Catholicism

Why do Catholics believe that their Church is the one true Church of Jesus Christ? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to believe that Christ's true Church is a spiritual union of all Christian denominations?

Catholics believe that theirs is the one true Church of Jesus Christ, firstly, because theirs is the only Christian Church that goes back in history to the time of Christ; secondly, because theirs is the only Christian Church which possesses the invincible unity, the intrinsic holiness, the continual universality and the indisputable apostolicity which Christ said would distinguish His true Church; and thirdly, because the Apostles and primitive Church Fathers, who certainly were members of Christ's true Church, all professed membership in this same Catholic Church. Wrote Ignatius of Antioch, illustrious Church Father of the first century: ``Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.'' Our Lord said: ``There shall be one fold and one shepherd, yet it is well known that the various Christian denominations cannot agree on what Christ actually taught. Since Christ roundly condemned interdenominationalism (``And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.'' Mark 3:25), Catholics cannot believe that He would ever sanction it in His Church.

The Roman Catholic Church is the only human institution that has stood for 2000 years and still stands. It is a testimony to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul II is the 265th Pope, and the 264th successor to Peter the Apostle as Earthly Shepherd of the Church of Christ. He is Shepherd to 1.04 billion Roman Catholics today all solidly united as One Church. This makes up more than half the total number of Christians in the world and about 18% of the world population.

Protestantism on the other hand, is only 500 years old, a mere quarter of the age of the Roman Catholic Church. No Protestant church can claim to be founded by Christ, but the Catholic Church has the right to this claim, by virtue of Her History, and Her Tradition of the Apostolic Succession that goes back all the way to Peter the Apostle.

Teachingwise, the Catholic Church's teachings has remained virtually unchanged for 2000 years. Read the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and you will find that they were Catholic in thoughts and beliefs. The teaching on Baptism, True Presence of Christ, etc etc, is also uniform in all the Catholic Churches in the world. So uniform that a Catholic have little problem attending a Mass whether in Australia, in America, in Europe, or in Africa, even if the Mass is celebrated in a different language.

Protestantism in the past 500 years have spawned 32 000 different denominations, with a myriad of different contradictory teachings because of the "Bible Only" belief. The "Bible only" belief is also only 500 years old, an invention of Martin Luther. Where then is the True Teachings of Christ, if there are so many different things taught by different Protestant denominations? Why is there one Bible but everybody teaches different things? Every Protestant church claims to be biblical, but do they all teach the same things?

The reason is that the Protestant churches have lost the guidance of the Apostolic Fathers. In rejection of the central Church Authority, and relying only on the Bible, there is now no "infallible interpretation".

The Church was born on the day of Pentecost (AD 33) but the Bible did not exist until the 5th century. The Early Church selected the apostolic writings that She discerned as inspired, and compiled them as the Bible. Naturally, only She has the authority to interprete the Bible, since it was with Her authority that She compiled the Bible and She which authorised the Bible to be believed as the Infallible Written Word of God.

The Catholic Church acknowledges Protestants as fellow Christians. She acknowledges that Protestants do hold a large amount of Truth, but in the Catholic Church, you will have access to the Fullness of Truth of God.