Jesus founded only the Catholic Church

 by Joe Sixpack — The Every Catholic Guy  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  August 27, 2021   

Jesus founded only the Catholic Church

When discussing religion, it's sad when people say things like "the only thing that matters is that we all believe in the same God" or "one Christian religion is just as good as another" or "let's just agree to disagree." Why are these comments bothersome? Well, they all demonstrate a scandal of Christianity: There are so many Christian religions to choose from that people have become indifferent to the whole idea of thinking about which church is the right one.

St. John Henry Newman

But we Catholics can honestly — and should assertively — say, "Jesus founded one Christian religion, and that religion is the Catholic Church!" The ecumenical movement of the '70s did far more damage than good. We squandered a perfect opportunity to gather millions of converts to Jesus' Church because leaders of the movement were terrified about the idea of offending non-Catholics. In reality, we should have demonstrated to people the things we have in common with their Christian religions, then led them to the reality of the Church founded by Christ.

There are a number of proofs that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ. The first one I always point to is history. Saint John Henry Newman, arguably the greatest Christian apologist of the 19th century, was a member of the Oxford Movement — a vehemently anti-Catholic organization in England. Fellow members tasked the young Anglican scholar with writing a history of Christianity. On the day his new Christian history was rolling off the printing press, Newman was being received into the Catholic Church. When asked what caused him to turn from his vehement anti-Catholicism to the point that he actually became a Catholic, his response was quite simple: "To know history is to be Catholic." Why? Because history alone proves that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. (By the way, it was also Cdl. Newman who said the greatest tragedy in the Church is an ignorant laity. That's just food for thought.)

That Jesus founded the Catholic Church can also be proven from Sacred Scripture. The establishment of the Church came in the very act where Jesus made St. Peter the first pope:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven" (Matthew 16: 13–19).

This passage is pregnant with implications! Indeed, so much is said in these few words that we can't possibly cover it all in the limited space here. We will, however, spend a lot of time covering this passage thoroughly in later installments of this column. For now, though, let's deal with the elephant in the room.

Continued

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