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‎apologetics/Luke_E._Hart/Section_7_-_The_Holy_Catholic_Church.mdwn

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[[!meta title="Section 7: The Holy Catholic Church Key Points" ]]
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[[!meta author="Luke Schierer"]]
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This is the most complicated and densely theological book that we have covered
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so far. There is a lot of material here, but more, the material that is here is
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somewhat harder to grasp than much of what we have looked at before this.
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* The first key take-away is that our Church is in fact the One Church founded
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by Christ. This fact leads protestants who choose to study Church history and
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the faith deeply enough *to* our Church.
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* if you are not willing to be taught by the Church, you should not be
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Catholic at all
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* "cafeteria" Catholics are a contradiction in terms. If you can reject what
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the Church teaches in something, you are saying that you know more than
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Christ.
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* The Church *is* the Body of Christ, and yet, it is equally true that Christ
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*is* the head of that Body. This is not meant to be a paradox, but it *is*
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a mystery.
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* The Holy Spirit is the soul of Body of Christ, in this same mysterious
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sense.
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* Mary perfectly models the Church.
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* Mary carried Christ within her, the Church holds the Word of God within
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it.
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* Mary brought salvation to the world through her "yes" to God. The Church
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brings salvation to the world through the sacraments, in which we say
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"yes" to God.
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* Mary is so united with God that the angel gives her the title "Full of
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Grace." The Church's saints give examples of lives illuminated by grace.
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* Mary directs us to follow Christ "Do whatever He tells you." The Church
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teaches us to follow Christ, through its evangelization and catechisation
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efforts.
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* Magisterium
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* this is a fancy word for teaching authority.
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* The Church has authority because it speaks in Christ's name
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* The Church has this authority only when it it proclaims that which has been
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handed down from Christ through the apostles. We are an "apostolic" Church.
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* The bishops are the successors of the apostles and are thus the ordinary
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source of authentic teaching in the Church
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* Authority and Tradition
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* tradition in this sense means "that which is handed down"
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* Not everything taught by the apostles *is* written down in the Bible.
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* The nature of the Trinity is not clearly defined in the Bible
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* The nature of the Bible is not clearly defined by the Bible
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* The authority of the Bible is not defined in or by the Bible
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Protestants will misquote The Bible and deny this point. Recall that
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when the Bible says "all scripture is useful for teaching" it does NOT
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say:
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* that all scripture is all that you need.
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* that nothing else is needed
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* that nothing else is useful
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* that the New Testament exists at all (that line as quoted by the
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Protestant actually refers to the Old Testament only).
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* The Church, and more particularly the Pope, are protected by "Infallibility"
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* This means that the Holy Spirit protects the Church (and more
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particularly the Pope) from error
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* when teaching on matters of faith and morals
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* to the universal Church
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* in an official teaching capacity.
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* Private opinions of the Pope, or any other Bishop, are not covered by
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infallibility.
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* teachings on politics, economics, or science are not infallible. Only
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matters of faith and morals.
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* infallibility does not mean that a Pope or bishop *will* teach, only that
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we can trust what *is* taught. Most Popes have never exercised the
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ability to teach infallibly.
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* There are three forms of Infallibility.
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* Ordinary Magisterium
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* exercised by each bishop in teaching his own diocese
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* the least definitive form of Infallibility.
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* We, the faithful, are required to assume our bishop is correct until
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and unless it contradicts the teachings coming from the Popes.
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* Ecumenical Councils
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* the college or body of bishops when united with the successor of
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Peter (the Pope), exercise "supreme Magisterium"
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* This applies only to the written teaching coming out of these
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councils.
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* This applies only to the documents that the Pope *concurs* with. Note
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that in our definition above it says "when united with the Pope." A
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council cannot act on its own.
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* This does not apply to drafts, statements made as part of the debate,
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or a nebulous sense of the bishops' intent (IE the "spirit of the
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council").
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* The Pope,
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* when acting as the successor of Peter,
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* not his private opinions
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* not his opinions as a priest
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* not his opinions as a scholar
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* when teaching the universal Church
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* not when addressing a subset of that Church
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* not when making off the cuff remarks to reporters
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* on matters of faith and morals
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* see the notes on things not covered above
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* proclaims something to be held as definitive
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* even most documents written as pope do not explicitly state that we
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MUST believe something.
