The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica; 11-09-2025

Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12.  Ps 46.  1 Cor 3:9c-11,161-7.  Jn 2:13-22

Deacon Jim McFadden

         Today we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which was dedicated by Pope St. Sylvester in 324 who was the 33^rd pontiff (314-335).  Sylvester honored the episcopal seat of the pope as the bishop of Rome.  A millennium  later Pope Clement XII (1730-1740) placed an inscription on the basilica which states that this church is the “Mother  and head of all churches of Rome and the world.”  That inscription encapsulates a question that young people frequently asked me in the classroom, “Why be Catholic??”  What makes the Catholic Church so special, so unique when there are myriad number of other ecclesial communities to choose from? 

         Good question: I’d start with our roots.   To begin with, we have

professed our faith in the Triune God and belief in the Church, through the Nicene Creed which has pointed us in the right direction for over 1700 years and leads us to an engagement with the one true God, which prevents us from completely going off the rails as our spiritual journey unfolds.  By professing our faith every Sunday we live out this revelatory tale through concrete living of the Christian life.  We share this creedal profession with our Orthodox and separated Protestant brethren. 

         The Church that Christ founded came into being at Pentecost, 40 days after his Resurrection.  That is the birthday of the Church as well as the Catholic Church which at that time were one and the same.  So, the Catholic Church has its apostolic roots: namely, the Church has its origins  and its missionary orientation from the first 12 apostles who gathered around Jesus, followed him, and later continued his mission to preach the Gospel to the world.

         This apostolic connection or succession carries with it a mandate of authority as Jesus gave the apostles the commission to  preach the Good News.  This authority was passed onto the successors of the apostles namely the college of bishops, which today number over 5,000 throughout the world.  Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they are invited to share the same intimacy with Jesus that was enjoyed by Peter, Matthew, Thomas and others.   Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the integrity of Church teaching and worship is guaranteed, as well as our pastoral service to the world.  So, in short, the Catholic Church has the ability under the Holy Spirit to teach authoritatively, which means it can instruct us as to what is true and what is false; the Church has the authority given to her by Jesus to teach doctrine which illuminates our faith. Absent that apostolic succession, other ecclesial bodies do not teach with authority.  As Catholics we share this apostolic succession with our Orthodox brethren but not Protestants, whose ecclesial institutions came into being in the early 16^th century. 

         The Catholic Church was gifted by Christ Jesus by seven sacraments, which are tangible, efficacious means by which our Lord communicates his grace and presence through space and time.  As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us the sacraments are the way that “Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of salvation, (especially) through the liturgy of the Church until he comes” (#1076).  The whole of the liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharist and the sacraments which were “all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord” (#1113). 

Liturgically, we are a Eucharistic people, which means that Holy Orders goes hand-in-glove with our worship.  Without bishops and priests, we cannot celebrate the Eucharist.  So, as the People of God we need to continually pray for vocations to the priesthood, who function as ‘personi Christi; we pray that men will respond to God’s call to this most beautiful sacrament.

The seven sacraments only obtain within the Catholic and Orthodox Church; Protestant denominations typically have one, namely baptism, though some do have more such as Lutherans and Anglicans, though regarded more as ‘rites’ than sacraments.

         The Catholic Church has 1.4 billion adherents; if we were a country we would be the third largest country in the world behind China and India.  Within our gathering there is an amazing diversity as we are present throughout the world.  At the same time there unity among the faithful because one of the marks of the Church  is unity, she is ‘one,” which is a function of the Church’s identity as the mystical Body of Christ.  Just as Christ’s body cannot be divided so neither can the Church.  Since Jesus is going to gather all of humanity to himself and since the Church is Christ’s very body, the Church participates “all in all” character of the Lord.  That’s why the Church is one and the human symbol of our unity is the Bishop of Rome, who is the successor to Peter, the first head of the Church.  Including Peter there have been 267 popes and our current holy father, Pope Leo XIV is bestowed the same authority given to Peter by Christ Jesus.  Only the Catholic Church is in full communion with the Holy Father, which distinguishes us from the Orthodox who do not recognize the authority of the Pope since the Great Schism of 1054 a.d.

          Why be Catholic?  Only the Catholic Church has all four of these essential marks.  Our Orthodox brethren  have the first three but are not in communion with the Bishop of Rome.  Our separated Protestant brethren participate in the Church but in  a derivative,   ‘defective’ way since they lack apostolic succession, all seven sacraments, and union with the Pope.

         So, why be Catholic?  The above attests that the Catholic Church, in the words of the Vatican II conciliar fathers, “subsist most fully in the Body of Christ, the Church.”   Our Responsorial Psalm (46), poetically conveys the truth and beauty of the Church: “There is a river whose streams  make glad the city of God” (Ps 46 (45): 4).  Christians who live in the city are like the river (of grace) that springs from the temple (the Church): they bring a Word of life and hope that makes fruitful the desert of peoples hearts, which nurtures the Arabah desert and heals the salty and lifeless waters of the Dead Sea (secular culture).  The important thing to remember is that the Church does not exist for herself, but the course of the river flows from the Church into hostile resistant lands.  But the city of God rejoices when the People of God, the Church, share the treasures of the Word of God to the nations as we promote the Kingdom of God.   Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. Why are you Catholic?  Is leaving the Church ever a good option?
2. How do apostolic succession, the 7 sacraments, and the oneness of the Church symbolized by the Pope speak to you?
3. Do you enthusiastically share in the evangelical mission of the Church as exemplified in Psalm 46?