A Church with Authority

Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year C

I recall my experience flying into the United States on September 11, 2008. Perhaps due to the ominous date, I left Singapore on an almost empty plane. This proved most beneficial as it allowed me to lie down across four seats in the economy section (I guess it was kind of the poor man’s equivalent of a reclining seat in the business class). But my fortune would soon change. A storm system in the United States had interrupted all flights into and out of Chicago and other airports across America. What would have taken me slightly over 20 hours eventually turned into a 32 hours hellish journey to Philadelphia. I still vividly remembered the last leg of my journey from Chicago to Old Philly. I was uncomfortably sandwiched between two large Americans who had decided to sleep the moment they hit their seats. To aggravate my nightmarish experience, the small domestic plane had to circle Philadelphia airport for another few hours as the storm system had rerouted many flights to this city. Finally, the long awaited confirmation piped over the PA system – it was music to the ears – “Ladies and gentlemen. We are cleared for landing …” And I realised that I had come to the end of my ordeal and the beginning of a new adventure.

You may be wondering what has airports got to do with today’s readings? Over the years, I’ve come to personally picture the airport as a most fascinating and appropriate analogy for the Church. Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, is obviously the runway. Then there are the dogmatic and doctrinal aspects of Church teaching which provides the demarcation, lines and runway lights. And of course, up in the control tower, sits the Church’s Magisterium, the teaching office of the Church, as the trustworthy guide and air-traffic controller who provides the necessary direction and clearance that ensures all flights land safely. Can you imagine an airport without an air traffic controller or one who does not have the authority to direct air traffic? No one questions the wisdom of conferring so much authority on a single man who sits within the tower. But it does seem ironic that one of the most controversial points when discussing the Catholic Church in today’s world would be the Church’s claim that it is able to teach and govern authoritatively, in fact it teaches, governs and sanctifies with the authority of Christ himself. But there is still a big difference between the air traffic controller and the Church’s Magisterium. Whilst the former can claim authority from training and experience, the latter claims authority only from the Holy Spirit. The Magisterium speaks with the authority of Christ, guided and empowered by the Spirit.

It would be self-defeating and illogical if Christ decided to leave us with revelation but not the means to interpret it. Both Catholics and Protestants would agree that the Bible (or Sacred Scripture, as the Church prefers to call it) is authoritative and inspired. But Protestants would insist on right of private judgment and interpretation – they would claim that there is no need for an external authority apart from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit which is accorded to every believer. Using the analogy of airports and planes, it would have meant leaving a manual in the hands of anyone and everyone and providing them with the absolute unencumbered freedom to make sense of its contents and be the final judge and arbiter to interpret and execute the same, including the decision to land. I presume it would be obvious that such an airport would eventually become an ‘elephant graveyard’, with its runaway littered with debris from the numerous collisions. If Christ wanted to ensure that his teachings would have the efficacy of leading humanity to salvation, he would have taken the necessary measures to ensure the same teaching would achieve this purpose, rather than become a cause for confusion and destruction. This is why Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church by conferring this very authority of interpretation on to the Church’s Magisterium: "He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects your rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me" (Luke 10. 16).

We see an excellent example of the exercise of the Church’s Magisterium in today’s first reading. The issue of whether pagan converts to Christianity would have to submit to circumcision and other Jewish observances had become a major point of contention, an issue that threatened to split the leaders of the Church and the Church itself. Some men went from Jerusalem to Antioch to proclaim that the Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas also travelled to Jerusalem to present their case. During the Council of apostles and elders, Peter strongly defended the position that the Gentiles, who were not circumcised, were accepted by God. He told about the outpouring of the Spirit in Caesarea at the house of Cornelius. After Peter, the apostle James delivered his judgment that the Gentile converts would not need to be circumcised but laid down certain guidelines that would allow Jewish and Gentile converts to live in harmony. So, at this point it was the decision of the apostles and elders and the whole church to adopt the position proposed by James and choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. In the letter, they wrote, "It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves ...”

The apostles and elders who had gathered at the Council of Jerusalem were conscious that the decision which they had just made, overriding the ritual law of the Old Covenant, was no mere human decision. They were keenly aware of the authority that has been given to them by Christ, and of their own need to remain ever faithful to Christ as they exercise that authority. They believed that it was the Holy Spirit who guided their decision, and so, ultimately it is God who has decided the matter.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide His Church into all truth. Jesus in today’s gospel promises his disciples that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit “will teach (the Church) everything and remind (her) of all” he had first taught His apostles (cf. Jn. 14:26).  Jesus did not leave His people vulnerable to the doctrinal whims of competing leaders. Rather, He built the Church on the solid foundation of the apostles. He gave the Church His Holy Spirit, the Advocate (Parakletos), to enable her to be “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Despite the cultural winds that have blown through the ages, the faithful have always had a visible, easily identifiable magisterial “rock” on which they could safely stand in all seasons. When the Magisterium pronounces definitively on a matter of faith or morals, the Holy Spirit ensures that the Church will not teach erroneously.

Throughout the centuries, the Church has also experienced many crises that threatened to shake its very foundation and unity. In the early centuries, many Church leaders were divided as to whether Jesus was God; and if he was God, was he equal to God the Father. In later centuries, there were also disagreement about many church teachings and practices. Throughout its history, the Church had to contend with schisms (splits) and heresies (erroneous teachings) but remain steadfast on its course, the course set by her Lord and Master. And yet in spite of these many centuries of crises and trials, the Church has continued to survive and grow, only because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. His guidance ensures that in spite of all our personal opinions and ways of thinking, we can be sure of a certain authoritative position that reflects the will of God. In other words, he is the guarantee of unity within the Church. Without the Holy Spirit, the Church and unity would not be possible.

Most of us have had a problem with authority at one time or another. Every person, no matter who they are, enjoys the freedom to do their own thing without interference from others. Thus, it would be natural to see the widespread suspicion and incredulity towards the idea of the Church having such God-given authority. But it is important to see the authority of the Magisterium as something other than a simplistic being able to "boss you around." The authority of the Church, as Jesus has reminded all his disciples, is not one which seeks ‘to lord it over others’ but ultimately one of service. The Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God coming to us through Scripture and Tradition. Instead, the Magisterium is clearly under its authority–it is the servant of the Word. Its role is to faithfully safeguard the truth about God and his plan for our lives which came to full expression in the teaching and saving work of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. It is not to add to God’s revelation or to subtract from it. Only to faithfully interpret and apply it (CCC 85-86).

The crisis that has afflicted the Catholic Church since the middle of the 1960s has been a crisis of both faith and morals, that is, a crisis that has made many Catholics no longer know what to believe or what kind of conduct God expects of us. What is needed as a remedy for this is a firm standard, a reliable guide or teacher who can tell us both what we must believe and what we must do. Therefore, the importance of the Magisterium is in fact the importance of our life as Christians. We need a Church who can ensure that the light of Christ’s saving Gospel will shine on every generation. We need a Church that does not only provide us with good ideas and opinions but who teaches authoritatively, who is able to give us great light & clarity in a world that seems often enveloped in the darkness of sin; in a world enamoured and confused by the fallacious philosophy of relativism which provides so many competing false lights. We need a Church who has authority to convey to us the very means of salvation and guide us to a safe landing. And as G.K. Chesterton, one of the most famous converts to Catholicism of recent times, said, “I don’t need a church to tell me I’m wrong where I already know that I’m wrong; I need a Church to tell me I’m wrong where I think I’m right.”