The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-03
Continued
LETTER OF THE MOST REVEREND ARCHBISHOP

looked, Cney 40 not huoW the CuuICu
as it really is: they do not understand
the claims put forth in its favor. To
grasp thoroughly the supernatural
that is the soul and the true life of
the Church is the vital point in the
proper apprehension of the Church
and of the privileges ascribed to it.
Without this, the Church as founded
by Christ is lost to our vision, and
it is seen as another entity which it
is not, which its Founder never in
tended it to be.
Christ Founded an InfalIible Church.
And | say to thee: That thou art
Peter: and upon this rock | will build
my Church, and the gates of Hell
shall not prevail against it" Is the
Church built upon the rock if it be
the unsteady structure, that storms
of doubt and error may move and
crumble? Have not the gates OF He'll
prevailed against it, and wrenched
from it strength and beauty, if ever
it has fallen from its high estate as
Christ's appointed teacher, and has
led to darkness those who, under
Christ's own command were hidden
put in it their trust?
Teach We all nations and
behold l am with you all days even
unto the consummation of the world"
The apostles teach: their successors
with them, the guardian and guar
antor of their teaching. Should there
be error in their teaching, Christ has
withdrawn from them His pledged
help: He himself it is who has de-
ceived humanity.
And l will ask the Father and He
will give you another Paraclete that
he may abide with you for ever; the
spirit of truth, whom the world can
not receive, because it seeth Him not,
nor knoweth Him: but you shall re-
ceive Him, because He shall abide
with you, and shall be in you :.
But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my
name will teach you all things, and
bring all things to your mind, whatso-
ever | shall have said to you {.
But when He, the spirit of truth, is
come He will teach you all truth. y
ASSuredly, all is we'll with the Church
of Christ: assuredly its teachings are
without error: the divine life throbs
within it and holds it safely above the
frailtieS of the human elements that
are its visible body. The spirit of
truth, the Holy Ghost, abides with it,
teaching its teachers, bringing to their
mind whatsoever Christ once had
said: the spirit of truth abides with
it, and will abide with it For ever"
Thus is the Church made worthy
of it's Founder who so cherished it
as to see in it His very spouse.
Christ" writes st. Paul, loved the
Church and delivered Himself up for
it: that He might sanctify it, cleans
ing it by the laver of water in the
word of life: that He might present
it to Himself a glorious Church, not
having spot nor wrinkle, or any such
thing: but that it should be holy and
without blemish."
Thus are the disciples of Christ's
Gospel made sure that, however far
apart they be from the days of it's
first announcement, they know if in
it's true meaning, and, as st. Paul
writes, "be no more children tossed
to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the wicked
ness of man, by cunning craftiness by
which they lie in wait to deceive"
A miracle of omnipotence it is that
the Church established by Christ
moves through the world of fallible
humanity, remote today some twenty
centuries from the time of its Founder,
safe from all error, secure in it's own
belief, infallible in it's teachings to
its disciples. But a still greater mir
acle of omnipotence it was that, TWEEN
ty centuries ago, the Eternal Word did
become man, ION account of us and
of our salvation" and was Himself the
visible Teacher of men; and since the
Church's infallibility is needed as the
means of perpetuating the preaching
of the Saviour, the infallibility of the
Church is the logical sequence of the
Incarnation. Once it was Said-"And
the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among u.s." no surprise arises when
later it is said-"And behold am with
you all days even unto the consumma-
ton of the world"
The Revolt of the Sixteenth Century.
Against the infallible Church there
is the loud protest, the protest of the
Protestant Churches, SO called from
their attitude towards the Catholic
Church. The Church, it was said, is
the victim of error and superstition:
let us hurry from its fold and build to
ourselves other churches. Thence the
fatal movement that rent apart the
Christian world, known as the Refor
nation of the Sixteenth Century
Said to be reformation, it was a re
bellion against the Church of Christ
against Christ Himself who solemnly
had promised that He would be with
the Church "all days even unto the
contamination of the world
To assert that the Church had cor
rupted the Gospel of Christ, polluted
the pure streams of divine truth, was
to assert that Christ had not built His
Church upon the rock, that the gates
of hell had prevailed against it, that