The Catholic Church

[nyms1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bill Koehnlein)]

For what it's worth, here are two tidbits from the _Catechism of
the Catholic Church_ (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company,
1994):

pp 235-36:

888 Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task
"to preach the gospel of God to all men," in keeping with the
Lord's command. They are "heralds of faith, who draw new
disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers" of the apostlic
faith "endowed with the authority of Christ."

889 In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith
handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to
confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a
"supernatural sense of faith" the People of God, under the
guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, "unfailingly adheres
to this faith."

890 The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive
nature of the covenant established by God with his people in
Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people
from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the
objective possibility of professing the true faith without error.
Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to
it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To
fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with
the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The
exercise of this charism takes several forms:

891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys
this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme
pastor and teacher of all faithful--who confirms his brethern in
the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining
to faith or morals... The infallibility promised to the Church is
also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's
successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in
an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme
Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely
revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must
be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility
extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

892 Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the
apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and,
in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole
Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and
without pronouncing in a "definitive manner," they propose in the
ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better
understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To
this ordinary teaching the faithful "are to adhere to it with
religious assent" which, though distinct from the assent of
faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.

*****

p 582:

2423 The Church's social teaching proposes principles for
reflection; it provides criteria for judgment; it gives
guidelines for action:

Any system in which social relationships are determined entirely
by economic factors is contrary to the nature of the human person
and his acts.

2424 A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate
end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered
desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one
of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social
order.

A system that "subordinates the basic right of individuals and of
groups to the collective organization of production" is contrary
to human dignity. Every practice that reduces persons to nothing
more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing
money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. "You cannot
serve God and mammon."

2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic
ideologies associated in modern times with "communism" or
"socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice
of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the
law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy
solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social
bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails
social justice, for "there are many human needs which cannot be
satisfied by the market." Reasonable regulation of the
marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just
hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be
commended.

Bill Koehnlein
New York Marxist School
nyms1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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