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crzyldy
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| Joined: | Sat May 26th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 1 |
| First Name: | crzyldy | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Church of Christ, CREC |
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Posted: Sat May 26th, 2007 08:42 pm |
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A friend keeps telling me that apostolicity is valid based on doctrine, not necessarily on a direct line of succession. He claims that the Catholic church has neither, but his church has doctrinal apostolicity. Is there a way to show that a direct line of succession IS necessary and that the RCC does indeed have it?
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5345 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sat May 26th, 2007 09:12 pm |
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crzyldy wrote: A friend keeps telling me that apostolicity is valid based on doctrine, not necessarily on a direct line of succession. He claims that the Catholic church has neither, but his church has doctrinal apostolicity. Is there a way to show that a direct line of succession IS necessary and that the RCC does indeed have it?
First of all, welcome to the Coming Home Network. We're happy to have you here with us. You listed "CREC" in your faith history; I assume that's a part of the Episcopal church, but maybe you can enlighten us some day with your faith story. Meanwhile, we're glad you decided to join us.
As to your question about apostolicity, Catholics United for the Faith has produced a Faith Fact on the Four Marks of the Church which includes the following:
Finally the Church is apostolic, which is a form of the word “apostle” that comes from the Greek, meaning “one who is sent.” The Catechism says that the Church is apostolic because she was founded on the apostles in three ways:
(1) She was and remains built on “the foundation of the apostles” (Ephesians 2:20), the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;
(2) With the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the deposit of faith, the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;
(3) She continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ’s return through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, “assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church’s supreme pastor” (Catechism, no. 857).
Apostolicity or apostolic succession has everything to do with authority. Nobody takes it upon himself or herself to be sent, to be an apostle, but rather it is an authority, a power, a mission given by the One who does the sending.
All authority comes from God the Father, who in the fullness of time sent His Son, Jesus Christ, among us to show us the Father and lead us to salvation. At the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says as much, indicating that all authority has been given to Him, and then He gives this same authority to His apostles, who are commissioned to go to the end of the world—baptizing and teaching through the abiding power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
We then read in the remainder of the New Testament, particularly the Acts of the Apostles, about how the apostles “father” the infant Church over which they’ve been given authority. We see individual apostles tending to particular Churches and the apostles collectively and collegially acting on behalf of the Universal Church at the Council of Jerusalem, always with due regard for Peter’s primacy.
We also see in the New Testament that the apostles are already making provision for the next generation of Church leadership, particularly in the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus. After all, the Church was instituted to continue to the end of time. So we do have apostles consecrating episkopoi or bishops, such as Timothy and Titus, giving them apostolic authority—and not merely human authority—as ministers of the Gospel. The living Tradition of the Church, the sacred deposit of the faith, is entrusted to each living and breathing bishop in an unbroken line of succession—as we hear St. Paul exhort the young Bishop Timothy: “Guard O Timothy that sacred deposit that has been entrusted to you” (1 Tim. 6:20).
There's much more, but this is the basic information. You can download and print a PDF version of the Faith Fact at the bottom of that page.
I don't know what church your friend belongs to, but only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches can show both apostolic succession and a consistency in teaching with the Deposit of Faith as handed on by the apostles (apostolicity) throughout the entire history of Christianity.
Again, welcome to CHN. We welcome all sincerely asked questions about our Catholic faith, and we will assist in your faith journey in any way we can, wherever it might happen to lead you.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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