Reason number 53469548645979857298342937543 to be a Catholic

People might ask, why look to the early Christians and see what they were doing?

We have to look to the first recorded Christians, historically, and see what they said, because we believe the Bible, and the Bible says:
John 21:25 There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

2 Thessalonians Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

Most protestant Christians, when asked what the pillar and foundation of the truth would be, will answer: the Bible!
And yet the bible itself, in 1 timothy 3:15 says that the CHURCH is the pillar and foundation of the truth!

It is because of the CHURCH that we have the BIBLE. We do not have the Church because of the Bible, but rather the Bible because of the Church. The Word of God, entrusted to the Church, stands forever, and since scripture says that the gates of hell will NOT prevail against the CHURCH, we know that all truth is preserved in the Church.

Again, scripture emphasizes this:

Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

Matthew 16:18: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death (gates of hell) shall not prevail against it.”

OK, so we've established that it's important to know NOT only Scripture, but also the oral traditions that have been passed on from authority to authority. These can be found in a church. But what church?
What are the marks of the True Church?

Let's start with authority. What is an apostle? What is a spiritual authority? Nondenominational/evangelical Christianity would have you think that it means that anyone on whom the Spirit of the Lord appeared to rest could be put in a place of authority. In theory, that sounds good. But in practice-- impossible. For to be an apostle means to be "sent out" and in fact "by the laying on of hands" in order to fulfill the task and mission. Clearly, the protestant tradition does not adhere to the biblical model. When we disagree, we simply schism, splinter, break off from the vine, and move on with our lives, creating new churches and new "authority" which, in fact, is not backed by the spiritual power that exists in TRUE authority.

The Catholic Church (and other Orthodox Christian traditions which the Catholic Church is in communion with--- ie. Greek Orthodox, etc)is the only "community" or "church" which can back up it's claim to that apostolic authority accurately through history: From the time of Peter, who was declared first among the apostles, to the present pope Benedict XVI, we can literally trace the apostolic authority as it was handed down. Now THAT is a claim to authority. And that, as we know, is the mark of a true Church.

Moving on, we look for other marks of a true Church. You mentioned historical accuracy in your blog. Let's look at that for a moment.
How exactly DID the earliest Christians worship? And what church persists in protecting and providing this form of worship? We know many things from looking at the Founding Fathers of the faith. We have these things to look at-- and one of them is that the Eucharist was, for them, the central focus of Christian worship:

(I've pulled the following quotes from a website found here,http://www.catholicfaithandreason.org/fathersoneucharist.htm) but they are readily available in any library.)

One of the earliest Christian documents is the Didache, known as the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which probably dates from the 1st century. Sections 9 and 10 deal with the Eucharist [Gk. Eucharistias] and prayers of thanks which allude to the Mass. It contains this warning, "... let noone eat or drink of this Eucharist unless he has been baptized in the name of the Lord [a shorthand way of alluding to the Trinity]; for concerning this the Lord also said: ‘Do not give to the dogs what is holy.’" Perhaps alluding to St. Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians, in part 14 it notes: "And on the Lord’s day, gather together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your sins so that your sacrifice might be pure. This is clearly an illusion to the prophecy of Malachi (Mal 1:11), which our next Father also addresses.

St. Clement of Rome was the third successor of Peter the Apostle as bishop of Rome, our fourth Pope. St. Irenaeus (Book III, iii) tells us that Clement "saw the blessed Apostles and conversed with them, and had yet ringing in his ears the preaching of the Apostles and had their tradition before his eyes, and not he only for many were then surviving who had been taught by the Apostles. " Similarly Epiphanius tells us that Clement was a contemporary of Peter and Paul. There is a tradition that he was ordained by St. Peter and acted as a kind of auxiliary bishop to Linus and Anacletus, his predecessors in the papal chair. His letter to the Corinthians was written between 70-96 A.D. in an effort to restore peace to the Church at Corinith, Greece, which has broken into factions and was intent upon firing some of their presbyters. The epistle, which is written in Greek, is important because of the distinction it makes between leaders of the community and the faithful. Clement refers to the leaders as presbyters or bishops, without making any further distinction, referring specifically to their ministry as the "offering of gifts." He says, "Our sin will not be light if we expel those who worthily and blamelessly have offered the gifts of the episcopacy." This is clearly liturgical language in light of Mt 5:23 and Lv.1: 2 and Lv 7:38, referring in this instance to the Eucharistic sacrifice offered by priests in the Mass.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was a pagan by birth and a Syrian. He became the third bishop of Antioch and may be considered an apostolic Father in the sense that he heard the Apostle John preach. About 110 A.D. he was sentenced to a martyr's death in the arena by the Emperor Trajan, who also put Pope Clement to death. On the almost 1000 mile journey to Rome from Antioch, Syria, the third largest city of the Empire, Ignatius wrote seven letters, which are his only surviving letters. They are addressed to Christian communities he presided over as bishop. He speaks of the Eucharistic mystery in mystical terms saying, "Therefore arm yourselves with gentleness, renew yourselves in faith, which is the Flesh of the Lord, and in charity, which is the Blood of Jesus Christ." His most famous passage says:

