Why the Church?

From the Christ who rose to the community He left behind: did He found a Church, and is the Catholic Church that Church?

If Jesus is Lord, a further question follows: did He leave us to interpret His teaching alone, or did He found a visible Church and entrust it with His own authority?

The Catholic claim is that Christ established one Church — visible, hierarchical, and enduring — to guard and hand on what He revealed. This stage walks that claim as an ordered path, one question leading to the next:

• Did Christ found a Church, and give it a teaching office?
• How do we recognize that Church among the many that claim His name?
• What are the marks — one, holy, catholic, apostolic — and where are they found today?
• How is His revelation preserved, and who has authority to interpret it?
• Does the claim survive its hardest objections?
• And finally: where has the whole path led?

Begin below, and follow the path from step to step.