March 16, 2011 – Catechism 770 – 773

Many people will look at the Catholic Church and its claim as the “spotless bride” of God and just simply laugh.  It is easy to see why when we have such things that are sinful in the Church’s past, most recently the sex abuse scandal.  That is why it says “with the eyes of faith that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life.”  I was trying to think of a way to explain this that even I understand.  Because it is the “mystery” of the Church, it is hard to come up with something that makes sense to us, but here is my shot.

The Catholic Church is made up of human and sinful people.  It has been that way throughout history, starting with our first Pope denying that he knew Christ.  The Catholic Church does not claim that it does not have sinners in it, but does claim that its teachings are from God and come from the fullness of Truth.  When it claim the Church is “spotless”, it is talking about the teaching arm of the Church, the part of the Church that receives revelation from God about what God wants us to do and how we are suppose to live.  This mysterious Church is the “spotless” part that gave us the teachings on the Trinity, the Books in the Bible, the teaching that Christ was fully God and fully Man.  This same “spotless” teacher gave us the Marian dogmas, the teachings on Transubstantiation, the Beliefs in Purgatory.  If you say that you do not feel the Church’s teaching can be correct because she is made up of sinners, think about this. 

I am a sinful person.  I am going to tell you right now that it is wrong to hit people in the face for no reason.  Does the fact that I am a sinful person change the statement from being more right or wrong?  Are you going to ignore what I say because I am a sinful person and therefore everything I say must be wrong?  If you go to a non-Catholic Christian church, you listen to the pastor and he teaches you how to live life according to his understanding of Christian teachings.  Do you believe him (or her)?  Are they not sinners?  The Catholic Church is not the sum of its sinful parts.  It is supernatural and mysterious and even though its members may be sinful, God protects its teachings from being false by His Grace and Power.  There is no other way the Church could have survived for as long as it has.  And it makes sense that God would have a teaching authority on the Earth to guide His people and that He would not establish that and allow it to teach error.