What do we mean by the “marks of the Church”? What exactly are they?
Odds are fairly good that if you’ve has ever attended a Catholic Mass they’ve already encountered the marks of the Church. You may not have realized it, but these marks are part of our profession of faith.
The marks of the Church are:
The Church is one
The Church is holy
The Church is catholic
The Church is apostolic
They probably seem a bit more familiar now.
Why are they important? The marks of the Church form a basis upon which a great many misunderstandings get their start. I’ve been questioned or accosted by Protestants of various stripes that have taken exception to each element. They can be stumbling blocks for anyone thinking of converting – regardless of how high or low a church they’re coming from. I know this from personal experience. It was this one line in the creed that held me back from my own conversion for several years.
The questions generally come across in some variation of the following:
“What do you mean by ‘one true church?’”
“How can a human institution be holy?”
“What do you mean by ‘catholic’? Is this different than ‘Catholic’?”
“The Catholic Church doesn’t have any more association with the apostles than any other church on earth.”
See what I mean about confusion?
For the next few posts I’m going to try to define each one of these marks.
[As a side note, I’m not doing these four in the same way I did the Papacy posts from late last year. I’m going to post these as I write them instead of writing them all first and posting one at a time. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will end up easier in the long run.]
Looking forward to it!