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History of the A 2,000-Year Journey

Why Study Church ?

• To come to know better through his Church and its teachings • To gain a better sense of our identity as Catholic • To be able to address many of the common errors and inaccuracies about the Church and its history • To learn how best to express ’s Word in today’s world

2 Course Outline

I. Definition of the Church II. Mission of the Church III. Models of the Church IV. Church History V. U.S. VI. Roles and Responsibilities of the Baptized

In the Beginning… • Eternal Triune God • The Word, Wisdom Incarnate, through Whom all is created • Judaea Christian view of time • Catholic perspective of History • The Word was made flesh- The Incarnation • The Annunciation - “Mary's obedience unties the knot of disobedience” St

4 Definition of the Church

• CCC 751 The word "Church" ( ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to "call out of") means a convocation or an assembly. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where received the and was established by God as his holy people. By calling itself "Church," the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly.

• 752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers.

Church Mission • 849 CCC The mandate. "Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal of ,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the to all men": "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the , teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and Lo, I am with you always, until the close of the age.“

Catholic Church Built Western • Modern science was born in the Catholic Church

• Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market economics five hundred years before Smith

• The Catholic Church invented the

• The Church great patron of the Arts

grew out of Church law

• The Church humanized the West by insisting on the sacredness of all life

Models of the Church, Cardinal Avery Dulles • Institution • Mystical • Sacrament • Herald • Servant • Community of Disciples Understanding the Past

“…it is impossible to understand the past unless we understand the things for which the men of the past cared most.” -Christopher Dawson (Catholic Historian From a historical perspective, we realize that the Church is… • Based on the life and teachings of an historical person, Jesus of from

• The story of the relationship of Jesus and the believers

• A mystery filled with God’s presence throughout history

History of the Catholic Church

Part 1 The Early Church- 1st Century (30 – 330 AD) Early Christians • Church born at • Founded by , authority given to Peter, Apostles formed as leaders, and to last till end of time • New life in dying and rising with Christ in describes early Church as; - Sharing goods in common - Charitable - Eucharistic - Apostolic - Missionary * “The Way” Influence: Jewish Sources

• Early Church thoroughly Jewish: Jesus, Apostles, first followers were all Jewish

• NT writers (Luke possible exception) were all

• Church is considered the New Israel Christ called: the New Law; the New Adam; the New ; the Son of Paul • OT central to NT: Matthew cites OT 41 times – “it might be fulfilled.”

• Jesus Christ would make no sense without the OT roots

• Pius XI: “Spiritually, we are all Semites.”

The Beginnings: Roman Sources

• Roman at its material peak when Jesus is born ( Romana) from to Persia, from Egypt to Scotland

• Effectiveness of communication and transportation not exceeded until the invention of the telegraph & railroad

• Culture, architecture, arts, , language – homegrown & borrowed from others (Greeks)

created an atmosphere in which missionary could activity flourished

• Romans tolerant of established ; considered early Christian activity Jewish

Pax Romana The Domestic Church (2nd – 3rd centuries) • They also met in private homes for the “breaking of the bread” and the . Eventually some houses were specifically designated for . • A house-church in Dura-Europos [Iraq] was built c. 250 A. D. and still stands.

Persecutions • Jewish • Nero (64-67) – Peter & Paul • Domitian (95-96) – Clement I 1 • Trajan to Hadrian (112-138) – Ignatius of ; • Marcus Aurelius (161) – Cecilia; Justin • Septimus Severus (202) – Perpetua; Felicity; Irenaeus • Maximin of (235) – Pontian and Antherus • Decius (249-251) – Fabiran; Agatha- Libellus • Diocletian- most brutal • Romans were scandalized by the • Roman was civil religion- goal was political unity Graffiti – “Alexamenos his God” Why Christians Were So Disliked?

• 2 forms of early explains 1. 2. Apologies

• Claims of Incest and Cannibalism

Justin , in his Letter to Diogenes, explained: • Christians “marry as men do and beget children, but they do not practice . They share tables but not beds. They live in the flesh, but not according to the flesh…” “The world suffers nothing from Christians but hates them because they reject its pleasures.”

• Neighbors often denounced Christians out of sheer dislike, or for greed for their property

Constantine’s Rise to Power

• Diocletian forced to resign • Constantine Battle of Milvian Bridge (312) • Constantine, was told in a to use a Christian symbol during the battle

• His victory effectively gave Constantine at Milvian him control of the Empire Bridge

The Peace of Constantine • In 313 through the • Constantine legalized , granting religious freedom to everyone, built Churches, instituted humane laws, gave Church and place of honor, Sunday Sabbath. • Constantine reunited the Empire used the Church as a means to achieve that unity. • 1st Christian . : Early Debate Christians faced problems in a pagan world:

• How to educate their children?

