There’s a lot of emphasis on the indicia that mark a denomination of believers as Catholic, even as a Church. Often times it boils down to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the key phrase toward the end of the Creed – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (we Nat’s like to tack on the word “democratic” to the end of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic in our advertising and websites since it gets our point across). While those key constitutive elements, clearly stated in the Creed, tend to be the agreed markers of the Catholic Church, they loose their efficacy as a definitive statement once a believer gets past the lessons taught in his or her catechism class, or gives up on the theological debates among on-line pundits. What then makes us Catholic?
For me, the Polish National Catholic Church’s focus on the sacramental life brings the reality of Catholicism home and does so each week. The three core sacraments of Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist are central to reinforcing believers’ Catholicism; to making it completely real in their lives. The sacraments present Christ over and over in a reality that sets us free, builds us up, and nourishes us. They do this, not as an exercise, not as jumble of words, but in the doing, in the physical markers that impart forgiveness, educate and enlighten, and feed.
The key to Catholicism is its reality. The Catholic sacraments are not an exercise aimed at mimicry, at pretense, some sort of fantasy re-enacting of a thing done long ago. The sacraments aren’t words for debate or recitation. We’re not passing bread and grape juice (I like it, but it isn’t what Jesus drank) for the sake of being good Christian buddies. The Sacraments are, by definition and by faith, the fullness of Catholic reality.
As the priest or bishop gives penance, and stretches out his hand to impart absolution, we are forgiven. That forgiveness is real and is spoken on behalf of God and the community. The slate is clean and we are free from sin. We are as washed as were the disciples that night in the upper room. We are given the grace necessary to bring about amendment in our lives. As the deacon, priest, or bishop proclaims the Gospel, and teaches, our minds are enlightened. We hear Jesus teaching us, Jesus making the Gospel as real today and it was when He walked the earth. The Gospel is applied to our lives, to our community, to our families, work situations, neighborhoods, and conflicts. We are enlightened and filled with the grace necessary to do as Christ would have us do. As the Holy Eucharist is placed on our tongues (by a bishop, priest, or deacon) we receive the fullness of Jesus Christ. His body, blood, soul and divinity enter us. We take Him and eat Him so that we may be more and more like Him. By the grace of that taking and eating we are transformed into the food we have received — His body.
As National Catholics we gather for Holy Mass. At each Holy Mass we receive these three sacraments — Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist. Our Catholicism is made real and present in our lives — a Catholic reality that is ever proportionate to our sacramental life. Not only are we real, but real in the manner Christ desired. We come to the table clean, instructed by His word, and feed on Him.
I am National Catholic because I abhor unreality and pretense. With my whole heart and soul I desire to be washed clean, to be taught, and to be made one with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I desire the fullness of the sacramental life left to us in the Catholic Church. I desire to be Catholic.
Desiring that fullness I found the National Church, the Church where the sacraments are guarded faithfully, where their reality is accepted. I found a Church that will not, and cannot, change them for the sake of fashion or modern day exigencies.
In a recent forum a Roman Catholic writer suggested that the PNCC should have gone the way of Utrecht, or that it should admit (formerly) Episcopalian/Anglican/etc. priests to Holy Orders. These are obviously the thoughts of someone who thinks the National Church can just go about doing whatever it pleases; one who is confused by the Catholicism of the PNCC — ‘How can you be Catholic if the Pope doesn’t guide you?’ To that writer I would say: The way others have gone is the path away from the Catholic faith. Those who do such things envision a church with all the modern conveniences, modeled on themselves and their interpretations, rather than the Catholic reality of sacraments given us by Jesus Christ. The question the National Church asks, when it comes to the sacraments, when it comes to Orders, when it comes to a believer’s acceptance of the Catholic faith is: “Do you hold the Catholic faith in this regard?” If you hold the Catholic faith, if you are Catholic, then be National Catholic. If you do not hold the Catholic faith, if you only wish to remain where you are, only under a proper Church for the sake of externals, then God bless you, fare thee well, seek Him where you might find Him. Our Lord instructed:
“Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 7:21.
The sacraments are our guide posts and our strength along the path to doing the will of the Father. I am National Catholic because the sacraments ground me and guide me in my Catholicism. They are the reality of Christ in my life, touching my life, healing my life, regenerating my life, bringing me home to eternal life with Him in heaven.
