March 2005

Q.- What does the Catholic Church teach about the rapture?

A.- The Catholic Church has never, in 2000 years, taught or believed in the “rapture”. In fact, Protestant churches, which only emerged in the 1500’s never preached it either. It was unheard of (so much so, that if you search through the Catechism from front to back, you won’t find it anywhere.)

The Rapture is actually a relatively new idea having only been invented in the 1830’s by John Nelson Darby, who founded Dispensationalism. He left the Anglican priesthood to join the Plymouth Brethren, a non-denominational group that denounced mainline Christianity. They practiced strict and literal interpretation of the Bible and engaged in private interpretation of biblical prophecies. It was with them that Darby started to teach that the “true church” would need to be removed from the earth in order to make way for the completion of God’s dealings with the Jews. He called this secret removal of the church the “rapture” and based it largely on St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thes 4:17) where the latin word “raptiere” (which means “to sieze” or “to be caught up”) is used. (although he denounced the latin translation of the Bible!)

Darby created a timeline that divided all of history into 7 “dispensations” or “ages”. According to him, we live in the “Dispensation (or Age) of the Church” which comes between those of the “Gentiles” and the “Kingdom”. It is necessary in his plan that the “church” be removed so the kingdom can come.

Dispensationalism spread through non-denominational groups in America but met with a ton of criticism from the mainline Christian Churches. It finally really caught on in the early 1900’s when Cyrus Scofield, a lawyer (with no theological training of any sort), created a study Bible to explain (and try to prove) the “dispensations.” The only way around the criticism that they were twisting scripture passages out of context was to say that not all of the Bible passages apply to the present moment. According to Dispensationalists, the Bible is not the history of God’s plan of salvation for the whole human race and for all times but rather certain parts are for certain “dispensations”. In other words, some passages are for the Church Age (and no other), some only for the Kingdom Age, some for the Innocence Age, and so on. That way, the scripture that would disprove their ideas could be rendered irrelevant because it didn’t apply to the present “dispensation of the church“. So according to Scofield, the Sermon on the Mount is really for the future “kingdom dispensation” and we should ignore it!! This flies in the face of our belief, as St. Paul writes, that “all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness….” ( 2 Tim 3:16)

Summed up, the Dispensationalist Rapture goes like this: The true believers will be “secretly removed” (raptured) by a “secret coming of Jesus”. No one will see Him but those to be raptured. They hold this coming as distinct from the Second Coming. After this, the Antichrist will rise up and implement the “mark of the beast” during 7 years of Tribulation for the wicked left on earth. At the end of the 7 years there will be the Second Coming of Christ and Armageddon (the great and final battle between good and evil). After the Second Coming, they believe Christ will set up an earthly, physical kingdom in Jerusalem where all the Jews will believe and worship Him and He will re-instate the sacrificial system of the Mosaic covenant (including animal sacrifice in the Temple!). This kingdom will, according to them, literally last 1,000 years, at the end of which Satan will be tossed into a pool of fire.

There have been debates, revisions and changes to the above notion, right up to the present time, as the rapture idea has spread outside of its original Dispensationalist beginnings. Some believe in “pre”-tribulation rapture (as above), some “mid”, some “post”. Some discard the “dispensations” altogether, but still hold onto the “rapture” idea, believing it is a biblically based teaching (never knowing that apart from the Dispensational teachings it simply had never existed before).

As Catholics, we believe in the Second Coming of Christ (often called the Parousia- a Greek word for a “presence” or an “arrival/revealing”), but we do not believe there will be a “secret coming” prior to it. The good will not escape the Tribulation by being secretly “raptured” but, in fact, “before the Second Coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers”. (Catechism #675) “The Church will enter the glory of the Kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in His death and resurrection.” (Catechism #677)

After the tribulation and “final cosmic upheaval of this passing world”, (Catechism #677) the triumph of God will come with the Last Judgment. (Note that the triumph of God is at the end of all time and history – the Great Tribulation is followed by the Last Judgment, not an earthly 1,000 year reign in a Jewish Temple) With the Last Judgment there will be the resurrection of the dead and Christ’s coming in glory to judge all mankind. This is distinct from our particular judgment we receive when we die. The Last Judgment will reveal to everyone else why your eternal destiny is what it is, so that God’s mercy and justice may be known to all.

