The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - 10 Things to Know About the Catholic Church

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

What sets the Catholic Church apart? Jeff shares 10 unique facts about the Catholic Church. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 446, 10 things to know about the Catholic Church. Well, thank you for joining me again, my friend. It's good to be with you every week, especially in the times that we're going through in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul

with the shooting at Annunciation School. And that's still going on. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of suffering. There's a lot of fear, particularly with young people, about what has happened in the Twin Cities. And I just want to say on behalf of Ascension, thank you so much for your prayers,

your support, people calling in from all around the world saying, I want to help in some way. And isn't that the body of Christ? I think so. You know, it's really something to be a part of a community like the Catholic Church when tragedy strikes because you realize how connected we are. I think I mentioned to you on a previous show that Annunciation was my parish for three years growing up. and the pastor in enunciation has been my pastor for the last eight years. He's new there.

Teachers, we've known for 25 years and even went to school with our children. And so there's just an awful lot of commonality there. And the issue of the Catholic Church is in the news. It's in the news big time. And so I thought it might be good to start a series that I would call 10 things to know about the Catholic Church. and today I'm going to talk about the Catholic Church in general, but I've got some other shows up ahead where I want to talk about specifics in the Catholic Church that I think might be helpful at a time like this.

And, you know, if you're like me, you might not think about all these various aspects of the church that are so beautiful, so powerful, and it's a good time to talk about them. So today I'd like to talk about 10 things to know about the Catholic Church in general. And as always, if you want the show notes, all you've got to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, and text it to the number 3377. We'll get you on board. So let's take a look at this, shall we? Ten things to know about the Catholic Church. Let's imagine for a moment that somebody comes up to you and says, I heard about enunciation and I know you're Catholic. Tell me, what's different about the Catholic Church? How would you describe yourself as a Catholic? And that's what this list is all about. So I would start off with number one, and that is this. The church, the Catholic church, was founded by Jesus.

That's right. By Jesus in Matthew chapter 16. Upon this rock, I will build my church. And he said that to Peter. And Peter became the first pope, the first leader, the first, if you will, prime minister of the church to receive the keys in the authority. to continue the movement after Jesus ascended. So the church was founded by Jesus. Catholics believe the church isn't just a human organization.

It's not started by some modern person who is good in speech or has money or built a church or is great on social media. That's not the church we're talking about. We're talking about a church that was established by Jesus 2,000 years ago, founded by Jesus, who chose himself, the apostles, to continue his mission. Now, in doing that, he also was thinking about the future. Those apostles would appoint future bishops, and those bishops, future bishops that would keep the church going and keep the church healthy and thriving in the world.

And that's an important thing in distinguishing the Catholic Church from all other churches, is that we know that Jesus founded this church. When we talk about denominations, we're talking about breakoffs of the Catholic Church, whether it be in 1050 AD or the Reformation, Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Number two, we believe that the church is both human and divine. It's both human and divine. And the divine part, Jesus, you know, second person of the Trinity,

but the human part, that's us. You know, that's the flawed people. That's the people that need Jesus. But the church isn't just this super divine organization that doesn't do anything wrong. It's filled with people like me. It's filled with people like you. So the church has this visible, this human side to it. It's made up of people.

It's made up of structures that have been developed through the leading of the Holy Spirit, all the way from the beginning with the leadership. And it has a long history. And that history is filled with some really good things. But it also has some really difficult times in its history. That's nothing new. The Old Testament is filled with it. The New Testament's filled with it.

Your life, your family, your lineage is also that way. You know, just recently I had the opportunity to go deep into my own background in Iowa. where my mother is from, and found out that there was just all kinds of stories in our family history that some are really good. And there's others that are like, wow, that's different. That's the church. And so it has this human side. And it also has this divine side that is led by the Holy Spirit.

And these two go together and work together, the divine with the human. It's a mystery, right? It's a mystery of grace at work through human beings. That's us. That's the church. Do we claim to be perfect in ourselves? No, by no means. But is the teaching of the church perfect?

Yes, it is. That's the divine side. And that's what we rely on. So, number one, the church was founded by Jesus. Number two, the church is both human and divine. Number three, I would say the church is the body of Christ. That's right. As I said, it's not just some kind of human organization. It is the body of Christ. Now, that's not just a

symbolic thing. That's not like, well, we're here representing his teaching, not at all. Jesus talks about us as the body. Paul talks about us as the body. In fact, he describes the church as Christ's body in 1st Corinthians chapter 12. And I'll give you this in the notes. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 through 27. The church is Christ's body with Jesus as the head and believers as the members. In fact, Paul even talks about all the various aspects of the members of the body and how we each have different roles and different charisms, but together collectively we are the body of Christ. And this means that Christians are absolutely united with Jesus Christ and with

