This excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains briefly why the Church is one. There is one Triune God, one Word of God, one Savior, one Spirit, and so forth. How can there then be more than one Church?
Non Catholic Christians for the most part also recognize this fact - there is only one Church. However most have given up on visible unity for the present time. Visible unity is impossible to achieve this side of eternity, or so the reasoning goes. So, it is foolish and even spiritually dangerous to try to push for visible unity according to many if not most non Catholic Christian groups.
So, denominations proliferate, each one believing itself to be the closest to what Scripture teaches.
Unity is not a priority at all among non Catholic Christians.
The Catholic Church values unity and works towards both invisible and visible unity. Unity is one of the four marks of the true Church, - as in one holy apostolic and Catholic Church as stated in the Nicene Creed.
This high priority on unity is further evidence that the Catholic Church is the true Church. No other Christian group has worked as hard to restore unity.
Notice that non Catholic Christians, united in true baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit are brothers in Christ. Not very many non Catholic Christian groups consider Catholics to be brothers and sisters in Christ. That is a tragedy. Yes, I used to think that way, so I know.
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I. THE CHURCH IS ONE ⇡
"The sacred mystery of the Church's unity" (UR 2) ⇡
The Church is one because of her source: "the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit."259 The Church is one because of her founder: for "the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, ... restoring the unity of all in one people and one body."260 The Church is one because of her "soul": "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church's unity."261 Unity is of the essence of the Church: What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her "Church."262
Wounds to unity ⇡
In fact, "in this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church — for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame."269 The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body — here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism270 — do not occur without human sin: Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.271
"However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . ... All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."272
"Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth"273 are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements."274 Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him,275 and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."276
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