Catholic Faith Foundations. David Werning

further, “Only faith can recognize that the Church possesses these properties from her divine source. But their historical manifestations are signs that also speak clearly to human reason” (812).

      Key Differences in Major Religions

       Core Beliefs

      • Catholics and all other Christians believe in one God, “the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance, or nature entirely simple” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 202).

      • Buddhists have no set conception of a divine being, although Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism’s founder) did speak of gods.

      • Hindus have a complex idea of divinity involving a divine principle, Brahman, that is manifested by three forms: Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma.

      • Jews and Muslims are closest to Christianity in that both believe in the one and only God of Abraham. However, they do not accept the Trinity.

       Rites and Ceremonies

      • Buddhists around the world tend to celebrate both the new year and Buddha’s birthday. However, the time and manner of celebrations are closely tied to the country and even local area.

      • Hindus have a ritual called the Vedic sacrifice in which an offering (usually vegetables and grains) is made to appease the gods and bring order to the world.

      • The Jewish rites include the rite of circumcision for boys (girls are named in a synagogue ceremony on a Sabbath morning within 30 days of their birth) and keeping a complex system of laws, including the dietary laws.

      • Like Judaism, Islam has a circumcision rite for boys and dietary regulations. Muslims tend to celebrate the transitions in life like marriage and death.

       Afterlife

      • Regarding the afterlife, Buddhism does not have a single vision.

      • Hindus believe that human beings are reborn over and over again.

      • Muslims believe in a day of judgment, as well as heaven and hell.

      • Jewish belief depends on which part of Judaism is under consideration, reminiscent of the debate between the Sadducees and Pharisees, the former rejecting resurrection and the latter accepting. Generally speaking, there is acceptance of some kind of afterlife.

      In order to give an account of their own tradition, Catholics need to understand each of the four marks. Taken together they form a foundation for the entire Catholic faith.

       The Church Is One

      Claiming that the Catholic Church is one may seem naïve at best and triumphalist at worst. The differences between the Catholic Church and religions outside Christianity are obvious, for the latter do not believe Jesus is God. Within Christianity, the contrasts fall along a spectrum. Quite a few differences stem from both a rejection of the papal office and a disagreement over holy orders. The differences here are very stark. On the other hand, some branches of Christianity, like the Orthodox (which also claims a direct link to apostolic times) are so close that full unity is in reach.

      Given these differences within Christianity, and considering the Great Schism of 1054 and the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, how can unity be claimed? It depends on the source of unity. If one keeps in mind the divine origin of the Catholic Church, then its unity can be appreciated even when individual Catholics obscure it by error and sin or when people choose to leave the Church.

      The German bishops make a good point: unity is “not a goal of church organization.”¹ It is not something that can be manufactured by human beings. The unity of the Church “is already a reality in Christ as a first fruit of the Holy Spirit” (ibid.; see also LG, 7). Therefore, unity is a gift that must be received and lived by the members of the Church, who as Saint Paul tells us are called to be one with their head (cf. Col 1:18).

      If one chooses to participate, then he or she will join in the “visible bonds of communion” that Jesus provided:

      • “Profession of one faith received from the apostles;

      • Common celebration of divine worship, especially the sacraments;

      • Apostolic succession through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.”

      Participation in these bonds, needless to say, cannot be pro forma. They amount to nothing unless love “binds them together in perfect harmony” (CCC 815).

      Caution about the “One” Church

      Two notes of caution about the unity of the Church should be kept in mind. First, unity does not preclude diversity. As the Catechism states, “Among the Church’s members, there are different gifts, offices, conditions, and ways of life” (814). This includes even the way Mass is celebrated. Most people are familiar with the Latin, or Western, Rite of the Catholic Church, which includes most United States Catholic parishes. But there is an Eastern part, which includes twenty-one churches that celebrate Mass according to their own traditions. Together the Western and Eastern churches make up the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

      A second note of caution concerns Christians outside the Catholic Church. Ruptures to the “unity of Christ’s body” (CCC 817) were caused by human sin on the part of both sides of every divide. Yet, “one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation]” (CCC 818). The Catholic Church accepts other Christians as brothers and sisters and recognizes in their churches “elements of sanctification and of truth” (CCC 819). Moreover, the Catholic Church is committed to continual conversion on her part and to responding to Jesus’ prayer that all be one in him (Jn 17:20–23).

       The Church Is Holy

      The claim of the Church to be holy may seem false taken at face value. But, again, one has to consider the source to appreciate how the Church is holy. If the Church’s holiness depended on her human members, then she would have succumbed to evil long ago. Clearly, individual members and even groups within the Church can be sinful. They may even be actively opposed to holiness. The eruption of scandals throughout the history of the Church, even in the present time, is proof enough. Yet the scandals operate ipso facto against the Church’s intrinsic holiness.

      The Lord says, “Be holy because I [am] holy” (1 Pt 1:16; cf. Lv 11:44, 19:2). We are to reject sin and to live by God’s words. So Christ, when he brought the Church into being, did not mean for its members to exist apart from him. On the contrary, the whole point of the Church is to provide a way that people might be united to Jesus and share in all his gifts (cf. 1 Pt 1:13–16). Jesus bestowed the Spirit upon the Church and communicates divine grace through the sacraments. Moreover, the Church has reminded its members that God “does not make men [and women] holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges him in truth and serves him in holiness” (LG, 9). The key is to remain in Christ, the source of holiness.

      If living a holy life seems impossible to an individual member, then the Church must support that person and remind him or her what Jesus says: “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26). It’s also good to keep in mind models of the Faith, the saints, who persevered in holiness because they never gave in to sin and continued to follow Christ. The saints bring to life the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

       The Church Is Catholic

      The third essential characteristic of the Church has become part of her name: catholic, meaning universal. Many people may have heard