e) THE CHURCH IS A TEACHER

"The Church is an infallible teacher"

In its composition, the Catholic Church is the society of angels and faithful stretching across the centuries, coming down to earth in order to coalesce into a holy, universal, and eternal fellowship and then return with her children into the eternity whence it came.  She is the assembly of the children of God, the army of the living God, his kingdom, his city, his throne, his tabernacle.  She is that admirable society that has existed from the beginning of time.  She appeared in shadows and figures with Adam, was foretold by the patriarchs, validated by Abraham, revealed by Moses and prophesied by Isaiah.  In this her last age, she appears today in Jesus Christ as a society of people united in the profession of the same faith and in the sharing of the same sacraments, under the rule of her legitimate shepherds, primarily of the Roman Pontiff, the visible head, the supreme ruler, and the universal shepherd of this blessed assembly founded by the Man-God.

Since Christ deigned to entrust to her the deposit of revelation, namely, the entire body of truths regarding faith and morals ‑- which he himself had brought down from heaven so that she could teach them to all generations with certainty and simplicity and without admixture of error ‑- she had to be endowed with the glorious attribute of infallible teacher so that, for all time to come, she would hand on the revealed truths just as she received them from his own divine lips (...).

Not to accept all the definitions of the Council with full and ready submission of mind and heart, without restrictions, compromises, hesitations or concessions means denying not just the particular truth one does not like but also the infallible magisterium, which asks us to believe in it.  It means destroying Catholicism and mortally wounding society itself.

In fact, because of the Church's infallible magisterium Catholicism is divine, philosophy is led to the faith by it, the world is renewed, martyrdom becomes reasonable, the Councils are accepted and respected, heresies are destroyed, science and civilization become fruitful, morals are strengthened, peace of conscience is ensured and confirmed, all the fruits of sanctification are poured out abundantly on all

peoples, the Church's permanence is assured and her unity is unbreakable.  Take this glorious prerogative away from the Church and everything falls apart and goes to pieces, just as the faith has fallen apart and gone to pieces in those unfortunate souls who, in these latter times, have waged war on her holy and solemn definitions.²⁹

"The teaching Church and the learning Church"

If God wants a unifying and guiding authority to reside in the priestly order, you must admit that in the Church there is a distinction of classes, offices, and powers.  There is the superior and the subject, the shepherd and the flock, those who teach and those who are taught, those who feed and those who are fed.  In a word, we have the Church that teaches and the Church that is taught, which, though distinct from each other, form one and the same Church.

To the first belong the successors of the Apostles, the bishops, especially the successor of the Prince of the Apostles, the Pope.  To the second belong all the faithful.  And what about the simple priests?  Though on the one hand they seem to belong to the teaching Church since they administer the sacraments and teach the faithful, they really belong to the Church that is taught because they do not posses the fullness of the priesthood, have no jurisdiction whatever, and administer the sacraments and teach the faithful only in so far as they are authorized to do so by the bishops.³⁰

"The Pope's infallibility is not detached from the faith of the Church"

The Pope is personally infallible, but his infallibility cannot be personal and apart in such wise that his faith is detached from the faith of the Church.  The Church is a living body, not a corpse.  No earthly power can strip her of her vital force because she is divine, and the life of God is reflected in her.  The Pope is the head while the bishops are the members of the teaching and living body.  If the Head could separate himself from the members, you would have a dead body; and the Church, despite the promises of Jesus Christ, would be destroyed.

The Pontiff, who in himself unites and concentrates the whole episcopate,

can never find himself alone and isolated when he teaches all the faithful in matters of faith and morals because the Holy Spirit, who assists the Head and keeps him from error, infuses and inspires submission, at least in a certain number of bishops, who, united with Peter, form the true Church (...).

The Pope is infallible, but his infallibility does not exempt him from studying, consulting, and relying on the bishops and the Councils.  Infallibility comprises two well distinct parts: the divine part, which is the inspiration, the light which Christ, through the Holy Spirit, sheds

upon Peter's successor; and the human part, which comprises the resources of scholarship, the necessary research regarding Tradition and Scripture, and the choice of the best way to convey the truth to people.

Truth does not come down through new revelations nor through direct illumination.  To the divine factor must be added the human factor, which explores the sacred deposit entrusted to the Church, a deposit contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments, in the writings of the Fathers, in the literary works of Religion, in the oral teaching and the living and enduring practices of the various Churches that are in communion with the Church of Rome, Mother and Teacher of all Churches.  You must not imagine that there can be a definition without proper investigation.  No, this is not possible.  The Holy Spirit, on whose assistance infallibility is founded, cannot permit human negligence to lead the Church into error through the omission of the research and study needed to discover, illustrate, and promulgate the ancient truths with solemn and new definitions.³¹

"Does the Church foster ignorance?"

