Mugo Linus C. Mwangi OFM cap 11062T
We
believe in the Church and profess her to be "unam sanctam, catholicam et
apostolicam ecclesiam") that is: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church. In spite of her members – dating
all the way back to Judas Iscariot who was the first disciple of Jesus Christ
to betray his Lord and, therefore, to cause scandal within the Church – we
proclaim that our Church is holy. In spite of the painful divisions that exist
today among Christians, and our often serious disagreements with one another
about what we believe and how we should live, we dare to insist that Christ's
Church is also "one," "catholic" and "apostolic."
The
church is one and the bonds of unity are faith and love. We can also confirm
this by putting it that heresy violates the former and schism the latter.
Heretics violate the unity of the church by holding the beliefs or practices
that are incompatible with the Gospel that the church has been commissioned to
proclaim, so that the church cannot include them in her fellowship without
compromising, diluting or denying the gospel message. Schismatic violate the
unity of the Church by requiring from others, as a condition of fellowship. Assent
to doctrines of practices that are not an essential part of the Gospel.
Lumen Gentium gives us a pertinent light
in trying to understand the church as holy. It grips that, the church […] is
held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the
son of God who with the father and the spirit is hailed as “one holy” loved the
church as his bride, given himself up for her so as to sanctify her: he joined
her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for
the glory of God. (Cf. LG. 8)
Through
Lumen Gentium, the church then is
perfect and holy, the spotless blind of Christ, the undefiled body of Christ
himself filled with the Holy Spirit. With this draws the mysterious paradox
that the church is Holy and perfect even though she is imperfect by sinners.
The catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say on this issue that, the
church is holy, the most holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave
himself up to make her holy; the spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she
still includes sinners she is the sinless one made up of sinners. Her holiness
shines in the saints; in many she is already all holy.
Another pillar of the Catholic
Church is the fact that the church we believe in is catholic in the sense of
small-c- which means “universal” To put the matters more practical se can aver
that, the church can be found here in Tangaza College or may be in another
place like a jungle somewhere. But, being one in faith and communion with the
church in Rome makes this church universal collection of those particular
churches. As in our already previous lectures we had it that the particular
churches fall to the care of bishops, the pastor of the faithful and successor
of the apostles. Their communion with each other and with the bishop of Rome
makes the Catholic Church truly universal. In Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope
Paul VI implored and argued we as Christians should be extra careful not to
conceive the universal church as the simple sum or the more or less anomalous
federation of essentially different particularly churches.
The last pillar of the church is
that it is apostolic in nature. That is to say it is the community that Christ
founded with the apostles as nucleus. We read of the first Christian converts
added to the church at Jerusalem that, “they continued steadfast in the
apostles”, teaching and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and the
prayers (Acts 2: 42). This means
that, in order to be Christian, it is not enough to be in the apostles
teaching. Rather one must be in the apostles. Suffice it to say that according
to the tradition, the Catholic Church validly claims succession from the
apostles themselves. All bishops of the Catholic Church are ordained by bishops
who are themselves were ordained by bishops who themselves were ordained and so
on […] who themselves at the end of it all were ordained by the apostles. This
passing on of the authority is guided by the Holy Spirit who descended on the
apostles at Pentecost and remains with the church guiding her until the Lord
comes again.
Mugo Linus C. Mwangi
OFM cap 11062T
A Brief History of the
Development in the Catholic Understanding of the Church from Reformation Period
to Vatican II
In post resurrection experience, the
church grew from preaching and baptising of the small group of Christ’s twelve
apostles. Its members did not consider it as an association which is determined
by a certain purpose and certain conditions of membership. Instead, the
individual communities understood themselves as communities of the One Catholic
Church. In the living Lord Jesus Christ, this community saw in him the true
centre, the source of life. They saw him duly present in in the Eucharistic
celebration of the community through the breaking of the bread, the teacher in
community’s liturgy of the word and above all as a sacrifice and priest in its
paschal liturgy. As time went by the vision of the church was clearly distorted
and hence there was dire need for reformation.
The reformation tried and attempted to realise the reform
that according to church history, has been postponed by the church now and
then. The reformation church tried to achieve and retrieve the question of
justification as the central question on the quest for a true understanding of
the church. Luther for example, expected and taught justification as coming
only from the word of God faith and grace. Calvin saw the justification only in
predestination of some persons to heaven and others to Hell, the certitude of
salvation for the elect, and the incapability of the elect to lose grace.
Although the reformation treated this query very one sided, the decisive point
is that the focus of the question was no longer the supernatural nature of the
church but its outward structure and conditions. This means that church is
where the gospel is preached and where the sacraments are correctly
administered.
The image of the church which had been introduced in the
greatest Christian art of the fifth and sixth centuries as mother church was
seen as ecclesia imperatrix and after
the fifth century as the crowned woman and mediatrix
of salvation, who receives the saving blood from the wound of the crucified
Jesus in the chalice of the mass in order to mediate the redemption of Christ
to all humanity in this sacrifice.