After the judgment, the blessed will enter, with their glorified bodies, the new heavens and earth prepared for them. The entire cosmos and “visible universe will be transformed, ‘so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just’ sharing their glorification in the Risen Jesus.” (Catechism #1047)

There is no 1,000 year reign in a Jewish Temple with animal sacrifice or anything like that. No escaping for Christians of the final tribulation. No Bible where the passages only apply to certain people at certain times.

This is what happens when people break off from the Church and interpret Scripture and prophecy all by themselves. They can become very lost. And, unfortunately, take others with them. It is even sadder that many who now believe in the Rapture these days think it’s biblically-based when it’s not. They have no idea that it began in the Dispensationalist movement in the 1800’s. They usually haven’t even heard of Dispensationalism.

St. Peter, our first pope, warned the faithful concerning such things, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

(2 Peter 1:20) For the meaning of prophecies is given by the same Spirit who gave the prophecy to begin with and who speaks and moves through the teaching and preaching of the Church.

Interestingly enough, St. Peter also wrote concerning the very same Thessalonian letters of St. Paul that the Dispensationalists try to base the Rapture on. He warns us not to do likewise and dream up false meanings. He writes, “So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this (the end times) as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do other scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15-16)

He goes on to advise, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, BEWARE, lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen”

Recommended reading:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s 668-682, 988-1004, and 1038-1060)

Will Catholics be “Left Behind”? (Carl E. Olson)

The Rapture Trap: a Catholic response to the“End times” fever (Dr. Paul Thigpen)

Q.- Can a bishop just ordain willy-nilly a deacon, priest or another Bishop? What steps are required which he must follow?

A.- A bishop has the authority to ordain those he feels are appropriate to the priesthood and diaconate. It isn’t willy-nilly, though, given the fact that the men must meet certain standards and he (the bishop) must ascertain that they, indeed, have the qualities required.

In the Code of Canon Law you find, “In order to lawfully confer the orders of priesthood or diaconate, it must have been established in accordance with the proofs laid down by law, that in the judgment of the proper Bishop, or competent major Superior, the candidate possesses the requisite qualities, that he is free from any irregularity or impediment and that he has fulfilled the requirements set out in can. 1033-1039. Moreover, the documents mentioned in can.1050 must be to hand, and the investigation mentioned in can. 1051 must have been carried out.” (Canon 1025 paragraph 1)

“It is further required that, in the judgment of the same lawful Superior, the candidate is considered to be beneficial to the ministry.” (Canon 1025 paragraph 2)

Some of the requisite qualities mentioned above are set out in can.1029 as “sound faith, motivated by right intention, endowed with the requisite knowledge, enjoy a good reputation and have moral probity, proven virtue and the other physical and psychological qualities appropriate to the order to be received.”

Typically, the rector of the diocesan seminary is responsible for helping the Bishop to ascertain the qualities of the candidates. The weight of the judgment falls on the bishop, though. It is his responsibility to make sure, as best he can, the appropriateness of the man concerned. All of the seminaries are currently being reviewed by the Holy See to make sure they’re all on the same page with Rome so that a candidates’ formations will be consistent, thorough and orthodox everywhere.

As far as a Bishop consecrating another Bishop, it is never his decision to make. He does so only if the Pope tells him to because the final judgment as to who will be a Bishop belongs solely to the Pope. Names of suitable candidates are brought forward to him by the other bishops but, in the end, it is his final choice.

It is a serious offense if one consecrates another Bishop of his own volition. “Both the Bishop who, without a papal mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.” (Code of Canon Law #1382) In other words an immediate excommunication is incurred by the very act of breaking the law (no trial or judgments need to be made) and the only one who can absolve the excommunication is the Pope himself.

This happened with Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 when he consecrated 4 bishops as part of his schismatic St. Pius Society when he was told explicitly not to do so. They and he were excommunicated.

There are quite a few details as to what kind of man can (or can’t) receive Holy Orders, different requirements, impediments, etc. It’s worthwhile to read the particular sections regarding these
things in the Code of Canon Law. If you can’t get a hold of it (it’s a little pricey) or can’t get online to view it, write back and the details can be spelled out another time.

Recommended reading:

Code of Canon Law (#’s 232-293, 368-430, 1008-1054)

intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_INDEX.HTM (online version)

Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s1536-1600)