Ecclesiology and the Challenge of Ecclesiological Failure

Abstract

In the wake of the abuse crisis, “scandal” clings to the Catholic Church with a dispiriting viscosity. The contrast between the present pall over the Catholic Church and an ecclesial community enthusiastically committed to the “missionary option” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 27) that Pope Francis promotes, raises questions for the work of ecclesiology. If ecclesiologists are unable to show how the church’s inherited faith might inform constructive responses to the crisis, then ecclesiology is unlikely to contribute positively to the formation of the Christian community for discipleship in the world. This chapter focus on the capacity of a sacramental understanding of the church to foster self-critical reflection in the ecclesial community, to support reform in the church, and to nurture hope for the church’s witness to God’s mercy.