By Joel Padgett, Connecting Creed and Life
Editor’s note: For 2025, the weekly Connecting Faith and Life column will be renamed Connecting Creed and Life. To celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the columns will consist of reflections on the Nicene Creed, corresponding with related paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” (cf. CCC 758-771)
“The Church is essentially human and divine …” (“Sacrosanctum Concilium” 2). Any time that there is a papal election, any time there is a figure upheld as a “living saint,” any time there is a scandal, any time there is a change of pastors, any time there is a miracle, any time there are parish announcements … I wish these words would be a running banner across the forefront of our minds.
Ever since Christ instituted the Church, I believe that it has been a challenge to uphold both of these dimensions in a healthy balance. Yet, how freeing when one does! As with many other aspects of our Catholic faith, the human and divine elements of the Church exist in a “both … and” relationship that is sustained in a delicate sort of tension. If we gravitate toward one or the other extreme, our understanding of the Church becomes warped.
On the one hand, an overly human view of the Church can lead to seeing the Church as primarily a non-governmental organization or a parliamentary assembly. On the other hand, an overly divine view of the Church can lead to all sorts of unfortunate situations rampant with spiritual abuse. A healthy view understands the Church to be — at one and the same time — “a society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ” (“Lumen Gentium” 8). Personally, I think it only makes sense for the Church to be both human and divine. How could it be otherwise if the Church’s head is Jesus Christ — true God and true man — and we are its body?
In some 20-plus years of ministry, I’ve witnessed both the tremendously divine and the tragically human within the Church. I’ve also seen the transcendent hidden within the humble, as well as signs of humanity’s true greatness. All of this is mysteriously bound up within the reality of the Church.
When confronted with some of the horrific actions of members within the Church, it can be a real trial of faith. The fact that the Church — human and divine — is made up of members who are mostly sinners is a hard thing. It can leave one feeling something analogous to what the apostles must have felt at the end of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John, where many of Jesus’ followers simply walked away. It was St. Peter who captured the sentiments of those who remained with Jesus, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Similar to how Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist can only be grasped in faith, the acceptance of the Church’s true identity within God’s plan can only be grasped in faith: “It is only with the eyes of faith that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life” (CCC 770). With eyes of faith, trials can even serve to further purify and strengthen our faith, as well as our love for the Church, all the while recognizing that sin is never justifiable.
All of this has consequences for how we live our lives as members of Christ’s Church. It affects how we view — and speak about — our Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful — whoever they may be and whether we naturally feel inclined to like them or not. “Love one another as I have loved you” (John13:34) is our standard. This side of heaven, the Church is in exile and must pass through great trials as she progresses. It is only in the glory of heaven, where she will receive her full perfection (cf. CCC 769).
Personally, I find it beneficial to intentionally include myself in my thoughts about the Church and her members. It helps me avoid the temptation of categorizing the Church’s members as a sort of “us vs. them.” If the Church were not made up of sinners, I, for one, would have no place within it, and I am so very grateful to God that it is not so. I entrust myself to Christ, knowing that in His Church, nothing — including myself — will ultimately escape his truth, justice, mercy, love and providence … I don’t think that I could ever hope for anything better than that.