The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-03

L
own immediate work, the Church was
to last despite the warnings of potent
and ferocious adversaries. ION this
rock l will build my Church." He
| built it, not on moving sand, not on
| floating waters, but on the rock" that
| endures the ages, and defes the
| powers of destruction, the gates them
selves of He'll: And the gates of He'll
shall not prevail against it."
Christ actually founded the Church:
"And Jesus coming spoke to them
| (the Apostles), saying: All power
is given to me in Heaven and on
earth. Going, therefore, teach all ma
tions: baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever 1 have COM
manded you: and behold / am with
you all days, even to tie consumma-
ton of the world Go We into
the whole world, and a5reach the Cos
pei to every creature. He that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall be con-
demned." The Church is founded:
it is fact plain to the eye. 1t rushes
forth from the warm lips of omnip-
otence, equipped for the great work
assigned to it, invested thereunto with
the power and the authority inherent
in the Divine Founder: And behold
l am with you all days even unto the
consummation of the world" Here all
the elements of a well-organized So
ciety are duly provided for: the men,
bership is here-those who believe
and are baptized-and so is the gov
ernment-those who are chosen into
the apostolate, the eleven who stood
by Him while He spoke, who were to
live in their successors even unto
the consummation of the world"
The Church was founded, and so
soon as Christ withdrew from earth
His visible presence, it vested itself
with its divine armor and set itself
to its appointed work, never to halt,
never to cease, SO long as men there
were to be baptized, so Ions. as nations
there were to be taught the truths of
the newly-given revelation.
The Church, the Teacher of christ's
Revelation.
The rule of faith, the authoritative
means through which men were to
know the teachings of Christ was the
Church of Christ, the social organism
which He Himself had created and
| commissioned The command to the
apostles was to teach, to teach what
it's Founder had taught, all that He
had taught, nothing that He had not
taught: Preach the Gospel to every
creature" :. Going We therefore,
teach all nations Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever
l have commanded YOU" 1t was the
| command of the Divine Teacher him
self, from whom no one has the right
to dissent, against whom no one
should dare rebel A teacher there
| always must be, SO long as men there
| are to be taught. While Christ was
on earth, He himself was the Teach
er Now He withdraws from earth
and the Church in it's apostles becomes
the teacher, teaching in His name and
with His authority, and so teaching
through their legally appointed sue
cessors, until the consummation of
the world
| The authority of the agent is the
authority of the principal. The prin-
cipal is Christ: the agent is the
Church To those who were to be
spokesman of the Church, He once had
said: HE that heareth you heareth
me: and he that despiseth you de-
spiseth me: and he that despiseth me
despiseth Him that sent me-" And
now in the final commission given ON
Mount Olivet, He pronounces a judg-
ment of ire upon those who refuse to
obey those Observation-Disclosures so
dreadful, that it's sole justification re-
sides in their Office as the agents of
His own very SELF Preach the Cos
pel,' He said to the apostles, ito every
creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved: he that be-
lieveth not shall be condemned"
! The Church, lnfallible in its Teaching
"He that believeth not shall be con
demned": therefore the Church, the
agent of Christ, henceforward the
proximate teacher of His revelation
is infallible in it's promulgations o.
the things which He had taught. II
matters of faith and morals, the
Church cannot err. So, the Catholi'
i, Church asserts through its Catechism
so in very deed must the Church o
Christ be, since in very deed it is
! in it's preachings-the agent of Chris
: Himself, since to refuse belief in it
teachings is to merit condemnation.
: The Church, infallible, incapable o
' erring in matters of faith and morals
I But is not the Church society mad
I up of men; and are not men by natur
liable to mistake and to deception
e Yes, in it's visible elements, tn
Church is made up of men: to thos
visible elements we ascribe no priv
|lege of infallibility. But in the Churc
q there is, in no lesser reality, the invi:
! ible element which is the divine
Christ and His Holy Spirit: and thi
: the element in the Church to whic
infallibility belongs. The fatal mi