Newspaper Page Text
Page 2 • Faith Today
Unleashing a Dream
By Father Joseph Kenna
NC News Service
Behind a carved oak desk in a
New York skyscraper sits Matthew.
A tough, seasoned lawyer, he has
earned respect from colleagues and
adversaries as well. From his key
position in the community, he acts
effectively on behalf of people op
pressed by racism and other evils.
In Miami, Sara, a vibrant profes
sional woman, is preparing a paper
she will deliver at a medical con
vention. As director of the burn
unit of a busy hosptial, she com
bines compassion and competence
in the discharge of demanding
duties. She communicates a pro
found faith to patients and profes
sionals to help them keep going in
painful circumstances.
Roger, whose whole life has
been fanning in the Midwest, sits
drinking coffee in a rural
schoolhouse. He is attending
classes to learn leadership skills in
community organizing to help
others like himself threatened with
losing their farms.
What do these three people and
millions more like them have in
common?
They are lay Catholics engaged
in daily dialogue with the secular
world. Their dialogue is not super
ficial or sentimental.
They have skills for translating
the faith, love and hope celebrated
at Sunday Mass into the very
secular and sometimes messy
everyday world.
Twenty years after Vatican
Council II, the laity’s place is not
envisioned at the periphery of
church life. Instead, the vocation
of the laity is at the very center of
the church’s purpose in the world.
Many people realize that the
vocation of the laity was discussed
in a document of Vatican II
specifically devoted to them. But
the laity’s vocation is also the sub
ject of a chapter in one of Vatican
II’s foremost documents, its Con
stitution on the Church.
There it says the laity are called
to make the church present “in
those places and circumstances
where it is only through them that
she can become the ‘salt of the
earth.”’
The laity, it says, contribute to
building up the church itself; and
they have a special vocation to
contribute to the world’s sanc
tification “from within, like
leaven, by fulfilling their own par
ticular duties.”
Today there are more and more
people who, realizing the implica
tions of the council’s insight, are
charged with great energy and ex
citement. They are persons with
mission and purpose in life.
As a priest I have never felt
more a sense of priestly fulfill
ment, excitement and purpose
than in giving spiritual support to
lay Catholics deeply rooted in
their faith and making a real dif
ference in the real world.
These people study the Christian
life and try to make the Catholic
message heard and lived in the
marketplace. They are the hands
and heart of Christ in the political,
social and economic world.
Let me say that I harbor a
dream. It concerns the potential
power to transform the world, a
power unleashed as — like light
ning passing from one celebration
of the Eucharist to the next —
more and more people become ac
tive players in the action, pouring
out their lives like Jesus in a
tough, daily dialogue with the
secular world. It is a dream kept
alive by individuals like Matthew,
Sara and Roger.
Rich or poor, powerful or weak
in human terms, educated or not,
each person can make an absolute
ly essential and unique contribu
tion to Christ’s redemption of the
world. That kind of thinking is an
essential element of Vatican II’s
vision.
(Father Kenna is campus
ministry representative in the
Department of Education of the
U.S. Catholic Conference.)
Ethnicity in the Early Church
By Father John Castelot
NC News Service
In the third century B.C., three
powerful Celtic tribes fought their
way through the Balkans into
what is now Turkey. Unwelcome
wherever they went, they finally
acquired territory centered on
three cities, one of which is
Ankara, the capital of modern
Turkey.
The region these Celts lived in
became known as Galatia, a name
derived from the word Celtic.
When the Roman armies ap
peared on the scene, these Gala
tians fought on their side and the
country was incorporated into the
Roman Empire.
The Galatians were a distinctive
ethnic group, with traits of
character and personality peculiar
to themselves. They were simple
and openhearted. They also were
insatiably curious and gullible. An
ancient historian wrote that they
were intelligent and docile, but
when the cloak of a philosopher
appeared in their midst they clung
to it like iron to a magnet —
which means, I take it, that they
would listen to almost anyone
who claimed to be a philosopher.
It is not surprising, then, that
Paul found them hospitable when
illness forced him to stop among
them. They were eagerly receptive
when he preached the Good
News.
