Toward A Right Understanding Of The Catholic Church (Part I)

Denial of the truth claims of the Catholic Church take on the form of numerous arguments. For instance, some argue that the Church holds creeds that are irrational; some argue that the Church is not biblical; and some argue that the Church's history of scandal and abuse disqualify Her claims. The first is often argued by atheists and agnostics, the second by Protestants, and the third by a broad consensus, sometimes including Catholics themselves!

Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, "There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing." Whatever form an argument against the Catholic Church takes, if it's not the third argument above, I think it's safe to say that that third argument is still looming large in the mental background of the arguer, and working as a strong motive. What I'd like to do, therefore, is offer some clarity on the matter of how to think about the Catholic Church, specifically, about her claims to truth in the face of scandals and abuse.

To begin, I'd like to use a tool from Aristotle, called the Four Causes. The Four Causes are involved in any type of change, and, since the Catholic Church professes to bring the kingdom of God to human beings, to preserve the message of Christ as the instrument of the Holy Spirit, and since this can only occur through time, then it requires development, which is a type of change, thus involves the Four Causes.

The Four Causes are 1) the material cause, 2) the efficient cause, 3) the formal cause, and 4) the final cause. Let's say we want to built a shed. The material cause is the wood. The efficient cause is the builder. The formal cause is the plan for the shed. And the final cause is the purpose: "for storage." Now, let's say God wants to establish a Church. In this case the material cause is a sinful world, sinful human beings with free will. The efficient cause is God. The formal cause is the Kingdom of God. And the final cause is God's glory: the salvation of man. We could say, therefore, that the definition of the Church in light of the Four Causes is this:

The Church is the Kingdom of God made by God working on a sinful world for His own glory, man's salvation.

This, of course, SOUNDS just fine; however, one might object, so does Communism. Therefore, what we want to find out is how the formal and final causes, which are good in themselves, are brought by the efficient cause, God, to materialize in a world of sinful human beings. In other words, the means is always from the efficient cause to the material cause, so, just as we ask how the builder will build the shed (by hammering nails, and putting in the wiring) we have to ask HOW God is going to establish His Kingdom. We'll cover this question in Part II.