While
reading Robert Bellarmine's catechism, I came across the following where
Bellarmine (both a saint and doctor of the Catholic Church) refutes the
"recognize and resist" position of the SSPX and/or
"cafeteria" Catholicism vis-a-vis the ordinary teaching magisterium
of the Roman Pontiff, something both mainstream "Novus Ordo"
Catholics and Sedevacantists raise against such a position. In a mock dialogue
between a student (“S”) and a teacher (“T”), we read:
S. I ask that you explain this to me word for word and firstly, what
is the Church?
T. The Church is a certain
convocation and gathering of baptized men who profess the same faith and law of
Christ under obedience to the Roman Pontiff. It is called a convocation because
we are not born Christians (like we are born either as Italians, or Frenchmen,
or of some other nation). We are called by God, and entered this congregation
by Baptism, which is like a door of the Church. Still, Baptism alone does not
suffice for us to be in the Church; rather, it is necessary to believe and
profess the holy faith and law of Christ just as the pastors and preachers of the
Church propose. Furthermore, this alone does not suffice, but it is also necessary
for us to be in obedience to the Roman Pontiff as the Vicar of Christ, which is
to hold him and recognize him as Supreme Head in place of Christ.
S. Seeing that the Church is a congregation of men, why are those
buildings in which the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the other Divine
Offices are carried out called “Churches”?
T. This is because the faithful, who
are the true Church, are gathered in those buildings to carry out Christian
exercises; for that reason they are also called Churches, especially when they
are also called Churches, especially when they are dedicated and consecrated by
divine worship. Moreover, we do not speak in that part of the Apostle’s Creed
on Churches made from stone and wood, but about the living Church, such as the
faithful, the baptized and those constituted from the obedience to the Roman Pontiff,
as we already said. (Robert Bellarmine, Doctrina
Christiana: The Timeless Catechism of St. Robert Bellarmine [trans. Ryan
Grant; Mediatrix Press, 2016], 47-48)
