The Visible Church
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
The Church is not an idea. She is the Body of Christ alive in the world, in every nation under heaven. (Matthew 5:14)
One reality, visible and spiritual
It is tempting to speak of two churches: a visible institution of buildings and offices, and an invisible communion of grace. The Council refuses the division. The society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ are not two realities, but form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element; the one Church of Christ, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.1
Because she is visible, she can be found. Because she can be found, she can be recorded: where her dioceses lie, where her parish churches stand, where her cathedrals hold the bishop’s chair, and at what hours her altars are served. That is the whole purpose of this work, and the limit of it.
A sign lifted among the nations
The Church is in Christ like a sacrament: a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all men.2 A sign must be seen. The parish church on its corner, the cathedral over its city, the mission chapel at the end of its road: each is the visibility of the Church in one place, and each has its page in this record.
Whoever wishes to see the extent of it may begin with the cathedrals, or with the twenty-four Churches of the communion, or simply by seeking a parish from the front page.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
The prophet Malachi foresaw a sacrifice that would know no borders: from the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to His name, and a pure offering.3 The Church has always heard in these words the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and her liturgy prays them still, asking that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to God’s name.4 The prayer is answered every day. While one city sleeps, the altars of another are lit; at any hour of any day, somewhere on the earth, the Mass is being offered.
So the Church is not only a building with a bell, and she is not in one place more than another. She is everywhere the faithful are gathered to their bishops, and Christ is alive in the world: truly present in the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle of every parish church in this record, from the great cathedral over its city to the mission chapel at the end of its road.