It is probably not surprising,
either, that when Jewish-Christian
teachers showed up later, teaching
that gentile Christians should still
follow the Mosaic Law, the Gala
tians accepted their message even
though it varied from Paul’s.
All this is reflected in his impas
sioned letter to the Galatians.
Another quite different com
munity was the one at Corinth.
Listen to this assessment by
Dominican Father Jerome Murphy-
O’Connor, in his commentary on
First Corinthians: “Conceited,
stubborn, oversensitive, argumen
tative, infantile, pushy. All these
adjectives have their place in a
description of the Corinthian
Christians for whom Paul was
responsible. They were the most
exasperating community he had to
deal with, for they displayed a
positive genius for misunderstan
ding him.”
Then there were the Thessalo-
nians, Philippians, Romans — all
quite distinctive by temperament,
culture, customs, attitudes. Paul
took them as they were, respec
ting their uniqueness, trying to
Christianize their lives. He did not
try to make Jews gentiles or gen
tiles Jews; he did not insist that
Galatians be Corinthians or that
Thessalonians be Philippians.
In other words, while there was
a definite unity binding the early
churches together, it was not
uniformity. The attempts of some
Jewish Christians to impose
uniformity came to naught.
Among the early Christians the
churches were all joined by their
common faith in the Lordship of
Jesus, by baptism and the
Eucharist but especially by love.
So there was unity.
But there was also diversity.
Maintaining the riches of both uni
ty and diversity was a challenge
for the first Christians. It remains
a challenge in the 20th century,
one Vatican Council II probed in
its Constitution on the Church.
(Father Castelot teaches at St.
John’s Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.)
■# i < f &1
■‘tm r &'■ m''‘’ m m m
'•
Back to the Present
By David Gibson
NC News Service
Twenty-one years is not all that
long a time: Just ask any parent of
a 21-year-old!
Still, one steps back 21 years in
time with some trepidation,
wondering if concerns then re
main concerns now.
Twenty-one years ago — Nov.
21, 1964 — the Second Vatican
Council’s Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church was promulgated.
In September 1964, when the
council’s third session began,
Pope Paul VI predicted its
deliberations on this document
would distinguish the council “in
the memory of future ages.”
He said that the hour had
“sounded in history” for the
church to develop a document hi
on “what Christ intended and f'
willed” the church to be. )•
When the constitution was
completed, Pope Paul VI said:
“We like to think that the doc
trine of the mystery of the
church, illustrated and proclaimed
by this council will, from this mo
ment, find a positive echo in the
minds of Catholics.”
Perhaps the memory of those
words, and the memory of his
own participation in Vatican II,
explains why the present pope,
John Paul II, has asked that people
reread the Constitution on the
Church.
What will you find if you step
back 21 years to read this docu
ment? Are its echoes heard
anywhere today, as Pope Paul VI
thought they would be?
In many respects the docu
ment’s echoes are heard almost
everywhere now.
It echoes, first, in the many ef
forts to create awareness that all
members of the church are gifted
people. No one is called to a
merely passive Christian existence;
all church members receive gifts
church members have different
roles and different states in life,
all are shaped by the call to serve
each other and the world through
love.
Some would say this focus on
the church as a community of
love has set a tone for much of
church life today.
One chapter of the constitution
is devoted to bishops’ roles, and
its echoes are certainly still heard
in the many discussions of col-
legiality. It reaffirms the primacy
of the pope, the bishop of Rome.
It goes on to discuss the roles of
all bishops — examining how,
with the pope, they form a col
lege — a community of leadership
in the church.
Those are three big ways the
legacy of the constitution is seen
today. But there are others. For
example, the constitution includes
a chapter on the Virgin Mary —
stressing not only her exaltation,
\i
enabling them to actively par
ticipate in the Christian life. Every
lay person, for example, is “the
witness and the living instrument”
of the church’s mission.
Echoes of the document are also
heard in all the homilies, and
books, and parish-council discus
sions of the church as a communi
ty, one whose members —
whether bishops or laity — give
/rare to each other. The constitu
tion’s chapter on the “People of
God,” which the council fathers
decided to place near the docu
ment’s beginning, was meant to
-*«et a tone here. Thus the docu
ment holds that while some
but her bond with members of the
church, her closeness to them as
the model of a person called to
faith.
