Ecclesiology-The-Church's-regal office-Catholic-Social-Teaching-RCIA-2012)

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Ecclesiology - Governing and Social Teaching (Dimensions of Social Teaching, Ecumenism)

Opening Prayer

Father, you called your people to be your Church. As we gather together in your name, may we love, honor and follow you to eternal life in the kingdom you promise. (Prayer for the Dedication of a Church, LOH, vol III, 1596)

references/sources

Content

The Pastoral Structure of the Church

  • "The Church is directed by pastors commissioned and empowered to act in the name of Christ by Jesus himself"
  • This structure is adumbrated already in the primitive community of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was not an elected leader; he came as one sent by the heavenly father to speak with "authority" and to act with power as his disciples acknowledged. This original association, of Jesus and his disciples, remains the paradigm for the Church ever since.
  • The Apostles
    • Jesus gave them the name apostle (literally, "one who is sent") "As the Father has sent me, I also send you" (Jn 20:21)
    • He did not merely urge them he appointed them to preach and teach, and gave them the power to heal the sick and cast out demons. This power and commission were not given to all the disciples but only to the twelve.
    • The link between Jesus and his envoys is so close that he could say, "He who receives you receives me"
  • Development of Authority in the early Church
    • As the Church developed, new forms and structures of authority became necessary. Thus we find the apostles appointing seven (deacons?) to assist them.
    • By the end of the first century, however, the basic form of the Church government was stabilized around three offices: bishop, presbyter (from which the name priest derives), and deacon.
  • Distinguishing clergy from laity - The early church there was a differentiation on the difference between the clergy and the laity. This got to the point where the laity played a mostly passive role.
  • Vatican II "... strongly reaffirmed the dignity and responsibility proper to lay Christians... Its most important documents on this subject are the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.
  • Bishops -The bishop "shepherds the flock entrusted to him.. the bishop shares Christ's triple role of prophet, priest and king.
    • The prophet spoke God's message to the people; he was thus a teacher or preacher, calling men back to the Covenant.
    • The king was not regarded as a mere political figure: he was God's representative, ruling in the name of God.
    • the priest was the head and representative of the community in worship. He was the mediator between God and the people in religious matters.
  • The Teaching Office - Only in matters pertaining to the Gospel, that is faith and morals.
  • The Governing or pastoral office - By his authority, the bishop participates in the royalty of Christ but his role is primarily pastoral.
    • Includes not only administrative but also on the direction of the personal lives of its members.
  • The Priestly Office
  • Papal Primacy - The Bishop of Rome has authority over the others, and who is in his own person the principal sign and instrument of unity in the Church.
    • Peter, head of the apostles "I will give you the keys to the Kingdom" (MT. 16:17-19)
  • Infallibility - infallibility implies that the Church is not just an association of Christians who do their best to follow their Master but that the Master himself supports and strengthens them in this endeavor as He promised to do: "I will be with you always, to the very end of the age (MT. 28:19-20)

Back to basics:

  • Catechism - Part I, The Profession of Faith.
    • Article 9: "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church
      • Paragraph 4 Christ's Faithful - Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life - CCC paragraph 871-945
        • "Among the Christian faithful by divine institution there exist in the Church sacred ministers, who are also called clerics in law, and other Christian faithful who are also called laity." In both groups there are those Christian faithful who, professing the evangelical counsels, are consecrated to God and so serve the Church's saving mission (cf. CIC, can. 207 § 1, 2).
        • To proclaim the faith and to plant his reign, Christ sends his apostles and their successors. He gives them a share in his own mission. From him they receive the power to act in his person.
        • The Lord made St. Peter the visible foundation of his Church. He entrusted the keys of the Church to him. The bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is "head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the universal Church on earth" (CIC, can. 331).
        • The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, "supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls" (CD 2).
        • The Bishops, established by the Holy Spirit, succeed the apostles. They are "the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches" (LG 23).
        • Helped by the priests, their co-workers, and by the deacons, the bishops have the duty of authentically teaching the faith, celebrating divine worship, above all the Eucharist, and guiding their Churches as true pastors. Their responsibility also includes concern for all the Churches, with and under the Pope.
        • "The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world and of secular affairs, lay people are called by God to make of their apostolate, through the vigor of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world" (AA 2 § 2).
        • Lay people share in Christ's priesthood: ever more united with him, they exhibit the grace of Baptism and Confirmation in all dimensions of their personal, family, social, and ecclesial lives, and so fulfill the call to holiness addressed to all the baptized.
        • By virtue of their prophetic mission, lay people "are called . . . to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind" (GS 43 § 4).
        • By virtue of their kingly mission, lay people have the power to uproot the rule of sin within themselves and in the world, by their self-denial and holiness of life (cf. LG 36).
        • The life consecrated to God is characterized by the public profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church.
        • Already destined for him through Baptism, the person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God's service and to the good of the whole Church.
  • The Primacy of Peter and the Unity of the Church - One Lord, who assembled the Church as the new quahal/ecclesia of the People of God and left us his presence in the one Eucharist, which he offered and continues to offer through his representatives, the bishops. (Ratzinger 77-ff)
  • From the beginning, the Church has been a “top down” family, with Jesus at the top… Jesus was not elected by the Apostles, he chose them. Thus, our frame of reference must always be Christ governing his Church.

