The Church as a Sacrament of Hope

Abstract

How can Christian hope transform ecclesial life and in turn illumine contemporary culture? The articles by Richard Lennan and Dominic Doyle address this question from different perspectives. Lennan develops and spells out the implications of an ecclesiology based on the church as a sacrament of hope. Doyle examines the nature of hope with particular attention to Aquinas's view, finding resources therein to reflect critically about the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the trauma of modernity, and contemporary ecclesiology's focus on the local church. Responding to these articles, James McEvoy reflects on their authors' views of hope in order to address an issue raised by Doyle. Earlier versions of Lennan's and Doyle's articles were presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America at a session entitled Hope: The Church's Prophetic Challenge. .