First of four parts.
Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee. (I pray) for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
"I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.”
– John 17:1, 9-11, 20-23 (Revised Standard Version)
When one reads this passage, one surely ought to imagine Jesus weeping over His people.
Our Lord's wishes in His high-priestly prayer, offered before the Twelve on the first Holy Thursday, could hardly be plainer. He wants all His followers to be one. He founded not multiple Churches but one Church, as He declared in His commission of St. Peter: “Upon this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18).
The Catholic Church is about to witness once more to its belief in that unity when its cardinals from around the world meet to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI. Their choice will be the latest successor of Peter and chief guardian of the “deposit of faith” that Christ left to His apostles and their successors.
And yet the cardinals, no less than the world at large, know that true Christian unity is elusive. Most of the thousands of non-Catholic denominations professing belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior reject the idea – implied by the very word catholic, meaning “universal” – that there is “one true Church.” Other church bodies agree that Christ's Church should be one but contend that their particular church body is the “one true Church.” And non-Christian faiths, of course, reject faith in Jesus entirely.
Does the Catholic Church consider itself the “one true Church”? Essentially, yes – but its self-witness is more complex than many wish to believe. Consider these three pairs of statements, all of which come from the Scriptures or the authoritative teachings of the Catholic Church:
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“This is the sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic … This Church … subsists [is found most fully] in the Catholic Church ...”
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“All those who are justified by faith through Baptism are incorporated into Christ … brothers and sisters in the Lord.”
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“If you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
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“Outside the Church there is no salvation.”
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“(God) desires for all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth.”
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“He who endures to the end will be saved.”
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Are you scratching your heads? How can all of these statements be true when they seem to contradict each other? And yet Catholics do consider them all to be true. This series will seek to resolve the apparent contradictions as it considers exactly what the Catholic Church says about itself, other Christians and non-Christian religions. I hope you'll stay tuned.
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