Get the Workbook | Facilitator Guide | Thus far in this course, we have talked a lot about how our relationship with God is interpersonal. But if our connection to God is so personal, why do we need a church? Why can our relationship with Jesus not just be one-on-one? In this chapter we will learn all the reasons God wants us to have a religious community sharing common belief, a common ritual and tradition, common worship, and why He has given us all that in the one true Church, the Roman Catholic Church, governed on earth by St. Peter and his successors.

In this episode you will learn that ...

■ We need a Church because the ways we encounter God personally are powerful but difficult to interpret on our own, and because human beings are interpersonal by nature.

■ Jesus founded the Catholic Church during His earthly life and commissioned St. Peter as the one clear head of His Church, whose successors, the popes, He intended to carry on the authority and leadership

of St. Peter for all time.

■ The teaching authority of the Church helps to settle disputes and alleviate potential conflict and confusion with the Body of Christ.

■ Jesus intended for the Church to endure beyond the Apostles.

■ The authority of St. Peter was universally recognized by the early Church.

About Fr Spitzer: Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on May 16, 1952, Fr. Spitzer is a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order and is currently the President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith (magiscenter.com). The Magis Center produces documentaries, books, high school programs, college courses, adult-education programs, and social media materials on the close connection among science, reason, and faith. Fr. Spitzer is also the President, Master of Ceremonies, and speaker at the Napa Institute (napa-institute.org).