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Question: What is the Catholic Church’s view of nondenominational churches that have proliferated around in the last several years?
— Bob Kusek, Eastpointe, Michigan
Answer: The Church regards these communities in much the same way as any other non-Catholic but Christian denominations. They are a wound to the unity that should prevail and for which Christ prayed. However, they do have good qualities that should be respected and that may well form a bridge to future unity.
In terms of them being a wound to unity, we should recall that Christ’s desire for unity among his followers was expressed on the night before he died: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me
(Jn 17:20-21).
Jesus did not found 30,000 different churches; he founded one Church. And while there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides, the Catholic Church rightly insists that it is, and must be, the source and goal of reunification. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “The sole Church of Christ is that which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. … This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him” (No. 816). Christ does not have many bodies, but one body; he does not have many brides, but one bride.
Continued below
How does the Church view the many nondenominational churches? - Our Sunday Visitor
— Bob Kusek, Eastpointe, Michigan
Answer: The Church regards these communities in much the same way as any other non-Catholic but Christian denominations. They are a wound to the unity that should prevail and for which Christ prayed. However, they do have good qualities that should be respected and that may well form a bridge to future unity.
In terms of them being a wound to unity, we should recall that Christ’s desire for unity among his followers was expressed on the night before he died: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me
(Jn 17:20-21).
Jesus did not found 30,000 different churches; he founded one Church. And while there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides, the Catholic Church rightly insists that it is, and must be, the source and goal of reunification. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “The sole Church of Christ is that which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. … This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him” (No. 816). Christ does not have many bodies, but one body; he does not have many brides, but one bride.
Continued below
How does the Church view the many nondenominational churches? - Our Sunday Visitor
