Church Leadership: Who Gets to Say What to Whom?

I was not sure how to approach this week’s blog. The two chapters assigned in Rausch (Towards a Truly Catholic Church, Chapters 5 and 6) discuss one of the very areas where the Catholic Church and my Baptist beliefs diverge. Leadership, or, in other words, who gets to safeguard church traditions and why? How did we get where we are today from a Catholic Church perspective, as well as from a Protestant or Baptist perspective? The questions may be even more basic than these: Do we need a leader and if so, what kind and why?

I believe the whole of the biblical experience answers a resounding ‘yes’ to the first question. Genesis starts out, “In the beginning, God...” We had the perfect leader, but with us being human, that wasn’t good enough! We needed a leader we could touch, see and physically relate with. The rest of the Old Testament follows the natural path of human leadership, including the good, the bad and the ugly! Then we had the wonderful experience of the perfect leader in Jesus Christ - A servant, kind, turn-the-other cheek, smart, Spirit-led, God-ordained leader! Someone we could touch and relate to. We’ve been trying to re-create that type of leadership ever since!

As Rausch points out, the early leadership of the church after Jesus’ ascension fell to the apostles, Paul and others, and later to a myriad of pastors, teachers, deacons, presbyters, bishops, etc... Today’s Christian churches still reflect that mix. Even within the Catholic Church there are varied opinions. Vatican II turned the Church from a purely monarchical type of leadership to one that embraces many within the church as being called together to lead (128). But is this view of the leadership in the Catholic Church, as more inclusive instead of exclusive, the working practice of the Church, or is the Pope still viewed as the infallible ultimate leader by most practicing Catholics? I’ll leave that discussion to my classmates!

Baptists have leaders. So do Presbyterians, Episcopalians, the Assemblies of God, and on and on. If you’re interested, or even curious, here’s a link that does a good job of describing basic Baptist beliefs, including leadership. Many of them we hold in common with the Catholic Church. Some are diametrically opposed to each other. Do we need leaders? Yes, they are a Spirit-given gift to all of us. Why do we need them? Because we human and I believe we work better with some type of leadership in place. But what kind and how much authority do they have? Those questions will likely be debated for the next several centuries. As Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (emphasis mine).

-Kathy

The comic is from ‘Catholic Comics’ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoreCatholicComics

Hope in Change?

            I am not sure why I am still surprised when I pick up the CCC or Vatican II documents. Maybe because I was confirmed with the Baltimore Catechism, that I expect them to have all the warmth of a legal document. Lumen Gentium’s title, the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” does not indicate to me that I will be touched  by what I find.

            Yet I am touched and impressed. This Catholic Church that is often labeled as “behind the times” was very much in touch with the issues and sentiments of the day. The 1960s and the 1970s brought us to Civil Rights, The Women’s Movement, and all that came with the Vietnam War. Those events were very American.  I did not know how much of the thought behind them was also reflective of worldwide attitudes.

            Nor did I understand what it took for participants of Vatican II to produce its documents. Lumen Gentium speaks in a very familiar voice, one that I find present in the Catholic Church I live in today. Its familiarity belies the struggle it took to get those words to paper. The process was difficult and hard won. Thomas B. Rausch, in his Towards a Truly Catholic Church, compares the agendas for three council sessions. The development over time is dramatic. In Rev. John O’Malley’s lecture “What Happen at Vatican II” (at Vanderbilt University) he highlights the distinct differences in thought and attitudes prevalent before Vatican II with those in what was later published.

            Is this an example of how the Holy Spirit works through faith for us? Fr. OMalley said that Vatican II came under the guidance of two popes included some 2100 Bishops, 400 theologians, plus Vatican staff. They came from all over the world with strong Catholic opinions and somehow gave us the Church changing documents of   Vatican II.  Lumen Genioum says the Holy Spirit “distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church” (LG 12). For me that is a hopeful thought. 

Lumen Gentium, Ch. 2 “On the People of God”

Lumen Gentium, Ch. 2 “On the People of God”

While all are called to belong to the Catholic Church, I was struck by the inclusive language in Chapter 2 of those who are connected to the “People of God” or the catholic (little “c”) Church by virtue of their unity of belief, and actions that display “love as Christ loved” even if they do not know or accept Christ (¶ 13(116)). These uses of grace for the benefit of others, not self, is the connection to The Way or salvation through Christ. (I accept that the People of God does not include “those people who persist in evil and desire to foster despair” (http://www.statucson.org/sites/statucson.org/files/LT%20Times%20-%20Summary%20of%20Lumen%20Gentium%20–%20Dogmatic%20Constitution%20of%20the%20Church.pdf). I recognize that at times I, too, probably “foster despair,” although I do not believe I “persist in evil.” The use of our gifts is fluid and inconsistent. I believe a prayer to advocate hope and not foster despair in others is called for in my life.)

