Indulgences and Purgatory

First of all: what is Purgatory in the first place? Purgatory is when someone iwth the right disposition, i.e. a disposition to God, dies without being in full union with God. Unlike Heaven itself, Purgatory is temporal. That means it has a specific time that you are in Purgatory. Whether that is in days or weeks or months or years is not known by our Earthly souls. However, we do know that it is the stepping stone from Earth, and death, to eternal life in Heaven. This is just what brings us closer to God.
So that brings us to indulgences. One of the huge topics of the Protestant Reformation was that of indulgences. There is an equally huge misunderstanding on what indulgences are. Indulgences aren't forgiveness you can just buy. They aren't permissions you can get to sin in the future. They aren't even anything you really should pay money for. Rather, they are more like suggestions. It's like working out. If you work out with the right disposition and you do it well enough, you will probably lose weight. With indulgences, you don't lose any weight, but you shave off time in Purgatory. This means that your time becoming closer to God is spent on Earth and not after death, meaning after you die you pretty much get some time off your God-therapy.
So how do you get an indulgence? Each bishop has the authority to give out one partial indulgence per year. If you do this indulgence the right way, with the right disposition, you should get some time off of Purgatory. If you don't end up getting some time off Purgatory, it doesn't mean the Church, which is founded and guided by Christ, has no authority. Rather, it means you, the sinful, finite human being, didn't do it right. The Pope has the ability to give one permanent indulgence per year. This means if you do it correctly you get a free pass to heaven. However, this indulgence has to rectify something that occurred in the first place. In order to truly get rid of time on Purgatory, you must remain in a state close to God for the rest of your life. Just as you distance yourself from God in the first place, you can do so again, which means you have to avoid doing that if you truly want to go directly to Heaven.

Apostolicity

The Church's third mark, Apostolicity, perhaps has one of the closest possible links to Christ. Why? It was instituted by Christ himself. Christ instituted Apostolicity via his creating the authority of the Apostles. This means all bishops, as they are the successors of Apostles, have the authority to exercise the full range of Christ's authority. This means the Church always has Christ with them.
A second way the Church is apostolic is through its tradition. The Apostles pass down the Deposit of Faith through their successors. The Deposit of Faith is the one truth given by Christ that can never be changed. What is eternally true then is eternally true now. This is passed through the Apostles, as they are effectively the messengers of Christ.
A third way the Church is Apostolic is the way she defines doctrine. The rules and philosophy of Christ stay the same, but bishops are able to use his authority to define them for each time. Further, these successors of the Apostles are given the authority to be infallible when ex cathedra, and guided by Christ himself. Furthermore, this means that Christ's authority is constantly with the Church. The Church is not merely founded by Christ but is constantly guided by him. This makes the essence of the Church infallible.
Lastly, tradition is passed through Apostolicity. When the Gospels were written, they were a few decades behind Christ himself. This brings into question how they could be accurate. Before written Scripture was created, there was still Sacred Tradition. This means the Apostles passed down Christ's teachings via Apostolic Tradition.

Rites in the Church

Rites in the Chirch are ways to keep ecumenism. They allow the Chirch to be one yet still have distinct traditions and cultures added to the mix. The most common rite is that of the Roman Catholic Church. An example is the Maronite Catholic Church. The Maronitr Chirch, which I am a part of, practices different ceremonies for mass. For instance, there is no separate confirmation. The confirmation in the Maronite Church occurs in conjunction with baptism.

So what makes these rights different in the first place? Other than the examples given above, many of these tired stem from different beliefs after schisms. For instance, the relatively new Episcopal rite is simply a more catholic version of the episcopal belief in Protestantism. They originally had a schism from the Church but now are a part of it, and so have their own rite. Finally, many rites are separated by location. For instance, in the Maronite Church, we were separated from the Roman Catholic Church until the thirteenth century. After that, we were reunited. However, all of that seclusion means a different ceremony developed.

The final question is what keeps these rites Catholic. These rites, while they have different liturgies, still believe in all of the seven sacraments. They defend the same deposit of faith and all practice the same belief. Realistically, the only difference is that of language and liturgy. While all Catholics aren't Roman Catholic, all Catholics are Catholics.

THe Church's Unconventional Authority

Seal of Pope Francis

The Church's authority stems from Christ and from God.  The structure of this authority remains unchanged. It is a structure of passing of authority from one person to another and guidance from God. This has many implications. First, the Church is not a democracy. Second, Bishops and the Pope have Christ's authority when they are ex cathedra. Finally, the Roman Curia serves as a government of sorts.