• Could classical culture be assimilated or should it be rejected in favor of a new culture based solely on Scripture and the Fathers?

believed in the latter: “What has to do with …the Church with the , the Christian with the heretic?”

• Clement of held opposite view: since God is source of all truth, the many truths found in Greek , arts and sciences were not to be rejected. A well-educated Christian can better receive and defend the truths of the

Early & • The Great Heresies [313-476 A.D.]

. Knowledge- false Gospels

• Arians. Opposed by in 325. “There was a time when he was not.” homoiosios (similar) versus homoosios ( true teaching, same nature or substance)

• Apollinarians. Condemned 1st , Augustine 381. Christ had a human body and a human refuting heretic sensitive , but no human rational mind, the Divine taking its place.

• Nestorians. Condemned by Ephesus, 431. Mary shouldn’t be called “Mother of God,” since she’s mother only of the human side of Jesus Great Heresies Continued…

• Monophysites. Condemned by in Pelagius 451. Jesus really has only one nature, a divine nature, which supplanted his human nature.

• Donatist. Condemned local Council of in 314. Repeated errors of and regarding sinners; held that administered by in of mortal sin are invalid.

• Pelagians. Condemned by in 431. British , Pelagius, denied of ; possible to achieve salvation solely through reason and free , without necessity of or the Church.

Councils – Explaining Our Faith • Doctrine developed in the face of controversy and persecution • Clarification and expression of church teachings • Followed Apostolic model, and be convened or recognized by the

Germanic Migrations and The Huns • Rome didn’t fall in one catastrophic event (410-476) • Last Roman Emperor (Romulus Augustulus) deposed in 476 by Odoacer  These Germanic (or Gothic) peoples attacked • Forced Romans and Visigoths to form an alliance (451) which held Attila at the Battle of Chalons – so he headed south…toward Rome • Cooperation of Romans, barbarians and Church would form the foundation of a new future

Changing the Face of

• West deteriorates into multitude of • The Church was the only organized institution • Even where barbarians did not destroy the Empire’s infrastructure, they had no clue how to maintain it • Cities eventually disappeared • Although pagan barbarians adopted Christianity, their ignorance and low morals actually lowered society’s standards • Conversion of Frankish king, Clovis, leads to conversion of barbarians – common religion brought some unity

The “Dark Ages”

• Historical revisionists claim Christianity rejected classical civilization – even sought to destroy it – and thus inaugurated the Dark Ages • Truth: Christianity not the cause of the decline of late Roman culture • Last flowering of classical literary culture – largely the work of • The Church’s alone saved classical civilization from the total eclipse it would otherwise have suffered

Impact of Rise of Monasticism in the West founding of Montecassino by St. Benedict-His Rule

Western monasticism became the major carrier of Western civilization during the early “The Irish saved Western Civilization”

Monasteries provided islands of learning and culture and Faith ran nearly 2,000 hospitals throughout Europe, schools, science in agriculture, copied scripture and pagan wisdom New Threat of on Saving Europe – at Tours Islam on the move – armies of on devastated North

Mediterranean under Muslim control

Moors (Arab/Berbers) stormed into

Pepin’s son, Charles Martel scraped together a Battle of Tours Frankish army to meet the as they rode north Clash at Tours a turning point in European history –

Franks soundly defeated the Moors and turned them back from Europe The Holy Day, 800, Pope St. Leo III crowned Charles as Roman Emperor • Coronation represents two important developments: 1. of the – dream of European unity under a Catholic ruler would survive the empire’s demise 2. Shift in geographical focus of Western civilization – from Mediterranean (Mare nostrum) to the North

Henri Pirenne: “Had there been no Mohammed, there would have been no Charlemagne 1,000 A.D. – A New Sprit The early springtime of Christendom • Invasions has ceased (except for Norman raids) • Badly needed reforms had begun in the Church • Nations were being organized under competent Christian kings • Standard of living on the rise • reflected these changes

East West • Effects of various Eastern heresies and the consequent rise of national churches • Iconoclast Crisis • Leavened vs unleavened bread • Filoque • Deeper level – opposing cultures & views on the nature and structure of the Church • Resentment arose – sense that West dictated to East

The Schism • In 1043 the of Constantinople, Cerularius, began a major anti-Roman campaign, closing Latin-rite churches and attacking the papacy

• Pope Leo IX sent delegates to Constantinople without success.

