Why is the Church Called Mother?

The Catholic Church is sometimes referred to as “Mother.” What does this mean and why is the Church referred to as a female? Through the Holy Spirit, the Church spiritually births us, forms us, teaches us, and accompanies us with love through life’s ups and downs. She walks with us in our life of faith.

Through the sacraments, the Church gives us life, mirroring the role of a mother. Starting with baptism, we are spiritually born into new life with the Holy Trinity. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say:

“Believing is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports, and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother,’ (St. Cyprian),” (181).

Furthermore, the Church models the motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

“The Church indeed, contemplating her hidden sanctity, imitating her charity and faithfully fulfilling the Father's will, by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By her preaching she brings forth to a new and immortal life the sons who are born to her in baptism, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God,” (Lumen Gentium, 64).

So, the role of the Church is critical for us on the Christian journey. The Church calls us to holiness: “She exhorts her children to purification and renewal so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the earth,” (Lumen Gentium, 15).

“Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)