Year of the Bible: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
"All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and TEACH ALL NATIONS baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit , and teaching them to OBSERVE ALL I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.....Matthew 28
We also remember what Paul taught Timothy "Hold fast to that which I have taught you by word or by scripture, os that even if an angel from above teaches something different let him be anathema"
But as more and more scripture was written disputes began right from th beginning. There was always to be those in the Church who from pride or prejudice would know better than those appointed by Jesus.k. Heretics and schismatics abounded. so much so that we find St Ignatius of Antioch calling the Church Catholic. Most heresies were confined to a certain area and the growing Church, which kept faithful to the Apostolic tradition was more and more called Catholic until the term became normal use. Being in the Catholic Church meant unity with the Apostles and their successors.
I have so much to say and so many sources to quote from, that I despair of how far we have moved in the Catholic Church in the UK away from the Gospel, even within the Catholic Church. Certainly after Vatican II was used to lead Catholics astray, false claims and false teachings of this Council were spread and some highly organised clerics almost succeeded in destroying the Catholic Faith. But the point is that there is abundant information about the Early Church and what she taught, yet there are those who do not want Catholics to know, and Catholics who have never been taught the History of the Church and I include priests and laity. But let me choose to end with a quotation from the letter of St Vincent of Lerins.
"I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learinghow and by what universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic Faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity: and I have always ad i almost every instance received an answer to the effect. That whether I or anyone else should want to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic Faith, we must, the Lord helping fortify our own belief in two ways, first, by th authority of Divine Law, and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here someone perhaps will ask, "Since the Canon of Scripture is complete. and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with the Church's interpretation? For this reason -because of the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, , another in an other, so that it seems to be capable of so many interpretations. For Novarium expounds it one way, Sebelius another, Dpnatus another, Aries, Eunomius, Macedonius, another , Photomus, Apolinarius, Pricillian, another Iovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, , another, and lastly Nestorius another. Therefore it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such variations , that the rule for the right understanding of the proophets and apostles should should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation.
Moreover in th Catholic Church itself every possible care must be taken that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always. For the is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally"
The above was written in 434AD by St Vincent of Lerins.
We also remember what Paul taught Timothy "Hold fast to that which I have taught you by word or by scripture, os that even if an angel from above teaches something different let him be anathema"
But as more and more scripture was written disputes began right from th beginning. There was always to be those in the Church who from pride or prejudice would know better than those appointed by Jesus.k. Heretics and schismatics abounded. so much so that we find St Ignatius of Antioch calling the Church Catholic. Most heresies were confined to a certain area and the growing Church, which kept faithful to the Apostolic tradition was more and more called Catholic until the term became normal use. Being in the Catholic Church meant unity with the Apostles and their successors.
I have so much to say and so many sources to quote from, that I despair of how far we have moved in the Catholic Church in the UK away from the Gospel, even within the Catholic Church. Certainly after Vatican II was used to lead Catholics astray, false claims and false teachings of this Council were spread and some highly organised clerics almost succeeded in destroying the Catholic Faith. But the point is that there is abundant information about the Early Church and what she taught, yet there are those who do not want Catholics to know, and Catholics who have never been taught the History of the Church and I include priests and laity. But let me choose to end with a quotation from the letter of St Vincent of Lerins.
"I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learinghow and by what universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic Faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity: and I have always ad i almost every instance received an answer to the effect. That whether I or anyone else should want to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic Faith, we must, the Lord helping fortify our own belief in two ways, first, by th authority of Divine Law, and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here someone perhaps will ask, "Since the Canon of Scripture is complete. and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with the Church's interpretation? For this reason -because of the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, , another in an other, so that it seems to be capable of so many interpretations. For Novarium expounds it one way, Sebelius another, Dpnatus another, Aries, Eunomius, Macedonius, another , Photomus, Apolinarius, Pricillian, another Iovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, , another, and lastly Nestorius another. Therefore it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such variations , that the rule for the right understanding of the proophets and apostles should should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation.
Moreover in th Catholic Church itself every possible care must be taken that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always. For the is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally"
The above was written in 434AD by St Vincent of Lerins.
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