DR. DOLLINGER AND THE "OLD CATHOLICS."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 92, 30 January 1875, Page 13

DR. DOLLINGER AND THE "OLD CATHOLICS."

The new sect to which Dr. Dbllinger now belongs have assumed a new name (as is the wont of Schismatics), and call themselves " Old Catholics ; " whereby they profess to hold the truths and teaching of the Catholic Church from the commencement of Christianity, or the Faith of the early Church during the first ages of its existence. From Dr. Dollinger we learn what was the faith of the Primitive Church ; and what (ere he fell) was his own dogmatic teaching on the supremacy of St. Peter, and of the successors in Peter's See. The following extracts are from the 33rd chapter of a treatise by Dr. Dollinger, entitled, " The Commencement of Christianity," the subject of the chapters being, " Of the Primacy" : — "As the Bishop represents and preserves the unity of his Church ; as the metropolitan in the midst of his suffragans is their representative and their centre.; in the same manner the whole building of Catholicism has its key-stone, to serve as the support of all Churches, by maintaining them in'unity of faith and of love. In the same manner as Judaism has its centre and supreme Head, so Christianity has its Sovereign Papacy attached to the See of the successor of St. Peter. Thus placed at the head of the Episcopacy, the Bishop, of Rome became and has remained for the whole of Christendom what the Bishop is for his Diocese, and the Metropolitan for his Province. Jesus Christ in plain words, confided to St. Peter authority over His Church. After having exacted from him a solemn declaration of his faith, He proclaimed him to be the Rock on which He would found the Divine Edifice j and promised to him the Keys of His Kingdom ; that is, the power, which Peter needed for the government of the Church, and the maintenance of religious unity. In the same manner, after having accepted from His apostle an assurance of unbounded love, He established him as Chief Pastor, in these words : 'Feed my lambs,' Feed my sheep' ; or, in other words, all Churches, and the rulers of the Churches. The more the Church was extended and developed its constitution, the more need it had of the power of Peter, and- the more evident became the necessity of a Head for the direction of its members. As the Church has no other limit than time, the dignity granted to the Chief of the Apostles for the maintenance of unity must be transmitted indestructible. It had been created less for him and for the Church of his time than for his successors and the Church of succeeding ages. The three first ages abound in testimonies, which prove, some in the most positive manner, others indirectly, the Primacy of the Roman See. The universality of the Churches has in St. Peter its centre of unity ; that is, the principle of his superiority over all the other apostles. They had all received equal rights from the risen Saviour, but Peter alone was raised above the others, that he might be the representative of unity. Peter left this Prerogative to the Roman See, which has ever smce been the See of Sees ('Cathedra, Locus Petri'), the Church of the Prince of the Apostles, and of her Vicars, invested with the same power as he received from Jesus Christ, and become, as he was, unity incarnate. In the early ages when the Church was chiefly occupied in spreading the faith and founding new churches the action of the Primacy was but little felt; but it became more so as the unity of the Universal Church was attacked j and heresies (always springing up) attempted to bring divisions j within its bosom." Now, nothing can be plainer than the teaching contained in the above extracts, and the whole chapter from which they are taken, respecting the Divine appointment of St. Peter, not only as supreme ruler of the Church, but as its constituted centre for the maintenance of unity. And Dr. Dollinger further declares that the office of Chief Pastor of the Church was created less for St. Peter and the Church of his time than for his successors and the Church of succeeding ages. It is, therefore, an essential part of the economy instituted by Our Lord for the maintenance of the brotherhood of the one family of Jesus Christ. So that a necessity is thereby established of communion with Peter, in order to be in the unity of the Church. And Dr. Dollinger declares in the concluding passages of the chapter, from which the above extracts are taken, that the importance and necessity of the ruling action of the Primacy are most evidenced when the unity of the Church is disturbed by heresy — thus establishing the authority of the Holy See to decide all cases affecting the faith and discipline of the Church, and, by necessary inference, the controversy at present raised, and the schism created by those who call themselves " OldCatholics."—' Tablet.'