Ecclesial Ministry Research Articles

‘Pastoral and ecclesial madness’ Facing the failure of ‘democratism’ within the current civil turmoil in South Africa

‘Pastoral and ecclesial madness’ Facing the failure of ‘democratism’ within the current civil turmoil in South Africa

Biblical and Canonical Grounds for assuming the fulfilment of Man in the Ecclesial Ministry

This text explores the path towards human fulfilment in ecclesial ministry. It sees man's call to growth as a path to realizing one's God-given potential. Although sin obscures this call, God gently guides man toward renewal, culminating in Christ's restorative work. Seeking the kingdom reorients one's priorities toward eternity and aligns personal gifts with God's will. The Church nurtures these gifts, making each believer a vital, responsible member of Christ's Body. Through partaking of grace, one becomes a witness to the world. However, authentic Christian living requires continual purification. The calling to priesthood represents the pinnacle of service through total dedication. Chosen for their maturity and theological grounding, priests devote themselves completely to equipping believers for ministry. Necessary qualities include blamelessness, prudence, and virtuous living. Pastoral ministry starts from an inner call later confirmed by the Church. One who feels drawn to service and theological study discovers through this process a crystallization of vocation, assuming responsibility for living out God's gifts.

Leading from the liturgy

This article seeks to contribute to the reflection on ecclesial ministry from the perspective of the missio Dei. The gateway chosen is the unconventional image of ecclesial ministry as depicted in the Polish film Corpus Christi. Jan Komasa, the director, paints the protagonist as a facilitator of a communal process of interpretation and reconciliation through which the core of the gospel becomes concretely visible in social reality. This cinematographic portrayal of ecclesial ministry is then used to look at the situation regarding ministry in a small Reformed denomination in the Netherlands. The issues highlighted in Corpus Christi also play a role in these churches. To see if the imagination of Corpus Christi can also be made fruitful for thinking through Reformed theology of ministry, two steps are then taken. First, it will be shown that within the Reformed tradition there are starting points for the view of the ordained minister as a facilitator the process of interpretation. Then, using the thoughts of Michael Moynagh, the article explores how this vision of ministry can be made fruitful for the current missionary situation in the West. The article concludes with three elements needed to implement the image of the ordained minister as an interpretive guide.

Gedeeld ambtsgeheim?

Those who serve in ecclesial ministry are bound to official secrecy. Does this prohibit any form of sharing with others, particularly if those others are bound to secrecy themselves? This contribution first deals with terminology: the secrecy or the confession is theologically to be seen as the basis of official of professional secrecy of ministers. After a short explanation of professional secrecy in public law, privacy is being dealt with as important to the context today. Then this article describes church polity provisions in this respect, both in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN). Finally, it comes to the issue of sharing with others, dealing in particular with case law in PCN discipline which seems to permit sharing within certain limitations.

I. History and Horizons of Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the US Catholic Church

This theological roundtable has stand-alone articles that are complementary and together trace a flow toward ecclesial participation, of movements of bodies and voices, toward full inclusion in the Catholic Church. These works, taken together, can shed light on the dynamism and development of the church when it responds to pressing social and cultural needs—from official development of structures within the ordained magisterium in response to poverty and economic crises (Yount) to students moving together for change and participatory inclusion (Ahern) and from lay adults forming social action communities for racial justice (Rademacher) and, building on the experience of lay LGBTQ+ Catholics, to demand ecclesial participation (Flanagan). It is movements such as these that call and enact development in the church, and knowing what has come before can prompt our own reflection on what needs to come next and the role of each of us in that.

Walter Brueggemann. Truth and Hope: Essays for a Perilous Age.

Walter Brueggemann. <i>Truth and Hope: Essays for a Perilous Age</i>.

From Slave to Bishop. Callixtus’ Early Ecclesial Career and Mechanisms of Clerical Promotion

Abstract Bishop Callixtus I of Rome (217?–222?) is well known for his position as manager of the κοιμητήριον, the earliest subterranean community burial ground, today known as the Catacombs of Callixtus. Less well documented, but particularly formative is, however, Callixtus’ early ecclesial career starting with his recognition as an authentic confessor shortly after his return from the mines of Sardinia. This contribution aims to shed some light on this formative period and explores the mechanisms behind Callixtus’ promotion to paid ecclesial ministry. It argues that Callixtus’ association with the clergy was neither an honorary, that is, automatic admission, nor merely a pious act to honour his individual and spiritual achievement. It seems, it was also a powerful instrument to financially support, integrate, and if necessary, control independent spiritual authorities. Moreover, Callixtus’ installation in active ministry, as well as that of other confessors, show typical patterns of client-patron relationship.

