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OUR SEPARATED BROTHERS AND SISTERS

This is a series of "Sharings From the Pastor"  Rev. Steven M. Lanza from the St Julie Billiart parish bulletin on August 19 & 26 , 2007.

PART ONE
08/19/2007

The Pope himself and many of the Vatican offices were getting ready to enjoy a summer vacation break. They did what many people do before vacation. They cleared their desks. So, one week after releasing his statement lifting most of the previous restrictions on the use of the pre-counciliar Tridentine Mass, Pope Benedict XVI approved the release of a short document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (one of the Roman curial departments within the Vatican).

This document is entitled Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church. You can find the full text of the document on the Vatican website, which is linked through the Archdiocese of Chicago website. Once you are in the English language site for the Vatican, click on: “Doctrine of the Faith, congregation for” and you’ll find the document. (A direct link is at left)

The teaching contained in the document provoked some very critical comments from non-Catholic commentators. They perceived it to denigrate our Protestant brothers and sisters.

There is no new teaching in this document. It simply reaffirms what was taught by the Second Vatican Council.

Firmly Ecumenical in Its Outreach to other Christians

The ecumenical teachings and initiatives of the Council were extraordinary, surprising and fruitful. Prior to the Council (1962 – 1965) what we would most likely hear from a homily or in a Catholic classroom was “outside the Church there is no salvation.” The Council, however, changed that equation.

What was taught by the Council about the nature of the Church and how we viewed the Orthodox Churches, the various Protestant ecclesial communities and the Jewish people were explained in extremely thoughtful and nuanced ways. With regard to our Protestant brothers and sisters, we’re going to look next week at what the Council taught and how the newest Vatican document lines up with that teaching.

What I want to point out in this column is the breath of fresh air which the Council represented in our relationship with the Orthodox and Protestants.

They Were Present

The Second Vatican Council was the first time in modern history that outside observers attended a world-wide gathering of Catholic bishops. In that regard it was revolutionary and pleasantly surprising.

The non-Catholic observers could not speak directly at the gatherings of the bishops, but their presence was a powerful sign of the changing times. They were sought out by many bishops during the breaks to hear what they had to say on the draft of the decree on ecumenism. The Orthodox and Protestant observers were also included as members of the commission which worked on the initial draft of the document and the modifications to it after the floor debates.

This was unprecedented and boded well for both the final document and the years ahead when various official dialogues were opened between the Catholic Church and other Christian groups.

I mention all this to highlight that the recent Vatican document contains no new teaching or no new difference in approach to ecumenism. It simply sought to clarify what the teaching already is and in doing so it used very specific theological language with which some commentators in the press had difficulties.

Next week we continue this, as we take a closer look at exactly what the Council itself actually taught about our Protestant brothers and sisters.


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Part Two
08/26/2007

To understand what we believe about Protestant faith communities, we have to go to two documents produced by the Second Vatican Council. They are the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) and the Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio).

Lumen Gentium —

The first one addressed the question What kind of Church does Jesus Christ want? It affirms that the Church comes from Christ as a gift and its major characteristics are

1. it remains faithful to the teachings of Christ

2. it does so by continuing the witness of the apostles through their successors, the bishops who protect and guarantee fidelity to the apostolic Tradition

3. it celebrates all the sacraments, especially the Eucharist with priests who are validly ordained to act in the name and person of Christ

4. it continues the ministry of St. Peter made present through the Pope who exercises primacy among the bishops and ensures the unity of the Church itself.
    

The Second Vatican Council said that these four characteristics of the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 8). The phrase subsists in was deliberately chosen.

The Council could have said that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. But it did not. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the more nuanced language (2,114 bishops in favor, 11 not in favor, and 63 in favor with some modifications).

The Council went with “subsists in” to imply that some of these saving elements could also be found in the faith communities of our Protestant (and Orthodox) separated brothers and sisters.

Unitatis Redintegratio —

The second one addressed the question How are we to relate to other Christians?

It stated that the Catholic Church intends to go forward carefully, step by step through official dialogue, and seek to reunite with Christian believers who are separated from us. With regard to the Orthodox Churches and Protestant ecclesial communities, it said:

Moreover, some, even very many, of the most significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to him, belong by right to the one Church of Christ. . . . For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church (Decree on Ecumenism, 3).

Why is this Important?

When we say that Christ’s Church subsists in the Catholic Church and that it has the fullness of means for salvation, does this imply that we Catholics are better than other Christians? No. None of this means that Catholics are perfect or that those in leadership don’t make mistakes. If we were perfect or never made mistakes there would have been no Inquisition, no Crusades, and no mistreatment of indigenous peoples in the new world as we went about conversion (and conquest).

The significance of this teaching on the nature of the Church and its ecumenical outreach simply affirms that the means of salvation found in the Catholic Church are a gift, a grace. With every grace comes responsibility. Just to have the gift available doesn’t mean that we have properly received or used it.

Other Christians may use the means they have with great devotion and love and may very well surpass us in their conformity to God’s will.

Humbly Grateful

Can we Catholics be proud and boastful of our religious tradition which is characterized as the “fullness” of the Church? No. We must walk very humbly.

God has given us a great gift in the Church. With fear and trembling, we should receive that gift asking the Lord to help us remain faithful to it. The only thing we have room for in our hearts, attitudes and actions is gratitude and humility.

Does the latest document from the Congregation of the Faith (referred to in last week’s bulletin) serve any good purpose? Perhaps it most helps by making us stop and think about what God has given us, what God wants from us, and what we would want to share with others. It may also help us to understand what we believe actually does matter and makes a difference.