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Mary listened to Jesus, and put aside her activity; for this Jesus said of her, she has chosen the better part. Martha had objected to Mary’s behavior, but Jesus corrected her. Notice: Martha did not say, “Jesus, stop judging me. This is my way of living my faith, and I relate to God in a different way, etc.” Jesus, and Jesus alone, was to teach her what true religion was.

Jesus continues to do this today. He has identified himself so closely with the Catholic Church, that St. Paul calls her the “body of Christ.” And the Holy Spirit works in many ways – very exact and specific ways, not just in fuzzy ways and in general – in the Catholic Church.

For indeed, Jesus Christ established a Church, only one Church, and that is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, among all Churches, communities and religions, is that one and only Church, as the Second Vatican Council reaffirms, “in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted.”[1]

You all know that Rome has been very busy lately. Besides the weekly homilies, discourses, meetings with bishops and ambassadors, audiences and other such things, two special proclamations have been made this month.

The first is not the topic of today’s homily, but I will refer to it for your information, and later I hope to preach on it. It is a “Motu proprio,” a proclamation made by the Pope, as the Latin says, “by his own movement,” his own decision. In this, the Holy Father has released the Tridentine Order of the Mass, that is, the Mass as it was celebrated before the second Vatican Council, from the prison of suppression. Now any priest of the Church may use the 1962 Missal instead of the “Novus Ordo” missal composed several years after the close of the second Vatican council, in two case: either when celebrating Mass on his own off the parish schedules, and where the faithful show interest to attend such a Mass. We’ll talk more about that later.

The second document to come out is more about today’s topic. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith published, with the signature and approval of Pope Benedict, a very short document with the title, “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church.”

This document addressed a certain problem. Many people were running around saying that Vatican II had changed the Church’s teaching about the Church herself. Some saw this as a victory, others as apostasy. But both were wrong, for the Council never changed a single speck of any of the Church’s teachings.

The heart of the document throbs around an expression in the Vatican documents. The Constitution on the Church, one of four Constitutions promulgated in Vatican II (there were 16 core documents, four of which were constitutions), stated that the Church that Jesus Christ founded “subsists in” the Catholic Church. That expression, “subsists in” has caused a pile of confusion. So this document explains and clarifies.

And so, in union with this promulgation from Rome, I say, and I say without fear, Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church, and no other Church, and gave her all of the means of salvation, including the Papacy and the seven sacraments.

- Atheist, agnostic and relativist: People who say, “Let me tell you, Father, what I think about God…”

- Religious, not Christian (alas, some Christians, too!): All the religions are the same

- Protestant: “What does one need to do to be saved? Why is the answer not clear?” It is clear: one needs to live the Catholic faith, if you exclude that… why, indeed it does get confusing. It’s like saying, “Excluding the number 4, what is two plus two?”

o I don’t like that Church, because… me my me my me my and so on… (Cafeteria Catholicism)

- Who stops to ask the question, “what is true?” And once we find out what is true, who have the strength to embrace the cross, when their feelings flee from the cross of Jesus?

- Example of big boat. Protestant denominations have pillaged several of the sacraments… it would be easier for them to return to the ship… the goods they took (the scriptures and baptism, mainly) are like magnets, and they work for the unity with the Catholic Church

- Some complain: Why can’t the Catholic Church just stop being so …. Catholic!!! She never will: she always is and will be, and never changes as regards her essence.

- Choose the better part: listen to Jesus, who speaks through the Church. Do it his way, which is the Church’s way, and choose to NOT do it your own way; and you’ll never go wrong.

[1] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Responses To Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects

of the Doctrine on the Church, June 29, 2007, resp. to q. 2.; cf. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.2; 3.4; 3.5; 4.6.