by Jim Sano
Pete said, “I agree with some of that.”
Tom said, “Some is a good start. It became clear to me that I had to really listen to the words Jesus spoke and the actions he took. I had to do the same when I looked at the words and actions of the early Church that was guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to his apostles, ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Holy Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.’ He also said, “I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,’ meaning it will never be destroyed, and never fall away from Him, and will survive under the protection of the Holy Spirit until He returns. Any human organization would’ve collapsed as all others have. Finally, Jesus said his Church would be the ‘light of the world,’ ‘a city on a hill that cannot hide,’ so it would appear to be visible and meet the description in Timothy 3:15 as the ‘pillar and foundation of truth.’
“Now, Pete, say you were a simple fisherman and your name was Simon, and Jesus asked you and your friends who you thought He was. And say you were the only one to reveal the truth to everyone by saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ And then Jesus looks at you and changes your name to Peter, meaning ‘rock,’ saying, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say also to you, that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ What are you thinking at that very moment?”
“I wouldn’t know what to think,” Pete replied.
Tom continued. “But everyone at that time would’ve known. When a king left the kingdom, there was the office of Prime Minister, and the king would give him the keys as a sign of his power and authority until his return.”
“I have never heard that before.”
“Take another look through the New Testament and notice how often Peter’s name is mentioned versus the other apostles and his role in arbitrating early Church matters. You will see that his name is the only name that is changed by Jesus, which always indicated a change in office as part of a covenant.”
“Are you trying to say that I—I mean Peter, was actually the first pope with the authority of Christ until his return?”
“Yes, like the office of the Prime Minister with the keys and authority of the king to arbitrate matters. When Jesus said to Peter, ‘whatever you bind on earth or loose on earth will be bound and loosed in heaven,’ that seems like a pretty important office, and the early Church treated him and his successors as such.”
Andy interrupted. “But you Catholics think the pope is infallible and cannot make mistakes, and yet there have been really bad popes!”
“You’re right!” Tom said. “There have been a handful of awful popes put in office through questionable means. There are probably four to seven seriously bad Popes out of over two hundred and sixty, but don’t confuse infallibility with impeccability. Many popes lived lives of extraordinary holiness as well, but because we are all sinners, Christ promised that His Church would always be the source of truth and always survive even attacks from within. Christ entrusted important work to sinners and gives teaching authority to those sinners. It is also important to remember that infallibility only means that the Holy Spirit makes sure the Church and the pope never teach against the truth in matters of faith. It doesn’t mean that he can’t make mistakes. Even those corrupt popes interestingly never taught contrary to the truth when it came to matters of faith. To put it another way, you don’t leave Jesus or the Church because of Judas.”
David had been sitting quietly, taking it all in, but he was still anxious to know how it all tied to his situation. “So, what do the marks on this paper have to do with it?”
Tom tapped the paper. “In one sense, they give us a sense of the character of the Church. The first mark is that the Church is ‘one.’ The unity of the Church was important to Jesus when he prayed in the garden to his Father, ‘That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may know that you have sent me.’ Jesus had promised at the outset that ‘there would be one flock, one shepherd.’ Paul talked often about the unity of the Church and said, ’Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of one bread.’ Today there are close to 40,000 different churches and each one of them has a different version of the truth with no source of authority to determine who has the correct understanding. I personally found nothing in what Jesus prayed for in the early Church that would point to division and conflict in understanding and teaching Christ’s message. Doesn’t that make you guys wonder at all?”
Andy half-raised his hand. “It does, a little bit, and I agree that we should be more unified if only because it sends a bad message to non-Christians that we can’t even agree on our own faith.”
“Well said,” said Tom, as he moved his finger down the paper. “The next mark is ‘holy.’ That doesn’t mean that all the members are holy because we are all sinners, but it does mean that something is set aside for a special purpose for God and with God as the author. The Church is only holy because it’s Christ’s Church. According to Paul, the Church is the Body of Christ and we are the members in need of his sanctifying grace.”
Tom continued, “And now comes the word that can make my Protestant brethren cringe when they recite the Creed: ‘catholic.’ Notice, it’s a small ‘c.’ The word catholic basically means universal or according to the whole and lacking nothing. I like to think of what Jesus told his apostles when he gave them the Great Commission: ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.’
“And finally, the Church is ‘apostolic.’ Christ founded the Church upon the apostles, saying, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve?’ The question to Protestants is this: Did Christ give the power and authority to the apostles to pass on to others what they had received from Jesus? Peter had referred to Judas as a bishop and there was a process to replace Judas with Matthias with the authority to teach. Paul was given the authority to teach and appoint other bishops, including Titus, with the authority to do the same by laying on of hands. Remember that Jesus gave Peter the power and authority to bind or loose on earth, and he said, ‘He who hears you, hears me.’
