The Four Marks of the Church

APOLOGETICS

In the second century, the Catholic Church faced its first great heresy: Gnosticism. Gnostics believed that only the spiritual and invisible world mattered; the physical and visible world did not. The Early Church Father, St. Irenaeus, in the year 180 A.D., articulated that the key doctrine of Christianity is the Incarnation: that the spiritual and invisible God became physical and visible as the very means of our salvation. 

Gnosticism was conquered. However, another form exists today in the view of some Protestant denominations that the Church is an invisible entity made up of all Christian believers. Anything visible, such as leaders or sacraments or buildings, are merely tools and not essential to the Church.

In contrast, the Catholic faith teaches that there is a visible Church here on earth, founded by Christ himself (Matthew 16:18-19). It includes visible membership (the baptized) and visible leadership (the hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons). These visible aspects are fundamental and essential to the Church.

We can explain and share how the Church is visible by using the four marks (One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic):

• Visibility is key to the oneness and unity of the Church. This unity can be seen in the Mass. Every single day there is a Catholic Mass being celebrated throughout the world, and we are continuously united with all Catholic parishes as we take turns participating in the same Mass.
• The primary means of holiness are the very visible sacraments. Through physical and visible things such as water, bread, wine, and oil, Christ dispenses his graces upon us to make us more holy.
• To be catholic is to be universal. In a visible Church, the Catholic Church, we can see with our own eyes the same universal faith practiced from America to Africa to Asia.
• Christ picked twelve apostles to lead his Church and as visible leaders all would know that communion with them meant communion with him. The apostles understood how important visible leadership was, so they appointed successors to fill their roles after they died (Acts 1:15-26). The hierarchy of the Church is a visible sign of the continuity of the Church from the time of the apostles to today.

CATECHESIS

The four marks are the words we profess every Sunday in the Creed: “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 811). But why do we say these particular words?

The first mark, One, can be seen clearly in Scripture. St. Paul, in today’s second reading urged all Catholics to do two vital things for the success of the Church. First he urged us to agree on everything and that there not be any divisions among us (1 Cor 1:10-13:17). This may seem shocking to us living in a world of “liberals” and “conservatives” and other labels we hear. This kind of “sizing up” or self-identification should never exist in the Church, as our unity is what matters. Furthermore, it was the prayer of Jesus that we be one. “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

The second mark is that the Church is Holy. As the Bride of Christ we look to Mary our model of holiness to become living saints. It is our job, as Catholics, to strive for sainthood, since anything less may result in a loss of heaven. The Church, in fact, has a “Universal Call to Holiness” which cannot be avoided. Every member is expected to strive for sainthood, as this is the calling of all the baptized. Since all that gain heaven are called “saints,” it is an obvious calling for us to join them in that title, if we are also to find ourselves in heaven.

The third mark is Catholic, because the Church is universal. The word “catholic” means universal and we are the visible Church, present in every part of the world. This also means that the Church transcends cultures and has no need to appropriate cultures into it. The Church, while being universal and open to all peoples, will express itself differently through approved rites, but without finding need to change with the blowing winds of social constructs.

The fourth mark is Apostolic, since the authority from Jesus to the Apostles is handed down in an unbroken line of successors. Without this authority, the Church could not validly provide the Sacraments needed for salvation. The valid succession of authority from one bishop to the next is one of the most important signs of “catholicity” in the Church.

THEOLOGY

The Catholic Church is the only Church that can say “One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.” But how do we know this?

We know this because we are the only Church that was founded by Jesus Christ himself when he said, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19). This is how we know we are one, because Jesus Christ only built one Church.

As our Lord founded the Church, he also left with us a unique and beautiful promise that the Holy Spirit will never abandon us or leave us and that he will guide us to all truth (John 16:13). It is in the creation of the Church that Jesus has the ultimate authority and through the power of the Holy Spirit he gave authority to instruct the faithful and assist them in their ultimate goal of getting to heaven. This is how we know we are holy, because it is the power of the Holy Spirit that is guiding us.

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). Peter was the first bishop of Antioch and when he left for Rome he installed St. Ignatius as the second bishop. In the year 107 A.D. he wrote a letter to the faithful saying, “See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude of the people also be; even as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” This is how we know we are catholic, because the place where the disciples were first called Christians was the Catholic Church.

Jesus Christ gave the keys to the Kingdom of heaven and the authority to bind and loose to Peter, our first Pope (Matthew 16:18-19). Through the apostolic succession from Peter to the current Pope Francis, in communion with all the Catholic bishops around the world, the fullness of the faith and the teachings of the Church have been handed down unbroken and unchanged. This is how we know we are apostolic, because the faith and teachings of the apostles are the exact same faith and teachings we have today in the Church.