Roman Catholic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

"The Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical society and the Mystical Body of Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two, Article 9, Paragraph 1, Section III, #779. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church1.html#MYSTERY).      “'The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness.'” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two, Article 9, Paragraph 4, Section III, #914. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church4.html#CONSECRATED).      “THE HIERARCHICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two, Article 9, Paragraph 4, Section I. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church4.html#CONSTITUTION).

"The plain and undeniable fact is that the Seventh-day Adventist church is most assuredly not a ‘congregational’ one (although it contains elements of congregationalism) but is clearly of the...‘hierarchical’ variety." (Neal C. Wilson, Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Reply Brief for Defendants, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR, parentheses in original).      "...the church governs by a method of organization...which embraces exactly, from a legal standpoint, the same kind of organization (in opposition to ‘congregationalism’) as is embraced by the term ‘hierarchical’." (Neal C. Wilson, Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Reply Brief for Defendants, Civil Case #74-2025, p 29, parenthesis in original).      "The Seventh-day Adventist Church is essentially a hierarchical system..." (Bruce Manners, Associate Editor of the Record (the Official Paper of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, South Pacific Division), in the Record, June 23, 1990, p 2).      "The session [55th General Conference Session in 1990] has demonstrated the hierarchial nature of the church's administrative structure." (Gary Krause, Associate Editor of the Record, in the Record, August 4, 1990, p 2).      "...the official hierarchy of the (SDA) church..." (Walter Douglas, chair of the SDA Church History Department at the Andrews University Theological Seminary, in Adventist Review (the Official General Paper of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), Special Edition, October, 1994, p 51).      "...the structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is essentially hierarchical...The pyramid of church organization maintains equilibrium and sustains growth..." (Walter Scragg, President of the South Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, in the Record, June 23, 1990, p 4-5).      "The Seventh-day Adventist Church...maintains ...a hierarchical structure of church authority." (Neal C. Wilson, in the Court Transcript of the United States Secretary of Labor vs Pacific Union Conference and General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, Case CV 75-3032-R, presided over by Judge Manuel L. Real, February 6, 1976).