Catholics? is the roman catholic church the only true church of christ?

The RCC maintains it is still Christ's Church even if individual priests do vile things because Augustine explained its 'catholicity' as "the validity of sacramental acts independently of the personal holiness of the minister - the sacramental character." (1) Celibacy is believed by the RCC to be based on sound biblical principles (though it wasn't until the beginning of the 4th century that laws dealing with celibacy are found.) At that time, "Inspired by the desire for total dedication and also to some extent under the influence of dualistic Gnostic tendencies of a Manichaean type, many priests felt bound to discontinue marriage relationships after their ordination." "An effort was made at the First Council of Nicaea (325), but did not meet with success... promises of continence were often demanded of candidates for the priesthood (and their wives) between the 5th and 7th centuries... A historical factor in the promotion of celibacy in the Middle Ages was the problem which had already exercised minds in the 5th and 6th centuries - the effort to prevent the alienation of Church property, which might otherwise pass into the possession of the priest's family. This gave rise in the 12th century to the statutory declaration of the nullity of the marriage of those in major orders." (2) Now, a Catholic has challenged the objection of Protestants, that the RCC claims to be the only true Church, saying it has never made such a claim. I raised my eyebrows at that, and got stuck into the RCC Encyclopedia once more.

This is what I found. "Because the Church was for them salvation itself, ...the Fathers placed comparatively little emphasis on its structure as a universal body... But the Gregorian reform, which was bound up with the critical struggle for freedom between the Church and the world, and also with the breach with the East, brought out the fact that the universal Church is divinely endowed with a supreme ecumenical authority. The Church depends immediately not only on charity, but on the authority and sacred power of the Church of Rome." (3) "One of the fruits of the constitution 'Lumen Gentium' has been a deeper theological understanding of the Church.

Now, in the light of revelation, the Church is recognized as a society of fellowship with God, the sacrament of salvation, the people of God..." (3) But when the article goes on to consider the RCC and "Other Communions", it says this: "However, 'Unitaris Redintegratio' makes it clear that the whole power of the blessings present in the other Churches flows from the fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church (art. 3), and that the separated brethren... do not enjoy that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow upon all whom he has regenerated..." (5) It is somewhat naive of Roman Catholics to protest that 'separated brethren' misunderstand when they claim that the RCC has never said it is the true Church. Clearly, the RCC has stated that any degree of grace and truth enjoyed by 'separated brethren' comes only by virtue of the RCC having such grace and truth in the first place, without which no others can enjoy any degree of grace and truth.

The RCC maintains that in it alone is "the sacrament of salvation". It is God's chosen channel of grace and truth, and no other religious body is! That's perfectly clear.

We do not misunderstand the meaning.

It is sad that so much bigotry regarding the Catholic Church comes from people with so little knowledge of the Bible, the Catholic Church or its traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is the most correct version of Christianity, is the oldest, is the original and was started by Jesus Himself. Are you saying Jesus makes mistakes?

You think God is capable of screwing up? Wow! God doesn't call all people to be Priests and everyone has a different vocation in life.

Not all people who don't become Priests are called to multiply either. It is amazing you know so much more than a church set up two thousand years ago by Jesus Himself. Also, just an FYI, the Bible you use was compiled and most of the books in the New Testament were written by Catholics.

The protestant church actually throws out a bunch of books from the Bible because their man-made rules kind of get all confused and second guessed by those scriptures. Now how true is the church down the block that got started last week by someone with no real background studying the Bible?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.