WHY CATHOLICS HAVE MORE FUN THAN PROTESTANTS WHILE STUDYING EARLY CHURCH HISTORY (PART II)
Protestants are disappointed when they start reading the works of St. Augustine. For years, they have heard the name of this great 4th century Doctor of the Church mentioned repeatedly at church services and in Bible studies. There is constant hinting and whispering and winking that this saint is one of their own.
So, naturally, when these Christians start researching the great bishop of Hippo, Africa and reading his works (not just on predestination but on all his beliefs), they realize that St. Augustine was a Catholic priest who preached that truthful doctrine was assured only by the Church whose bishops were direct successors of the Apostles; the Church whose chief bishop (pope) was a direct successor of St. Peter. The Catholic Church.
In fact, St. Augustine himself was a bishop in those same lines of succession from the Apostles that all Catholic bishops remain in today. His mentor, Ambrose of Milan, was also a bishop in those same lines of succession from the Apostles. Like every other Church Father, St. Augustine and St. Ambrose preached the authority of the Catholic Church on doctrinal and moral issues.
St. Augustine was a priest who celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass, prayed for the dead, urged people to confess their sins to a priest, and warned that mortal sin would cause a person to lose salvation. Christians who repented and received forgiveness, St. Augustine said, would need to do penance.
St. Augustine, who helped the Catholic Church figure out which books were inspired and should be in the Bible, believed the Bible taught that the Body and Blood of Christ were truly present in the Eucharist; that Christians needed to eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Christ for spiritual life. In fact, the Church Fathers unanimously held of the view of St. Augustine on the Eucharist (which continues to be the teaching of the Catholic Church). St. Augustine, like all other Church Fathers, taught that sins were forgiven in Baptism; that Baptism was regenerative.
St. Augustine said no Christian should question the fact that the Blessed Mother was without sin.
The first 178 pages of the book The Faith of the Early Fathers (Vol. 3) are devoted to quote after quote penned by St. Augustine himself.
You might also poke around The Early Church Fathers by topic at www.StayCatholic.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE WHOLE GANG OF CHURCH FATHERS
Protestants are also disappointed when they investigate the rest of the Church Fathers, only to find that every single one respected the authority of the one Church and believed a person could lose his salvation.
Every single Church Father believed the bread really became the Body of Christ. Every single Church Father looked to the authority of the Catholic Church for truthful teaching. Not one Church Father (nor one Christian) endorsed the interpreting of Scripture apart from the Church united to Rome.
Every single one received their doctrines through the Apostles and their direct successors. Clement of Rome? This bishop of Rome was one of the first few successors of St. Peter. St. Irenaeus? He proved heretics were heretics by demonstrating their leaders were not direct successors of Apostles. St Ignatius of Antioch? This bishop of Antioch knew the Apostles personally, was the first to use the term "the Catholic Church" in writing. He also upheld the Real Presence of the Eucharist and wrote that the Church in Rome "held of the presidency" of all the churches that made up the Catholic Church.
St. Jerome? He, too, believed Christians, by definition, must be in union with the pope: "I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built" (Letters 15:2 [396 A.D.]).
Strikingly, most of the big Church Fathers were bishops themselves in the exact lines of succession that every bishop of the Catholic Church remains today. The term "Apostolic Succession" means every bishop of the Church must have been ordained through the laying on of hands by a bishop ordained in the same manner . . . going all the way back to the College of Apostles. It was a "non-negotiable" teaching of the Early Church. It remains a non-negotiable doctrine of the Catholic Church today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE HALF-BROTHER HULLABALOO . . .
Curiously enough, evangelical Protestants are extremely eager for Jesus to have had younger half-brothers. (everyone knows Jesus did not have full brothers since Joseph was not his biological father).
So, it is with disappointment that they inevitably discover that not only the Early Church, but also Martin Luther AND John Calvin and Uhlrich Zwingli (the 16th century Reformers themselves), held the Catholic view that Mary was a life-long Virgin ("Ever Virgin").
Who exactly were the "brethren" of Christ who were mentioned in the Bible? Evangelicals are disheartened to learn that even St. Jerome himself (whom they greatly respect and who is known as the "Father of Biblical Science") said the brethren of Christ could NOT POSSIBLY refer to blood brothers. Jerome believed they referred to cousins of Jesus. Other historical documents suggest the "brethren" were STEP-BROTHERS of Jesus (children Joseph had before he was widowed (if he was widowed) and before he married Mary).
St. Jerome chided a heretic named Helvidius for even suggesting the "brethren" could be children of Mary. Speaking in the 4th century, St. Jerome said nobody had even suggested such a crazy idea up to his time.
In 2002, evangelical Protestants thought they had a breakthrough. Celebrations and cheers were heard all over upon the discovery of an ossuary (burial box) engraved with the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." For some strange reason, Protestants read "son of Joseph" and immediately (but mistakenly) assumed it must have meant "son of Mary, half-brother of Jesus" They hoped this would be the proof they needed to make Mary a non-virgin.
The whole thing turned out to be a fiasco. The Israeli collector who produced the ossuary - Oded Golan - was arrested for forgery along with three other members of his forgery ring in 2004. The criminal's home was filled with forgery equipment and boxes with forged inscriptions partially completed.
The hullabaloo about the discovery of this forged ossuary box in 2002 included sermons, speeches, articles, essays, radio shows and books being churned out everywhere in evangelical circles declaring this box was undeniable "proof" that Catholics were wrong about the Virgin Mary. The commotion has subsided. The engraving was ruled a fake. But we never even received an apology. :)
New York Times Ossuary Forgery
More info on Mary's Perpetual Virginity and the Brethren of the Lord
FYI: The Catholic Church does not have an official teaching on whether the "brethren" are step-brothers, adoptive brothers, cousins, or a mixture of step-brothers and friends. Nor does the Church have an official teaching on whether Joseph was widowed with previous children. But the Church has ALWAYS preserved the truth of the Blessed Mother's perpetual virginity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Books on Early Church History: The
Faith of Our Fathers by James Cardinal Gibbons, Four
Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words: Clement of Rome, Ignatius of
Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons (Rod Bennett), The
Catholic Controversy by Catholic Reformer St. Francis de Sales, The
Faith of the Early Fathers: Volumes 1, 2, 3 (William A. Jurgens….this is a
compilation of passages from Pre-Nicene and Nicene Christian
writings…..jam-packed with quotes)
Books on Bible History: Where we got the Bible: Our debt to the Catholic Church (by Henry G. Graham)
Related Web Sites:
Theology
from the Patristic Age to the Reformation and Beyond, Tyndale's
Heresy, Church
Fathers on the Church and Papacy, Church
Fathers on Salvation, Baptism and Mortal Sin, Church
Fathers on the Sacraments, Church
Fathers on Scripture and Tradition, The
Counter-Reformation, Papacy,
Respected
Protestant scholars on Peter, Petra and Petros More
on Peter, "Petra" and "Petros" Debate
on "Petra" "Petros" and "Peter"
Peter the
Rock The
Pebble Argument Goes Down Peter,
Aramaic and Greek Scott
Hahn on the Papacy, St.
Paul's Tomb Discovered in Rome
Back to www.stillcatholic.com