u n v T c h A p o l c a ^ f i c ElGHTBBhTIC THOUSAND. B X / T / / WHY AM I A CATHOLIC BY R E V . S. M . B R A N D I , S . J . P R O F E S S O R O F T H E O I . O G Y I N W O O D S T O C K C O L L E G E . F R O M T H E NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, win. >886. WITH AN APPENDIX " Containing a short summary of what Christians ought to Know an Dr. Marsh, a Protestant writer rightly remarks that "It seems a desper- ate undertaking to prove that our Saviour alluded to any other person than to St. Peter, for the words of the passage can indicate no one else" (Com- parative View, app. n. D), and Rev. J. S. Thompson, another Protestant is not less explicit: "Protestants have betrayed unnecessary fears, and have, therefore, used all the hardihood of lawless criticism in their attempts to reason away the Catholic interpretation" {Monotessaron. p. 104, Baltimore,, 1829). / WHY AM I A CATHOLIC f 7 Peter, "head o"f the Apostles, whence he was called Cephas," and that "in communion with that chair, unity was to be pre- served by all." The Catholic Church preserves this com- munion with the chair of Peter, the See of Rome, and this is the reason why it is commonly called "The Roman Catholic Church." In the Catholic Church, again, I find that holiness that should characterize the true Church of Christ. By her doc- trine and the administration of the Sacraments the true Church of Christ is to carry on the work of Christ, and so attain the end for which she was instituted — the sanctification of her members. And this is precisely what the Catholic Church does. Let us take, for instance, her doctrine concerning the Sac- raments, and it will clearly appear how, by her ministry, she sanctifies every stage and condition of life. She teaches that we are born in a state of sin (Rom. v, 12), and, therefore, that before we live the life of grace, we must be purified from our guilt —\ we must receive a spiritual birth (John iii, 5). And this she gives us by means of the Sacrament of Baptism (Matt, xxvii, 19). After being spiritually born our life of grace is but weak. We are, indeed, Christians, but we have to be- come strong and perfect Christians ; and we are made such, she teaches us; by receiving from her the Sacrament of Con- firmation (Acts viii, 15, 17). Furthermore, as in temporal life, so also in the spiritual, we stand in need of nourishment —our souls must be frequently fed with "the Bread of Life" (John vi, 48) ; and this she gives us in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which as we know again from her divine teaching, is the true Body and Blood of Christ, under the ap- pearance of bread and wine (John vi, 51, 52 ; Matt, xxvi, 26- 28). But to be perfect is not human. W e are liable to fall into sin and lose thereby the state of grace. We stand in need, therefore, of some healing remedy for sin. This neces- sary remedy she provides for us in the Sacrament of Penance, in which, by the priest's absolution, given to us by the au- thority of Christ delegated to him (John x x , 22, 23), joined with contrition, confession, and satisfaction, the sins which were committed after Baptism are forgiven. Again, the Church knows that it is at the time of our death that we are in the greatest spiritual need. Weakened by disease, we are less able to withstand the attacks of the enemy of our salva- tion. This special assistance which we need then she com- municates to us in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, the anointing of the sick mentioned by St. James (v, 14, i5_)._ In religion, to sanctify ourselves we stand in need of spiritual teachers and guides — of men who are "ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (I Cor. iv, 1) ; and these are supplied, together with the powers and graces nec- essary for them, by the Sacrament of Holy Orders (IX Tim, 8 WHY AM I A CATHOLIC f 7 I,' 6). And, finally, she sanctifies the married state by the Sac- rament of Matrimony, which she considers as the emblem of that sacred union which exists between Christ and His Church (Eph. v. 25, 32). This, she teaches us, has been in- stituted to give to married persons the graces required for the fulfilment of their duties and for the religious training of their children. Assisted by the Holy Ghost, who gives efficacy to her min- istry, the Catholic Church is ever gathering new members into her fold, and implanting in them the principle of super- natural life, and by the practices of devotion she inculcates, she fosters that life in all: And if some of her children are not actually saints, it is only because they do not live in ac- cordance with their faith. In fact, in every age and in every land, she has been and is the fruitful mother of saints, and thousands of her sons and daughters renounce all worldly honors and enjoyments, in order to consecrate all that they have, and all that they are, to the service of God and of their fellow men, always ready to lay down their lives for them. Witness those heroic men who vowed to attend the lepers, and bear the awful consequences of their self-devotion ; wit- ness those who solemnly vowed to remain in slavery them- selves, if they could not otherwise redeem the captives : wit- ness those many priests and Sisters of Charity' who lay down their lives in every