The Right of the Church to Give Commandments

Catholics have a duty to obey the commandments of the Church as well as the
commandments of God.

As most of us know, a number of commandments and laws have been made for us by the Church. The Popes and the councils of the Church have defined and formulated injunctions for all the faithful; for cardinals, bishops, priests, religious orders, and for people in every state and condition of life. She possesses a record of a complete constitution and a system of law built up and developed during the many centuries of her existence. It might be too much to expect that every Catholic would study and learn these records by heart, and it would be no small task to go into each clause separately in explain it in detail. For ordinary purposes the commandments of the Church are reducible to the Precepts of the Church, which are necessary for all, and apply both to clergy and laity; they are binding on all, and must be universally known and observed.

In a "Catechism of Christian Doctrine" approved by Cardinal Vaughan and the bishops of England, six Commandments of the Church are enumerated. These are:
1. to keep the Sundays and Holy Days of obligation holy, by hearing Mass and resting from servile work;
2. to keep the days of fasting and abstinence appointed by the Church;
3. to go to confession at least once a year;
4. to receive the Blessed Sacrament at least once a year and that at Easter or thereabouts;
5. to contribute to the support of our pastors;
6. not to marry within a certain degree of kindred nor to solemnize marriage at the forbidden times.

This list is the same as that which the Fathers of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1886) prescribed for the United States. Source.

It is important to answer the questions:
1. Has the Church the right to give commandments?
2. What is the logical outcome of such a right?


1. Has the Church the right to give commandments?
The Church most certainly has the right to give commandments; our reason alone suffices to tell us that. Even placing the Church on the lowest possible footing it must be admitted that it is at all events an organized association, or union, or society, or community; one on a very big scale, and of a very remarkable nature. Now even the smallest association of any kind can not exist without a head and some kind of guidance and direction. If the object be only to meet together and sing, there must be some kind of authoritative organization to determine and say what is to be done. Now the community of the Church, which is so complete and perfect in its union, must of necessity have superiors who hold in their hands the power to give laws and to make rules and regulations. Mere common sense tells us this.

The Church is a real kingdom; that kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's dominion extends beyond all other kingdoms; its origin, rooted in Christ, reaches up to Paradise; founded with the most sublime object, invested with the mission of saving the souls of men, its work is not for this world, though it is in this world. It is for the world to come, for heaven. The head of this kingdom is Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of hosts. Who will deny Him the right of giving commandments or of granting this right to others? It is from Him that the Church receives her power and right of giving commandments. He says "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth."

Mark well: "All power." All power over heavean, all power over earth. Now does not every leader depute others to represent him, investing them with power and authority? This is what our Saviour did: "As the Father sent Me, I also send you" - "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven." - "He who hears you hears Me, and he who despises you despises Me."

What is the meaning of all of this? "I make over to you My power; I depute you to take My place; your laws shall be as binding as though they had been made in heaven; to obey you is to obey Me, to disobey you is to disobey Me."

It is with justice, then, that we are taught that the Church derives her right to give commandments from Jesus Christ Himself, who has commissioned her to guide and govern the faithful in His name.

The Church possessed this power from the beginning; as early as the days of the apostles she held her councils and issued her decrees. St. Paul gave directions regulating the laws of marriage between pagans and Christians, and concerning the fulfillment of the Jewish ordinance, and probably on many other subjects of which we have no account.

2. What is the logical outcome of the Church's right to give commandments?
It has a two-fold result; a result affecting the Church itself, and a result affecting us.

If the Church has the power to give commandments she must also have the power to enforce their observance, and to punish those who transgress them.

If a teacher has the right to impose tasks upon his pupils and exact the performance of them no one would dispute that he must also be entitled to ascertain that these tasks are really performed; nor can the further right to punish the lazy and negligence students be denied him.

If the State has the power to issue laws, then its right to enforce their observance by means of the services of the police, and to punish those who offend against them, follows as a natural consequence.

Laws would be meaningless, the authority of the State would become a mockery, if the right to issue edicts was not backed up by the power to enforce them and to punish those who transgress them; the sword of justice would be blunted, indeed.

A king not only wears a crown on his head, the symbol of the highest authority which alone has the right to command; he also holds in his hand the scepter, the emblem of punitive authority.

The order of things in the Church is the same. The Son of God has given her all power, not only to give commandments, but to watch over their observance and to punish those who disobey them. Priests are punished by being pronounced unworthy or incapable of saying Mass, the further exercise of their sacred office is forbidden them, they are declared unfit for the ministry, and are expelled from the ranks of the clergy.

Rebellious laymen are denied the sacraments and the participation in the Holy Sacrifice. The Church does not recoil when punishment is necessary, but she does not punished too severely, only with drawing that of which the offender has made himself a unworthy, and only punishes for such time as he refuses to amend; she punishes with the object of converting. She has the right to punish and she exercises that right; for this reason, just as a king wields a scepter, St. Peter holds the keys, and a Bishop carries a shepherd staff in his hand.

Out of the right to give commandments arises for the Church also the right to insist on their being observed, and to punish those who disobey them. But for us, too, there is a result. What is it? For us there results the obligation to keep them; if the Church has received this right to give commandments from Christ it follows that if we wish to please Him we must fulfill these commandments. "He that hears you hears Me; he that despises you despises Me."

The matter is clear. In is folly to say: "Yes, we know we must obey the commandments of God, but we are not obliged to obey the commandments of the Church or her Bishops; they are framed to by men, and are merely human inventions; one may be a very good Christian and yet disregard them." It is also gravely sinful to say this or hold this view.

The commandments of the Church are certainly the work of men, but of men who stand at the very head of the Church; God's representatives empowered by Christ to make laws and commandments.

Is it not the duty of a child to obey his parents? Most certainly. Why? Because it is the will of God. Is a citizen not under an obligation to submit to the laws of the State? Certainly. And why? Because of all lawful authority derives its power from God. How, then, can we refuse obedience to the Church, which has been so clearly and expressly charged to make and issue commandments?

Let us, therefore, obey the commandments of the Church. They are neither numerous nor hard to follow; they are framed by a gentle mother, who asks of her children only what is for their good.

All pious and faithful Christians are agreed that it is a grievous sin and a grave matter to disobey deliberately a commandment of the Church or a directive of a Bishop. Love of our Savior, of the Church, of our neighbor, the horror of sin, solicitude for our salvation are the motives which should lead us to keep faithfully the laws wisely made for the kingdom of Christ upon earth.

[Adapted from Popular Sermons on the Catechism, Fr. Humbert Bamberg, Volume 2, Sermon 39, (1914)]