6th Sunday of Easter, Year C
First Reading: Acts 15:1–2, 22–29
Second Reading: Rev. 21:10–14, 22–23
Gospel Reading: Jn. 14:23–29
The Church is God’s “building,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for Christ compared himself to its cornerstone. It is often compared to “the holy city Jerusalem,” whose “twelve foundations” are the “twelve apostles.”
As we hear this Sunday, Christ promised to send his apostles the Holy Spirit, not only to “remind” them of his teaching, but also to teach them “everything” and to stay with them “forever.”
It is with this understanding that the apostles said in their letter to the Gentiles, “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
It is with this understanding that we adhere to the Church’s teaching “with religious assent,” the Catechism says. We are conscious—especially as we welcome our new shepherds—that the bishops, the apostles’ successors, in communion with the Pope, Peter’s successor, are divinely assisted when they propose a teaching that leads “to better understanding of Revelation.”
As Vatican I explained, the Pope cannot err when, as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.
For example, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope St. John Paul II defined a doctrine concerning faith: “In virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (see Lk. 22:32), I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”
In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI defined a doctrine concerning morals: “The Church, calling men back to the observance of the norms of the natural law, as interpreted by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life.”
Such doctrines are matters of truth and are therefore unchangeable. Nevertheless, as Vatican II said, “the tradition that comes from the apostles makes progress in the Church”; “there is growth”—not change—“in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on.”
For example, Humanae Vitae “is not a complete treatment regarding man in this sphere of marriage, of the family, and of moral probity,” Pope Paul acknowledged, expressing a hope that the Church would return to the subject with “a fuller, more organic, and more synthetic exposition”—as Pope John Paul did in his Theology of the Body.
Even when the Pope is not speaking as formally as in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis or Humanae Vitae, we must give his teaching “loyal submission of the will and intellect,” the Catechism says, respectfully acknowledging his “supreme teaching authority.”
We must “sincerely adhere” to his teaching according to his “mind and intention,” made known by the “character of the documents in question,” the “frequency with which the doctrine is proposed,” or the “manner in which the doctrine is formulated.”
As Vatican I declared, the Pope must be obeyed “not only in matters that pertain to faith and morals, but also in matters that pertain to the discipline and government of the Church” worldwide. Such pronouncements (like the Church’s “precepts”) are not doctrines, and so the Pope can change them.
For example, the Church has always condemned abortion: an embryo “must be treated from conception as a person.” However, she has never declared authoritatively when “ensoulment” occurs, and Popes have changed the penalties for abortion before and after “ensoulment.”
Similarly, the Church has not declared authoritatively when the soul leaves the body at death; she directs a priest to administer the sacrament of the sick “if there is any doubt as to whether the sick person … is dead.”
Worldwide Church discipline also includes instructions on indulgences, fasting and abstinence, mixed marriages, Vatican congregations, synods, ecumenism, Sunday observance, and the liturgy (see the Vatican’s General Instruction of the Roman Missal).
Let us never doubt that Christ is with his Church to the end of time, or that his Holy Spirit is still leading her into all truth.
Father Hawkswell is again teaching “The Catholic Faith in Plain English,” with new insights, in both print and YouTube form, at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. He is also teaching the course in person on Sundays (2 – 4 p.m. at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, 4885 Saint John Paul II Way, 33rd Avenue and Willow Street, Vancouver) and Mondays (10 a.m. – noon in St. Anthony’s Church Hall, 2347 Inglewood Avenue, West Vancouver). The title of next week’s talk is Consecrated Life.
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