We well know what some people say: the Church stifles talent and fosters ignorance!  Can there be a more stupid and absurd accusation?

Does the Church foster ignorance, the very Church that fears nothing more than ignorance, that considers ignorance a fault and obliges everybody to the most diligent and unbiased pursuit of the truth?  Since when has the truth become an obstacle to the flowering of the human mind?

The Church fosters ignorance!  Can anyone be more ignorant of history than those who hurl this accusation against the Church?  History

loudly proclaims that indeed it was the Church that dissipated the darkness of the most inveterate superstitions and spurred humanity on to the paths of true civilization.  It was the Church that opened before us new heavens and new earths, as it were, and, through its stimulating light, so elevated and strengthened our mortified human reason as to free it from all error (...).

Today, especially, when there is so much talk about education and some people are profusely spreading all kinds of nefarious teachings far and wide, who is concerned with keeping the eternal principles of truth and justice firmly in the hearts of the people?  Who, if not the Catholic Church?  Does not the Catholic Church, even today, send its missionaries into the remotest areas of the world and among the most primitive people to win them over to civilization, while at the same time winning them over to the cross?  Does not the Catholic Church send her priests even into the most mountainous and poverty-stricken places, where, with little food and privations of every sort, they spend their days in the snow in winter and in inclement weather in summer so as to civilize and sanctify countless unfortunate people and bring them the consolations of heaven?

Yes, it is easy for the Catholic Church to be castigated by people who know the Church only enough to hold her up to contempt.  She always was and always will be the only true teacher of individuals and of nations because her divine Founder made her a teacher here on earth.  She alone has the genius of keeping reason from the most shameful falls.  She alone can ensure that beauty will be the splendid image of truth and holiness.  She alone can bring human beings close to him who, by nature, is infinite Wisdom and Light.  This, in fact, is the goal of all her activities.  Hence, God cries out to us in the words of the Apostle: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light."³²

"Alas for the Church of Rome had she been stricken with immobility"

As a universal and enduring society, the Church has received the power to adapt her laws to the needs of all times and places.  Since the Church has to strictly follow the laws of Divine Providence governing humanity, for whose good she was predestined, it is necessary for her to observe the conditions of people, explore their

needs, and satisfy their requirements within the purview of her mission.  Alas for the Church of Rome if she had been stricken with immobility like the schismatic Church!  From this fact one could draw a splendid proof of her divinity.  The schismatic Church, in fact, changed the unchangeable element, namely the dogmatic one, and remained fixed in the changeable element.  Instead, the Church of Rome has stood firm in the divine element like an indestructible tower.  Nonetheless, she has been able to exhibit a vibrant youthfulness, an exuberant vitality, moving back and forth with the ebb and flow of human generations circumdata varietate (adorned with multi-splendored beauty).³³

"Look up to heaven, suffer and be silent"

We have to be patient and put our trust in God's help alone.  But don't think I'm discouraged.  I'm working indirectly because I don't think it wise to do so directly.  I consider opposition to that party a duty of my ministry.  Nothing will keep me from fulfilling that duty with prudent firmness, quantum Deus dederit, although I've now lost confidence in human beings.  Experience of the world, dear brother of mine, has made me change my mind about many, many things.  I miss those days when, full of enthusiasm, I saw a perfect Church and looked at whatever had to do with the Church through rose-colored glasses.  But changes came; and they, too, have a purpose.  They detach me more and more from the things of this poor world and incline me to the particular program I once mentioned to you.³⁴

Dear bishop, at least for a few weeks, we really need to forget the evils of the present hour.  The Church seems to have turned into a Tower of Babel.  Maybe our present times are among the saddest in the Church's history.  Down there, they see the evil and sometimes deplore it in private.  However, in public, they either do nothing or do

things that seem to encourage the destroyers of the hierarchical order.  Is it human prudence, at least?  Is it weakness?  Is it complicity?  Is it fear of people that makes them cower and cringe?  Only God knows.  What I know is that no well-ordered society would tolerate such dirty tricks or such tricksters.  We really need to look up to heaven, suffer, and be silent.  "If you know how to be silent and suffer, at once and without any doubt you will see the help of the Lord coming down upon you.³⁵

I think the following maxim contains much wisdom: "We should be completely at peace with whatever God allows to happen not only to us but to the Church as well and work on her behalf at God's bidding."³⁶