each other. That's an important point. It's not an average church on the corner. We're saying come join us. We've got a great program over here. No, the church is the body of Christ. And when I'm speaking of this, I am speaking of the Catholic Church. And of course, we have separated brethren who broke away, and we consider them brothers and sisters as well. So I think it's important to think of the church as the body of Christ. As the head goes, the body goes. As the head thinks, the body thinks. The mission of the head is the mission of the body. Pause there for a moment. It's a good thing to think about. Are you in sync with the head? Number four, the church is the people of God. Vatican II emphasized that the church is not just some higher

hierarchy. It's not just clergy or religious, but the church is the people of God. It's all baptized people. And every single one of these baptized people is called to holiness, to be distinct, to be separate, to be noticed as different, reflecting the will of God and the family of God, and in mission as well. So the church is, the people of God. It's not just hierarchy. It's all of us. I am the people of God. You are the people of God. Number five, I would say that the Pope and the bishops lead the church. While we are the people of God, every single one of us, we do have leadership in the church. And you can read about this in Matthew chapter 16, where we see that Peter receives the keys to the kingdom.

Now, in the Old Testament, there was a position called the Alhabait, the prime minister, the one who's over the household. And that one who is over the household is the one who has the keys to the kingdom, Isaiah 22. This is not disputed. This is not something that we would argue. That's it. Isaiah 22, the al-habait, the prime minister, the one who's over the kingdom in the Old Testament, that's the one with the keys. And in the New Testament, we see in Matthew that Jesus gave the keys to Peter. He gave the keys to Peter, making him the first leader, the first al-habait, the one who's over the household.

So when we talk about the pope, we mean the bishop of Rome. And he's the successor of St. Peter, given a special role. of unity and teaching. And all the bishops around the world are in union with him, the shepherd of the church. And that means that Pope Leo is the leader.

He is the Pope. And perhaps in the future, I'll do 10 things to know about the Pope. But he is the leader. Now, this is a real grace. This is a real blessing for us to know that Jesus, prior to ascending, to the right hand of the father, gave the keys to Peter, and set up in perpetuity, as long as history here on earth

goes on, we have leadership, and that leadership is for your benefit. We are not simply listening to what some person thinks or what they are studying themselves. We are a part of a longstanding church with leadership that pays attention to all that Jesus revealed and has been passed on to us. all the way to it today. Number, let's do this. That's five of them so far. Let's take a break. When we come back,

I'll come back with six through ten, and we will take a look at those. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. We can't lose our faith the way we lose our car keys. We either give it away or we let it decay because we don't use it. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. And in my new book, Unshakeable, building a life of virtue in a world of chaos,

I tell faith-filled stories that inspire you. to live a life of virtue that flows from the unshakable power of God. Although we're surrounded by a culture that mocks virtue, we can feed ourselves stories that really do uphold what is good and promote a virtuous life. When we live this way, we experience freedom and joy like never before. It's my prayer that the stories in my book, Unshakeable, will inspire you to fight the battle for a virtuous life and win through trust in an unshakable God. order your copy at ascensionpress.com.

Thank you for coming back. Staying with me. We're talking today about 10 things to know about the Catholic Church. And so far, quite a list. We've got the church was founded by Jesus. The church is both human and divine. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the people of God.

And the Pope and the bishops lead the church. Call that the Magisterium, right? Number six. The church is one holy, Catholic, and apostolic church. That's big, isn't it? One, two, three, four. One holy Catholic apostolic church. We call it the four marks of the church.

It's the four marks of the church. We're one. What does that mean? We're united in faith. We are united in the sacraments. We are one. We share these. We are one holy.

That means we're set apart for God. We're different than the rest of society. and we are different but at the same time we are sinners at times aren't we but the goal is to be completely separate and distinct one holy Catholic that word Catholic means universal it's it's for all people in all places we are members of the universal family of God universal family of God and then apostolic were built on the foundation of the apostles that's what that means with authority passed down through the bishops now this is really important it's really important because it means that that we have some connection to the early church not only

through peter but through what peter passed down and taught and protected and that is the teaching of Jesus. That gives us a sense of certitude. That gives us a sense of foundation, I guess you could say. It's like a foundation, this apostolic tradition that we have. You'll notice that the church doesn't just change here and there. We are believing today what was passed on. And of course, as time goes on, we understand this even in a fuller way. Number seven, is if someone asks you, you know, what is the church? Well, the church is a sacrament. Now, that's not one of the seven sacraments that we normally talk about, but the church is often called a sacrament of salvation. It is a visible sign that makes Christ saving work present

all throughout the world today. We are visible. And when people come in contact with the church, they come in contact with Christ. In fact, you know, in the early church, if you you wanted to become a part of the movement, if you wanted to become a Christian, there was really no such thing, and I mean that, there was no such thing as I made a personal decision myself. It just wasn't there. If you wanted to be a part of the church, you had to find the church. If you wanted to become a follower of Jesus, you had to find the church. If you wanted to become a disciple of Jesus, you had to find the church and the bishop. That's how important this is. That's not the way it is in many churches today.