And the constitution echoes
whenever the topic is ecumenical
relations with other Christians,
the life of religious orders or the
role of the laity. For while
Vatican II produced separate
documents in each of those areas,
each figures largely in the
constitution.
Finally, the constitution’s
echoes are heard whenever the
call of every member of the
church to holiness is discussed.
The council fathers included a
chapter to stress that the true
Christian life is not reserved to
just some persons.
It is clear, it states, “that all
Christians in any state or walk of
life are called to the fullness of
Christian life and to the perfection
of love.”
(Gibson is editor of Faith
Today.)
Faith Today • Page 3
FOOD...
...for thought
Good writers, it is said, should
realize that the first words they
put down on paper set a tone
for what follows. With the first
words, a writer can create the at
mosphere and establish the direc
tion for an entire work.
The fathers of the Second
Vatican Council seem to have
taken this point seriously when
they wrote their Dogmatic Con
stitution on the Church. Many
commentaries on the constitu
tion focus on the atmosphere
created in its early pages.
Early on, the constitution says
that the church is “in the nature
of a sacrament — a sign and in
strument of communion with
God and of unity among all.”
The church is called “the
kingdom of Christ”...“a commu
nion of life, love and truth”...“a
messianic people, a seed of uni
ty, hope and salvation for the
whole human race”...“a people
brought into unity” by God.
The atmosphere created is one
of warmth. The picture of the
church that emerges in the con
stitution’s early pages is of a
community held together by
love. As the rest of the constitu
tion unfolds, this foundation is
presupposed.
What is the church? Think
about it.
In a group of youngsters,
several are likely to respond that
the church is a building. And
they’re not wrong. We do have
buildings called churches.
...for discussion
1. In its Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church, the Second
Vatican Council spoke of the
church as a communion of love,
one whose members serve each
other. Why do you think this
was considered an important
point to make? Does it make a
difference for you — as a
member of a parish, for
example?
2. Father Joseph Kenna in
dicates that the Second Vatican
Council offered a vision of the
role of lay Catholics in the
world. What is that role, as it is
discussed in the Dogmatic Con
stitution on the Church? What
does it mean for people like
you?
3. Vatican Council II’s
Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church suggests that all members
of the church are “gifted” peo
ple, writes David Gibson. What
does he mean?
What’s more, the idea of the
church as a building of God has
roots in Scripture, as the Con
stitution on the Church notes.
But even then, it is a building
made of living stones, namely its
people.
What is the church?
How many people would
begin to answer by calling the
church is a community of love,
God’s people?
And does it make a difference?
Do these images drawn from
Vatican II’s Constitution on the
Church make a difference for the
kind of Catholic you are in your
parish or at home?
The very first words of the
constitution are these: “Christ is
the light of humanity.” The con
stitution draws its Latin name,
“Lumen Gentium,” from those
words.
The council fathers immediate
ly went on to explain what they
hoped to accomplish in their
discussions of the church: to
bring to all people “that light of
Christ which shines out visibly
from the church.”
Understanding this as the
church’s task seems basic to
understanding what the church
is, the council fathers suggested
through the choice of these first
words. They added:
The light of Christ can unite
people; and its unifying potential
is urgently needed in today’s
world.
SECOND HELPINGS
Where can you find the texts
of Vatican II’s documents?
“Vatican Council II: The Conciliar
and Postconciliar Documents’’
and “Vatican II: More Postcon
ciliar Documents, Vol. 2” are
paperback books edited by
Dominican Father Austin Flan
nery. Volume 1 contains all 16
of the original documents of
Vatican II. In deciding which
postconciliar texts to include,
Father Flannery says his aim was
“to attempt to meet the needs
of the average priest, religious or
lay person.” He points out that
selection was necessary since in
the case of liturgy alone, for in
stance, there are more than 100
texts. Volume 2 includes 57 ad
ditional documents which are ap
plications or explanations of con
ciliar documents, texts from the
Synods of Bishops held in Rome
since the council and texts deal
ing with “matters which have oc
casioned concern in the post
conciliar world.” (Costello
Publishing Co., Box 9, Northport,
N.Y. 11768. $7.95, Vol. 1.
$9.95, Vol. 2.)