the church as sacrament
TRANSCRIPT
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The Church
as Sacrament A visible sign…
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Protestant Reformers
(16th century) The Reformers were
inspired by the description of the early church in the New Testament
They worked to renew the church along that model
They recognized abuses that had crept in over the years
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Martin Luther
1483-1546
Martin Luther
distinguished between
the visible church and
the invisible church
He was trying explain
how so much corruption
could be a part of a
divine institution
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Visible Church The visible or
external church was the church recognizable in its institutional structures: canon law, hierarchical offices, sacraments, etc.
That church included saints and sinners
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Invisible Church
On the other hand, there is the invisible
church
The invisible church is the true church and
its membership is known only to God
Only God knows who is a true believer or
disciple
Only God sees into the hearts of people
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A Sharp Distinction
In order to explain the
sinfulness and failures of
the church, the reformers
stressed the contrast
between the visible church
and the invisible church
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Catholic Reaction
(Counter Reformation)
In reaction to this,
Catholic apologists
stressed the unity
between the visible
and invisible.
St. Robert Bellarmine
1542-1621
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Defending the Visible Since it was the visible
structures that were
under attack, they
focused their efforts on
legitimating the
Church’s institutional
structures, often to the
neglect of the
Church’s spiritual
dimension.
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Between Vatican I (1869-70)
and Vatican II (1962-65)
Theologians and church leaders began to think in new ways about the Church.
They began to emphasize that the Church was not only the hierarchy but the whole community of believers.
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New Theologians
In the 1950s and
early 1960s,
several
theologians
began to write
major theological
treatises on the
nature of the
Church.
Yves Congar
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Edward Schillebeeckx
Sacramentality is rooted in the mystery of the incarnation.
Jesus is the visible sign of the presence of God among people.
He is the visible revelation of invisible grace.
This makes him the primordial sacrament.
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The Church itself becomes a
sacrament
With the resurrection
and ascension of Jesus,
the Church becomes
itself a sacrament, the
visible expression of the
grace of Christ made
manifest in the world.
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Karl Rahner taught in a similar
manner
The Church can be called the basic
sacrament only in relation to Christ.
The Church is merely an instrument of
redemption won for all people by Jesus
Christ.
The Church needs to avoid triumphalism
and remember that it is a tool in the hand
of God.
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Vatican II focused on
ecclesiology
“The church, in Christ, is a
sacrament – a sign and
instrument, that is, of
communion with God
and of the entire human
race – … for the benefit of
the faithful and of the
entire world.”
Lumen Gentium, 1
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Quick Facts about Vatican II
Announced by Pope John XXIII on Jan 25, 1959
Four sessions (1962-65)
2540 bishops from all parts of the world participated
Also included observers from other religions and lay Catholic auditors
The council produced 16 documents
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First Document on the Liturgy
The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He achieved His task principally by the paschal mystery of His blessed passions resurrection from the dead, and the glorious ascension, whereby "dying, he destroyed our death, and rising, he restored our life." For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth "the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.” [SC 5]
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Lumen Gentium
God gathered together as
one all those who in faith look
upon Jesus as the author of
salvation and the source of
unity and peace, and
established them as the
Church that for each and all it
may be the visible sacrament
of this saving unity. (LG 9)
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Christ, having been
lifted up from the earth
has drawn all to
Himself. Rising from the
dead He sent His life-
giving Spirit upon His
disciples and through
Him has established His
Body which is the
Church as the universal
sacrament of salvation.
(LG 48)
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Decree on the Missionary
Activity of the Church Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them "a universal sacrament of salvation," the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all people.
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The Church is not only “a universal
sacrament of salvation,” it is also a
sacrament of unity.
“The Church, in Christ, is a kind of
sacrament, that is, sign and instrument of
communion with God and of unity of the
entire human race.” (LG 1)
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Church as Sacrament of Unity
Liturgical services are
not private functions
but are celebrations of
the Church, which is
the “sacrament of
unity,” namely, the
holy people united
and ordered under
their bishops. (SC 26)
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Paul VI defined
sacrament as “a
visible sign of
invisible grace.”
Therefore, if the
Church is a
sacrament, it must
have visible
structures: people,
leaders, rituals,
laws, doctrines,
etc.
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However, the visibility or materiality of the
sacrament, its “outer dimension,” is placed
at the service of the inner dimension, God’s
saving grace.
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These external
dimension should
never be valued as
ultimate realities
(ends in themselves)
but as mediations of
God’s saving action.
When we say “the
Church is a
sacrament,” we are
not referring only to
its institutional
dimensions.
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The Church is
a community of disciples
The whole Church, saints and sinners alike, shares in the sacramentality of the Church, in so far as the witness of each believer’s life participates in the corporate sign value of the whole Church.
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Sacrament is not the only
image of the Church that
Vatican II offers
Placed alongside the council’s
teaching on the Church as
sacrament and as Body of Christ, was
its teaching on the Church as People
of God, and, in particular, its
acknowledgment of the Church’s
“pilgrim” status.
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Pilgrim Church
The Church is a
pilgrim, it is on the
way, it has not
arrived.
It will attain its full
perfection only in
the glory of heaven.
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All of this recalls
that sacraments, in
the end, are
always provisional
realities.
They mediate
God’s presence,
but in themselves
they are` always
imperfect and exist
in anticipation of
the consummation
of history.
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The Church, at least in its historical reality,
shares in this provisionality.
The Kingdom is the ultimate goal.
The Church is means toward bring the
Kingdom about