epidemic. In a word, with an activity and zeal for souls which even her enemies are forced to admit, the Catholic Church leaves nothing undone for the conversion of sinners, for the instruction of the ignorant, and for the re- lief of the poor of Christ. Her many missions in every land, her schools of every degree for the rich and poor, her books of devotion in every tongue, her hospitals, asylums, and charitable institutions of every kind, are so many proofs of her untiring zeal in fulfiling her divine mission of bringing all to Christ. The true Church of Christ has always been and must al- ways be "Catholic" according to those words of the Apostles' Creed : " I believe in the Holy Catholic Church." • Hence we find the term Catholic used by the Fathers as a distinctive mark of the true Church. St. Ignatius (A.D. 107), writing to the Church of Smyrna, says : "Where the bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be ; even as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." This, Catholicity of the true Church, instituted by Christ, is threefold — Catholicity of extension, "going teach all nations Catholicity of doc- trine, "teaching them to observe all things;" Catholicity of duration, ' 'I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." Catholicity, then, implies a multitude of members spread throughout the whole world, in all ages, and professing the same doctrines. Now this is exactly what I find in the Church to which I belong. Her members far out- WHY AM IA CATHOLIC f 7 number all the other Christian denominations taken together. According to the London Scientific Miscellany, there are over 254,000,000 Catholics. These are spread all over the world, so that there is no civilized or savage country known where the Catholic Church is not actually established, and carrying out the work of Christ. ' "The Catholic Church is so called,'' says St. Augustine, "because it is diffused throughout the world" (Ep. 52, ad Sever, n. 1). Catholics can repeat to-day what Tertullian (A.D. 199) said of the Catholics of his time : " W e have filled everyplace, cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camps, your tribes, companies, palaces, senate, forum ! We leave you but your temples" (Apol. 22). And what is more important, the Church so diffused holds everywhere the same faith, has the same constitution, the same Sacraments, the same form of government. She is Catholic as she is One. To the question, then, ' 'Why am I a Catholic ?'' I might well answer in the words of St. Augus- tine : "Many things retain me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. . . . The name itself of the Catholic Church keeps me— a name which, in the midst of so many heresies, this Church alone has not without cause, so held possession of, that while all heretics would fain have themselves called Catholics, yet, to the query of any stranger, 'Where is the meeting of the Catholic Church held ?' they would not dare to point out their own basilica or house" (C. Ep. Fund. c. 4). By "Apostolic Church" is meant the Church which Christ established by means of His Apostles, whom, as the Gospels tell us, He selected, instructed, ordained, and commisioned to perpetuate among men to the end of time His divine mis- sion. The Church, then, to be Apostolic, must be the Church established by the Apostles—that is, it must have an Apostolic origin, it must teach the same doElrine which the Apostles taught, and her ministers must derive their authority from those same Apostles. That the Catholic Church has an Apostolic origin is a fa<5t which cannot be questioned. Dr. Gardner, a Protestant wri- ter, speaking of the foundation of the Church of Rome by St. Peter, assures us that ' 'this is the general, uncontradicted, disinterested testimony of ancient writers in the several parts of the world," and he adds, "it is not for our honor, nor for our interests, either as Christians or Protestants, to deny the truth of events ascertained by early and well-attested tradi- tion" (Works, vol. 6, p. 253, London, 1838); "It is the uni- versal testimony of tradition, \' says Dr. T. Schaff, ,' 'that Peter labored last in Rome" ("Hist, of the Ap. Church," p. 362, N. Y. , 1853). And Dr. Whiston, another Protestant, speak- ing of the same subject, expresses himself in a still stronger way. "This is so clear," he says, "in Christian antiquity, that it is a shame for a Protestant to confess that it has ever been denied by Protestants" ("Memoirs," London, 1750). It TO WHY AM I A CATHOLIC f 7 will suffice, then, to cite a few testimonies from the early doctors of the Church. Thus St. Cyprian calls the Roman See the "See of Peter" (Ep. 55, n. 14). St. Jerome calls Pope Damasus "the Successor of the Fisherman," and his chair "the chair of Peter" (Ep. 15, n. 2): And St. Augustine calls Einus, the Roman bishop, "the Successor of St. Peter" (Ep. 53, n. 2). , A careful examination, moreover, of the doctrines of the Catholic Church will prove clearly to any unprejudiced mind that she teaches whole and entire the very same dodtrines that were taught by the Apostles. This I find to be admitted by Protestants themselves, at least as far as it concerns those points which they call "fundamental" or "the original ele- ments of the Gospel." Thus Dr. Hopkins says : "that the Church of Rome still retained all the original elements of the Gospel we have never denied" ("End of Controversy Con- troverted," let. 19 ); and Dr. Hodge in his "Systematic Theol- ogy" assures his readers that "Romanism retains the super- natural element of Christianity throughout. Indeed it is a matter of devout thankfulness to God, that underneath the numerous grievous and destructive errors of the Romish (I> Church, the great truths of the Gospel are preserved. The Trinity, the true divinity of Christ, the true dodtrine concern- ing his person as God and man in two distindt natures,, and one person forever ; salvation through his blood, regeneration and sandtification through the almighty power of the spirit, the resurrection of the body, and eternal life, are dodtrines' on which the people of God in that Communion livd, and which have produced such saintly men as St. Bernard, Fenelon, and doubtless thousands of others who are of the number of God's elect" (p. 3, c. 17, § 3). . • 1 H • ; w f t MI What they try in vain to prove is that the Catholic Church, together with those dodtrines, has taught many errors ; that she has added many new points of dodtrine to the original deposit of faith. I have diligently examined each and every one of these points, and the result of this- study has been to convince, me the more, that the so called additions are not new points of faith, but only authoritative declarations of the teaching Church that the dodtrines in question had been re- (i) Dr. Hodge, I hope, will profit by the following remark of one of his Protestant brethren : "The reproachful epithets of 'Romanist,' 'Popish,' 'Romish,' etc., are no longer applied to Catholics by any gentleman or scholar" (Rev. J. Nightingale, author of "A Portraiture of Methodism"). Among the "errors" which Dr. Hodge, through ignorance, I presume, as- cribes to the Church, there are dodtrines which she never taught. An "In- dulgence," for example, is not "a license to commit sin," but only a releas- ing of temporal punishment which often remains due to sin, after the guilt has been remitted. Catholics do not adore the B. V. Mary or the Saints, and they are taught to honor relics, crucifixes, and holy pictures, not abso- lutely, but as they relate to Christ and His Saints, and art? memorials of them. WHY AM I A CATHOLIC f 7 vealed to the Apostles, and had come down to us either by Scripture or Tradition.0' The last condition required for the Apostolic Church is an apostolic ministry—that is, ministers who derive their powers from the Apostles, and are in communion with the centre of unity which Christ established, and from which they derive their mission. The necessity of this communion with the centre of unity is evident from the few remarks already made on the unity of the Church. In confirmation of this, it will be enough to quote here two of the many authorities I have examined on this subjeét. St. Optatus, speaking of "the chair of Rome, in which Peter sat," tells us that "in com- munion with this chair unity is to be preserved by all.'' And that great saint and docftor of the Church, St. Jerome, thus addresses the Bishop of Rome, Pope Damasus : ' 'I speak with the Successor of the Fisherman, and the Disciple of the Cross. Following no chief but Christ, I am joined in communion with your beatitude—that is, with the chair of Peter. On that rock I know that the Church was built. Whosoever shall eat the Lamb outside that house is profane. Whoso- ever does not gather with you, scattereth" (Ep. 15, n. 2). y It is an historical fait, which no scholar has ever denied, that the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church can trace their lineage back to an apostolic origin. This is clearly de- monstrated by following the succession of Pontiffs from St. Peter to Leo X I I I in the Apostolic See of Rome, with which centre of unity no other priesthood but that of the Catholic Church is in communion. I may add also, that those de- nominations which lay any claim to apostolicity of orders, as, for instance, the Church of England, and its daughter, the Episcopal Church in the United States, found this their claim on the facüt of having received these orders from bishops that had been in Communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Again, therefore, with St. Augustine, I answer that I am a Catholic because "in the Catholic Church . . . . the succes- sion of priests from the See itself of the Apostle Peter [Rome] even to the present episcopate, holds me" (Contr. Ep. Man. n. 2). But, once more, if I consider the express will and purpose of Christ in. establishing His Church on earth, I find that she shall continue, to the end of time, unchanged in her internal and external constitution, and possessing all the very same gifts, marks, etc., with which she was endowed by her divine Founder. For the mission of the Church is the mission of Christ, "to save souls." She must last, therefore, as long as there are souls to save. She is built on a rock, and ''the gates of hell shall never prevail against her." Hence it is (i) I may be allowed here to refer the reader to "The True Faith of our Forefathers" (American News Company, N. Y. 1882), where he will find the result of this investigation. 