Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 129 - Part II.

YOUCAT Question n. 129 - Part II. Why can there be only one Church?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Just as there is only one Christ, there can be only one Body of Christ, only one Bride of Christ, and therefore only one Church of Jesus Christ. He is the Head, the Church is the Body. Together they form the “whole Christ” (St. Augustine). Just as the body has many members yet is one, so too the one Church consists of and is made up of many particular churches (dioceses). Together they form the whole Christ.        

A deepening through CCC

 (CCC 813 a) The Church is one because of her source: "the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit" (UR 2 § 5). The Church is one because of her founder: for "the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross,… restoring the unity of all in one people and one body" (GS 78 § 3).

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Jesus built his Church on the foundation of the Apostles. This foundation supports her to this day. The faith of the apostles was handed down from generation to generation under the leadership of the Pope, the Petrine ministry, “which presides in charity” (St. Ignatius of Antioch). The sacraments, too, which Jesus entrusted to the apostolic college, still work with their original power.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 813 b) The Church is one because of her "soul": "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church's unity" (UR 2 § 2). Unity is of the essence of the Church: What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her "Church" (St. Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1, 6, 42: PG 8, 300).    

(This question: Why can there be only one Church? is continued)