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NATURE, ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH It is common
to speak of the “mystery” of the Church. Mystery in a religious sense
does not imply something closed and inaccessible but rather a reality so
deep that we can always discover more to its meaning without ever
exhausting it. The Church is more than she appears, and the key to
grasping her full reality is faith; “it is only ‘with the eyes of
faith’ [Roman Catechism I, 10, 20] that one can see her in her visible
reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine
life” (CCC 770). The Church is
the fulfillment of the design of God the Father “to raise up men to
share in his own divine life” (Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 2). It is the kingdom of God, which Christ
inaugurates with his Incarnation, manifests with his words and actions,
and whose elements – sacraments, primacy, apostolic college, etc. – he
institutes during his life here on earth. The opening
paragraph of Lumen Gentium says that “the Church, in Christ, is in the
nature of sacrament”; the Church is, in other words, a sign and a means
of grace. The logic of the Church is the logic of the Incarnation, of
which, in her visible, structured institution, she becomes in effect a
sacramental prolongation. Christians
believe that Jesus, God-become-man, is the Savior of mankind: of each
individual person (“there is salvation in no one else” [Acts 4:12]).
How does his saving work reach us? Prayer is the most immediate form of
contact open to everyone, everywhere. Is it possible, outside prayer, for
a person to have real, living, and saving contact with Christ – such,
for instance, as his own contemporaries had? One feels a natural envy for
those who lived in Palestine two thousand years ago, with their
opportunity of meeting Jesus in the flesh, of being taught and healed
directly by him. If only we had been given the privilege of living in his
times; or if he had chosen to be present in ours – so that we, too,
could meet him. We can! Says Pope John Paul II in his encyclical The
Splendor of Truth, Veritatis Splendor: “In order to make this
‘encounter’ with Christ possible, God willed his Church” (7). The
Church “wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to
find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of
life” (John Paul II, The Redeemer of Man, Redemptor Hominis, 13). Jesus Christ
came to save us by his sacrifice on the cross and to lead us, having
become saints, to heaven. He saves and sanctifies us through his teaching
(“I am the way and the truth” [Jn 14:16]); through his sacraments
(“I came that they may have life” [Jn 10:10]; “he who eats me will
live because of me” [Jn 6:57]); and through the expressions of his will
(it is “he who does the will of my Father” who will enter the kingdom
of heaven [Mt 7:21]; “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it
is who loves me” [Jn 14:21]). He has in a very particular way entrusted
his doctrine and sacraments and authority to his Church: “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age”
(Mt 28:18-20). So, the
Church is the continuation of the presence and work of Christ: “The
Church is one with Christ” (CCC 795). Faith in the Church is the natural
consequence of faith in Jesus Christ. One can
distinguish different moments in the founding of the Church. Its first
solemn announcement comes when Peter is chosen to be the rock on which is
laid the Church’s foundation (Mt 16:18): “On the rock of this faith
confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church” (CCC 424). Then there
was the commission given to the body of the Apostles collegially after Our
Lord’s Resurrection: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. . . .
I am with you always” (Mt 28:19-20). And finally, on Pentecost Sunday,
there is the external birth of the Church – beginning to startle the
world with a forceful call to repentance, so as to receive forgiveness and
salvation (Acts 2:1-4; 11; 37-40). Not only this “birth” of the Church
but her continuing life-giving existence is considered to be in a
particular sense the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. CCC 737). “The Church
is . . . the place ‘where the Spirit flourishes’ [St.
Hippolytus, Trad. Ap. 35: SCh 11, 118]” (CCC 749). Mission and
Activity • The work of the Church in spreading the spirit of the Gospel
has always had a powerful effect on human society through the call (the
Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, etc.) to live justice, mutual
understanding, forgiveness, and peace. The promotion of these noble human
purposes is indeed part of her work; yet her mission is at the same time
not political. As Vatican Council II teaches: “Christ did not bequeath
to the Church a mission in the political, economic, or social order; the
purpose he assigned her was a religious one” (Pastoral Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 42; cf. CCC 549) – to
sanctify, teach, and guide people on the way to heaven – though this
religious mission itself, as the Council also points out, is a source of
commitment to foster human community and human rights. In her
identification with Jesus Christ and his Messianic work, the Church
continues his threefold office of priest, prophet, and king. Jesus is
priest (Heb 7-8; 1 Tm 2:5; CCC 1544), he is teacher (which is the root
meaning of prophet), and he is king (cf. Jn 18:36-37; CCC 664). The Church
is similarly characterized as having a triple mission or munus: priestly,
prophetic, and kingly (CCC 888-896). That these
missions are central to understanding the Church is exemplified by the
structure given to the 1983 Code of Canon Law (described by Pope John Paul
II as “the last document of the Second Vatican Council”). In a
complete departure from the previous Code, the new Code configures the
laws of the Church according to the Teaching Mission or Office (Munus
Docendi, Bk. III), the Sanctifying Mission or Office (Munus Sanctificandi,
Bk. IV), and the mission of ruling (Munus Regendi, Bk. II, Pt. II; Bks. VI
and VII). While the
laity do not exercise the triple mission of Christ within the Church with
full ministerial power (for which a special sacramental ordination is
needed [cf. CCC 875]), their peculiar Christ-given mission is in a certain
sense even more challenging. It is – on the basis of their sharing fully
in the universal call to holiness (cf. Lumen Gentium, Ch. V) – to lead,
teach, and sanctify, not the Church but the world, doing so “from
within” (Lumen Gentium, 31). The proper role or mission of the laity is
to make Christ and his saving truth and grace present, known, and
attractive in the world. The Church is
a free community. No one is forced to belong to the Church, even though
she is open – and necessary – to all. One belongs because of God’s
call, but also because of one’s own free response. The Church is a free
community, too, because only within it does one find the fullness of that
Truth which “makes us free” (cf. Jn 8:32). There is a fundamental
equality in this community of redeemed persons, all likewise raised to the
unique status of being children of God (CCC 683). Along with this equal
dignity and vocation within the Church, there is also, as in any society,
a variety of functions. Following the
principle of the Incarnation, the Church is both human and divine. “The
Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical society and the
Mystical Body of Christ. She is one, yet formed of two components, human
and divine. That is her mystery, which only faith can accept” (CCC 779).
