The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-01-22
THE PoPE's AVAILABILITY.
BY the Rt. Rev. Timothy corbett, D. D..
Bishop of crookston, MINI.

Timothy, by the Mercy of God and
the Grace of the Apostolic See, Bishop
of Crookston. To the Venerable
Brethren of the Clergy and the Be.
loved Brethren of the Laity of our
Diocese, Peace and BenedictiOn in
Christ Jesus, Our Lord.
Dearly Beloved Brethren: History
does not record the existence of any
contention among the Faithful rela.
tive to the infallibility of the Church
of Christ in teaching a doctrine OF
faith and morals in her character Of
universal Teacher AS the Divine
Saviour of the world founded the
Church to endure forever, He was
necessarily obliged to make her abso
lutely secure in handing down with
merring accuracy, from century t.
the treasure of His truths and doc
trine, through all the vicissitudes Of
time, despite insidious errors, fataa
schisms and destructive heresies. The
Apostles and their legitimate success
sors in office could not teach Alright
without Divine assistance, since the
human mind, left to itself, will Ger
tainly fall into the labyrinth OF error
Christ, the Eternal Truth, the Infinite
Wisdom and the God of infinite knowl
edge of all things, present, past and
future, in Whom deception and error
are impossible, solemnly pledged tt
the Church His continuous, absolute
unconditional and uninterrupted, as
sistanee and abiding presence. Or
the mountain of Galilee the Blessed
Redeemer proclaimed emphatically
"Going therefore teach We all nations
baptizing them in the name of the Fa
ther and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost and behold l am with
YOU all days even to the consumma
tion of the world" Matt. 28:19-20.)
Never can Christ Jesus, the Incarnate
Son of God, suspend this promise OF
perpetual, Divine presence to His
Church, which constitutes her power
of teaching with an authority essen
TALLY and perpetually infallible. Thi!
Divine indwelling in the Church eyi
IDENTIFY extends not only to the lifetim.
of the Apostles, but throughout sue
ceeding centuries, since Christ in
tended His Church to be instrume nta
in the salvation of all men for whom
He died to redeem. Once infallible
the Church was to remain infallibl,
forever. Infallible always and every
where. Christ, the Fountain of al
truth. and Light of light, could no
possibly sdwellv fns%tl1e vGhurcfr I'm 9Th,
darkness of error and the spirit o
falsehood.
Christ's Promise.
He, the Essential Truth itself, an
the one essentially Infallible Teacher
. assured the Church, moreover, of tn
continuous presence of the Hol
Ghost in those memorable terms,
will ask the Father and He will Civ
you another Paraclete, that He ma
abide with you forever, the Spirit
truth" John 4:16-17.) The fulfi
ment of the first part of this promis
was accomplished on Pentecost, an
) the remainder is verified even to tn
very hour. The Holy Ghost, the Thir
Person of the Adorable Trinity, woul
certainly not tolerate error in tn
Church, for she is His temple. TIL
promises of the indwelling of the tw
Divine Persons were subjected to n
limitation in the continuance of the
Sulfilment. Our Divine Redeeme
pledged His omnipotent word that II
would build His Church upon roc
and positively made the assuranc
and guaranteed on His own authorit
that THE gates of hell shall not pr
vail against it." Matt. 1913
Heaven and earth shall pass, but m
words shall not pass" Matt. 24:25
BY building His Church upon rot
and not on a sand-drift, Christ, tt
Divine Architect and Chief Corne
stone, gave it absolute security again
all assaults whatsoever, and, cons
auently, it will never fail, never suff
corruption, never fall into error al
will remain unconquered. Resting {
Peter, the enduring rock, the Chur'
shall be invincible forever.
The denial of the infallibility is ;
ins ult to Christ, the Eternal Son
God, who promised to His Church n
abiding presence and that of God t
Holy Ghost. Certainly Christ, the G.
of unchanging truth, and the He
Ghost could not dwell by perpetu
presence in any church teaching fal.
hood. Their abiding presence, viii
is positive and concrete, would be !
approval of what is false. To he
that the Church, the authoriz
Teacher of truth, has ever erred in h
teaching is to reject the Divinity
Christ, for should He have failed
keep His promises, He would lack Z
Godhead, for it is impossible for G
to lie" (Heb. 6:1S.) The Divine Oh
impotence would not be equal to t
fulfilment of the promises, should Z
Church ever fail in teaching mankil
faith and morals with inerrane
Christ vigorously commanded men
listen to the voice of the Church as
His own. HE that heareth you he;
eth Me, and He that despiseth y
despiseth Me-" duke 10:16) HI
could Christ thus command to he
the Church, if it were, fallible a
capable of leading them into erro
Truly, only a Church that claims
fallibility in teaching can claim
thority to teach men and oblige The