Latinoax Ecclesiology in the Roman Catholic Tradition

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to argue that Latinoax ecclesiology takes its point of departure from a synodal model centered in, and defined by, prophetic Latinoax popular religiosity, gravitating around Johann Baptist Metz' principle of the “dangerous memory of Jesus.” Drawing from the 1985/6 documents of the International Theological Commission, I begin by proposing a rethinking of the origins of the Church, as the eschatological community, that is, as the people called together by Jesus of Nazareth. I hold that the conciliar title “People of God,” given by the Constitution “Lumen Gentium,” as understood within the Latinoax experience, can only be understood as a pilgrim community. Arguing from the early writers of the church, I submit that, for a Latinoax ecclesiology, authority is given to the people, and more specifically, to the suffering. I conclude pointing out that Latinoax ecclesiology holds for a pilgrim church where, following Metz, the notion of “Deus caritas est” presupposes “Deus iustitia est,” where ecclesial praxis always reflects the subversive memory of Jesus.