Spiritual Reflections at, TX US - The Catholic Church: Mystical Body of Christ

WORLD CATHOLIC POPULATION AT 1.098 BILLION Vatican, May. 01 (CWNews.com) - The world's Catholic population is now 1.098 billion, according to the latest figures from the Vatican's statistical bureau. The figures contained in the Annuarium Statiscum Ecclesiae, presented to the press on April 30, show the number of Catholics in the world growing at roughly the same rate as the overall global population. The rising numbers of Catholics come mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Annuarium, which will be published this week, covers the Catholic population from 1978 to 2004, the last year for which full statistics are available. The volume, which will be published this week by the Vatican, offers a more complete analysis of the figures provided in the Annuario Pontificio, the official Vatican yearbook that appeared in February. From 1978 to 2004 the world's Catholic population grew by 45%, from 757 million to 1,098 million. But in Europe the percentage of Catholics dropped slightly over the same period, from 40.5% to 39.5%. There are now 280 millions in Europe: an increase of only 12 million from 1978. The growth of the Catholic population in Africa has been much more positive. There the number of Catholics has almost tripled: from 55 million in 1978 to nearly 149 million in 2004. There has been a similar pattern of growth in Asia and the Americas-- where the number of Catholics has grown by 49.7% and 79.6%, respectively, over the same period. The Vatican statistical bureau notes that these figures reflect the overall population growth in those regions. Catholics now account for 62% of the people in the Americas, but only 3% in Asia. The number of Catholic bishops rose 28% between 1978 and 2004, with the media age of those bishops also rising, so that in 2004 the average bishop was over 67 years old. The number of priests worldwide rose much less sharply: by 3.5%. The number of seminarians grew by 77%, with that increase attributable to sharp rises in Africa and Latin America. In Europe, however, over the same period of time the number of priests dropped more than 20%. In religious life, the number of male religious (excluding priests) dropped by 27% over the period of the Annuarium study, and the number of female religious dropped by 22%. The steepest increase shown in the Annuarium is in the number of permanent deacons. From 1978 to 2004 that number soared from 5,500 to 32,000 worldwide, with 97% of the permanent deacons found in North America and Europe. FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH: And Jesus said to Simon: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I shall give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven"--Matt. 16, 18,19 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH as presented in the New Catechism of the Catholic Church: #10. The Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 asked 'that a catechism or compendium of all CATHOLIC doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed'. The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, made the Synod's wish his own, acknowledging that 'this desire wholly corresponds to a real need of the universal CHURCH and of the particular Churches.' He set in motion everything needed to carry out the Synod Fathers' wish.".[Extraordinary Synod of Bishops 1985, Final Report II B a, 4.]" 11. "This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of CATHOLIC doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the CHURCH's Tradition. Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the CHURCH, the liturgy, and the CHURCH's Magisterium. It is intended to serve 'as a point of reference for the catechisms or compendia that are composed in the various countries' 119. "'It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the CHURCH to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the CHURCH which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God.'[DV 12 # 3.] But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the CATHOLIC CHURCH already moved me.[St. Augustine, Contra epistolam Manichaei 5, 6: PL 42, 176.]" 184. "'Faith is a foretaste of the knowledge that will make us blessed in the life to come' (St. Thomas Aquinas. Comp. theol. 1, 2). I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary Under Pontius Pilate He was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy CATHOLIC CHURCH, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy CATHOLIC and apostolic CHURCH. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen." 750. "To believe that the CHURCH is 'holy' and 'CATHOLIC,' and that she is 'one' and 'apostolic' (as the Nicene Creed adds), is inseparable from belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles' Creed we profess 'one Holy CHURCH' (Credo . . . Ecclesiam), and not to believe in the CHURCH, so as not to confuse God with his works and to attribute clearly to God's goodness all the gifts he has bestowed on his CHURCH.[Roman Catechism I, 10, 22.]" 811. "'This is the sole CHURCH of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, CATHOLIC and apostolic.'[LG 8.] These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other,[Cf. DS 2888.] indicate essential features of the CHURCH and her mission. The CHURCH does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his CHURCH one, holy, CATHOLIC, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities." 812. "Only faith can recognize that the CHURCH possesses these properties from her divine source. But their historical manifestations are signs that also speak clearly to human reason. As the First Vatican Council noted, the 'CHURCH herself, with her marvellous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her CATHOLIC unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.'[Vatican Council I, DS Filius 3: DS 3013.]" 816. "'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 (subsistit in) in) the CATHOLIC CHURCH, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.'[LG 8 # 2.] The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism explains: 'For it is through Christ's CATHOLIC CHURCH alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God.'[UR 3 # 5.]" 817. "In fact, 'in this one and only CHURCH of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the CATHOLIC CHURCH - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame.'[UR 3 # 1.] The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body - here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism[Cf. CIC, can. 751.] - do not occur without human sin: Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.[Origen, Hom. in Ezech. 9, 1: PG 13, 732.]" 818. "'However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities (that resulted from such separation) and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the CATHOLIC CHURCH accepts them with respect and affection as brothers .... All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the CATHOLIC CHURCH.'[UR 3 # 1.]" 