By Fr K J Thomas –
The Second Vatican Council has remained as the launching pad for all theological reflections for the last fifty years. In a sense, the Council was the conclusion to many points of theological discussion and in another sense it was an introduction to many others. Vatican II uses various models. Model or Image here means an idea or a catch-word or phrase taken from the New Testament (NT), tradition or present-day language to explain the reality of the Church. In fact, models are mutually complementary. All the models will not be of the same value and nature. Some are very abstract while others are very concrete. We shall analyze two prominent Post-Conciliar models of the Church namely Communion and Servant.
The Church as a Communion
The concept of communion is very suitable for expressing the core of the Mystery of the Church and can certainly be a key for the renewal of Catholic ecclesiology. After the Council, this image of the Church gained importance as it is a sociological model and many theologians consider that the understanding of the Church as a communion is the key for the renewal of the Catholic ecclesiology. A deeper study of the Church as a communion gives ample latitude for theological reflection on the mystery of the Church. In a sense this is a complex, but a very rich image of the Church. Today people give different meanings to the word ‘communion’. The Church is a communion. What does the word “communion” mean? It can mean the act of sharing; similarity of feelings, ideas or beliefs; mutual attraction and grouping together found on this similarity.
God is a community of three persons. The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit draws every one into a real communion. Hence the Universal Church is seen to be ‘a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’ (LG4). This is the sacred mystery of the Church as a communion, in Christ and through Christ, with the Holy Spirit energizing its various functions.
The fundamental task of the Church is to call everyone to enter into communion with God. For the faithful as the body of Christ participate in the Trinitarian life of communion and love. This makes the Church a koinonia (community) rooted in, and sustained by the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is thus a mystery and a sign pointing to and serving the triune God’s work towards the salvation and renewal of all humankind.
The model of the Church as the ‘Communion of the Faithful’ is primarily a post-Conciliar one. Many ecclesiologists of the post-Vatican era think that it is the best paradigm for the Church as this model provides the most adequate filling out or strategy to complement the Conciliar model of People of God. For example, we read in H. Rikhof’s book : “Thus, ‘the Church is the communion of the faithful’ can stand as the central statement in ecclesiology. With the help of this terminus, this basic statement, the richness of religious metaphors and of biblical and other insights can be made fruitful and the opportunities created by Vatican II can be used to develop a truly theological vision of the Church”.
A Houtepen, in his book People of God, states the four pillars of Christian communion or communion in Christ : 1) The confession of the same apostolic faith according to the scriptures; 2) Participation in the same sacraments of baptism and Eucharist; 3) A common Christian life or discipline; 4) Mutually recognized ministry. According to him communion within the Church is determined or severed by these structures.
What is the meaning of communion as applied to the Church ? The Church is basically a gathering of the people of God who participate in the life of God who is Trinitarian. The participation creates a relationship between participants, and this is expressed as communion. All relationships and all activities among persons imply Communion. In the Holy Trinity the missions of the Son and the Spirit are expressions of communion. When speaking the Church points to “union with god and unity of the entire human family”.(LG51). The idea here is communion. Communion ecclesiology is strongly rooted in the Bible:
Communion is : A sharing of friendship )Act 2:4. 2 Cor 6:14); A practical sharing (Rom 15: 26); A partnership in the work of Christ (Phil 1:5); A sharing in the faith (Eph 3:9); A fellowship in the Spirit (2 Cor 13:14); A communion with Christ (I Cor 1:1, Phil 3:10)); A communion with God (I Jn 1:3) and A sharing in the suffering of Christ (Phil 3:10)
The Christian communion thus binds the Christians to one another, to Christ and to God. Therefore communion always involves a double dimension: the vertical (communion with God) and the horizontal (communion among men). The idea of communion is closely related to the Eucharist where the salvific event is represented and remembered in the celebration.
“The Church is called during her earthly pilgrimage to maintain and promote communion with the Triune God and communion among the faithful. For this purpose she possesses the Word and the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, by which she ‘constantly lives and grows’. It is from the Eucharistic fellowship that the Church began to draw the basic elements of its ecclesiology. Each Eucharistic community formed a full-fledged Church according to the NT. We read in Acts about Church in Jerusalem, Church in Antioch and later Churches in Judea, Samaria, spoken of in the plural. Patristic tradition clearly gave expression to this when it said: “The Church consists of communion of the whole world”. This would imply that communion includes diversity. But there are common elements that bind together the different Churches.
(This is an extract from the above article authored by Fr K J Thomas)
C V Joseph