1. Apostolic Tradition and Succession
Copy the titles and objectives as normal
Apostolic Tradition and Succession
Understand what is meant by apostolic tradition and apostolic succession
Be able to evaluate the importance of apostolic tradition for Catholics

2. Apostolic Succession
 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
   15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

3. Apostolic succession
The 12 apostles were Jesus’ closest followers. Originally they were described as “Disciples” or students. Later they became the “Apostles” or messengers.
Why did they have to be students before they could be messengers?
Jesus was executed, rose again and returned to his disciples to teach them for a number of weeks. After this short time he told the disciples that they were in charge and to continue to spread the good news. He then ascended directly to heaven.

4. Apostolic Succession
In Matthew’s gospel. What Job did Jesus give to Peter?
Why did he give him this job?
Why could Jesus not do this job himself?
When the disciples died they handed over their roles to new leaders who became known as bishops.
Which disciple do you think the Pope represents?

5. Apostolic Succession
This chain of leaders from the disciples to modern day bishops is called the apostolic succession. It is important because it means that we can trust that the things that the church leaders teach us are the true teachings of God.
What is the Apostolic Succession?
Why do you think the apostolic succession is important to Catholics today? (8)
“The apostolic succession is not really true”
Do you agree? Explain your answer (3)
Why would some people disagree with you? (3)
What do you think about the Apostolic Succession.

6. Apostolic Tradition
How can we be certain that what we learn about Jesus is true?
Catholics learn about Jesus from two sources
Apostolic Tradition
We believe that knowledge that the apostles possessed has been handed down orally from generation to generation to the present day. This is reliable because we believe that the Holy Spirit would not have allowed false teaching to be passed down.
The Gospels in the Bible
The Gospels are books about Jesus’ mission and teachings that can be found in the bible. They were written soon after his death and so Christians believe that they are reliable sources of information. They also believe that the words of the gospels were inspired by the Holy Spirit so they are trustworthy.
What is Apostolic Tradition and why is it considered reliable?
Why do Christians trust the gospels?
Some Christians, called Protestants, only trust one source of information about Jesus. Can you guess which, of the two sources above, they trust?
Make a poster explaining what Apostolic Tradition is to Primary school children