     Let's begin on the first implication. The Church is not a democracy because the authority is not from the people. The people of the Catholic Church hold no authority in appointing bishops and popes and such. Rather, the authority comes from God. This means that the authority is still best for the people. God knows more than us, as he is infinite, meaning the Catholic Church can make no permanent mistakes in its mission.  Further, unlike even a republic, the Church does not make decisions rationally. While people may talk about one papal candidate being a favorite or another being a front-runner, nobody predicted then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.  He was elected because the way the Church makes its decisions is through prayer.  The members of the conclave prayed on who they ought to make the next pope, and chose Pope Francis. Nobody saw that coming.  Moreover, this means the Church is more effective than a democracy. This can be empirically and analytically proven. While nations like ancient Greece were ruled by the people, they seemed to have infinite prosperity. However, despite their seemed success, they eventually fell. As did the Roman Empire. What hasn't fallen, and never will, is the Catholic Church. People say you would have to be superhuman to guide a nation or congregation of people without failure for two thousand years. While these people say it skeptically, the Church is guided by a superhuman being (God).  Further, the Church has had failures. The Church has had bad popes, bad bishops, and plenty of scandals and corruption. The fact that She still exists today is a testament to the superhuman side of the Church.

    Next we move on to infallibility. Like stated above, God is the authority for the Church. We may think "well how does that work?" The simple answer is that Christ instituted the Church. Christ appointed Peter as the Pope and gave him the keys to the kingdom. He appointed twelve Apostles, and gave them the authority to "bind and loose." Christ passed down his authority to the Apostles and from them to the Bishops, meaning his authority is what guides the Church.  Further, the bishops all can determine doctrine together. The bishops are like the Pope's representatives. They hear his doctrine and make sure it is spread to the rest of the world. Think of the Church as a rock concert setup. The guitar is the Pope. He makes music. The bishops are like speakers. They help bring music to the crowd. The musician plays the guitar(Pope), which makes music (doctrine) and the speakers (bishops) spread it to the crowd (the Church). One crucial question is deliberately left open. Who is the musician? The metaphorical musician's identity is the key to all of this authority. The musician can be seen as God, guiding doctrine and speaking through the Pope. In this way, the Church gains its authority from God, as it is guided by him the way a guitar is guided by a musician.  This means the Church has Christ's authority when everything's hooked up (ex cathedra).

     Finally we come to the Curia. The Curia is like the executive branch of a government. They deal in logistics. Every nation, no matter what its laws or beliefs, must have a court system, a foreign policy objective, an executives cabinet, and a series of committees to keep the government functioning.  The Curia performs these functions. However, the Curia, like the rest of the Church, is different because it is not guided by people. The Curia is guided by God. The Roman Curia is in charge of dealings with other nations, spreading of doctrine, and trials of people within the Church. Like the President has a cabinet, the Pope has his Pontifical Councils, which facilitate him in spreading the word by covering the logistics of things.  They help the Church branch out to accomplish its mission.  The Congregations are like committees: they help to regulate what goes on in the Vatican and in the Papal State.  Then there is the court system, or the tribunals. These tribunals make sure people are not speaking against the Church, and help guarantee the Church is in no way being undermined.  The Secretariat of State performs the same duties as a Secretary of State would in normal countries: they complete foreign policy objectives with other nations. However, there are two important natures key to the state apparatus that the Church lacks.  First is the military. The Church has no offensive military presence. The Pope has some guards, and that's about it. Moreover, the Church does not tax. While one of the precepts of the Church is that we ought to provide for her needs, this doesn't need to be in the form of money. If a local parish requires volunteers to build a building, it is the obligation of the Church's people to do so. In such a way, the Roman Curia is distinct from the government.

     All in all, there is one theme consistent with all three implications: God is the source of Church authority and decision-making. The Church's authority is the same as God's, because God is hte musician playing the metaphorical guitar, meaning he is the one who creates the doctrine taught to the Church's people.  As such, we can see how the Church's authority is summed up by the fact that God holds authority that he passes down to the Church and her officials

Why the Church isn't Rational

Council of Vatican II

During the election of hte Pope, there was a lot of dialogue about how a Pope from the US would be a great Pope. People tried to predict how the conclave would decide on a new pope.  While the theory of picking the best candidate for the job via qualifications works for most positions of responsiblity, it does not work within the Church. Here's why. The cardinals in the conclave didn't think about who to pick. The Church doesn't operate in a totally rational way. It oes much, much better. The Church operates by praying and reflecting. ather than making a decision themselves, they pray to God on how to decide certain solutions to problems. As such, they can acomplish much more than any other institution. They have an infinite pool of knowledge and wisdom to guide them, which means they always make the best decision. The first proof of this is how they are cut off from the outside world. In any other kind of election, current events dictate policy actions. However, with the Church, current events never seemed to matter. Why? Because the Church is guided by God, who is not bound by time. He is eternal, meaning he can make hte bst decision for the long term and the short term. The second, and most compelling, argument as to why hte CHurch determines their leaders through God is the fact they picked then-Cardinal Bergoglio. He was not really a candidate for hte Papacy, let alone a front runer. THe reason nobody saw it coming is because we are finite biengs. We can't see and understand everything that goes on and understand how it impacts the Church, but God can. That's why Bergoglio was chosen. THe Church is guided by God and uses God's will to determine decisions.