The Contribution of Francis A. Sullivan, SJ to a Deeper Understanding of Charisms in the Church

Francis A. Sullivan, SJ made a number of significant contributions to the Catholic theology of charism. Through an accepted emendation, he helped write Lumen Gentium 12; he investigated the new movement of “Catholic Pentecostals” for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; he later produced a number of related academic works exploring the nature of the charisms and their role in ecclesiology. This article argues that Sullivan’s reading of the division in Lumen Gentium 4 between charismatic and hierarchical gifts, and how he uses this division to argue that sacramental ordained ministry should presume prior charismatic gifts, has the capacity to support a re-conceptualization of ecclesial ministry.

Il diaconato nella riflessione teologica dei riformatori Martin Lutero, Huldrych Zwingli e Giovanni Calvino

The Reformers of the Protestant church from the XVI century, namely Luther, Zwingli and Calvin, did not pay much attention, in their theological reflections, to the identity and ministry of the deacon. According to Luther, deacons were called to dedicate their efforts and time to a ministry whose primary objective was to bring to life the Word of God in the world, not only through their words and discourses, but also through their actions. The diaconate is distinct from the ministry of the Word and is secondary to it. In Zwingli’s view, deacons, similar to the servants described in the Acts of the Apostles, form part of the ministry of the Word. Those who care for the sick, who visit them, who concern themselves with solidarity and provision for the poor, are also ministers of the Word. For Zwingli, these take on a charitable role towards society as a whole. Calvin developed a more precise understanding of the diaconate with his theory of the four ministries. He went furthest in his attempts at an institutional restoration of the ecclesial ministry of the diaconate. Calvin held the view that the diaconate required four characteristics: specific (along with other ministries, especially pastoral), permanent and consecrated, charitable and cultural.

„Laboratorium dialogu” czyli o dialogowaniu w katechezie

„Laboratory for dialogue”, that is, dialogue in catechesis Dialogue is one of the fundamental human relationships. It is also of particular importance in the life of the Church. The article tries to answer the question whether catechesis is a space for dialogue. It first shows the dialogue of salvation as a relationship between God and man. Then it presents the relationship of the Church to the world, which is a relationship of dialogue. Since catechesis is at the service of God’s dialogue of salvation and is an ecclesial ministry, it is therefore also dialogical. There is, however, a specificity of this dialogue, which is based on the spirituality of dialogue. This vision of catechesis is contained in the new Vatican Directory for Catechesis, which describes it as a „laboratory for dialogue”. Dialog jest jedną z podstawowych relacji międzyludzkich. Szczególne znaczenie posiada także w życiu Kościoła. Autor artykułu próbuje odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy katecheza jest przestrzenią dialogu. Ukazuje najpierw dialog zbawienia jako relację Boga do człowieka. Następnie przedstawia relację Kościoła do świata, która jest relacją dialogu. Ponieważ katecheza działa w służbie Bożego dialogu zbawienia i jest posługą kościelną, dlatego ma także charakter dialogiczny. Istnieje jednak pewna specyfika tego dialogu, u podstaw której stoi duchowość dialogu. Taka wizja katechezy zawarta jest w nowym dyrektorium watykańskim, które określa ją jako „laboratorium dialogu”.

Specificità del Diritto amministrativo canonico e “amministrazione di missione”. La ministerialità ecclesiale come fattore riqualificativo per una autonomia ontologico-disciplinare

