Jesus Founded one Church and the Catholics

In the Gospel of John, Christ prays “that they may be one.”

The question is not sentimental, but theological and historical: if Jesus Christ established one body of believers, entrusted to the apostles, by what authority does anyone later establish another body with doctrines that contradict the original apostolic teaching?

From the beginning, Christianity understood itself as one. In the Gospel of John, Christ prays “that they may be one.” 

The unity envisioned was not vague spiritual sympathy, but communion in faith, sacrament, and shepherding. The early Church Fathers wrote about one episcopate, one Eucharist, one baptism. Unity was not optional; it was constitutive.

Yet history turned

When Martin Luther challenged abuses in the 16th century, his initial protest was directed at reform, not fragmentation. 

The event later known as the Protestant Reformation began as a call to purify doctrine and practice. But once the principle of private interpretation took center stage, the unintended consequences became visible.

Luther himself lamented the chaos that followed:

 “There are as many sects and beliefs as there are heads... One rejects baptism, another denies the Sacrament, another claims there’s a world between this and Judgment Day... Everyone thinks their own idea is the Holy Spirit whispering to them, and they’re a prophet.”

What began as protest multiplied into division. One group denied baptismal regeneration. Another rejected the real presence in the Eucharist. Others disputed predestination, ecclesial authority, even the canon itself. The centrifugal force of “my interpretation” proved stronger than the centripetal force of visible unity.

Truth, by its nature, does not bend to preference. If truth is objective, it cannot simultaneously affirm mutually exclusive doctrines. If baptism both regenerates and does not regenerate; if the Eucharist is both symbolic and substantially real; if authority lies both in apostolic succession and in individual conscience alone—then coherence dissolves.

Unity, therefore, is not merely institutional neatness. It is theological necessity. A divided body preaching contradictory doctrines cannot fully embody the prayer of Christ for oneness.

The deeper question remains:

Did Christ leave behind a visible, authoritative Church to guard truth across centuries' or a loose federation of interpreters guided individually?

History shows that once unity is severed from authority, fragmentation accelerates. And fragmentation, however sincere, does not resolve contradiction.

Jesus founded one Church

If that claim is true, then the search is not for the church we prefer; but for the Church that endures in continuity of faith, sacrament, and apostolic authority.

Source:  #OneChurch #ChurchHistory #TruthMatters