Church and Dogma

Father Hardon’s writings on Church and dogma explore the authority of the Catholic Church and the importance of doctrinal truth. These articles examine sacred tradition, magisterial teaching, defined dogmas, and the role of the Church in preserving and teaching the faith faithfully.

Christ To Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – V. Definition Of The Catholic Church

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Up to this point, our study of the Catholic Church has been primarily historical and apologetic. We examined the Church from the early beginnings in the Gospel, through the apostolic age and the centuries of persecution, with special emphasis on the Roman primacy as the most important visible bond […]

Christ To Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – VI. The Church As A Visible Body

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Before entering on a dogmatic examination of the Mystical Body, it is well to recall that the Church has given us the analytical principle by which the mysteries of faith can be understood, however dimly, by the aid of divine grace. In treating of the relation of faith and […]

Christ to Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – VII. The Church as the Body of Christ

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. As described in St. Paul and the tradition of the Fathers, the Church is not only a Body, with visible head and members and a juridical structure, it is also the Body of Christ. He bears a relation to the Body which is so intimate that Augustine often equates […]

Christ To Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – VIII. The Church As The Mystical Body Of Christ

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The historical origins of the adjective “Mystical” to describe the Church as the Body of Christ may be traced to the first Apostles Peter and Paul. In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle of the Gentiles urges them to “preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond […]

Christ to Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – IX. Papal Infallibility

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. When papal infallibility was defined by the Vatican Council in 1870, the non-Catholic world reacted with spontaneous hostility. With rare exception, the secular press denounced the definition as “a scheme of spiritual, social and coercive despotism,” which made the pope “temporal ruler of the world, and authorizes him to […]

Christ to Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – X. No Salvation Outside of the Church

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Shortly before his conversion to the Catholic Faith, Cardinal Newman wrote to a friend who was concerned about his rumored change of allegiance from Anglicanism to the Church of Rome. His sentiments offer a graphic insight into the subjective and human side of the doctrine, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. […]

Christ To Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – XI. The Ecumenical Movement

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The term “ecumenical” has a variety of meanings. Its etymology comes from the Greek, oikoumene, which means “the inhabited world.” St. Matthew used the term to describe the prophetic promise of Christ, that “this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a witness to […]

Christ to Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – XII. Principles of Church and State in Historical Perspective

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The question of Church and State and the problems to which their relation has given rise, are as old as Christianity. In a true sense there was no problem of Church and State before the advent of Christ when, for all practical purposes, the public authority was regarded equally […]

Christ to Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – XIII. Cooperation of Church and State in the United States

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The end-point of our study of the Church is her relation to the State in our own country, viewed in the light of the principles already seen and now examined in reference to the United States. There is more than speculative value in this closing analysis. As must be […]

Christ To Catholicism – Part Two: Dogmatic Ecclesiology – XIV. Catholic Estimate Of Church And State In America

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. One final and practical consideration on Church and State relations in America still has to be made. If the attitude of the civil government towards religious bodies was generally cooperative and sometimes concessive to an extreme, what is the attitude of the Catholic Church toward the principles of American […]

Canon Law as Doctrine

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. In my judgment, the most significant feature of the New Code of Canon Law is its clear, extensive and strong doctrinal content. Relative to consecrated life, the New Code leaves no doubt what a life consecrated by vows in the practice of the evangelical counsels is all about. The […]

The Church: Prefigurement and Revelation

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. As we have been doing we will have a master theme: in this case, the Church. And we will look at our subject first from the vantage point of the Old Testament and then from the New. We begin first of all by noting that as sacred scripture views […]

1 2 3 4