The Catholicity of the Church

by Avery Dulles

Avery Dulles, well-known for several previous works in ecclesiology, including Models of the Church , here surveys a theme that demands new treatment in the present global and ecumenical context. Nearly all Christians profess allegiance to the holy catholic church, but the meaning of the term "catholic" is widely disputed. This book investigates the historical use of the word and the various aspects of catholicity. Beginning with the word's divine source in Christ as "the first-born of all creation," Dulles goes on to discuss such topics as the "catholic principle," Catholicism as a specific ecclesial type, and the possibility of a "Protestant Catholicism." He concludes by asking how, given the current "parochial" appearance of Christianity, any Christian church can plausibly claim to be catholic.

Genres: Theology, Catholic, Ecclesiology

199 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Avery Robert Dulles, S.J. (1918-2008) was a Jesuit priest, theologian, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and served as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008. He was an internationally known author and lecturer.

Dulles was born in Auburn, New York, the son of future U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (for whom Washington Dulles International Airport is named) and Janet Pomeroy Avery Dulles. His uncle was Director of Central Intelligence Allen Welsh Dulles. Both his great-grandfather John W. Foster and great-uncle Robert Lansing also served as U.S. Secretary of State.

He received his primary school education in New York City at the St. Bernard's School and attended secondary schools in Switzerland and The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Dulles was raised a Presbyterian but had become an agnostic by the time he began college at Harvard in 1936. His religious doubts were diminished during a personally profound moment when he stepped out into a rainy day and saw a tree beginning to flower along the Charles River; after that moment he never again "doubted the existence of an all-good and omnipotent God." He noted how his theism turned toward conversion to Catholicism: "The more I examined, the more I was impressed with the consistency and sublimity of Catholic doctrine." He converted to Catholicism in the fall of 1940.

After graduating from Harvard College in 1940, he spent a year and a half in Harvard Law School, where he also founded the "St. Benedict Center" (which would become well-known due to the controversial Fr. Leonard Feeney S.J.), before serving in the United States Navy, emerging with the rank of Lieutenant. For his liaison work with the French Navy, he was awarded the French Croix de guerre.