The Holy Roman Catholic 

church

 

In the section, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” chapter I, “The Mystery of the Church”:

 

Page 19:  “Through the Church, we abide in Christ, without whom we can do nothing (Jn. 15:1-5).”

 

Page 20:  “In that body, the life of Christ is poured into the believers, who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ who suffered and was glorified.”

 

“Truly partaking of the body of the Lord in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with Him and with one another.  “Because the bread is one, we though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17).  In this way all of us are made members of His body (cf. 1 Cor. 12:27)…”

 

Page 22:  “8. Christ, the one mediator, established and ceaselessly sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope, and charity, as a visible structure.  Through her He communicates truth and grace to all.”

 

Page 23:  “This is the unique Church of Christ which in the Creed we avow as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.  After His Resurrection our Savior handed her over to Peter to be shepherded (Jn. 21:17), commissioning him and the other apostles to propagate and govern her (cf. Mt. 28:18 ff.).  Her He erected for all ages as “the pillar and mainstay of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

This Church, constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in union with that successor…”

 

Chapter II, “The People of God”:

 

Page 28:  “Incorporated into the Church through baptism, the faithful are consecrated by the baptismal character to the exercise of the cult of the Christian religion.  Reborn as sons of God, they must confess before men the faith which they have received from God through the Church.  Bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation, they are endowed by the Holy Spirit with special strength.”

 

“Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with it.”

 

Page 29:  “By the grace of the Holy Spirit received in baptism these are made children of God.”

 

“The body of the faithful as a whole, anointed as they are by the Holy One (cf. Jn. 2:20,27), cannot err in matters of belief.  Thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith which characterizes the People as a whole, it manifests this unerring quality when, “from the bishops down to the last member of the laity,” it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.”

 

Page 32-33:  “These Churches retain their own traditions without in any way lessening the primacy of the Chair of Peter.  This Chair presides over the whole assembly of charity…”

 

“All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the People of God.”

 

“14. This sacred Synod turns its attention first to the Catholic faithful.  Basing itself upon sacred Scripture and tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation.  For Christ, made present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique Way of salvation.  In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk. 16:16; Jn. 3:5) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church.  Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by God through Jesus Christ, would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved.”

 

“They are fully incorporated into the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and through union with her visible structure are joined to Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops.  This joining is affected by the bonds of professed faith, of the sacraments, of ecclesiastical government, and of communion.”

 

In the section, “Decree on Ecumenism” chapter I, “Catholic Principles on Ecumenism”:

 

Page 343:  “In His Church He instituted the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist by which the unity of the Church is both signified and brought about.”

 

Page 344:  “The Church, then, God’s only flock, like a standard lifted high for the nations to see (cf. Is. 11:10-12), ministers the gospel of peace to all mankind…”

In the section, “Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church” chapter VI, “Missionary Cooperation”:

 

Page 626:  “By means of their own ministry, which deals principally with the Eucharist as the source of perfecting the Church.”