TO KNOW OUR CATHOLIC FAITH:      The Catholic Church is Apostolic

       The Catholic Church is Apostolic 
 
(Excerpts from Catholicism by Robert Barron)

 
 
What does it mean when we say that the Catholic Church is apostolic?  It means that "the community of the church is grounded in the twelve people who were privileged to be in Jesus's intimate company. These twelve men spent a lot of time with Jesus. They shared in a special formation, if you will, because they would have a significant role to play in the spreading of the teaching of Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus told them to go forth and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He also told the apostles to teach the global family all that Jesus Himself taught them.
 
Therefore, Christianity is rooted in a personal relationship with Jesus. "It is not a philosophy or a mysticism." As a religion, it is closely connected in the faith of the apostles who knew Jesus best, the person and teaching of Jesus!
 
"The apostles are not simply a distant memory; they live on through what we call the apostolic succession. The New Testament witnesses to the practice in the early Church of the apostles placing their hands on the heads of those to whom they wished to communicate authority. These chosen few, formed by the apostles themselves, were entrusted to preserve the faith, and, in time, these successors passed on their apostolic authority to another generation, and so on, the Catholic Church holds, to the present day. Therefore the apostolicity of the Church is our guarantee that we are, despite many developments and changes across the centuries, still preserving the faith that was first kindled in that company of Jesus's friends." Yes, we call them apostles.
 
Let us be proud and filled with humility that we worship in a church established by Jesus Himself and preserved by the apostles and their successors. It is up to us to share the love of Jesus and His teaching with all who want to know Jesus and live within the family of the Catholic Church.
 
 
Very Reverend W.C. Paysse, V.F.