Further, the period of counter-reformation developed the
image of the triumphant church which remained normative until 20th
century. As the time proceeded, the question of salvation became the basic
question in the understanding of the church as the renowned prolific writer Johann
Auer avers that the church is a realised reconciliation of human beings with
Christ and through him with God and among themselves hence peace is realised
among God and the neighbours.
During the session of Vatican 1, there was presentation
on definition of church’s nature through scriptural images and took Pauline’s
theology of the body of Christ as point of departure. It was due to the
interruption of the council that the idea didn’t come into effect. Contrary, the
self-understanding of the Roman Church became more and more externalised. To
this effect, only the primacy of jurisdiction and the infallibility of the pope
were defined in an enlarged form. This had adverse effect on the understanding
of the nature of the church in that it led to the one-sided image of the church
an image that was definitely rejected by the liberal world as a protection of
medieval ideas of authority.
It was during the
sessions of Vatican II that the German theologians tried to reconcile the
catholic understanding of the church and of the faith with the spirit of the
times. The new image of the church was influenced by the creation of the
intellectual moments which cropped out after the World War I.
In the struggles of world II, ecumenism became a general
Christian concern also among Catholics. The Vatican II approached the theology
which was aimed at detaching theology somewhat from the bonds of Greek
Philosophy and to bring it back to a more scriptural mode of thinking and
speaking. During the council the new image of the church was born that is the
church of the poor meaning that the church has entirely the role of mysterium
(service)
In summary form, the period up to Vatican I laid special
stress on the defence of the supernatural through dogma and canon law. Vatican
II on the other side, declared no dogma, made no condemnation and instead
published a decree on ecumenism on declaration on religious freedom.
Theme:
Africae Munus and the Theme of Reconciliation
'Africae Munus' is the work of the second African
Synod after 'Ecclesia in Africa' (Sep.
14th 1995 by Pope John Paul II), which was published after the First
Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops and gave great incentive to
the growth of the Church in Africa developing, among other things, the idea of
the Church as Family of God which has been beneficial to the universal Church
and the particular Church. 'Africae
munus' now comes in and puts it succinctly that the Church in Africa is
being called to be a witness in the service of reconciliation, justice and
peace, leading people to a vision of God. Justice and authentic reconciliation
are essential premises of lasting peace. The church feels a duty to be present
wherever human suffering exists, to make heard the silent cry of the innocent,
the poor and the disadvantaged.
To
put matters on motion, the first part of the document (nos. 14-96) discerns the
fundamental structures of the ecclesial mission on the continent, a mission
which aspires to reconciliation, justice and peace, and has its origin in the
person of Jesus Christ. Listening to Him, Christians are invited to let
themselves be reconciled with God, becoming just in order to build a just
social order in keeping with the logic of the Beatitudes and committing
themselves to fraternal service for love of truth, of charity or fellowship,
which is a source of peace. Attention then turns to the paths towards
reconciliation, justice and peace. These include authentic conversion, the
celebration of the Sacrament of Penance, the spirituality of communion, the
protection of life, migrants, internally displaced persons due to post election
violence, refugees, and ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue especially with
traditional religions and Islam.
Rigorously
speaking, reconciliation comes from the mystery of the risen Christ Who is
present in His Church through the Word of God and the Sacraments, especially
those of Penance and the Eucharist. Through the grace of the Spirit, the
Eucharist creates a new brotherhood which overwhelms languages, cultures,
ethnicities, divisions, tribalism, racism and ethnocentrism and hence at the
day living as brothers and sisters. In her work of evangelization and education
in the Christian faith, the Church must concentrate on lived catechesis, which
leads to profound conversion and to real commitment to live the Gospel at a
personal, family and social level.
Having
said this we can unpretentiously say that, indeed Africae Munus was quite well
timed owing to the situation by which Kenya has found itself into. We have seen
both historical and political injustices upon her people. Of recent, we have
seen people becoming internally displaced in their own homelands; some have
been hacked to death because of ethnic differences. With this we go with the
calling of the Africae Munus that there is need to strengthen the structures of
the church so that at the end of it should aim at being at the service of
reconciliation and peace. Further, today people and families in the service of
the poor and in the wider society are definitely the agents of peace. The
Church’s sole mission is thence to bring Christ to the world and in situations
of pain.
Linus Mwangi Mugo OFMcap [11062T]
Importance
of Vatican II Ecumenical Council to the Church
Vatican II was
the 21st ecumenical council recognised by the Roman Catholic Church,
which became the symbol of the church: openness to the world. The council was
announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25th 1959. He expressed the
hope that it (Vatican II) would be a means of spiritual renewal, reconciliation
of the Church to the modern world, and service to the unity of Christians. The
aforementioned council held 178 meetings in the autumn of each of four
successive years. The first gathering was on October 11th 1962, and
the last on December 8th 1965.
