"The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and she draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so becomes Christ's Body. CCC 751- 752 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. Her union with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death. She is our Mother in the order of grace: By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is our model! CCC 963-967

1. DOCTRINAL CLASS
THE CHURCH
Catechism of the Catholic Church
#751+
DR RUTH AFUNWA

2. OUTLINE
• What is the church?
• Features of the church
• Mary, Mother of the church
• The church is everyone’s task: sheep and
shepherd.
• Faith in God but not in his church
• To believe in God and to do good
• The holiness of the church and our vulnerability
as men
• Conclusion

3. What is the church?
• The word "Church" means to "call out of",
convocation or an assembly.
• "The Church" is the People that God gathers in
the whole world. She exists in local
communities and she draws her life from the
word and the Body of Christ and so becomes
Christ's Body. CCC 751- 752

4. Features of the church; people of
God CCC 782, 797
• The People of God is marked by characteristics that
clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic,
political, or cultural groups found in history:
• The church is God’s own: God is not the property of any
one people. But he acquired a people for himself from
those who previously were not a people: a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation.
• One becomes a member of this people not by a physical
birth, but by being "born anew," a birth "of water and
the Spirit," that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.

5. • The church has Christ has its head. Jesus the
Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the
same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the
head into the body, we are "the messianic people."
• The status of the church is that of the dignity
and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts
the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple.
• The law that governs the church is the new
commandment to love as Christ loved us. This
is the "new" law of the Holy Spirit.
• The church is the temple of the Holy Spirit;
The Holy Spirit is "the principle of every vital and
truly saving action in each part of the Body. He
works in many ways to build up the whole Body
in charity, CCC 798

6. Mary, Mother of the church
• Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her
union with Christ and flows directly from it.
• Her union with the Son in the work of salvation is
made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal
conception up to his death.
• After her Son's Ascension, she aided the
beginnings of the Church by her prayers.
• In her association with the apostles and several
women, she implores the gift of the Spirit, who
had already overshadowed her in the
Annunciation.

7. She is our Mother in the order of grace: By
her complete adherence to the Father's will, to
his Son's redemptive work, and to every
prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary
is the Church's model of faith and charity.
Thus she is a "preeminent and unique member of
the Church"; indeed, she is our model! CCC
963-967

8. The church is both visible and
spiritual
• Christ established and ever sustains his holy
Church as a visible organization through which he
communicates truth and grace to all men.
• The Church is at the same time: -a "society
structured with hierarchical organs and the
mystical body of Christ; - the visible society and
the spiritual community. "
• The Church is essentially human and divine,
visible but endowed with invisible realities,
zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation.
The mystery of the church only faith can accept.
CCC 771

9. Faith in God but not in his church
Charisms CCC 799-801
• Charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or
indirectly benefit the Church, ordered to her building
up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world.
• Charisms are to be accepted with gratitude by the
person who receives them and by all members of the
Church as well.
• No charism is exempt from being referred and
submitted to the Church's shepherds.
• The church’s shepherds are not to extinguish the Spirit,
but to test all things and hold fast to what is good, so
that all the diverse and complementary charisms
work together "for the common good."

10. The church is One, Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic CCC 811
• The Church is one because of her source: "the
Trinity of Persons, God, the Father and the Son in the
Holy Spirit. Christ her founder reconciled all men to
God by the cross. CCC 813
• The Church is holy. This is because Christ, the Son
of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as
'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving
himself up for her so as to sanctify her. CCC 823

11. • The church is catholic
• The word "catholic" means "universal," The Church is
catholic in a double sense:
• First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her.
"Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.
• Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent
out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race.
CCC 830-831
• The church is Apostolic; she is founded on the Apostles:
she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the
apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in
pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted
• by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the
Church's supreme pastor – The Pope, CCC 857
• We are all called to evangelize the world from where we are
and through our work.

12. The church is everyone’s task:
sheep and shepherd CCC 882 -886
• The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor,
"is the perpetual and visible source and
foundation of the unity both of 834, 1369 the
bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.
• The college of bishops exercises power over the
universal Church in a solemn manner in an
ecumenical council. This college, composed of
many members, is the expression of the variety
and universality of the People of God; and of the
unity of the flock of Christ, under one head
• The sheep- the people of God (You and I) are the
lay faithful.

13. To believe in God and to do good, CCC 946 -963
• In the Apostles creed, the people of God profess the communion of
saints. The communion of saints is the church. Communion of saints
has two meanings: communion "in holy things (sancta) " and
"among holy persons (sancti)."
• Communion in Spiritual Goods, the disciples "devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread
and the prayers.
• Communion in the faith: Faith is a treasure of life which is
enriched when shared.
• Communion of the sacraments: The fruit of all the sacraments
belongs to all the faithful. The communion of saints must be
understood as the communion of the sacraments
• Communion of charisms: The Holy Spirit "distributes special
graces among the faithful of every rank" for the building up of the
Church and common good.
• Communion in charity: None of us lives to herself, and none of us
dies to herself. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one
member is honored, all rejoice together.

14. The holiness of the church and our
vulnerability as men
• Sin became part of our lives from the time of
Adam and Eve; ever since man has had to
struggle with sin and its consequences. On our
own we can do nothing but only by God grace are
we made holy.
• Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our
vocation of becoming his adopted sons.
Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God."
CCC 2013, 2017, 2021-2024
• In the Way, point 196- Give the body less than
what it desires less it becomes a traitor

15. Conclusion
We have to continue to lean on God’s
grace; through prayer and mortification
so that we remain steadfast, a part of
God’s people - The Church