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* the most recent instance of this was Pope John Paul II on the
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Church's inability to ordain women.
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* The Church is given the gift of infallibility because it speaks for and in
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Christ's name.
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* The Church cannot add to doctrine
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* The Church cannot change doctrine
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* Christ does not change what He came to teach us.
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* The Church is necessary for Salvation
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* however, this is like our understanding of baptism earlier. Sometimes a
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person's connection to the Church is not clear, even to that person.
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* Vatican II writes that
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* no one who, *knowing that the Catholic Church is necessary, would still
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refuse it* can be saved
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* those who *through no fault of their own* do *not* know it is necessary
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but still seek God, can be saved.
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* We believe that anyone validly baptized, even in a Protestant Church, is,
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in a mystical sense, connected to the Church.
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* We send out missionaries because we are commanded to do so by Christ.
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Protestants do so because they believe that only their particular version
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of Christianity offers any salvation at all.
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* There are four marks of the Church
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* we use the word "mark" here as in the mark made by a fingerprint, in this
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case God's fingerprints on the Church He created.
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* Oneness
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* we are one because Christ is one
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* we are one because we obey the Pope as Christ's deputy here on Earth
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* we are one in that we profess one creed
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* we are one in that we have the same sacraments
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* we are one *despite* the great diversity in the Church
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* this caused a great deal of confusion to the class.
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* The Church *does* have great diversity. I attempted, with mixed success,
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to explain this.
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* The One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is divided into Rites.
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* Each Rite has a Patriarch
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* We belong to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church
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* All Rites are equally Catholic.
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* The other Rites are often lumped together and referred to as "Eastern"
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Rites. This does not really do them justice. They are each as
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distinct from each other as they are from the Roman Rite of the
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one Catholic Church.
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* Each Rite is further divided into diocese.
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* The Pope is
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* Christ's "prime minister" or deputy here on Earth and thus the
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visible head of the universal Church (Christ is the actual, but
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invisible, Head).
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* The patriarch of the Roman Rite
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* The Bishop of Rome
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* A priest
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* A Deacon
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* He is _all_ of these things.
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* A Catholic who is a member of the diocese of Rome is not more
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Catholic than we are here in the Arlington Diocese.
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* We have Bishop Michael Burbage as our bishop
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* Someone in Rome has _the Pope_ has his/her bishop.
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* We are _equally_ Catholic.
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* In the same way we are not more Catholic because we are a member of
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the Roman Rite than someone who is a member of one of the other rites
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that are united to the Pope as part of the Catholic Church.
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* The "Orthodox Churches" are not united to the Pope, and are not true
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rites, but differ from true rites only in that they are not united to
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the Pope, and thus are granted the title of being Churches. The
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Protestant religions are not granted this title, because they are not
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Apostolic, and lack one or more of the sacraments.
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* Holy
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* Our faith is from Christ, who is holy
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* our sacraments are a source of grace, the life of God within us.
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* as humans, we still sin, and fail in the call to holiness
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* the saints are still members of the Church "For God is not God of the
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dead, but of the living" and have achieved permanent holiness
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* Catholic
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* The word "catholic" means "universal"
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* we are universal in that the Church exists in every country of the world
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* we are universal in that the Church exists in every time since the
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coming of Christ
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* we are universal in that we send out missionaries with the intent to
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convert the entire human race
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* we are universal in that
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* "baptized, believing and practicing Catholics are 'fully incorporated
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into the society of the Church'"
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* "those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in
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a certain, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church"
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* the book enumerates further degrees of lesser unity to the Church as you
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look at first other Christians, then other religions that acknowledge one
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God, then other religions, then others who look for God, then others who
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try to follow good as they understand it. Each of these is responding
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to God, and is united to the Church imperfectly.
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* Apostolic
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* the word "apostle" refers to the call to preach, and be missionaries
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* we are apostolic in that the Apostles lead the Church in Christ's name
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* we are still lead by their successors
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* all baptized Catholics share in some way the mission to evangelize
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