But it's important right now in our history to bring this point up. The church is a type of sacrament, okay? Number eight, the mission of the church. It's evangelization. That's our mission. The church exists. Why? The church exists to share the gospel.

And the gospel is the good news. And that gospel is that God loves you and has a plan for your life. Sin has disrupted the plan. Jesus died for sin. for your sin. And now he asks you to repent to radically reorient your life to him. He invites you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be baptized. And he invites you to become part of this amazing family. So not only does the church exist to share the gospel, the good news, but also the church exists to share the celebration of the sacraments. And of course, at the center of that is

the Eucharist. And he calls us to share in serving others in their need and to bring people into communion with God. You could say this. You could say that the mission of the church is evangelization and we ourselves are the ambassadors of this message. That is the truth. That's number number eight, number nine, the church is a pilgrim church. We see ourselves as a pilgrim church, a church not perfect in ourselves, yet, not yet, I should say, it's always journeying towards something. It's a pilgrim church, a pilgrim people. And what is it journeying toward? Well, this church, including you and me, is journeying towards holiness. Now, we you go back into the Old Testament and God set his people free from Egyptian bondage, the

book of Leviticus came into play. And the heart of the book of Leviticus was holiness. That's why Jesus and all young boys in the first century, that was the first book they learned. Be holy as I am holy, God said, over and over and over. Be holy as I am holiness. This pilgrim people that we belong to is a journey toward holy. holiness and renewal and the final fulfillment, of course, which is heaven. That's our goal. Pope John Paul II said that all of life is a pilgrimage to the Father's House. So if you meet me on the street, I'm on a pilgrimage. Am I perfect? Hardly. Am I a member of the people of God? Yes. Am I under the leadership of the leaders that Jesus left us with the Holy Father and

the bishops, absolutely, but I'm a pilgrim person. I'm on a pilgrimage. So are you. And number 10, number 10, the church extends beyond earth. Now this is really important because I think a lot of times, you know, we get wrapped up in the things of this world and the troubles that we face and the obstacles we have to overcome. And sometimes people get really discouraged, don't they? But the church needs to know that the church is extending beyond earth. Heaven is our home. Heaven is what we're moving towards. We are eternal beings.

We are not just going to die. And that's the end of it. Right before I recorded this, a couple hours before I recorded this, I got an email from the company that makes the granite stones at cemeteries. and my parents both died in the last year and their markers, the grave markers, have been submitted and it's being built. And the family stone showed up today, showed up today. And I got a picture of it.

I got to tell you, it was like, wow, I've never seen my name. I've never seen the name Cavens on a tombstone before. And that hit me. And I sent it off to my family and they had the same response. I was like, whoa, there's our name on a tombstone. And in the next two weeks, my parents' grave marker will be placed at the cemetery, Chanhassen, Minnesota. And that's a big reminder to me today that the church extends beyond earth. My parents, me, Emily, kids, grandkids, you, our lives and the church extend beyond earth.

Because Catholics believe in what's called the communion of saints, the church on earth in purgatory. and in heaven, and we are all united in Christ. And the one place that we all come together, the one place we all come together is in the Eucharist. And so because the church extends beyond earth, I can say when I go to Mass Sunday, I can say that I'm in communion with my parents, my grandparents, who are with the Lord.

Great comfort in a time like this. And to the people who have been hurt and crushed by the enunciation shooting, this is one of the things that gives us hope, is that all of this extends beyond earth. So in quick review, and this is just a way to encourage you today, the church was founded by Jesus. The church is both human and divine. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the people of God. The pope and the bishops lead the church. Church is one holy, Catholic and apostolic. And the church is a sacrament to the world. And by the way, on that note right there, this is why the religious wear their habits. They are a sign. And then number eight,

the mission of the church is evangelization. Nine, the church is a pilgrim church. It's a pilgrim people. And this wonderful, beautiful body of Christ, the church extends beyond earth into eternity. Only God could create a human being out of dust and blow the spirit into them and cause this speck of dust to live on through out all of eternity. This is an amazing church. I have to tell you, I am proud to be Catholic. I am proud to be a disciple of Jesus. And if somebody asks you what's different with you guys, at a time like this, maybe these 10 things might be a starter in your conversation with others. Please pray for me.

Pray for all of our brothers and sisters in the Twin Cities. I've been saying lately, St. Paul, pray for Minneapolis. Pray for all of us in Minneapolis with what's going on. And I will remember to pray for you. Let's pray right now. the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus. You are marvelous. You are awesome. Your creative powers go beyond our understanding, our imagination. You built this church. And you built it with human stones. And therein lies the problem. Help us, Lord, to become

more perfectly formed to you. Help us to become the church you called us to be. Help us to be a witness in evangelization, a witness among the suffering, a witness among those who are losing hope in the world. We believe that there is a move of the spirit today, Lord, show us our part as we move forward. And we offer up all of our suffering in union with your cross. We pick up our cross today and walk with you and continue to be a witness. in Jesus name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you, my friend.

Make sure you share the show with all of your friends, and I will be back with you next week.