The Church To-day

JOSEPH RA TZINGEREDUARD SCHWEIZERYVES M.-J. CONGAR

CAROLUSYR. PAUWELSALOIS WINKLHOFER

SYNTHESIS SERIES11 " 0·7~W.'~~L ~

1qbf-

Mother Church

According to Augustine, if one considers the position of eachindividual Christian separately, then each and all are seen tobe sons or children of the Church. If however they areconsidered as the community which they form, as that unitaswhose principle is love and the Holy Spirit, then they allexercise a spiritual motherhood in and through this unity:It is they in their unitas who pass a just sentence, who forgivesins, who avail of the power of the keys, because their unity isthe plave where the Holy Spirit lives and works. Augustineadvances very far along the road opened up by tradition. It isnot as if he had anticipated unduly the democratic impetus.Rather does he deal with a theology of the unitas, or withwhat is really the same thing, namely a theology of the HolySpirit. .Such thoughts can also be found in the ages following

Augustine. Texts from Gregory the Greati, from Bedez, andother authors of the early middle ages might be cited. EvenThomas Aquinas could be mentioned, though in this caseindeed the texts occur in a different context. Subsequentlyhowever a decisive change took place. But it is impossible todate this change exactly or even to mention a particularfactor responsible for bringing it about. Yet its spiritualcontext can be defined.This context is the middle ages, more accurately, a point

oftime within the middle ages, when the two 'Powers' rivalledeach other. In the situation of symbiosis of the two com-munities, common in Christendom, the Kings and rulersoften mismanaged Church organization. The Church, inorder to redeem her freedom and also to lay claim to asuperior power over the secular order, proclaimed her dignityas bride of Christ and mother of the faithful. Indeed this title

37

of motherhood did not refer directly to the birth and spiritualformation of true Christians: It was taken primarily todesignate authority: Mater et Magistra, Domina+ Thismovement away from Christian anthropology and existenceto the legal plane of the claim.to authority can be illustratedin many ways. In our opinion it is the most important factorin the evolution of ecclesiological thinking, because itrepresents the dividing-line between an ecclesiology ofpatristic style and spirit and an ecclesiology of the juridicaltype as it actually carne to predominate in recent times,particularly in the formation of theologians.

The Church a Superstructure?

To the Fathers the Church was 'the We of Christianity'.Jerome writes: 'The Church of Christ is nothing else but thesouls of those who believe in Christ'> The juridical ecclesiol-ogy of recent times has practically forgotten the viewpointwhich considers the Church as formed by the faithful; this ithas forgotten in favour of that other aspect which sees thefaithful as formed by the Church. The Church is consideredas the suprapersonal reality which mediates the salvation ofChrist to men. These men are nothing more than her 'prod-ucts'; she is set up over them as a storehouse. Of the twodialectically opposed viewpoints from which the Fatherscontemplated the motherhood of the Church, one has beenexcluded, namely that according to which the faithful areseen as the Church procreating (Bede). When the Churchis no longer considered as formed by the faithful, but is seenchiefly as a mediating institution, then the mission andmotherhood of the Church find their locus in external legalacts, instead of being drawn from her Christian existence oflove and prayer by which her members live. Significantly,missionary activity has been defined as 'planting the Church'.True, this is correct, but as a definition it is very incompleteand canonically one-sided.This juridical mode of thinking brings other results in its

train. One of the most characteristic is the persisting incli-nation in Catholic theology to-day to determine, for everypastoral action, the canonical conditions of validity and the

38

~-I

(.

