branch" and Sir Samuel is
said to have rejoiced by enQuiring
whether the King or the Pope Was the
head of: her Church. In a tone of
| high Indignation the Church Times
then continues: Does Sir Samuel
Evans really imagine that he exhaust
ed every possibility when he implied
that either the King or the Pope must
be the head of the Church? We sug-
gest for his lordship's consideration
the very elementary truth of the Chris
| tian religion, that the Lord Who found
ed the Catholic Church has never re-
signed the Headship of it, which He
| claimed as His own"
We hold no brief for Sir Samuel
Evans, but we can imagine that should
| he condescend to notice the question
put to him by the Church Times he
would reply, that never for one mo-
ment did he have in mind the utterly
absurd idea that our Lord had ever re-
signed the Headship over all His
Church, militant, eXpectant, and tri-
umphant. What Sir Samuel asked this
woman was, whom did she regard as
the earthly head of the Church mill
tant; and should the Church Times an
sWer that the Church militant has no
earthly head, Sir Samuel might appro-
priately retort that Anglicanism is of
itself an obvious and ominous exam
pie of what the Church on earth would
become if it had no earthly or visible
head. Indeed, he might fittingly point
| to the larger example provided by
| Professionalism as whole. That the
Church on earth has visible head
| is the plainest teaching of Holy Scrip
ture, or Holy Scripture would be mean
! ingless; and so on this point would
also be the Early Fathers, and the
| Apostolic tradition. Apart from the
| fact that every visible body has a
visible head, glance at the history
of mankind shows that every asSocia-
ton, from the most widely spread
kingdoms to the narrow circle of the
family was blessed with a head, a
blessing evidently meant to secure
unity Of purpose and action. And
doubly SO must this apply to the Wis
ible Church of God. Brought together
out of all nations it is a nation the
people of which are to be SO perfectly
joined together that they are ''to speak
the same things, and to be of the same
mind and same Judgment; in this
way keeping the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace" Is it not rea-
sonable, then, yes, most reasonable,
that society whose unity is to be the
closest in the world, a society COM
posed of creatures of the world, and
called to act in the world, and upon
the world, and to be only one body
in the world, should have a visible,
distinct, guiding and governing head?
Anglicanism and it's kindred sects
most clearly prove how utterly futile
in the world would be the Church if
it had no visible head 1t is the very
success and unity of the Church I'M
der its visible head that so provokes
it's enemies to anger. The visible part
of our Lords authority had to be per-
petrated after His Ascension, and this
could only be done by the means He
Himself chose-a visible representa-
tive, st. Peter Our Saviour's author
ity was prophetical, priestly and king
ly. His prophetical and priestly au-
thority are perpetuated in visible
priesthood His kingly authority could
be represented by single person only
at time. And in this kingly author
ity inhere the prophetical and priestly
authority of the priesthood, the mem
bers of which, like the officers of
kingdom, exercise ruling authority
only by sanction of the King. If the
Church has only an invisible head,
who is to deny the right of any and
all sects, whatever they may profess
and believe as Christianity, to be each
individually, or all collectively, the
true Church of Christ? Who is to
deny to these the authority to repre-
sent Him. To urge that the text, my
kingdom is not of this world. II my