April 2 - "Being Catholic Today: First Theme"

Last week I began what will be a series of columns on Being Catholic Today:  Catholic Identity in an Age of Challenge, a Pastoral Letter that Cardinal Wuerl issued on May 24, 2015.  The Cardinal identified five key themes of being a Catholic today.  I want to devote this column to the first theme:  Our Catholic identity is given to us by Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism and the communion fellowship of the Church.  This is our encounter with him.
When we were baptized, we were reborn as members of God’s family.  Cardinal Wuerl also teaches that Baptism is the sacrament in which we are reborn.  In Baptism we die with Christ and our sins are forgiven.  Through Baptism we rise to a new and divine life as members of Christ, sons and daughters of God, and heirs of everlasting life.  Baptism, like Confirmation and Holy Orders, imprints a permanent character or sign; this identifies the recipient as belonging forever to Christ.  Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders may not be repeated.
In Being Catholic Today, Cardinal Wuerl goes on to describe the Church as a family.  Christ has a spousal relationship with the Church.  He is the bridegroom; the Church is the bride.  The Church is our mother from whom we receive the gift of new life in faith through celebration of the sacraments.  Through Baptism we are incorporated into Christ as his brothers and sisters; we are members of the family of God.  In God’s plan we are called to love him and one another in truth as a family.  At Pentecost, the distinct beginning of the Church, the Church was established by Jesus Christ.  The Church is not simply man-made. It is not a business, a club, or a special-interest group.  The Church is not the result of like-minded people coming together and deciding to form an organization, nor are her moral teachings decided by popular vote or societal trends.  Like any family, the Church has a hierarchical structure:  the pope in union with the bishops who form the touchstone of the apostolic faith.  To be a Catholic is to recognize the role of the Church in the very means created and given by Jesus so that his work, accomplished in his death and resurrection, might be re-presented in our day and applied to us.
Cardinal Wuerl reminds that every time we make the profession of faith, we say, “We believe in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”  Here we are simply affirming that we are Catholics and that Christ is present in his Church, as we also renew our dedication and offer our fidelity to the Church that brings us his truth and love every day.  The Catholic Church is the home of the seven sacraments—Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.  The sacraments continue in a visible manner to manifest and effect the saving work of Christ in our world and in the lives of the faithful, giving us the grace to life the Gospel.
One final thought on this:  “Being a Catholic means to recognize a unique and special relationship with Jesus, risen from the dead, and his mission to bring everything to God the Father.  We are not bystanders but rather participants in his work.”  ( Being Catholic Today, p. 6)
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon
Pastor