    The traditional concept of Christ “governing” the Church can never be separated from his identity as the Good Shepherd.

  • So, to maintain the unity of the Church, in and under Christ, the bishops have a responsibility (and authority) to govern the Church in his name.
  • Further – this new quahal/ecclesia is intended for all who accept it.

    There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28)

    thus it must be public, liberated, and accessible to all. Within this universal purview, the Church proposes her teaching as a guide for the governance of all peoples.

    “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (MT. 28:19-20)

  • Finally – The Church’s governing role is part of the governing role of Christ himself, by which he redeems/re-makes the world… restoring the world to the image and likeness of God… his image and likeness. In this way we participate in exercising dominion over all the earth (see. Genesis)

Social Teaching – the “how” of the regal office

  • Began to be enunciated as such in the 20th century by Pope Leo XIII. Just a few examples:
    • Leo XIII
      • Arcanum – on marriage family and the phenom. of divorce
      • Rerum Novarum – on the rights of workers and the dignity of work
    • Pius XI
      • Casti Conubii – the chastity before/in marriage
      • Quadragesimo Anno – on the reconstruction of social order 40 years after Rer. Nov.
    • Paul VI
      • Humanae Vitae – on marriage, human life, abortion, and Contraception
    • John Paul II
      • Centessimus Anno – on the 100th anniversary of Rer. Nov.
      • Evangelium Vitae – on human life issues
      • Laborem Exercens – on the dignity of human work
      • Solicitudo Rei Socialis – on the Church’s Social Teaching
      • Familiaris Consortio – on family life
    • Utilizes universally recognizable natural law reasoning Handout: Wuerl et. al. (ed.). The Gift of Faith. pp. 148-ff.
  • Review handout of introductory texts from The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.
  • Review Compendium Table of Contents for survey of the scope of Social teaching.
  • Provide background information.

An encyclical is a letter from the Holy Father that is a “teaching document.” Its audience is every Catholic and all people of good will. A “social encyclical” applies the consistent, traditional moral teachings of the Church to the social and economic challenges of the current day. For example, the most recent social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was written to address the current economic crisis and other issues facing the world today, and deals with moral aspects of economic life, poverty and development, human rights and duties, environmental responsibility, and other moral and economic issues.

What about the other churches?

  • The Church Fathers highlighted unity as the principal mark of the Church (cf. Ramsey)
    • Unity of faith – and thus of doctrine fed into the bishop’s governing office Faith in Christ demanded an adequate and unified answer to the question, “Who is Christ?” See – Christological controversies of the first five centuries
    • Unity of Love – unified by and in the loving salvific act of Christ. Thus, to violate the unity of the Church was considered a sin against both faith and charity.
  • The other Christian communities are split between three groups:
    • Non-Latin Catholics
    • Eastern Orthodox Churches
    • Western ecclesial communities (protestant reformation)
  • Note: difference between Church and ecclesial community
  • Comment on the development of spiritual ecumenism

Closing Prayer

Praised be to you, Lord, for your holy Church founded on the apostles, where we are gathered together into your community.
Praise be to you, Lord, for the cleansing power of Baptism and Penance that you have entrusted to your apostles, through which we are cleansed of our sins.
(Intercessions from Common of the Apostles, LOH, vol III,1668)

Terms

  • Gloria Dei vivens homo - The glory of God is man fully alive. [1] St. Irenaeus
  • XX

Cultural Applications

Homework for next session

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