The visible structure of the Church consists not so much in buildings as
in persons, institutions, and actions. Authority in
the Church • The Church has a constitution given by her Founder. She is
not a democracy in the sense of being an institution where authority
originates with the people; authority comes, rather, from above. The
Church, by the will of God, is hierarchically structured (CCC 874-896).
Our Lord sent the Apostles to teach and rule (Mt 28:18-20; Lk 10:16).
Along with the Pope, the bishops are the only teachers constituted by
divine right. Their authority comes from God; they are not delegates of
the clergy or the people, nor for that matter of the Pope. But the choice
of each bishop pertains to the Pope. In sum, the authority of bishops is
not unlimited, but its limitations come not from “below,” but from
“above” – from the nature of their mission and office (cf. Mt 16:18,
18:18). Authority in
the Church is both to be exercised and obeyed. In its nature and in the
mode of its exercise, however, it is very different from authority in
secular societies. It is important to note two peculiar characteristics of
Church authority: it is sacred and it is a work of service. It is sacred
precisely inasmuch as it derives directly from Christ, and not through any
democratic commission. “No one can give himself the mandate and the
mission to proclaim the Gospel. The one sent by the Lord does not speak
and act on his own authority, but by virtue of Christ’s authority; not
as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No
one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered. This fact
presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ” (CCC
875). This is why
we speak of “hier-archy,” which, in its Greek origin, means sacred
power – “which is none other than that of Christ” (CCC 1551). It
takes faith to keep the sacredness of authority before one’s mind, just
as, with the Blessed Sacrament, someone lacking faith discerns no more
than the natural substance of bread. Authority in the Church is sacred
also in that it has a special sanctifying effect, when accepted out of
supernatural motives. Authority in
the Church is a work of service (cf. Lumen Gentium, 24; CCC 876). “It is
entirely related to Christ and to men” (CCC 1551). It is first of all
service toward Christ, carrying on his mission. Those in authority in the
Church must obey God before anything or anyone else (cf. Acts 5:29), and
must devote themselves to the fulfillment of his will. Church authority is
also service of the people, facilitating their way to – and their return
to – Christ. Therefore, the structures in the Church are not power
structures, but are geared to diakonia and ministry (both words that
literally mean service). Jesus said of himself that he “came not to be
served but to serve” (Mt 20:28). St. Thomas
Aquinas teaches in his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard that
“although the Church is supported by God’s gift and authority,
nevertheless insofar as it is a gathering of men, in its actions some
element of human imperfection appears that is not divine.” The Apostles,
too, had their defects, which were used by God to sanctify both them and
those in regard to whom they exercised the missions given them by Christ. Although we
have a guarantee that Christ’s truth is behind the solemn exercise of
the Church’s teaching office, it would be a mistake to look for the same
guarantee in relation to the ruling office. Issues of truth are not
normally involved in questions of Church discipline or government (but
issues of justice could be; and Church law provides means for seeking
redress if this is in fact so). The presence
of the Holy Spirit is nevertheless guaranteed to the Church in her
government. This does not imply that each measure of government or
discipline will always be an exercise of perfect prudence. The guarantee
is, rather, that Christ’s will (as distinct, if one wishes, from his
truth) is behind measures of government, when exercised in catholic
communion; and, further, that whoever accepts such measures in faith and
responds to them is in fact doing what God wants (“he who listens to
you, listens to me” [Lk 10:16]). A Means of
Grace • “The gathering together of the Church is, as it were, God’s
reaction to the chaos provoked by sin” (CCC 761). She exists not only to
save us from the dispersion of sin but to gather into one the scattered
children of God (cf. Jn 11:58). She purposes to raise us to the heights of
sanctity, to “the hope of sharing the glory of God” (Rom 5:2) and of
attaining “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).
“United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and
with him she becomes sanctifying,” inasmuch as “no one can bestow
grace on himself; it must be given and offered” (CCC 824, 875). From this it
follows that the natural attitude of a Christian toward the Church should
be one of gratitude and love: for her teaching, guidance, goodness,
richness, sacraments, saints. Our love for the Church should produce in us
an attitude of grateful reverence filled with respect. St. Augustine says:
“Let us love the Lord our God; let us love his Church: the Lord as our
Father, the Church as our Mother.” To engage in
negative criticism of the Church is not natural, just as it is not natural
to criticize one’s mother or one’s family. One prays for the Church;
one is proud of the Church. If we love the Church, we will want to bring
others to her, helping them, if necessary, to overcome the prejudices they
may have acquired. Our love for the Church is precisely a condition for
drawing them to Christ, present in the Church with the fullness of his
saving and sanctifying power.
See:
Apostolic Succession; Canon Law; Church, Membership in; Communio; Holy
Spirit; Infallibility; Jesus Christ, God and Man; Jesus Christ, Life of;
Mystical Body of Christ; People of God. Suggested
Readings: CCC 748-945. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium. C. Burke, Authority and Freedom in the Church. Cormac
Burke Russell
Shaw. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Copyright ©
1997, Our Sunday Visitor.
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