Holy Ground: Direct Access to God

In our study of Holy Ground we’ve been looking at the reasons why ex-Catholics have left the Roman Catholic Church. According to Chris Castaldo the first two reasons are full-time faith and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We now look at the third reason of having direct access to God. As a former Catholic this is one of the glaring differences I noticed when I left the RCC.

In this chapter Castaldo explores the main figure that most people associate with the Roman Catholic Church, namely the Pope. Did you know that the Pope is the only person prayed for in every Catholic Mass? Who is the Pope? According to Catholic Litererature (Catechism of the Catholic Church) the Pope can be explained in the following comments:

To proclaim the faith and to plant his reign, Christ sends his apostles and their successors. He gives them a share in his own mission. From this they receive the power to act in his person.

The Lord made St. Peter the visible foundation of his Church. He entrusted the keys of the Church to him. The bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is “head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the universal Church on earth.

To summarize the nature and function of the Pope in the church would be:

1) Teaching: the pope is authorized to teach and interpret divine revelation with authority

2) Sanctifying: in addition to overseeing the administration of the sacraments, the pope has authority to ordain priests or other bishops

3) Ruling: the pope rules the “universal church on earth”

According to Catholic Theology the first Pope was Peter whom Christ gave the “keys of the kingdom” in Matthew 16. Catholics believe that Christ’s authority was passed on to Peter and an unbroken succession of popes after Peter until the current pope, Pope Benedict XVI. Now this succession does not mean that the papal office succeeds the previous pope but each new pope succeeds Peter himself.

While the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, he does not completely rule the Catholic Church. At least the pope use to rule the Catholic Church until recently in Vatican II where a change was made and the authority of rule is now to be shared with the college of bishops. The pope acts as the head in the three-fold office of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling. Together the pope and bishops constitute what is called the “magesterium” which is defined as the “living teaching office of the Church, whose task is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The magisterium ensures the Church’s fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, henceforth referred to as CCC, para 85,890, 2033).

Castaldo points out that the definition given by the CCC of the teaching office is “living.” This is a key point since the church of Rome, through the magisterium, “brings to light truth from God’s Word to every generation.” Since the Catholic Church believes the magisterium (pope + college of bishops) is the representation of Christ the Roman Catholic Church must then be both living and infallible. This is where the Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility is derived. One clear form of how Papal Infallibility is displayed is how this office can declare “ex-cathedra” on some particular matter or doctrine and that doctrine becomes “that which must be believed”. This teaching of Papal Infallibility was pronounced in July 18, 1870 by the first Vatican Council.

After some further reading it appears there have been at least 7 papal documents declared to be ex-cathedra as researched by Catholic Theologian Klaus Schatz yet only one has been universally accepted by the Catholic Church as truly infallible and that is doctrine of Mary’s assumption into heave which Pope Pius XII pronounced in 1950.

This Papal authority is one of the reasons why many ex-Catholics have left the RCC. According to Chris Castaldo’s discussions with ex-Catholics there are two primary issues regarding the Papacy:

1) Why does the Catholic Church require a visible authority structure rooted in popes and bishops?

2) Why does the Catholic Church require the clerical hierarchy in order to act as mediator between God an men?

It is this second reason that I experience the greatest freedom and joy knowing that in Jesus Christ I have direct access to God. I do not have to go through the Roman Catholic Church which represents Christ because I can go directly to Christ!

The Apostle Paul wrote over 200 times on this subject of being in union with Christ. It’s unfortunate that many consider justification as the heart of Pauline theology when by sheer volume in the NT the use of “in Christ” is what the Apostle considered to be the fundamental basis and instrument by which God elects, redeems, blesses, imparts new life, and so on. Christ Himself taught on our union with Him as believers when He said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4)

As I mentioned earlier, there is great freedom to know that one can have direct access to God. Castaldo ends this chapter well saying and quoting Scripture:

Evangelicals content that “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2:5). Because our identity is founded in the risen Christ, we are given the privilege to “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Heb 4:16). This is possible for one reason, because the Lord “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb 9:26). Therefore, as God’s children, we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2).