I am God’s grain, and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts in order that I may be found [to be] pure bread for Christ. My love has been crucified, and there is in me no fire of material love, but rather a living water, speaking in me and saying within me, ‘Come to the Father.’ I take no pleasure in corruptible food or in the delights of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is the seed of David; and for drink I want his Blood which is incorruptible love.

His reference to "bread of God" is an allusion to John 6: 33, where Jesus says, "It is not Moses who has given you bread from heaven [manna], but it is my Father who gives you the Bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." The Eucharist was a model for the Christ centered approach of Ignatius since he sees the it as an example of the "undying love of Christ as he feeds us with his Flesh and Blood." There is no mistaking his tone in his letter to the Church at Smyrna as he speaks of the Gnostics who had a disdain for material reality:

Charity is no concern to them, nor are widows and orphans or the oppressed . . .They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which, in his goodness, the Father raised . . .

Like St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10: 17, he saw the Eucharistic Body of our Lord as the unifying force in the Church. He

wrote the Philadelphians:

Be careful to observe [only] one Eucharist; for there is only one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup of union with his Blood, one altar of sacrifice, as [there is] one bishop with the presbyters and my fellow-servants the deacons.

Another unforgettable reference is when he urges Christians to assemble in common and obey the bishop, "breaking one bread that is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against dying that offers life for all in Jesus Christ." These beautiful words sum up Jesus’ own teaching in John 6 and St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. Notice also that he refers to the Eucharist as a sacrifice as did the authors of the Didache. Eucharistic theology seems almost complete in St. Ignatius.

St. Justin Martyr who also gave his life for Christ, as his name implies. His Apologies are considered the most important of the 2d century Christian writings of the Fathers of the Early Church. It is difficult not to identify his testimony with an early version of the Catholic Mass, the president or presider being a priest [presbyteros being the Greek root for our English word priest] as he speaks of the Eucharist about 155 A.D.:

For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have learned that the food over which thanks has been given by the prayer of the word which comes from him, [see 1 Cor 11: 23-26; Lk 22; 19] and by which are blood and flesh are nourished through a change, is the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus.


Now, I could probably go on forever, but I think you get the idea. My point is that to the earliest Christians, the Eucharist was the source and summit of their worship together--- sound like any Christians you know today? That's right, folks, the Catholic Church is the only Church which not only has the authority and thus the ability to provide the eucharist but also has the tradition and doctrine to back it up.

What are the other marks of the True Church?
How about unity? Every single day, day in and day out, Catholics can (and have, historically, since the time of Jesus's resurrection) been able to attend the mass-- where they find an identical liturgy. In other words, I can go to a mass in Japan, in India, and in Afghanistan on the same day and have the exact same experience! Now THAT is unity.
Likewise, although there is a HUGE and WIDE variety of "styles" and "types" of Catholics, all of us agree on the same doctrinal principles and stand behind the same Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ on earth. It is an awe-inspiring thing to encounter the reality of that fact, and I encourage anyone who hasn't to explore the depth of world-wide unity that exists among followers of Pope Benedict XVI, like we have had with all of his predecessors. It would be equally good to study the vats differences between Catholics as well--- the extraordinary "uniqueness" of the directions that the Holy Spirit has moved us all WITHIN THE BOUNDS of that perfect unity. Therefore in the Church's ONEness, and unity, can be found a mark of the True Church.

"The chief attributes of the Catholic Church are authority, infallibility, and indefectibility. They are called attributes because they are qualities perfecting the nature of the Church. " (EWTN's MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH)

This means that in these three things which are essentials of the "True Church," we find that the Catholic Church contains them all. It is authoritative (And the ONLY church which can claim that authority.) It is infallible (And is the only church which has the authority to claim that infallibility) and it is Indefectable (and is the only Church that can prove to be so.)

For more information on the marks of the True Church as it relates to Catholicism, please enjoy this link:
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/Teachings/chura2a.htm