While participating in a recent ecumenical service, I was asked, rhetorically, I thought at first, “Why is unity important?” I thought it was obvious that unity of and cohesiveness in faith promotes a strength in and display of the Church community that welcomes and invites all to Christian fellowship. This was a thought provoking question, actually. May a relationship or connection to the People of God be enough to gain eternal life? How can there be a unity of belief when the primacy of the papacy (even including collegiality with the bishops (Rausch, Towards a Truly Catholic Church, 26-7, citing LG 22, 23)) is asserted: “…within the Church particular Churches hold a rightful place; these Churches retain their own traditions, without in any way opposing the primacy of the Chair of Peter, which presides over the whole assembly of charity (11*) and protects legitimate differences, while at the same time assuring that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it” (¶ 13(122))? While the Roman Catholic Church no longer claims to be the exclusive Church of Christ (LG 8), isn’t it difficult still for other Christian denominations to dialogue with the members of the Catholic Church that claim infallibility?

It will be interesting to read the discussion that comes from the upcoming round of the ecumenical Catholic-Reformed dialogue, January 28-29. I recently learned that Pope John Paul II invited other Christian denominations to express how the papacy “could exercise this ministry [of unity] in a way that would promote a broader unity among all Christians. A pope for Protestants too?” Fr. John Crossin was remarking in his article written during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Father Crossin is executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

http://usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/seven-markers-on-road-to-christian-unity.html

Fr. Rausch well recognizes that the Catholic Church readily keeps the ability to “dialogue with the great world religions, and thus, with all the world’s peoples,” when it acknowledges “that non-Christians are not excluded from God’s salvific grace” (Towards, 32).

on the People of God (LG 2)

This week’s readings brought back many memories of growing up before and after Vatican II.  Just as I was beginning high school, in 1966 , there was much excitement in the air.  Not only was I excited about high school but I was intrigued with the controversy and speculation about the changes that would happen in the church because of Vatican II.  Everyone had an opinion; some predicted gloom and doom and others embraced it wholeheartedly.  As a self-involved teenager the only thing that really made an impression on me was that women slowly stopped wearing the veil and started wearing pants to church.  This was monumental!  I can remember many arguments my mom and dad had on this subject.  Our priest even refused to hear confessions of females who wore pants.  I can’t find any documents where Vatican II addressed this issue, but it certainly came about during that time and some people pointed their fingers at Vatican II.

In chapter one, Thomas Rausch describes how the schema was debated and changed as the Council’s sessions progressed.  In those debates, the Holy Spirits movement is quite evident.  The language from church “militant” to “the church should be understood as the people of God, not a pyramid of pope, bishops, priests, and people” (Rauch 18) was truly a moment of grace.  When I was growing up in the 50’s church militant was our mindset.  My mom used to faint when she was pregnant with my little brother.  She went to confession and asked the priest if she could NOT go to Sunday mass because she fainted in church – a lot.  He told her she had to go to Mass and of course my dad who believed the priest had the last word in all things, insisted she comply.

After Vatican II, the shift in the attitude of the church seemed, to me, more welcoming and compassionate.  Rausch points to Chapter IV of Lumen Gentium where it “teaches that lay men and women share in their own way in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and kingly functions” (LG 4), which led to what he calls a “ministry explosion” (Rausch 29).  This assertion certainly bore fruit in my lifetime.  Before Vatican II, the only ministries I can recall my parents being involved in were the K of C and the Altar Society. The church has come a long way in using the gifts of the laity for teaching, ministry, and mission.

The Council’s implication that there could be salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church was also a welcome change and a giant leap in the mindset of the church and its members.  The language that the unique church of Christ “subsists in the Catholic Church” (LG 8) was a significant development.  My oldest brother left the church in 1960, because our priest tried to talk him out of marrying his Baptist girlfriend.  It caused great upheaval in our family.  

From my perspective, the changes that have come about from Lumen Gentium, "on the people of God” (LG 2) have enhanced my faith journey, and solidified my baptismal commitment to Christ and my membership in the Roman Catholic Church.