precise moment in time when this validity has been achieved.A system of doctrinaire obedience?In the past we have been

concerned primarily with the endorsement of the degrees ofauthority, of the juridical degrees of obligation attached tothe various branches of the teaching office, and with theformal conditions for the validity of a statement - and allthis with the whole mechanical ingenuity of a certain ca-suistry: ex cathedra definitions, encyclicals, laws, andrubrics. For pastors, the use of the Denzingers was in constantdanger of reducing theology to a soulless mechanism. Suchprocedure meant that the deepest sources of nourishment forthe spiritual life necessarily suffered without indeed becomingjuridically exhausted. Thus it happened that not only theorysuffered, but also the practice of the Christian life, that is,the sacred liturgy? Actually there was less concern shownabout offering nourishment for a full Christian life - thiswas considered as a 'spirituality' or 'asceticism' separatedfrom the doctrinal presentation of the Christian mystery -than about a system of doctrinaire obedience of a morepolitical than truly religious nature. The contributions ofhuman, though in the strict sense undogmatic thought, suchas philosophy, theatre, poetry, cultural reflection andcontemplation of man's existence - all these have been'sacrificed' as belonging to the domain of the fine arts. (We donot wish, however, to argue this out as 'triumphalist' apolo-getics!). All those things are chiefly the concern of lay people,so we argued. Yet in fact they offer more nourishment to thelife of man than does the activity of the teaching office of theChurch, to which a man merely requires to say 'Yes'!Rubrics or liturgy? In the past, attention has been directed

to questions of validity, of rubrics, the exact moment in timewhen the opus operatum (this was often wrongly understood)of the sacraments was effected. Consequently we have lost thefeeling for the celebration in its totality, which is the deep-seated law of all liturgy and which expresses its inner spirit.The liturgy actually affords us a vast universal nourishment.It is in its essence a synthesis, simultaneously personal andcommunal, hierarchical and popular, rich in doctrine and inart. Here the value of signs is just as important as the precisemoment of their effectiveness. In this matter only one

39

example will be cited, namely that of the forgiveness of sins.A notion prevails, simple but unfortunately too widespread,associating forgiveness exclusively with sacramental abso-lution. Yet this means ignoring a vast number of the mostcertain statements in Catholjc, tradition. According to these,the reception of the Eucharist, forgiveness of injuries, andfinally the total life of love, the whole vita. in Christo, every-thing good that one does becomes a continual source of theforgiveness of venial sins. Reparation for sin is made by thesum total of Christian living in which our fellowmen also areinvolved.

The entire Church at work

We need again to-day a healthy respect for the whole ofthings. The sum total of the liturgy is the Church's celebrationby which Christ effects our salvation. The whole of theChristian's moral life and thought nourishes the Church withits truth. Everywhere the totality is at work, at work throughthe totality of its life. This socialization of activities throughwhich salvation is mediated must be recognized. In thepastoral activity of the Church, above and beyond a certainparticular action or a particular moment in time, the wholelife of the Church is at once the means and the milieu for theaction of Christ. We must come to appreciate once again thewhole fullness of ecclesial mediation, and as a consequencewe shall see the Church in its true dimensions.

Moreover, this will prevent us from a certain discourage-ment when considering this or that particular act and itsmeagre measure of effectiveness: a single sermon, a singleconfession, and even a single Communion. It is the whole, thetotality which acts. Our action is extended through the actionsof the family, through those of many other priests, throughthe countless opportunities which fill in the web of the wholeChristian life. Why shouldn't this truth be absorbed intoecclesiology and especially into pastoral theory?Yet another tendency contributed towards isolating what

should have been presented in the context of the whole. Thistendency consisted in developing the particular kinds ofmediation in themselves and apart from each other. This

40

i.)

