I do not speak here of pagans who have never heard of Our Lord or His holy religion, but of those outside the Church who claim to be good Christians without being members of the Catholic Church.

Lesson 12 ON THE ATTRIBUTES AND MARKS OF THE CHURCH

An attribute is any characteristic or quality that a person or thing may be said to have.  All good qualities are good attributes, and all bad qualities are bad attributes.  All perfections or imperfections are attributes.  If I can say of you that you are good, then goodness is one of your attributes.  If I can say you are beautiful, then beauty is one of your attributes.  We have seen already that the Church has four marks; but besides these it has three attributes, which flow from its marks.  It is easier to see the marks of the Church than its attributes.  It is easier to see, for instance, that the Church is one than that it is indefectible.

122 Q. Which are the attributes of the Church?  A. The attributes of the Church are three:  authority, infallibility, and indefectibility.

123 Q. What do you mean by the authority of the Church?  A. By the authority of the Church I mean the right and power which the Pope and the bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, have to teach and govern the faithful.

Authority is the power which one person has over another, so as to be able to exact obedience.  A teacher has authority over his scholars, because they must obey him; but the teacher need not obey the scholars, because they have no authority over him.  God alone has authority of Himself and from Himself All others who have authority receive it from God, either directly or through someone else.  The Pope has authority from God Himself, and the priests get theirs through their bishops.  Therefore, to resist or disobey lawful authority is to resist and disobey God Himself.  If one of you were placed in charge of the class in my absence, he would have lawful authority, and the rest of you should obey him—­not on account of himself, but on account of the authority he has.  Thus the President of the United States, the governor, the mayor, etc., are only ordinary citizens before their election; but after they have been elected and placed in office they exercise lawful authority over us, and we are bound as good citizens and as good Catholics to respect and obey them.

124 Q. What do you mean by the infallibility of the Church?  A. By the infallibility of the Church I mean that the Church cannot err when it teaches a doctrine of faith or morals.

“Infallibility.”  When we say Church is infallible, we mean that it cannot make a mistake or err in what it teaches; that the Pope, the head of the Church, is infallible when he teaches ex cathedra—­that is, as the successor of St. Peter, the vicar of Christ.  Cathedra signifies a seat, ex stands for “out of”; therefore, ex cathedra means out of the chair or office of St. Peter, because chair is sometimes used for office.  Thus we say the presidential chair is opposed to this or that, when we intend to say the president, or the one in that office, is opposed to it.  The cathedral is the church in which the bishop usually officiates, so called on account of the bishop’s cathedra, or throne, being in it.