“like a wise man who built his house on rock”

This is lesson 2 of 2.

There are many false religions today that claim they are “Christian” churches, but sadly are not. While their heart may be in the right place, their church is on a foundation of sand as Jesus pointed out.
 
When we say the word “church”, things can be confusing. There is only one Church and that is the Catholic Church. Jesus only founded one Church. The fullness of truth resides in the Catholic Church. This is an objective (factual) reality. Any person who is baptized and professes faith in Jesus Christ is a part of the Church. Participation in the Church is either in full (Catholics) or in part (Non-Catholics). Communities of people that are baptized and profess faith in Jesus Christ are simply communities of believers; they do not have a right to call them self “Church”, because they are not in full communion. The Council of Trent defined this communion in three ways. 1. Profession of the same Christian faith. 2. Participation of and in the same Sacraments. 3. Under the direction of their lawful pastors, especially of the one representative of Christ on earth, the Bishop of Rome. [1] Most communities of believers profess some of the Christian faith, but not all, so number one is lacking. Almost all of the communities have abandoned the Sacraments and almost all do not recognize the authority of the Bishops and Pope. It is misleading to then call these communities “Churches”, for they are only a part of the Church, in that they are baptized and profess faith in Jesus Christ. We see that these communities have splintered off into thousands upon thousands of groups. Many of these communities claim to have it all. There is a Christian community in Albuquerque, NM called Legacy and their slogan is “Legacy: Something More”.  The fact is that this community does not have more; they do not even have the fullness of the Catholic faith. They only partially share in the fullness of truth. They and many others, in reality, are “something less”.
 
In the letter to the Hebrews, it is written, “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.” [2] In the first reading, Moses spoke of the same thing, “but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known.” [3] This strange teaching was speaking of those who were teaching falsehood about Christ. How do I follow Christ authentically?You follow Him by following the Church He founded, the Catholic Church. “Upon this rock I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail.” [4] That “rock” was Peter. It should be no surprise then that Jesus speaks of a house placed on rock, and when rain and wind came, it stayed upright. For 2000 years, everything has been thrown at the Catholic Church, yet the Bride of Christ still stands.
 
Jesus spoke of a “house on rock”. How do we find the right house? When we go to a house for the first time, we need to make sure we have correct directions. We need to have the correct city, the correct part of town, the correct neighborhood, and then, of course, the correct street and house number. We find the right house by narrowing down the signs and directions. We go from big (city) to small (house number). The four marks of the Church and the fifteen marks of the Church help us to know for sure that the Catholic Church is the correct “house” built on rock. The fifteen marks were developed by Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621).  As a contemporary of the original Protestant Reformation, he expanded the traditional four marks to fifteen, as follows: [5]
 
Name– Catholic, universal, and worldwide, and not confined to any particular nation or people
Antiquity– tracing her ancestry directly to Jesus Christ
Duration– constant, lasting substantially unchanged for so many centuries
Extensiveness– the number of her loyal members
Episcopal Succession– the link of the bishops from the first Apostles at the Last Supper to the present hierarchy.
Doctrinal Agreement – her doctrine agree with the teaching of the ancient Church
Union– of her members among themselves and with their visible head the Roman Pontiff (Pope)
Holiness– of doctrine in reflecting the sanctity of God
Efficacy– of doctrine in its power to sanctify believers and inspire them to great moral achievement
Holiness of life– of the Church’s representative writers and defenders (Saints, Doctors of the Church)
Miracles– the glory of miracles worked in the Church and under the Church auspices
Prophecy– found among the Church’s saints and spokesmen
Opposition– the Church has opposition among those who attack her on the very grounds that Christ was opposed by His enemies
Unhappy End– of those who fight against her, they never win in the end
The Temporal Peace and Earthly Happiness– those who live by the Church’s teaching and defend her interests
 
The traditional four marks of the Church are contained in the Nicene Creed, which we profess at every Mass.  “I believe in ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC Church.”  From the list above, ONE includes Union and Doctrinal Agreement.  The Church is ONE in her teaching and in the unity of her members.  This oneness is expressed in Liturgy, doctrine, and morals. From the list above, HOLY is found in Holiness, Efficacy, and Holiness of Life. Ultimately, the Church is the Body of Christ and as the head (Jesus) is holy, we the body (members) are also striving for holiness in imitation of Christ. CATHOLIC is found in the list above under Name and Extensiveness. There is not a part of this world where the Catholic Church cannot be found. There was once a woman on a secular radio show who accused the Church of not giving money to the poor. She made several references to the riches in the Vatican and that they could be sold to help the poor. The radio host of the secular station was not Catholic, but stopped the woman. He then told her that he was not Catholic, but that he had traveled everywhere in the world and wherever he found the poor and needy, he also found the Catholic Church. He also reminded her that if it were not for the support of the Vatican, all the Catholic apostolates around the world would not be as effective as they are. Everywhere there are souls, there is the Catholic Church. APOSTOLIC can be found in the list above in Antiquity, Duration, and Episcopal Succession.

ACTIVITY – THE MARKS (4 OR 15)
There are two activities that can be done. Activity One: Make cards with the names of the fifteen marks of the Church. On the wall or board, put four categories, ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC. Have the group categorize the fifteen marks by putting them under the four marks. There will be some that don’t fit. During this activity, the goal is to define and give examples of how the Catholic Church fits all of the marks, both 4 and 15. Activity Two: Make a list of five to ten Christian communities closest to your Catholic Church. Take the time to find out their founding date and possibly their mission. Go through each community and see how many of the 4 and/or 15 marks they fit under.  

[1] Fr. John Hardon; Modern Catholic Dictionary; page 105
[2] Heb. 13:9
[3] Dt. 11:28
[4] Matthew 16:18
[5] Fr. John Hardon; Modern Catholic Dictionary; page 211