Q: I am a Catholic and I want to stay Catholic. But there are many things that I am unsure of. Jesus seemed to reject the idea of an establishment. He seemed to not like organized religion. He lived a very nomadic life and once said that a time is coming where God can be worshipped anywhere, not just at the temple. How do I justify this with the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church? The disciples also seemed to live a very nomadic lifestyle, and many of their followers seemed to be borderline socialists (in the sense that everything was communal and shared). How do I justify this with the idea that the Church opposes socialism and communism (I’m antisocialist, by the way). – Justin
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: You certainly are thinking more deeply about your faith. That’s good. God gives us intellects and wants us to use them to understand our faith better.
Let’s say upfront that a full answer to all your questions could fill a book. Nonetheless, a few observations might be helpful.
First, a close reading of the New Testament will show that Jesus was not opposed to “organized religion.” By “an establishment” I’m guessing that you mean the Church.
Our Lord didn’t denigrate the Old Covenant, which included a system of priests, rituals and norms. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place” (Matthew 5:17-18).
And Jesus certainly intended to establish a Church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “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.”
In the next verse (16:19) – “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” – Jesus gives Peter authority over the Church.
The power to bind and loose is a reference to Isaiah 22 (see the footnote to 16:18). Peter’s authority (Petrine authority) is with us to this day in the office of the Pope.
Peter’s authority is shown in Acts 15 when the issue of circumcision is brought to the apostles. Peter (as Pope) makes the final decision. This shows there was a hierarchy and a system of authority for resolving a key issue – a sure sign of an organized Church.
Elsewhere in the New Testaments are numerous references to bishops and presbyters and elders and leaders, including 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Titus 1: 5-9; Acts 20:28-32; and Hebrews 13:17.
The Holy Spirit uses this organization and its lines of authority to guide the Church and protect the deposit of faith.
As for God being worshipped anywhere and “not just at the temple”: Perhaps you have John 4:20 in mind. One way of thinking of this is that the Church was meant to take in all of humanity. It wasn’t limited to Israel and the temple in Jerusalem.
It could also be understood as a reference to the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass. Sacrifice in honor of God would no longer be restricted to the temple. The perfect sacrifice of Christ on Calvary would be re-presented on altars around the world.
As for the early disciples’ lifestyle: true, some of them shared everything in common. But that was an ideal life of living the Christian life.
Socialism and communism, on the other hand, tend to be atheistic and try to construct “perfect” societies by forcing conformity. The world becomes an end in itself.
Christians, in contrast, aim to nurture harmonious communities as an expression of the love that God wants to dwell among his sons and daughters.
Christians don’t count on ever seeing a perfect world on this earth, however; we’ll only find that in heaven.
For further reading, see this articles on Peter and the papacy, and the Church and socialism.
I hope some of this helps. Count on my prayers.