819. "'Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth'[LG 8 # 2.] are found outside the visible confines of the CATHOLIC CHURCH: 'the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.'[UR 3 # 2; cf. LG 15.] Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the CATHOLIC CHURCH. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him,[Cf. UR 3.] and are in themselves calls to 'CATHOLIC unity.'[Cf. LG 8.]" 820. "'Christ bestowed unity on his CHURCH from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the CATHOLIC CHURCH as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.'[UR 4 # 3.] Christ always gives his CHURCH the gift of unity, but the CHURCH must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her. This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his disciples: 'That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me.'[Jn 17:21 ; cf. Heb 7:25 .] The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.[Cf. UR 1.]" 830. "The word 'CATHOLIC' means 'universal,' in the sense of 'according to the totality' or 'in keeping with the whole.' The CHURCH is CATHOLIC in a double sense: First, the CHURCH is CATHOLIC because Christ is present in her. 'Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the CATHOLIC CHURCH.'[St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8, 2: Apostolic Fathers, II/2, 311.] In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him 'the fullness of the means of salvation'[UR 3; AG 6; Eph 1:22-23 .] which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The CHURCH was, in this fundamental sense, CATHOLIC on the day of Pentecost[Cf. AG 4.] and will always be so until the day of the Parousia." 831. "Secondly, the CHURCH is CATHOLIC because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race:[Cf. Mt 28:19 .] All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God's will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one.... The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the CATHOLIC CHURCH ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.[LG 13 ## 1-2; cf. Jn 11:52 .] " 832. "'The CHURCH of Christ is really present in all legitimately organized local groups of the faithful, which, in so far as they are united to their pastors, are also quite appropriately called Churches in the New Testament.... In them the faithful are gathered together through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and the mystery of the Lord's Supper is celebrated.... In these communities, though they may often be small and poor, or existing in the diaspora, Christ is present, through whose power and influence the One, Holy, CATHOLIC, and Apostolic CHURCH is constituted.'[LG 26.]" 833. "The phrase 'particular CHURCH,' which is the diocese (or eparchy), refers to a community of the Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession.[Cf. CD 11; CIC, cann. 368-369.] These particular Churches 'are constituted after the model of the universal CHURCH; it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique CATHOLIC CHURCH exists.'[LG 23.]" 834. "Particular Churches are fully CATHOLIC through their communion with one of them, the CHURCH of Rome 'which presides in charity.'[St. Ignatius Of Antioch, Ad Rom. 1, 1: Apostolic Fathers, II/2, 192; cf. LG 13.] 'For with this CHURCH, by reason of its pre-eminence, the whole CHURCH, that is the faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord.'[St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 3, 2: PG 7/1, 849; Cf. Vatican Council I DS 3057.] Indeed, 'from the incarnate Word's descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great CHURCH that is here (at Rome) to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior's promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her.'[St. Maximus the Confessor, Opuscula theo.: PG 91 137-140.]" 838. "'The CHURCH knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the CATHOLIC faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.'[LG 15.] Those 'who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the CATHOLIC CHURCH.'[UR 3.] With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound 'that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist.'[Paul VI, Discourse, December 14, 1975; cf. UR 13-18.]" 843. "The CATHOLIC CHURCH recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the CHURCH considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as 'a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.'[LG 16; cf. NA 2; EN 53.]" 846. "How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the CHURCH Fathers?[Cf. Cyprian, Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169; De unit.: PL 4, 509-536.] Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the CHURCH which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the CHURCH, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the CHURCH. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the CHURCH which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the CATHOLIC CHURCH was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.[LG 14; cf. Mk 16:16 ; Jn 3:5 .] " 854. "By her very mission, 'the CHURCH . . . travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God.'[GS 40 # 2.] Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ,[Cf. RMiss 42 47.] continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are 'a sign of God's presence in the world,'[AG 15 # 1.] and leads to the foundation of local churches.[Cf. RMiss 48-49.] It must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people's culture.[Cf. RMiss 52-54.] There will be times of defeat. 'With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that (the CHURCH) touches and penetrates them and so receives them into a fullness which is CATHOLIC.'[AG 6 # 2.]" 865. "The CHURCH is ultimately one, holy, CATHOLIC, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that 'the Kingdom of heaven,' the 'Reign of God,'[Rev 19:6.] already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made 'holy and blameless before him in love,'[Eph 1:4 .] will be gathered together as the one People of God, the 'Bride of the Lamb,'[Rev 21:9.] 'the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.'[Rev 21:10-11.] For 'the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.'[Rev 21:14.]" 868. "The CHURCH is CATHOLIC: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is 'missionary of her very nature' (AG 2)." 870. "'The sole CHURCH of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, CATHOLIC, and apostolic, . . . subsists in the CATHOLIC CHURCH, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines'(LG 8)." 946. "After confessing 'the holy CATHOLIC CHURCH,' the Apostles' Creed adds 'the communion of saints.' In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: 'What is the CHURCH if not the assembly of all the saints?'[Nicetas, Expl. Symb., 10: PL 52:871B.] The communion of saints is the CHURCH." Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican City: Liberia Editrice Vaticana/The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, © 1994.

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