SOMMARIO: 1. Ministerialita e missionarieta del Diritto canonico - 2. La norma missionis come statuto costituzionale del Diritto canonico - 3. La communio come genus della corresponsabilita ecclesiale - 4. Trapianto da donatore non compatibile e problematiche di rigetto: non equiparabilita tra Diritto amministrativo canonico e statale - 5. Il concetto sui generis di Diritto amministrativo nella Chiesa cattolica - 6. Diversita strutturali nell’organigramma ecclesiale - 7. Il paradigma europeo come “ analogatum princeps ” del sistema canonico: verso un’amministrazione “di missione”. Specificity of canonical administrative law and “mission administration”. Ecclesial ministry as a requalification marker for ontological-disciplinary autonomy ABSTRACT: The need to configure a correct boundary within which to draw up the structure of administrative activity in the Church responds to the urgency to avoid undue and inaccurate transposition of concepts proper to secular juridical fields in the background of Canon law. In fact, in the Church it is not possible to speak of a public administration-entity but of an administration-activity. It is not so much the subject that has to be examined, in view of a claim that is not suited to the foundational (top-down) and non-consociative (bottom-up) nature of the Church; as much as the concrete activities to be carried out within it, in the ideal of a shared responsibility that does not deprive the individual faithful of juridical positions that they can claim, but directs them within correct coordinates. The faithful do not live a dimension of homo homini lupus , to reach an individual salvific finish line where one place to be conquered excludes that one of another. On the contrary, they pursue, united under the one baptism, the implementation of the mission of Christ, also through those juridical instruments which the Church has endowed through the story, but which are to be understood in their precise peculiarities, even though a relationship can not be excluded of mutual growth with secular law. According to this paradigm, the example of European Union law can be a valid benchmark for describing the particularities of ecclesial reality in a sector as specific as that of administrative law.

A Patient Firmness: The Beginnings of Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the United States, 1967–1987

The U.S. bishops' 2005 statement Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord affirmed "lay ecclesial ministers" as appropriately trained lay persons who, collaborating closely with the ordained, provide leadership within a particular area of ministry. This affirmation recognized the ministerial reality that rapidly took shape in American Catholic parishes, dioceses, and other institutions following the Second Vatican Council. Not the result of a conciliar decree, Vatican directive, or national pastoral plan, lay ecclesial ministry in the United States instead grew from the ground up. Individual Catholics created new roles in response to new expectations and new needs, coming to share with one another a new ministerial identity. Thus the early history of what would be called lay ecclesial ministry can best be understood as a narrative with two overlapping, interacting plot lines: an institutional/pastoral story that examines changes in Catholic parishes, schools, and personnel, and an ideological/theological story that considers how the people involved in this new form of ministry understood themselves and their roles.

About This Issue

About This Issue David J. Endres Recognizing the diverse callings of those who have served the Church, this issue explores the historical contexts and case studies of various ecclesial vocations, including lay ecclesial ministry and men's and women's religious life. Edward P. Hahnenberg is the Breen Chair in Catholic Theology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. His publications include Awakening Vocation: A Theology of Christian Call (Liturgical, 2010) and Theology for Ministry: An Introduction for Lay Ministers (Liturgical, 2014). Diane Batts Morrow is associate professor of history and African American studies at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She researches and writes extensively on the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Judith Metz, S.C., is historian for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. Robert L. Anello, M.S.A., is a retired seminary formation advisor, currently ministering in Milwaukee. A revised version of his dissertation on the rise and fall of minor seminaries in the United States is soon to be published. Rebecca Berru Davis recently completed a two-year postdoctoral teaching fellowship at St. John's School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota. She is currently an instructor at Montana State University-Billings in Billings, Montana. Augustine J. Curley, O.S.B., is a member of the Benedictine Abbey of Newark, New Jersey. He has served as prior, abbey librarian, and community archivist. [End Page i] Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press

Collaborative Parish Leadership: Contexts, Models, Theology ed. by William A. Clark, Daniel Gast

