In the seventh grade, I volunteered to debate a classmate on the subject of congressional filibusters. My opponent was better prepared than I was. Not only did he marshal more facts, he could also cite his sources and their relative authority. The turning point came when my classmate proceeded to challenge the sources for my position: “Sez who?” he demanded. “Sez me!” was my utterly ineffectual reply. Thus was my cause lost.

But the lesson of that debate is not lost on me now as I write this column on the authority with which the Church speaks and teaches. This topic seems to me a good place to begin a series of columns which, over the coming months, will present what I hope is an adequate picture of what the Church believes and teaches. Before launching into that, let’s ask ourselves: “By what authority does the Church teach? Who authorized it to teach and from what sources does the Church draw its teaching?” To put these questions another way: “Is the Church just one competing voice among many in our culture?”

Unfortunately, many people think that the Church indeed is just one voice among many and not a very credible one at that! Many consider the Church’s teaching, especially its moral teaching, to be arbitrary and unreasonable. When we are challenged to defend the Church’s teaching, people in effect are asking us, “Sez who?” In what follows, I hope to provide you with a more adequate answer than my seventh-grade debate retort, “Sez me!”

You may have read about a document issued in June by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church” reiterated the Church’s teaching authority. Although this brief document merely summarized a number of previous teachings, particularly those of the Second Vatican Council, it created something of a stir. This was because it reminded us of a central truth about the Catholic Church that is sometimes forgotten or distorted, namely, that “the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church.” This means that Christ permanently willed to establish only one Church, as a visible and spiritual community, and that the fullness of what Christ willed is found only in the Catholic Church.

This Vatican document further taught that Christ endowed the Catholic Church with all the means of salvation which he himself communicated and instituted during his mission on earth, in accordance with the Father’s plan of salvation. This includes God’s Word in its fullness transmitted to us through Scripture and tradition. It also includes access, through the sacraments, to all Jesus said and did for our salvation. This also includes the presence and action of the Holy Spirit as the invisible but very real principle of the Church’s life and mission. To put it succinctly, Christ willed that the one, true Church would live on in the Catholic Church.

In this ecumenical era, we may hesitate to speak of the Catholic Church as “the one, true Church.” To modern ears this may sound smug and exclusive, shut off from the other communities that profess the name of Jesus. In fact, the Church’s teaching is carefully stated: the Church of Christ “subsists” in the Catholic Church. Now, the word “subsists” is hardly a household word. It is used to indicate two things primarily: One, that the Church of Christ lives most completely and fully in the Catholic Church and, two, that elements of “sanctification and truth” are found in other Christian churches and communities, especially baptism as well as the Scriptures and a number of shared teachings.

In this way, the Church expresses not only its openness but also its commitment to work toward Christian unity, building on what is already shared. However, such unity cannot be achieved by jettisoning any gift that Christ gave to his Church, such as the office of St. Peter (the papacy); apostolic succession (the handing on of apostolic preaching and authority from the Apostles to their successors the bishops through the laying on of hands); the seven sacraments, and so forth. In setting forth the principles of ecumenism, the Second Vatican Council taught that Christ endowed his Church with unity from the beginning and this unity also “subsists” in the Catholic Church. It also taught that we must pray for this unity to increase and that in God’s grace we must work “to maintain, reinforce and perfect the unity Christ wills for [his Church]” (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 820). The very gifts Christ has given to his Church and his gifts found outside the Church’s structure should impel us to pray and work for the unity of all Christians.

This is a further challenge. Sometimes people are scandalized by the claim that the one true Church lives on in the Catholic Church. They point to all kinds of scandals that have marred its 2,000-year history, including the scandals of these present times. “How could this be the true Church of Christ?” they might ask — a question that should poignantly remind us of how our sinfulness can make it harder for people to hear and accept the Gospel of Christ.

At the same time, we should remember that Christ founded a “visible and spiritual community” — a community made up of fallible, sinful human beings whom God in his mercy is forging into saints precisely through the ministry of his Church. Salvation is a messy business! We need not look beyond the borders of our own conscience to know how true this is. For this reason, the Lord endowed his Church with holy gifts that are the means to holiness — especially his Word and the sacraments, most especially, the Eucharist, his very own Body and Blood. Salvation is a messy business!

So the long and the short of it is this: The Church came about in fulfillment of the Father’s plan. It was instituted by Christ and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, continues his saving work in the world today. The Church speaks not its own message but the message it received from Christ. The Church bears witness to Christ and hands on his teaching not to impose upon us but rather to invite us to open our hearts to the Savior and his love. Filled with the overflowing love of the crucified Savior, the Church cannot fail to speak!