• On , 1054 Michael Celularius was solemnly excommunicated Michael Cerularius • Celularius responded by calling an Eastern and excommunicated the Pope and the entire

• This began the schism that still divides the East from Rome

• In 1964 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras met in Jerusalem and lifted the mutual orders of 1054. Dialogue continues

Discussion Questions

1. Which of Avery Cardinal Dulles’ models of the Church listed below, do you relate to most and why? Avery Cardinal Dulles’ Models of the Church • Church as Institution • Church as Mystical Communion • Church as Sacrament • Church as Herald • Church as Servant • Church as School of Discipleship

2. Throughout the Church’s history there have been many difficult times. How do we relate to those in the past who have struggled to hand on the faith? What do you believe keeps the Church going?

Church History: Part 2 Remote Causes of the • 1095 Turks attacked Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor Alexios asked Pope to help. • The Crusades finally began nearly five centuries after Muslim armies had set out to conquer the Christian world • By the time the Crusades began (1095), Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world- • The Crusades began: – 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered – 453 years after Egypt was taken – 443 years after was first plundered – 380 years after Spain was conquered – 363 years after France was attacked – 249 years after Rome was sacked – Only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians

The Seven Crusades

• 1st Crusade – 1095 – Pope Urban II • 2nd Crusade – 1147 -- Pope Eugene III • 3rd Crusade – 1190 – Richard Lionhearted • 4th Crusade – 1202 – • 5th Crusade – 1217-1221 – Lateran Council • 6th Crusade – 1248 1248) –St. Louis IX • 7th Crusade – 1270 – St. Louis IX The Good, • Crusades played a providential role in the life of the Church • Revealed the extraordinary spirit of faith that prevailed throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages • At the Pope’s request, hundreds of thousands left all they had to face danger and death in distant lands in a noble effort • Crusades brought West back into contact with the East’s science, literature and art, opening up new worlds of thought for Western scholars • Opened trade routes to the Orient, stimulated commerce • Preserved the Church in the West from Islamic conquest, allowing Christian medieval culture time to develop in peace

The Bad and the Ugly • died during the of Jerusalem, many innocents, including Jews • Yes there were Crusader atrocities; no excuse but they too were on the receiving end of atrocities by , • If Christians couldn’t pay the dimiti tax, eldest son made Muslim slave (holy against Christians) • Lack of unified command to restrain • Lack of education reflected in “Children's Crusades” and bigotry towards Jews • Western Crusaders sacked Constantinople (who West went to help), fought against Eastern Christians

Inquisitions • We must distinguish between the facts of the and the fiction. • #’s exaggerated closer to 2,000 -3,000 victims • Church/State component and nature of heresies against good of society. • Church didn’t invent practice but regulated existing judicial practices to soften harshness of secular powers. • Not punished for simply believing a . The crime was teaching it, leading others astray.

Intellectual Life in the - • Rediscovery of the writings of (Byzantine, Jewish, & Arabic sources)

• Foundation of independent in (1088), (1150), Oxford (1167), Cambridge (1208), Salamanca (1218), etc.

• Establishment of four separate faculties: , philosophy, law, and medicine • St. , St.

Western Schism- Papacy

• The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377, during which seven successive Popes resided in Avignon rather than Rome due to conflict with French Kings. • September 13, 1376, Gregory XI abandoned Avignon and moved his to Rome, officially ending the Avignon Papacy. • The schism ended in 1417 at the Council of Constance. • Culturally damaged the view of the authority of the Pope irreparably • Followed by the Bubonic Plague which devastated Europe, new period of political and philosophical turmoil- apocalyptical The – 1500- 1800 AD • Societal change • City life • Rediscovery of classical culture • Humanism • Growth in royal power also undermined papal authority Clerical abuses weakened influence of church Trade & Economic changes created a more a independent middle class

Luther : Protestant

Luther’s life as a Augustian monk dominated by a sense of his own unworthiness and terror - was he damned? Answer found in Letter of St. Paul to the Romans Sola fide • protest against sale of sparks reformation - Luther’s “Ninety-Five Theses” papacy also taxing German states and appointing foreigners to key ecclesiastical posts June 15, 1520 excommunicated Luther

A Revolution is Sparked

- France • - to Scotland • Henry VIII- • Huldreich Zwingli- Switzerland Counter Reformation • Spiritual renewal in Church began before Protestants • Many new religious orders and lay groups devoted to renewal –ex. Jesuits & of Divine Love • period-Catholic cultures answer to ascetic iconoclast Protestants

The 1545-1563

• Reaffirms Churches beliefs against Protestant doctrines • Reformed Liturgy • Canon of Scripture confirmed again • Addressed abuses esp. • Reformed Bishops • Brought intellectual renewal

Tridentine

• Justification- stressed good works, striving for virtue balanced by need for grace, Sacraments • • Mission oriented- Church growth in New World and -Loyola, Theresa, , Vincent de Paul • Question: How did the three Schisms effect the Church today? What was the negative and positive effects that came from them?