The main purpose
of the convincement of the second Vatican council was that the church was
attempting to study and understand itself more closely. That internal study
involved a more overt return to its roots in Scripture and its early apostolic,
sub apostolic and patristic traditions. The church also began to emphasise its
humanity implying that the church is in the world and not over and against the
world. Prior to this time, the church had been seen as a fortress, very much
concerned about its own internal stability and integrity and engaging the world
in terms of missionary activity. With the coming of second Vatican council, the
church shrugged off its fortress mentality and strove to be more in touch and
in dialogue with the world in terms of other Christian traditions, other
faiths, the cultural, the political, and the technical milieu in which we all
live. Further, the church considered its true boundaries and the needs of the
humankind.
As it is
evidenced, Vatican II was a very large and important meeting in the Roman
Catholic Church for it was well represented from clerics, lay and religious
circles. Vatican II has altered the Roman Catholic Church more than any other ecumenical
council that took place prior. In addition it has great significance as it made
the Church more reasonable and realistic because the church after the council
was much more down down-to-earth and open minded. Among the Vatican II’s changes
that took place was that mass became vernacular. This change was very important
because it made people feel more at a personal level when the mass was held
seeing as though the priest was speaking their language. It made them feel more
at home and increased their understanding and ability to respond. This change
led to lay faithful to have a conscious active participation during liturgical
celebrations.
Another aspect
that would have unanimous agreement is the rediscovery of the charismatic
dimension of the church. As it would appear, the Hierarchical structure was
already in place at the time of Vatican II. The new ecclesial movements and
communities are thence seen as answering the dream of a new Pentecost which the
then Pope John XXIII had. This
unexpected phenomenon was not planned or predicted by Vatican II but
nevertheless it represents a concrete realisation of the council’s constitution
on the church, at the heart of which is the idea of communion between all the
baptised whatever their state in the church, whether clerical, religious or
lay. It is due to this proposition that the new communities and movements are
ecclesial and not lay as they are often called. On another angle, it is very
interesting how those claims to have the spirit of the Vatican II are the very
people who most dislike this great charismatic outburst and who even
ludicrously try to argue that it is against Vatican II.
Another very major
and important change that tool place due to Vatican II was the relationship of
the church and the world. As it is understood, the church is a human
organisation steered by the Holy Spirit and composed of the gifts and talents
of its members. It cannot go without noticing that, at this time the church
community has not yet reached its highest potential and is faced with the
limitations and of human shortcomings and temporal constrictions. With an
understanding of its abilities, and boundaries, the church seeks to work with
the world community to come closer to the life to which God calls the world. It
is a definite position that the Church really needs to have a relationship with
the outside world because the Church itself is comprised of human. Having such
a relationship, the church is likely to reach its highest potential.
There are
changes that took place in Vatican II and having them mentioned here would not
be necessary. The modern church is the way it is because of what happened in
Vatican II. Vatican II has moulded the modern Church and has had most influence
on it. Therefore, it is explicitly obvious that Vatican II was what made what
we know as the modern Church. It is my dire conviction that if Vatican II did
not take place, there would not be a modern Church.
***
SYMBOLIC
MEDIATION OF THE CHURCH
The aim of this
write up is to try and answer the question how revelation is symbolic
communication and how such communication occurs in and through the church. All
this material is based on the work of the renowned 21st century
theologian Avery Dulles.
To
set the matters on motion, the idea of the church as a sign has since been
familiar to the apologists and theologians for many centuries. Vatican I
referred the text from prophet Isaiah 11:12, “sign raised up among the
nations”. According to Avery, it called attention to the properties of the
church as Holy, Catholic, and apostolic as indications of the church’s divine
origin. To the surprise off many, Vatican ii moved away from the apologetic
position for a sign to a more theological notion of church as a sacrament. Church
here is explained as a sacrament of unity. This concept of sacrament is
explicated as implying both sacrament and a sign. With this, it follows
logically the church is “an efficacious sign, one that affects what it
signifies”. Here one would clearly underline that the church fathers were
clearly adhering to the classical definition of the sacrament as an effective
sign of grace.
Contemporary theologians would have it and elaborate
that a sacrament, as distinct from a more indicative sign implies the real
presence of that which is signified. Hence, the church is a sacrament of Christ
that is, because Christ is truly present in it communicating his life to the
members of the church. It goes without saying that the church is a symbol of
Christ insofar as by its configuration it points to him and actualises what god
tells us through his son. This one is elaborated further by classical
attributes of the church; by being one, the church signifies unitive power of
Christ’s love. By being Holy, the sanctifying efficacy of love, by being
catholic, the universality of god’s saving will in Christ and finally, being
apostolic has to do with the irrevocable character of God’s redemptive act in
Christ. Hence, without the Church as representative symbol, we would not be
able to know Christ as he really is.
Vatican II
further held that, Christ is the mediator and at the same time the fullness of
all revelation. Hence, a church as a
sacrament of revelation has no reason for existence except to express and
communicate the meaning of Christ’s event. All this discussion leads to have it
that revelation is not complete without the church. Further, if there were no
community of believers, revelation as a transaction would be cut short. For
revelation, as communication from Good to human beings, destined for their conversion
and redemption achieves itself only when it is received and responded to faith.
This means that the church is the prime recipient of revelation. The church as
a sacrament is a socially constituted and a communal symbol of grace as present
and transforming individuals into a people.
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