YOUCAT Question n. 129 - Part III. 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 814) From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by
a great diversity which comes from
both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them.
Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures
is gathered together. Among the Church's members, there are different gifts,
offices, conditions, and ways of life. "Holding a rightful place in the
communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their
own traditions" (LG 13 § 2). The great richness of such diversity is not
opposed to the Church's unity. Yet sin and the burden of its consequences
constantly threaten the gift of unity. And so the Apostle has to exhort
Christians to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"
(Eph 4:3).
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 866) The Church is one: she acknowledges one Lord,
confesses one faith, is born of one Baptism, forms only one Body, is given life
by the one Spirit, for the sake of one hope (cf. Eph 4:3-5), at whose
fulfillment all divisions will be overcome.
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