seems to be a fatal mistake, if one considers the extra burdenlaid on human reason - in theology as elsewhere - in de-manding that it reach a knowledge of its object throughanalysis; because analysis presupposes that one first of all seethe object in and together with other things, and afterwardsin and for itself.In the early Church, superiors were not cut off from their

communities. This can be shown simply with reference to thethree spheres of office- teaching, priestly, and pastoral. Manyof the letters which come down to us from the early centuriesare writings of the community and of the superior of thecommunity. An example of this is the letter of the Churchesof Rome (Clement) to the Corinthians. Besides, Eusebiustells us that a letter of Dionysius concerning Baptism waswritten 'by him and by the Christians whom he leads - toXystus and the Church of Rome'f As for the liturgicalcelebrations, they are merely completed by the superior of thecommunity'; ancient liturgy knows no '1' which is separatedfrom the communal 'We'. The liturgy is the act of theecclesia in the sense which we have outlined above. Finally,the government is hierarchical and because of this it is com-munal: Cyprian, who can be regarded as a typical exampleof episcopal authority, explains 'that he had made it a rulesince the beginning of his episcopal office to decide nothingwithout the advice of his priests and deacons, nor withoutthe advice of the laity',10 Such examples might be quoted atlength, and supported by a study of elections and evenChurch councils. 'Especially from the eighth century onwards, people began

to minimise the mediation of the people of God and toconcentrate on their privileged status and prerogatives. Thiswas caused by the cultural situation at the time: the peopleno longer understood Latin, and the clergy who possessed themonopoly of culture attained a higher status. At this timetoo, with the accession of Ambrosius Autpertus and, later,Paschasius Radbertus in the West, Mary the mother of Godbegan to be considered in herself and no longer in the econo-my of salvation. The doctrine of her personal privileges wasdeveloped. In ecc1esiology the. same process can be observed.Here, to an even greater extent, attention was directed to the

:J

I)

'I

41

power and privileges of the priesthood, especially in a climateof competition and conflict, then almost endemic, betweenthe clergy and the Pope. History too, in another way,favoured the growth of papal power: one thinks of thevictory over the German Kaisers, the Conciliarist and Galliccrises, the French Revolutio~ and Napoleon, and finallymodern rationalism to which the Church responded with aword of warning and condemnation spoken by the successorof Peter. The Pope, as well as the Blessed Virgin Mary, wasoften set over the Church, between Christ and the Church,and consequently excluded from the community of theChurch.To-day we notice in Mariology, as in ecc1esiology, an in-

clination to restore the function of mediation to the com-munity as such. Nothing is more orthodox and more healthythan this, provided that the privileges of the Blessed Virginand of Peter's successor are seen as coming from above andnot from below, granted by none other than by God himself.U

What does 'Church' mean?

The renewal of pastoral life must begin with a new concept,critical as well as constructive, of the nature of the Churchitself. What exactly do we mean when we use this word? Dowe merely mean the supra-personal reality, the institution inwhich we obtain the means of salvation existing somehowoutside ourselves: doctrine, sacraments, discipline of theChristian life, and ecclesial regulations? Or do we mean thecommunity of Christians, composed of men who go back tothe Gospel and draw others with them?A study of ecclesiology leads us to the conviction that the

whole question revolves around the following three points: -1. What exactly is meant by the word 'Church'? In scholasticLatin one would ask: 'Pro quo supponit ecclesia?'. The word'Church' in the Fathers and in the liturgy means the com-munity of Christians, the We of the baptized. Ecclesiology isa soteriology and a Christian anthropology. For this reasonit best expresses itself in those biblical types who have livedthe mystery of the faith and salvation. It is a soteriologyfounded on baptism and faith. Baptism gives one the name

42

t~T~,~;

