Dad's Statement of Faith

I ran across one of my dad's college papers. It was titled "Statement of Faith." I find things like this fascinating. I sat and read all four pages, including the condescending red ink some professor had jotted down in the margin.

The paper was well written and seemed to cover all the basics, except of course the four marks of the Church, but then, the paper was written when Dad was in Wesleyan Bible College, long before Presbyterian seminary, not to mention that Dad never did enter the Catholic Church. (If you follow my blog, you know that I didn't even come into the Church until after my dad's death. . . when I stumbled upon the writings of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.)

At times like these, I am reminded all over again how blessed I am to have this Faith. I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Nobody is standing over me with a red pen. And yet, I don't have to worry that I might be way off base. Truly, I'm standing on terra firma.

It is good to be home.

Dad's Statement of Faith

The Visitor Tracker

On January 29, I added a visitor tracker to the blog. I'm fascinated by the thing. When I go to the map, I can see how many people have stopped by for a visit - and which countries they are from.

I realized that it is a very small glimpse into a very real mark of the Church. We say that the Church is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. And we know that the word catholic means She is everywhere. She is universal.

If I had named the blog after any other Christian faith community, I don't think there would be so many people from so many countries interested in stopping by. Visitors come because they identify themselves as Catholic. Mother Church is everywhere; so her little ones are everywhere.

She isn't American-made. She isn't German-made. She isn't British-made. She is Christ's Church and she really did go into all the world.

The Visitor Tracker

Unity in the Magisterium - Part Two

There is sound doctrine, and it is knowable. There is perfect unity, and it is attainable. We have been led by word of mouth and by letter (II Thessalonians 2:15). Our terra firma is the Teaching Magisterium of the Catholic Church. This "word of mouth" speaks about all that the Apostles have taught (I Corinthians 3:12-13). By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Teaching Voice of the Catholic Church has taught us to be One Body with One Faith in every age (Ephesians 4).

There is no other way to have unity. There is no other way to fulfill the prayer of Jesus Christ on the night He was betrayed.

Unity is the net result of having this one Deposit of Faith, but there is a wonderful by-product that occurs when we give up our individual need to argue and debate Scriptural passages. Once we can put that to rest, once we read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and realize that it is completely reasonable and theologically sound, once we know there is a two-thousand-year-old Deposit of Faith and it’s not going to lead us into error, we are free to consider next things.

You, my friend, have a unique calling, one that nobody else can fulfill. That is what you must grapple with and discern. And talk about the abundant life and the joy-filled journey! That is when it all begins. Let us leave childish bickering behind and mature into the spiritual adults God has called us to become. There is one Body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one Hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6).

(article by Denise Bossert first published by One Bread Lay Apostolate http://www.1bread.catholic.org/)

Unity in the Magisterium - Part Two