The Marks of The Church: The Church Is One: Handouts 7.1

Handouts 7.
The Marks of the Church: The Church is One

Published July 9, 2015
Marks of the Church
So often on pastoral visits to parishes or schools when I ask a young child his or
her name, I get an immediate and clear response. Sometimes the young person will
give both first and last names. It is important to know who we are.
Part of our identity, in addition to our family name, is our faith commitment. We
identify ourselves as Catholics. In doing so, we profess our faith in “one, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church.” These words found in the Nicene Creed and used at
Sunday Mass refer to what are traditionally known as the “marks” of the Church,
traits that characterize the true Church.
These traits are not of human origin. The Church is not a man-made organization,
but the body of Christ. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, it is Jesus Christ
who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
(Lumen Gentium, 8). These four characteristics, the Catechism of the Catholic
Church makes clear, are inseparably linked with each other and they indicate
essential features of the Church and her mission (CCC 811).
The first of the four marks is oneness. Pope Francis explains that the Church “is one
because her origin is in the Triune God, the mystery of unity and full communion”
(General Audience of August 27, 2014; CCC 813). Here we can understand with
Saint Paul that unity is of the essence of the Church even though within the body of
Christ there is great diversity, just as there are many parts of one body (1
Corinthians 12:13).
The Church is one also because of her founder, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh
who came among us to restore the unity of all in one people and his one body.
Oneness is shown as well as in the Church’s “soul,” that is, the Holy Spirit who
dwells in those who believe and who “brings about that wonderful communion of
the faithful” (CCC 813).
This communion is visible in a variety of ways. The Church is one in the faith that
its members believe and profess. It has an essential unity of divine worship,
especially of the sacraments. The Church in one region, organized under a local
bishop, is united with the Church throughout the world, with other dioceses in a
common allegiance to the Pope as the successor of Peter (CCC 815-16). Pope
Francis, like the popes before him, is a sign and servant of the unity of the Church.
Even though there are, contrary to Jesus’ will, divisions among Christians as we
proceed in our pilgrim journey on earth, the Spirit reminds our hearts of our unity
in Christ. Particularly in these times when Christians are under attack – as in the
Middle East – Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics have come together in solidarity
to pray and bear witness to Christ. We are still a long way from full communion, but
in small ways we can all work to unify Christians as sisters and brothers in one
family of God.
In our time, for a variety of reasons, many of the Christian faithful are also unsure
of exactly what the Church teaches. This is all the more reason to pay heed to the
words of Pope Francis when he says, “Since faith is one, it must be professed in all
its purity and integrity. Precisely because all the articles of faith are interconnected,
to deny one of them, even of those that seem least important, is tantamount to
distorting the whole. . . . Indeed, inasmuch as the unity of faith is the unity of the
Church, to subtract something from the faith is to subtract something from the
veracity of communion” (Lumen fidei, 48).
Our faith calls us to see in what the Church teaches, in her sacramental life and in
her challenge to unity, the far deeper reality that will develop and mature into a
universal oneness before God if we allow it. Our task is to be unifiers who bring
people who are wavering – or who have left the Church – back to the joy and
confidence that come with our communion with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic
Church.
This is the first in a series on the marks of the Church – One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic.
Marks of the Church
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The Marks of the Church: The Church is Apostolic
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Handouts 7.

The Marks of the Church: The Church is One

Marks of the Church

Marks of the Church

The Marks of the Church: The Church is Apostolic

Published July 20, 2015

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