“Protestants, and I myself at one time, hold its only scripture that represents an apostolic succession of the truth, but if you really study the early Church fathers and the history of the Church, everything points to Jesus intending people, with the Holy Spirit, to be a source of authority.”
Pete said, “Why don’t you believe scripture has the only authority?”
“Holy Scripture is huge, but tell me this—if the written word was the plan, why would Jesus not have written down everything he wanted to pass on? Why would he focus on teaching the twelve? Why would he build his Church on Peter, a person? If the apostles thought the written word was to be the only source of authority, why would they and the Church not be in a rush to pull together those New Testament scriptures? What would be the rationale for waiting four hundred years to compile the Bible?”
Andy said, “That’s a good question.”
Tom nodded. “Also, how could I trust the Church that believed in an apostolic succession of people, in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacraments, and the authority of the pope? How could I trust that same Church that I had soundly rejected as the one true Church to authoritatively put together the scriptures I thought were the only source of truth? I had to get honest with myself and go back and read what the early Church leaders, from the be
ginning, were saying. I was surprised to read how alike the beliefs and practices of the early Church were to today’s Catholic Church. I was shocked, and I knew I had to make a decision between following the lead of Jesus or what I wanted to believe.”
“I would need to check that out,” Andy said, “but I still think scripture is the only reliable source of the truth and not some men I don’t trust.”
Tom held his hands open like a book. “The interesting thing about the sola scriptura belief is that it is not biblical, and it’s the Bible that calls the Church and not the Bible the ‘pillar and ground of truth.’ Most of the apostles never wrote, and Paul and John often referred to what they said versus what they wrote. Jesus talks about what people hear and not only what a few of them would write. John said all the books in the world could not hold all the teachings of Christ. The Creed didn’t mention the scriptures, and if they were intended to be self-interpreting with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and personal judgment and the only source for truth for individuals, why are there so many interpretations? And why did people have no access to Bibles for 1,500 years? Even Luther himself found out that misinterpretations of the scripture immediately ran rampant, and he quickly declared himself the authority to interpret. Soon after that, there was an explosion of different churches and different interpretations. It wasn’t practical; it wasn’t historical, nor was it biblical. Paul himself said, ‘So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.’ There are several select passages that many Protestants have used to support sola scriptura, but I found these were often out of context or misinterpretations of Greek translations.”
Pete said, “I’ll go back and do some more reading and checking on this, but to me, the Catholic focus on being saved by works rather than faith seems like the most arrogant and power-driven position that disturbs me.”
“It did me as well, but I found that sola fide or salvation through faith alone arguments to be problematic when I tested it with reason, history, and biblical scrutiny. What’s important to note is that the belief in salvation through faith alone did not exist and wasn’t taught anywhere until Martin Luther came up with the idea in the sixteenth century. Martin Luther had some serious and legitimate concerns about things going on by Church officials of his day, no doubt. He also had some personal demons and was tormented by what he described as an angry God of sacrifice, penance, and ‘works, works, works.’ He hated God for this and lived in dread of judgment by God. He taught that Catholic life was a desperate working to make ourselves pleasing to God, which was impossible since one could never do enough to be saved.
“Then Luther read a passage in Paul to the Romans that said, ‘Righteousness of God is revealed. The just shall live by faith.’ Luther saw a way to be free of his personal torment as he saw that righteousness was credited, in a binding, legal way, the moment we believe. He didn’t read Paul in context when addressing the Romans who were caught up in rigidly following Jewish laws. Everywhere else, Paul talks about faith working through love, about the importance of keeping the commandments to remain in God’s love, and that the ‘judgment of God who will repay everyone according to his works.’ Luther went so far as to insert the word ‘alone’ after ‘faith’ in Paul’s letter to the Romans and to remove James entirely from the Bible because James had written, ‘What profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead.’ John writes that no man should add or take away anything from the written scripture, but Luther did.”
Pete frowned. “So, we are back to having to earn your salvation because the sacrifice of Christ wasn’t good enough?”
“Not at all, Pete. This is one of those ‘both/and’ situations and not an ‘either/or.’ The Catholic Church absolutely believes we are saved by Christ’s grace alone, but also through faith and works done for charity and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Heck, if it were faith alone, even Satan believes in God, and Hitler would be in heaven despite any amount of evil he did after he believed. Does that make any rational sense? Can we work our way to heaven? Nope. We are saved by grace alone, but we must accept neither by ‘faith alone’ or ‘works alone’ but by faith that works in charity. As Paul so beautifully said, ‘If I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.’ And Jesus talks about the actions of following his commandments, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting those in prison. The bottom line is that all sacrifice comes from the grace of Christ’s sacrifice. It is only by the grace of that sacrifice as a free gift we could never earn, but we are called to participate in our salvation which we accept through faith and actions of love.”
