It’s a familiar refrain from marginal and non-Catholics: “The Catholic Church has so many teachings that are outdated and out of touch. Do you have to believe all of them?” Implicit in this perception is the assumption that Church teachings are impositions on an individual’s freedom, not revelations from God on how we ought to live. Of course, today the Church’s moral teachings, more than her teachings about God, receive public ire, for our society has forgotten about God and cares only for individual expression. In this climate, it’s fair for even the believing Catholic to ask why the Church has so many teachings.
The many teachings of the Church exist because they all emanate from a single source that is infinite in mystery and majesty: the triune God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The key point is to recall the unity of these teachings in God as, by analogy, all the branches and leaves of a tree are connected to a single trunk.
The teachings of the Church that concern faith and morals cannot change precisely because they come from God whose revelation is definitive and without error. The Church does offer other teachings that are directed toward temporal rather than eternal ends, such as the relationship between Church and State, the moral dimension of the economy, and how to deal with emerging technologies. Since these teachings are not revealed by God, they can change over time.
Sadly, this idea of teachings developing over time is largely lost on our modern secular culture, which, as mentioned, perceives all rules and teachings as restrictive of individual freedom. This perspective is exactly the opposite of how Catholic doctrine should be perceived. The firmness of Catholic doctrine provides solid ground on which we can build our lives; we know this ground will always be stable no matter how stormy the weather above it grows. We are free to build our homes on this ground as we wish, provided we do not violate the ground’s integrity. The same goes for living according to the teachings of the Church: an infinitude of ways to live exists within the parameters of Christ’s teachings. The Church adds that living outside those parameters in sin, despite the seeming allure, brings only sadness and destruction; Christ offered the parable of the prodigal son (see Lk. 15:11–32) to warn us of this reality.
The Church’s teachings are rooted in the Bible. The Bible did not fall from the sky like a meteor containing a code. It is the written record of God’s revelation to the Church, as recorded by members of the Church. The Church, as the recipient of God’s inspired Word, is also its authoritative interpreter according to Jesus, who gave the apostles, and, in turn, their successors the bishops, the authority to make binding decisions that represent God’s will (Mt. 18:18–19; Jn. 16:13).
St. John Henry Newman converted to Catholicism from Anglicanism when he realized that the Church is necessary to safeguard, protect, and interpret the Bible. Without the Church’s divinely established authority, there is no way to resolve disputes over the meaning of the Bible. Hence Newman wrote in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine that it is “common sense” that “some authority there must be if there is a revelation given, and other authority there is none” except the Church.
When the meaning of certain verses or passages is in dispute, the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, gives them official interpretations which are called dogmas. It is important to note that most of the Bible has not received official interpretations. Catholics are free, therefore, to interpret the Bible within the bounds of the deposit of faith, that is, within the parameters of the Church’s perennial teachings. They may do so more profitably, however, with the guidance of the Church Fathers and theologians carefully attuned to the Bible’s spiritual meaning.
The first Psalm describes a man who is blessed as one “whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on His law day and night” (Ps. 1:2). The teachings of the Catholic Church are the law of the Lord. They are God’s gift to enhance our freedom, not restrict it. The more we meditate on His law as expressed in the Church’s teachings, the more deeply we will understand them—and the more deeply we will enter into relationship with their divine author.
Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from a chapter in 100 Tough Questions for Catholics by David Bonagura.
