Day 120: The Apostolic Church

"Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops." Hence the Church teaches that "the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ." CCC 862

In today's reading, the Catechism covers the fourth attribute of the Church from the Nicene Creed: it is apostolic. By this, the Creed tells us that the Church was founded by Christ and passed on to the Apostles and their successors. The Catechism Compendium summarizes this like so:

The Church is apostolic in her origin because she has been built on “the foundation of the Apostles” (Ephesians 2:20). She is apostolic in her teaching which is the same as that of the Apostles. She is apostolic by reason of her structure insofar as she is taught, sanctified, and guided until Christ returns by the Apostles through their successors who are the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter. (#174)

The belief in apostolic succession is near-universal in the early Church, like two of my favorites among the Apostolic Fathers:

Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this, they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry.

(Pope St. Clement I, Epistle to the Corinthians 44:1-3, c. 80 A.D.)

Let nothing be done without the bishop. See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop.                                         

(St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 8:1, c. 110 A.D.)

While the bishops are the successors of the Apostles, they are not the same thing. The Apostles were "chosen witnesses of the Lord's Resurrection and so the foundation stones of the Church," which the bishops are not. So even the writings of a saintly bishop like Ignatius of Antioch are not deemed to be divinely inspired Scripture like those of Sts. John or Peter. Yet the bishops who came after the Apostles were given the same authority to govern the Church. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I puts it:

The Church has many invisible realities but also those which are not visible, including the historical fact that Jesus called these twelve men to be the first bishops. This is not just a thing of the past. Jesus gives the apostles' successors that same authority. One of the greatest reasons to join the Catholic Church is its unbroken line of apostolic succession all the way back to Jesus, who commissioned his apostles to go forth and then ordain others to serve after them. (p. 244)

Doors of the altarpiece of St. Eligius by Pere Nunyes, Barcelona, 1526-1529