The Enlightenment- 1650’s-1780’s

• Scientific Revolution • The rise of modernity/ – new man centric worldview • Viewed man as naturally good and reason could solve all ills. • New religion of humanity, science, and progress • Descartes- critical (doubt) • Churches response reactionary

French Revolution- 1789-1789 • Catholic Church considered part of Old Regime • Assembly took to “reforming” the Church but state grab for power over the Church • Civil Constitution of the Clergy splits clergy • Dechristianization campaign, the new religion • The Reign of Terror and persecution of Catholics • , Pope Pius VI, Pope Pius VII • The - restored old • Revolution hurts Church but liberates Church from State influences

Church torn within and from without • Between 1700’s and 1900’s, Europe experienced tremendous intellectual activity. In the political arena the freeing of governments from ecclesiastical dominance had two consequences for church thinkers. 1. They became subject to challenge by their contemporaries, such as Darwin in evolution, Hume and Hegel in philosophy, Marx and Engels in political social thought. 2. From Within- and

The Biblical Movement and (1833–1969) • Historical criticism – Biblical Movement • Liturgical movement focused mainly on a recovery of Gregorian and polyphony. • Liturgical Reform: Benedictines-Dom Gueranger 1833 & Dom Lambert Beauduin • US- Dom Michel in Collegeville, Mn. Vatican I (1869- 1870)

• Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) “Syllabus of Errors (1864) • Addressed - Condemnation of contemporary errors Liberalism - & Infallibility - Catholic doctrine on the Church of Christ

* Lamennais, Lacordaire, Montalembert, 1854 –wanted to catholicize liberalism

• Interrupted by Franco-Prussian War Church after VC I

• Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) and (1891): the Church and Industrial Society • (1903-1914) and • The Missions in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (African/Asian) • Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) and I • The Church in Europe between the Wars (Pius XI) • Pius XII (1939-1958) – World War II and After

Vatican II (1962-1965) • Renewal of the Church • Sixteen Documents • Role of the

• 1) Background: technological progress and terrible war • 2) Pope John XXIII (1958-63) and Pope Paul VI (1963-78) • 3) Aggiornamento • 4) Constitution on the Liturgy (1963) • 5) Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964): Universal Call to Holiness; Salvation is offered to all. • 6) Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (1965): Scripture and Tradition • 7) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965) • 8) Dramatic Changes: in the Liturgy, Communion under Both Kinds, Lay Ministry • 9) Reaction to Vatican II (ongoing) U. S. Catholic Church

• Colonial days – Maryland: under the Vicar Apostolic of London • John Carroll: the first of Baltimore (1789) • 1815: Sees in Boston, , , New Orleans, and Bardstown • By 1829: 500,000 Catholics in U.S. • Nativism (“Know-nothings”) anti immigrant Catholic persecutions • Civil War • Baltimore • Catholic Schools and • Immigration: English (MD), , Irish, , , Latinos, Asians • Cardinal (d. 1921) – kept the church on side of working class • “

Archdiocese of Atlanta • in 1733. Spanish priests came to in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seeking to convert Native Americans. • Illegal to be Catholic in GA Colony. Catholics would not find acceptance in Georgia until the American Revolution (1775-83). • It was in 1850 that Catholics in Georgia and parts of Florida became a new , the Diocese of Savannah • The first Catholic church in Atlanta, the , built in 1848, was used as a hospital during the Civil War. • The Diocese of Atlanta was established in 1956 when the northern 71 counties of Georgia were separated from the Diocese of Savannah and assigned to the new diocese giving the state two . • 1962 became Archdiocese • Today a total of 101 parishes and missions , while the Catholic population of the Archdiocese has risen to over 1,000,000. USCCB & Church Documents

• Councils are legally convened assemblies of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts for the purpose of discussing and regulating matters of church doctrine and discipline.

• A legally convened meeting of members of the hierarchy for the purpose of carrying out their judicial and doctrinal functions, by means of deliberation in common resulting in regulations and invested with the authority of the whole assembly.

• In 1917 the bishops of the U.S. formed the National Catholic War Council (NCWC) to enable U.S. Catholics to contribute funds and commit personnel to provide spiritual care and recreation services to servicemen during .

Roles & Responsibilities of the Baptized • 900 Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and , they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the cannot be fully effective without it.433The participation of lay people in Christ's priestly office • 901 "Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born - all these become spiritual acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives." Discussion Questions

• 1 . How does having knowledge of our Catholic Church history help you in your ministry as a catechist?

• 2. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church is a plan born in the Father’s heart. (see below) How does this mystery impact how your view of the Church?

• CCC759 “The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe and chose to raise up men to share in his own divine life,”(150) to which he calls all men in his Son. “The Father... determined to call together in a holy Church those who should believe in Christ.” (151) This “family of God” is gradually formed and takes shape during the stages of , in keeping with the Father’s plan.”