(October Bulletin for Christ the King, Ann Arbor, MI)

Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia!

May the grace and peace of the Risen Lord Jesus be with you! The above phrase is an ancient one in the Church, it is Latin and translates as: "where Peter is, there is the Church." It has to do with a fundamental aspect of Roman Catholic ecclesiology concerning the office of Peter and his successors in the Church. That aspect is best illustrated by Pope John Paul II's introductory statement in his apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis: "The Shepherd of the Lord's whole flock is the Bishop of the Church of Rome." This is somewhat of a summary statement of what is more completely expressed in paragraph #8 of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church:

This is the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one,

holy, catholic and apostolic, (12*) which our Saviour, after His Resurrection,

commissioned Peter to shepherd,(74) and him and the other apostles to

extend and direct with authority,(75) which He erected for all ages as

"the pillar and mainstay of the truth".(76) This Church constituted and

organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which

is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him,

This clearly states some important teaching on the nature of the Pope's role in the Church. It is important to see how this is stated in the Vatican Council documents because there are some folks that look at the Second Vatican Council as if it had undone or changed the traditional teaching on the role of the Pope in the Church. Much to the contrary, the Council in fact affirmed that ancient role given by the Lord Jesus Himself to Peter and his successors. As the Council Fathers put it: "And all this teaching about the institution, the perpetuity, the meaning and reason for the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and of his infallible magisterium, this Sacred Council again proposes to be firmly believed by all the faithful." (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #18) Some in the Church today would change this, clamoring for a more 'democratic' Church, as if what the Church believes should be decided by a popular vote. This is clearly opposed by the Council's most explicit statement about the scope of the Pope's authority:

The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains

whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and

pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and

universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power.

(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #22)

Next month there will be a convention of folks in Detroit whose purpose it will be to lobby the Church to change its position on many areas: abortion, contraception, homosexuality, male ordination, and priestly celibacy, to name a few. It calls itself "A Call to Action." They will be collecting signatures on petitions that they will attempt to present to the Holy Father with an attempt to get him to change the Church's teaching. They title their petition "We are the Church." Attending that conference will be many famous 'theologians' (e.g. Fr. Hans Kung, Fr. Charles Curran) as well as several bishops, including a few local ones (not ours, of course!) A group of faithful Catholics are holding a 'counter-convention' entitled "A Call to Holiness," which will invite folks to learn more about and submit humbly to what the Church actually teaches, that the will of the Lord Jesus, the Lord of His Church, Who has not changed His mind about His plan for His People, what He wants them to believe, or how He wants them to live would be known and lived. Let us pray for the "Call to Holiness" meeting, that it would be a witness to the truth and draw folks more deeply into the heart of the Church, and let us pray for the "Call to Action" that all of the folks involved there would open their hearts more deeply to the Truth, revealed by the Lord Jesus to His Church, and that that same Truth would then set them free. We commend them all to the care of the Mother of God and the protection of St. Michael.