The Roman Catholic Church

Abstract

mystery in the strict theological sense of the word. Her existence is not ultimately explainable in terms of human design and action; her total is not discoverable by sheer philosophical and historical research. The existence of the church hangs on a sovereignly free divine choice, whereby God gave to men this particular form for their religious life; and the of the church-what she intimately is-is possessed, as a secret, by God alone. When the Catholic says: I believe . . . in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, he has indeed evidence in the orders of philosophical truth and historical fact sufficient to let him know with certainty that his act of faith is reasonable; he can explain why he believes the church to be what it is. However, the church itself, the thing-out-there, which his act of faith touches, transcends the power of his reason to comprehend, and much more the resources of his rhetoric to explain; he cannot adequately explain what the church, in which he believes, is. Obviously, if thechurch were simply a social and juridical union, into which men had gathered themselves for their own reasons, and the structure of which they themselves had determined, one could quite adequately understand and explain what it is. One can, for instance, explain what the Catholic Association for International Peace is; one can, that is, explain the common idea and end, the common will and purpose that bind its members together into unity. And when one has explained the principle of a society's unity, one has explained what the society is. But precisely in this regard the church escapes the comprehension of man. It is her unity that is her mystery. It is not explained by any human agreement among men to hold in common certain ideas, obey certain rules and officers, and work together towards some common ideal, as is the case with various voluntary associations. Nor is it explained by the profound exigencies for community living that are radicated in the social nature of man, as is the case with the natural institutions of the family and the state. The church's principle of unity, which makes her what she is, is found neither in the will of man nor in his nature; it is a supernatural principle. Briefly, it is the Holy Spirit Himself, as given to the church, dwelling in her as in His temple, and by His presence and action making her the Body of Christ, whose members are united, not merely by the moral bond of love or by the juridical bond of law, but