,

~

~,

\

of 'faithful', and makes one a member of the priestly,prophetic, and kingly People of God, which is none otherthan the Body of Christ. The terms used by Sacred Scripturewhen speaking of the kingly priesthood are social terms: theyexpress a trait or a dignity applicable to the body of Chris-tians as such, a trait or dignity of a people consecrated to thework of God. This doctrine of the priestly and consecrateddignity of the whole body of the faithful- which again to-dayhas gone to the background of our thinking - is the founda-tion-stone of all we have to say. It can be summarised asfollows: All the faithful, through communion with theirpriests, constitute a single subject of activity through whichthe Body of Christ is built up.2. An ecclesiology of Christian anthropology has given placeto an ecclesiology of supreme power, privileges and rights'of the Church' i.e. of the clergy or the hierarchy. This hasoccurred especially as a result of the Gregorian Reform (lastthirty years of the 11tho century), and of the conflicts betweenthe Papacy and kings or emperors. The modern treatises DeEcclesia which are separately drafted are almost exclusivelytreatises concerning the general right of the people over theexternal form of the Church. We must, in a sense, go backbeyond four centuries of controversy and beyond nearly ninecenturies of legalism - without discounting anything ofvalidity that has been attained - in order to find again themore Catholic and Christ-like modes of thought, those of theFathers, of the liturgy, of the Councils, and of the greatscholastics.3. Obviously there is no question of denying or doubting thehierarchical structure of the Church, nor the objective natureof the means of grace entrusted to the Church. It is merely aquestion of setting these things in their proper perspective.We simply must not consider the hierarchical structure asbeing of primary importance. Instead wemust fix our gaze onthe Christian existence, which may be termed ontology orChristian anthropology. The hierarchical structure will thenreceive its due place in this ontology or Christian anthro-pology and be subservient to it. Is this not in accord withPaul, who writes that the institution of apostles, prophets,evangelists, pastors, and teachers has as its purpose 'that

43

the saints together make a unity in the work of service'(Ep 4 : 12)?This work of service which Paul describes fromthe point of view of the building up of the Body of Christ, isshared with all the 'saints'. It is not reserved for the office,whose precise function it J1 to build up or organise thediaconia.

NOTES

1. For example in: In Evangelia 1., horn. 3, 2 (PL 76, 1086D).2. 'Nam et ecclesia quotidie gignit ecclesiam', Explanatio Apoca-lypsis II. (PL 93, 166D).3. Haymon in: In Apocalypsin, III. (PI 117, 1082A). Quoted byH. de Lubac: Meditation sur l'Eglise, Paris 1963,258.4. This is supported by Pseudo-Dekretalen. Gregory VII oftenspeaks of it (cf. Sentire Ecc/esiam, Freiburg, 1961 203, Anm. 25),as do the Gregorian authors, Anselm of Canterbury (cf. SpicilegiumBeccense, 1., Le Bee and Paris 1959,371 sq.), John of Salisbury, etc.Concerning this read: A. L. Mayer-Pfannholz: Das Bild der MaterEcclesia im Wandel der Geschichte, in Pastor Bonus 53 (1942)33-47; also by the same author: Das Kirchenbild des spatenMittelalters und seine Beziehungen zur Liturgiegeschichte, in:Yom Christlichen Mysterium, Dusseldorf 1951,274-302; 284 sq.5. 'Ecclesia Christi non est alia nisi animae credentium in Christo',Tractatus super Psalmum 86 (Anecdota Maredsolana, III., 2,104-105).6. See: Du bon usage du Denzinger: L'Ami du Clerge 73 (1963) 321-329. (Cf. also: Theologie der Gegenwart 7, (1964), 40 sq., Editors).7. Cf.La Tradition et les traditions, II. ,Essai Theologique, Paris 1963,183 sq.; or La Tradition et la vie de l'Eglise, Paris, 1963, 100 sq.8. Eusebius: Historia Ecclesiastica, VII., 9,6 (G. Bardy in: SourcesChretiennes 41, Paris 1955, 175.9. Justinus: 1. Apologie, 65.10. Epistula XIV, 4 (Bayard). Cf. EpistufaXXXII, 4: 'tractanda... non tantum cum coIlegis meis, sed cum ipsa plebe universa .. .'Cf. Y. Congar: Lay People in the Church, London, 64.11. See: H. Coathalem: Le Parallelisme entre fa Sainte Vierge etL' Eglise dans la tradition latine jusqu' a fa fin du XIle siecle (Ana-iecta Gregoriana 74), Rome 1954. See also the work of the authorin: Sainte Eglise (Unam Sanctam 41), Paris 1963,682-686.

44