Father Chas Canoy
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As part of our Creed sermon series marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Father Chas reflects on the fourth and final article of the Creed: belief in the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. This homily explores the Church’s unity with Christ, her holiness rooted not in human perfection but in Christ himself, her universality across all peoples and times, and her apostolic foundation safeguarded through succession from the apostles. The reflection concludes with a powerful vision of Christian hope drawn from Revelation and the promise of the life of the world to come.
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And so we read in that fourth section of the Creed: “I believe in the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.” Yes—these are the four marks of the Church, as they’re called. They are the four characteristics that make the Church what she is as the mystical Body of Christ. Thank you. Beautiful.
So, number one: the Church is one. You know, Jesus Christ is that Bridegroom who is not Mormon, right? What do I mean by that? He only has one Bride, and it’s the Church—the one that He founded.
So the Church is one with Jesus, and that leads us to the second mark of the Church.
Number two: the Church is holy. Whoa, whoa, whoa—with all the sin and scandals of the Church throughout its sketchy and oftentimes sordid past, how can you even say that the Church is holy?
Well, friends, the Church is most assuredly holy. You want to know why? It’s not because of you or me. Thank goodness it’s not up to me and my degree of holiness—or lack thereof. The Church is holy because of the One to whom she is united: Jesus. The Bride, the Church, is holy because of the One with whom she is wedded: Jesus. The mystical Body of Christ, the Church, is holy because of who it is that is her Head: Jesus. Yes, thank you.
Number three: the Church is Catholic. Catholic means universal. The Church is for everyone—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, black and white, and everything in between; saints and sinners; ABC all the way to XYZ; Wolverines and Spartans—yes, even Buckeyes. Jesus calls all to repent from the ways of the world, to walk in the light, and to live in the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.
And so that leads us to the fourth and final mark of the Church.
Number four: the Church is apostolic. Remember those words of Jesus to our first Papa in Matthew 16: “So I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” No—“I will build my Church,” says Jesus, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus gives His apostles His authority. There is only one Church that has an unbroken line of succession from St. Peter all the way down to Pope Leo XIV.