Are there other gifts of the Church besides the truths of the faith and the sacraments?

AFC Team

Yes, the other gifts of the Church besides the truths of the faith and the sacraments are the ministries inherited from the Apostles (cf. Q. 140).

St. Peter was Christ’s chief ambassador on earth. The whole Church was entrusted to his care. The Apostles shared their responsibility with others, called bishops. Today the Church continues, through the Pope and its bishops and aided by priests and deacons who are in union with the Holy Father in Rome, to be a community in Christ. They serve people by giving Christ’s saving truth and His divine life to them through grace and the sacraments. The Catholic Church inherited these ministries from the Apostles.

With the powers given to them by Christ, the Apostles were His witnesses in the world. He said to them before ascending into Heaven, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).