I LOOKED FOR TRUTH
AND FOUND CHRIST.
I LOOKED FOR HIS CHURCH
AND BECAME CATHOLIC.

While on earth, Jesus taught us how to live, how to pray and how to grow closer to God. He prayed that we might live and worship as one family -- "that they may be ONE as I and the Father are ONE". To ensure that His flock would not scatter, the Good Shepherd gave us a church. He prayed that His church would know unity and visibility [John Chapter 17], a "city on a hill" for all to see [Matthew 5:14-16] - not an "invisible body of believers" with a myriad of beliefs and practices.
In Matthew, Chapter 16, we can see Jesus establishing this church with Peter at the helm. With the original 12 Apostles, Christ initiated a priesthood the Bible teaches would last -- a line that would continue "until the end of the age". As the first Bishop of Rome, Peter became the first of many "popes" - men entrusted to guide and keep
.




.
.
.
.
unified the church on earth -- a divine institution given full power and authority by Jesus to carry on His mission of redemption.

Where is this church?

By the Grace of God she is alive and well! Although having endured countless challenges (many from within her ranks), only one church has pointed souls toward salvation for nearly 2,000 years. Created by Jesus rather than man, endowed with His singular authority and unencumbered by any political or ethnic allegiance, one church alone remains visible, doctrinally consistent and liturgically universal. No other institution can claim such purpose or permanence. In this age of religious conflict and moral confusion, the world needs to see Christians as ONE family united by the true teachings of Christ as handed on by the Apostles -- in other words, as Catholics.

WHAT DID YOUR CHRISTIAN ANCESTORS BELIEVE AND HOW DID THEY WORSHIP?

Having delved into Christian history and more specifically the works of the Church Fathers (those closest in time and practice to the Apostles), this Baptist boy discovered that the early church looked more than a little Catholic. In fact, our Christian ancestors attended Mass celebrated by ordained bishops, priests and deacons [John 20:21-23; Acts 6:3-7]. At these gatherings, the faithful would partake of the Blessed Sacrament (Holy Communion) believing that the bread, once consecrated BECOMES the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus [Jn 6:32-58; 1 Cor 11:26-30]. In addition, I found that true Christians of the first
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
centuries celebrated the sacraments, understood the necessity of a "saving baptism" [Jn 3:5; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21], acknowledged "apostolic succession" as essential to the handing on of Christ's authority through time from bishop to bishop [Acts 1:15-26; Mt 28:18-20; 1 Tim 4:14], honored the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome (the Chair of Peter - "the pope") [Mt 16:18,19] and championed the need for ONE universal church to stand as arbiter and guardian of ONE truth [1 Tim 3:15; Mt 18:17-18, Jn 17:20-23].

And this church was indeed called "CATHOLIC". [Ignatius, AD 110] But this only scratches the surface...

And yet we mustn't look only to the Bible for evidence of these Apostolic (Catholic) Traditions but also to the countless writings of those faithful Christians who LIVED them long before the Bible was assembled (4th century). I have created a series of videos that go into far greater detail than is possible here. I encourage you to investigate. Check the data. Stay objective. Pray -- and you will likely reach the same conclusions I did.

Finding Christ's Holy Catholic Church has been a blessing to me. I pray these presentations will be a blessing to you!

BRIAN (OneCatholic@gmail.com)