1 2 WHY AM IA CATHOLIC f 7 impossible for her ever to become corrupt in her faith, in her Sacraments, or in her government. Foi the moment she should fail in any of these, that moment the gates of hell would have prevailed against her. To assert that at any time the Church of Christ failed is to deny the truth of Christ's promise to His Church :. " I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." "There are some," St. Augustine tells us, ' 'who say : 'She that was the Church of all nations is already'no more ; she has perished.' This say they who are not in her. The impudent assertion !" (Ps. 101, serm. 2, n. 8.) If, therefore, the Church cannot fail or become corrupt, there can be no reason for any refor- mation in her faith, her Sacraments or government. Every attempt at such reformation is an explicit denial of her inde- fedtibility. But if the true Church of Christ was to last the same ' 'all days,'' even to the end of the world, then it has always been in existence from the days of the Apostles to our own. It ex- isted, therefore, when Luther and Calvin and Henry V I I I raised the standard of revolt against the Catholic Church, in which they were baptized and educated ; it existed when each established a separate and independent Church of his own. And if it existed, it could be no other than the Catholic Church. For it is a fadt that, at the time, there existed no other Church distindt from her, and recognized by the Re- formers as the true Church of Christ. It is evident, therefore, that the "Reformers" and conse- quently those who, have followed in their footsteps, have no divine authority to preach, to administer the Sacraments, and to govern Christ's mystical body. They certainly did not receive it from the Catholic Church, from which they were separated, and by which they were condemned. Luther was a priest, but never a bishop. Calvin was a simple cleric, and never received the order of priesthood. Henry VIII , "the spiritual head" of the Church-of England, was a layman. By whom, then, were they sent? And "how can they preach unless they be sent?" (Rom. x, 15.) Did they receive >n extraordinary mission from God Himself? But where are their credentials, where their proofs ? No account of these has ever come to light. And it seems plain enough, to me, at least, that they all could not have been sent by the same God to preach contradictory dodtrines and vilify each other. Henry V I I I wrote against Luther, Luther against Calvin, and Calvin against both. As this subjedt is of vital importance, I shall consider my position, as stated above, from another point of view; briefly touching on a point of dodtrine characteristic of the Catholic Church. My reason for being a Catholic is drawn from the fadt that the Catholic Church, i. the Church in communion with WltY AM I A CATHOLIC? 1 3 the successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome, is the true Church of Christ. This I briefly proved by showing that she possessed all the notes, which must, according to the inten- tion of Christ, characterize His Church, and distinguish it from every other society. I now add, that since I am obliged to be a Christian in order to be saved, and since the choice is only between Catholicity and Protestantism, if I were not a Christian Catholic, I ought to be a Christian Protestant. Now is it proved that Christian Protestants constitute the Church of Christ? This should be one in faith and government; its members should be so united as to be one body, one kingdom, one fold. In vain do I look for this unity among Protestants. They do not constitute one Church, but many independent Churches. They have not "one faith" or creed, but many creeds. And no wonder, for there no unity of faith can be found where the only principle, of this unity is denied, and a principle is s e t u p in its place which necessarily causes dissension. This false principle is their rule of faith. A s long as they are told that every man has the right and duty to interpret the Scrip- tures for himself, as long as the private interpretation of the Bible is to settle all religious controversies, so long will reli- gious division be perpetuated, not only among different de- nominations, but even among the members of the same de- nomination/1' If Washington and his colleagues m promul- gating the Constitution of this republic had said : "L,et each one read this Constitution for himself, explain it for himself, and follow out in practice his own interpretation of .it," we certainly should not be "known and read of all men" as one united nation. In its stead, we should have had a. thousand different political sections and petty governments. How did these great statesmen guard against this danger? They framed the Constitution, and at the same time established a supreme tribunal, and an authoritative power, which should interpret its meaning ultimately and definitively, by whose decision all without exception, are bound to abide. The true rule of faith is the living and infallible authority of the Church of Christ. This; and no other, is the supreme tribunal, and the supreme judge in matters of faith. This is the source and safeguard of unity. In acknowledging the Church to be the supreme tribunal in matters of faith, Catholics do not put the Church of God above the written