Why I am a Roman Catholic?

Because I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that He has the words of eternal life. I believe that He, being the Son of God, knew what to teach, and how to teach it, and that, consequently, what  He said is law forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away (Mark 13:31). I can only believe, therefore, in One Christianity, and that must be the ORIGINAL Christianity which came from the lips of Jesus.

Now Christ entrusted all His doctrine to a certain body of living teachers, to be spread by them throughout the world. These teachers were the twelve Apostles, the first Bishops of the Christian Church. They were first instructed by Christ in the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:11), and in all that He had heard from the Father (John 15:15); the Holy Ghost was promised them to make them remember it all (John 16:26); and lastly, they were commanded to teach that doctrine, Christianity, or Christian religion, to all the nations (Matthew 28:19, 20).

Now in order to provide a written record of the founding of the Church, and of the glorious promises made to it, and of its constitution and organization, and some of the very words of Christ and His Apostles, certain of the Apostles and their disciples were inspired by the Holy Ghost to write the Books of the New Testament. The New Testament, therefore, is the inspired Word of God.

The New Testament, however nowhere says or implies that it contains "All the counsel of God." It nowhere tells us what books form a part of it, nor even how many books there are. It prescribes no system of public worship; it does not give in full the rite for administering any Sacrament. It makes allusion merely to many things, in which the reader is supposed to have been already instructed (Hebrews 6:1,2). Thus the Bible shows that the Bible alone was never intended to teach the whole religion of Christ.

On the contrary, it points to a body of living men who were the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1,2). Moreover, it describes them as forming a Kingdom or Church, and as having one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism (Ephesians 4:6). And it speaks of the Church as a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle Ephesians 5:27); as the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:15); as founded on Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being its chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20); as a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44); against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail (Matthew 16:18); and to which from the beginning the Lord increased daily together such as should be saved (Act 2:47).

In other words, if I want true Christianity, I must seek it in the true Christian Church; and the true Christian Church must be the original Christian Church; and the original Christian Church is that which is Roman and Catholic. Roman, because its chief pastor has always been Bishop of Rome, since the day when Saint Peter on whom Christ built His Church (Matthew 16:18), first fixed his See in that city; and Catholic, because it is universal or world-wide in its extent, teaching all nations to observe all things commanded by Christ. Here, then is a consideration which alone would suffice to make me a Catholic. It destroys whole volumes of Protestant objections. You tell me, for instance, that the Church of Rome, pure in the beginning, in course of time corrupted its doctrine, introduced practices unwarranted by Scripture, and so ceased to be the true Church of Jesus Christ; and hence the need of the "glorious Reformation" as you call it.

But observe, the original Church, having Christ with it all days, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20), and the Holy Ghost abiding with it forever (John 14:16), and leading it in all truth (John 16:13), could never lose the purity of its faith. Whoever else might fall, the Church could not apostatize. We have God’s promise that it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44), and that the gates, or power, of Hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

And again, when Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, and their followers were starting in their mad career, either the true religion was then in the world, or it was not. If it was, they committed grievous crimes in making new religions to oppose it. If it was not, they were powerless to create it. It takes a Christ, not a Luther, to create a Christianity. On either supposition, therefore, Protestantism is not the true religion of Jesus Christ.

EVANGELIST

In the New Testament this word, in its substantive form, occurs only three times: Acts, xxi, 8; Eph., iv, 11; II Tim., iv, 5. It seems to indicate not so much an order in the early ecclesiastical hierarchy as a function. The Apostles, indeed, were evangelists, inasmuch as they preached the Gospel (Acts 8:25; 14:20; 1 Corinthians 1:17); Philip likewise was both a deacon (Acts 6:5) and an evangelist (Acts 8:4-5; 8:40; 21:8); in like manner was St. Timothy exhorted by St. Paul to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.

EVANGELIST

In the New Testament this word, in its substantive form, occurs only three times: Acts, xxi, 8; Eph., iv, 11; II Tim., iv, 5. It seems to indicate not so much an order in the early ecclesiastical hierarchy as a function. The Apostles, indeed, were evangelists, inasmuch as they preached the Gospel (Acts 8:25; 14:20; 1 Corinthians 1:17); Philip likewise was both a deacon (Acts 6:5) and an evangelist (Acts 8:4-5; 8:40; 21:8); in like manner was St. Timothy exhorted by St. Paul to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.

EVANGELIST

In the New Testament this word, in its substantive form, occurs only three times: Acts, xxi, 8; Eph., iv, 11; II Tim., iv, 5. It seems to indicate not so much an order in the early ecclesiastical hierarchy as a function. The Apostles, indeed, were evangelists, inasmuch as they preached the Gospel (Acts 8:25; 14:20; 1 Corinthians 1:17); Philip likewise was both a deacon (Acts 6:5) and an evangelist (Acts 8:4-5; 8:40; 21:8); in like manner was St. Timothy exhorted by St. Paul to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.