Pete said, “You are either wearing me out or wearing me down, Tom.”
“Sorry to go on like that. There are so many people who hate what they think the Church is, but I have found few who, once they really know the Church, can still feel the same way.”
Andy put his hands down on the table. “I need to check some of this out, but I appreciate how non-defensive you were, especially about something you seem to care deeply about.”
“Hey, I’m the one who appreciates that you were willing to listen. Most people are so busy countering that they never hear the possibility that something may be different from what they believed it to be.”
Later, standing in the cold outside Dempsey’s, Tom brought his hands up to his mouth to warm them. “Well, David, I’m sorry the conversation got into all of that.”
“I will have to tell you that a lot of what you said just sounds like words to me.”
“I can understand not feeling connected, but if there are things getting in the way that you ever want to talk about, without the crowd, just let me know. The things we’ve been talking about are the things in life that give it meaning and purpose.”
David laughed lightly. “If you know how to do that, you could be a very rich man.”
Tom grinned. “But I am a very rich man.”
They shook hands and headed in opposite directions, towards their respective lives.
Chapter 28
When David arrived home, he felt as if too many issues weighed on him. He didn’t want to think about his brother or father. He couldn’t reconcile his disconnect between how much he enjoyed Tom and what Tom passionately did for a living. He didn’t know how to check in with Jillian after all this time without hurting her more. He was feeling unsettled about Amy and James growing up without really knowing them or helping them to avoid the pitfalls of life. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out how anyone could be getting into his apartment, past the locks, past Trooper, past the security, and under his very nose. And what were these messages all about?
David sank down into his chair and closed his eyes, letting thoughts fly by at a mile a minute. He knew he should’ve put Jimmy’s diary out of sight, but there it was staring him in the face. He wondered if he really knew Jimmy at all as he reached over and picked up the diary and held it on his lap. He knew he should be going to bed but instead read Jimmy’s June entries, scanning them and stopping on the ones that built on what he was beginning to piece together:
June 1: School is officially done for seniors. Halleluiah! I have no desire to go to graduation next week. Should be able to get full-time hours at Dunbar now.
June 7: Dad and Mom take Abbie to the doctors again. Abbie has had problems breathing at times and feeling tired. It looks like a birth defect heart condition called ASD where there is a hole between the chambers, and it is causing pressure in the lungs and less oxygen flow. It looks like the hole has enlarged, and she will need an operation. It will take a lot of money to cover it.
June 10: Graduation. I guess this is official. Yes, I went to graduation. Mom and Dad, Pops and Grammy drove down from Maine, and Nonno and Nonna all came, and they looked proud. They all chipped in and bought me a suit. What am I going to do with a suit except wear it to my funeral someday?
Jimmy wanted to have a great summer that year. He had no idea where he’d be the following year or if he would even be alive. He spent his days working at Dunbar with Tommy C, who was now riding the armored car routes regularly. The days were hot that summer in the metal warehouse and the work was boring, but the evenings and weekends were fun. They spent time at their favorite watering holes, hanging around someone’s porch in Savin Hill, or on the corner near the Styx bar in the North End. Tommy C came to the North End on one July evening for the San Rocco festival. Then they hung around outside of Styx watching the Sox game and shooting the breeze with some of the other guys. Days like that seemed to have a slow, easy rhythm to them and made Jimmy feel like he was part of something in the neighborhood and was no longer a boy.
Jimmy and Tommy C split a pizza and a pitcher of beer at the old-time pizzeria Regina’s on Thatcher Street on the way to the Boston Garden. Jimmy asked Tommy C., “This opportunity that Mo is working on, how comfortable do you feel about it?” Tommy C was chewing his pizza when he said, “I ain’t gonna think about it until he can give us more details. He likes you, so I don’t think he’d get us into anything too bad. It’d be good to make some dough though. I like driving the truck, but the pay is pretty tight, and we are gonna need to create some other cash flow.”
During the summer, it became clear that Abbie would need to have surgery, and that Gianni didn’t have the money to pay for it. Her breathing was okay now, but they noticed changes, which were making Annie anxious, especially when she thought about her sister Marie. Gianni told Annie not to worry and that he’d figure out how to earn enough to cover it with overtime and odd jobs. Annie wasn’t convinced that Gianni’s wages could cover the surgery, so she found a part-time job at a small groceria on Salem Street in the North End. The groceria was a few doors down from the River Styx Bar. Annie liked the owners and got a discount on anything she bought herself; every bit helped.