W
William Putnam
Guest
stranger said:
1. The matter is one of proper “credentials†that one could confect the Eucharist in the changing of bread and wine into the actual body and blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord. The Catholic position is that only Catholic priests are capable of this because they have valid Holy Orders to do this from their ordination by a bishop, who was likewise ordained by a bishop…by a bishop…by a bishop…so it goes, in a line of succession. The only Church to have valid orders outside of the Catholic Church is the Orthodox Church, since they did not alter the rite of ordination and the intent in their schism from Rome. (There are other churches who have succession as well, the “Old Catholics†is one, not knowing if your have then in Australia or not…) In any case, I cannot be “conciliatory†to those who believe they can do this, even while they do not believe in transubstantiation.
2. There is general agreement that the title “Catholic†did not come to be until circa A.D. 110, when St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch was one of the first to use the term in speaking of the Church. As for Peter, strictly speaking, He was not “Catholic†(let alone “Roman Catholicâ€Â) simply because in those very early days in the infant church, that church certainly was not “universal,†was it? But since no other church can claim to be directly related to the only church around for the first 1,000 years of her history, when it did become “universal†by evangelization throughout the known civilized word at the time, the handle of “Catholic†became appropriate. So no, there stands Peter, in charge of the tiny sect of people called “Christians†after Pentecost, soon to begin an evangelistic explosion that amazes me to this day! Something tells me that the Holy Spirit had something to do with it…
And all this time, I thought that the New Covenant of Jesus Christ was the “New sprout†that sprung up from the old, now fulfilled covenant of the Old Covenant of Abraham, Moses and others. And whether I am Jew or gentile, that difference is immediately erased by the waters of baptism, circumcision now relegated in importance to a medical procedure given to infant males today as a matter of pure hygiene only.
Well, thank you for the quote, but methinks that I am within the original “Olive branch†that sprung up from the deeper roots of Judaism and the Old Covenant, even while I am a gentile. As I look back at history of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, there in only one “trunk†of this olive tree (that is the New Covenant that came up from Judaism) that I see.
It began at Pentecost, growing slowly at first, but spread like wildfire rapidly thereafter, still only one trunk, her “branches†were the local churches planted all over the then civilized world, yet of the same “trunk†(and in substance from that trunk) that I see only one trunk existing for the first 1,000 years. And interestingly, this rapid spread came among the Jews originally, even in Corinth and the rest of Greece, among the Jews who were there as a result of the great Diaspora.
Unfortunately, the bulk of Judaism did not follow along into the New Covenant…
God bless,
PAX
Bill+†+
I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
Our Lord;
who was conceived by the holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died,
and was buried.
He descended into hell;
the third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
sitteth at the right hand of God,
the Father almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
- The Apostles Creed -