Reviewed by: Collaborative Parish Leadership: Contexts, Models, Theology ed. by William A. Clark, Daniel Gast Charles E. Zech Collaborative Parish Leadership: Contexts, Models, Theology. Edited by William A. Clark and Daniel Gast. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. 246pp. $90.00. In 2005 the USCCB published Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry which emphasized that the ordained and lay staff are co-workers, that is, collaborators. However, even the most casual observer would recognize that this goal is seldom achieved in most parishes. The reasons are many, but up until now they have not been systematically studied. Now comes Collaborative Parish Leadership: Contexts, Models, Theology. This edited volume is a report on Project INSPIRE (“Identify, Nurture, and Sustain Pastoral Imagination through Resources for Excellence”), a partnership between the Archdiocese of Chicago and Loyola University, Chicago that was funded by the Lilly Endowment initiative Sustaining Pastoral Excellence. [End Page 101] The goal of the project was to assist pastors and parish staff to grow into a collaborative parish leadership team. The key component of the program was the use of organizational consultants assigned to work on-site with parish-based pastoral staffs. Eventually the project included 46 parishes. Among the questions that the project addressed were: • What did INSPIRE stakeholders learn about organizational consultation with pastors and their staffs? • What expressions of collaborative pastoral leadership mark the transition from pastoral staff to pastoral leadership team? How can consultative relationships assist that development? • How is organizational consulting in Catholic parishes nuanced from other NGO consulting? The book also includes chapters contributed by members of the Catholic Faculty at Ruhr University of Bochum, who are engaged in the CrossingOver Project, which has participated in intercultural exchanges with the Archdiocese of Chicago and Loyola University over the years. Co-editors William A. Clark and Daniel Gast summarized the book’s findings in their chapter “Collaboration in a Pastoral Key.” They first identified some common impediments to collaborative leadership that most of us have probably observed in our own parishes. These included: • a “culture of task” – a relentless, nearly addictive drive on the part of parish staff to be at work. Staff meetings were viewed as preventing people from doing their work • inattention to mission, vision, and values • loss of perspective sustained by a lack of reflection • perfunctory prayer, or no prayer shared with colleagues • workplace silos • inadequate continuing education, reading, and spiritual direction • alternatively fractious or compliant relationships among staff • concealment of conflict • resistance to change These impediments negatively impacted both the organization and the people involved. However, they tended to be mitigated as the staff grew collaboratively. In addition, staff members learned to name each other’s gifts and call one another to pastoral leadership, in the process developing discipleship among parishioners to form a vibrant parish community. The book concludes by identifying a sequence of steps typical in the transition to a collaborative parish staff. However the editors caution [End Page 102] that the movement from one stage to another might not proceed smoothly. These included: • Admitting that communication and organization among the staff could be improved. • Discussing these issues in a “safe place,” typically an informal setting where respect and confidentiality are maintained. • Engaging a facilitator who would help move the group forward until they were ready to take ownership. • Working at developing a spiritual community. • Working at developing more advanced communication skills, such as discourse, debate, and dialogue. • Focusing on communicating about mission, not merely tasks and programming. • Proclaiming the mission to parishioners and working with them to develop an attractive vision of what the parish could be. This is a valuable book that provides many important observations and helpful suggestions. While each chapter is interesting in itself, the real value of the book lies in the wonderful job that the editors have done in summarizing the findings. In fact, one could get all the important insights that the book offers by reading just the first two chapters and the concluding chapter. Charles E. Zech Villanova University Copyright © 2017 American Catholic Historical Society

Baptismal and Missional Ecclesiology in the American Book of Common Prayer

I argue that the ecclesiology expressed in the American 1979 Book of Common Prayer is, in addition to being a baptismal ecclesiology, also inherently missional. After briefly attending to debates about patterns of initiation, I turn my attention to the prayer book’s theology of ministry, wherein all ecclesial ministry is rooted in baptismal identity. I weigh the relative merits of considering the laity as an ‘order’ within the Church, and consider the diaconal nature of the Church and its mission. I finally pursue the connections between between a baptismal ecclesiology and Christian mission. This involves a consideration of the prayer book’s baptismal liturgy (with particular reference to the baptismal covenant), and of the fact that baptism implicates the Church in mission because it implicates Christians in the paschal mystery.

Septem Psalmi Poenitentiales : History, Demise, and Rebirth of an Ascetical Tradition

THIS DAY, BRETHREN, warns me to think more attentively about the burden carry. (1) It is a safe bet that few homiletics professors would recommend this as an opening line for a homily celebrating the anniversary of one's ordination, and yet, this is precisely how St. Augustine began his preaching one day sometime in the year A.D. 425. Looking back upon his years in ministry, Augustine did not shrink from calling his ministry what it was--a burden. very day is a reminder to me to think about this burden; in addition, such a reading as that is chanted (Ez 33) to strike great fear into my heart, and make me think about what am carrying; because unless the one who placed it on my shoulders carries it with me himself, am bound to fail. (2) In an age in which homilies too often begin with a joke, Augustine's approach would strike most modern congregations as dour and joyless, which may reveal more about our modern expectations than anything else. Certainly, there is a need for joy and there is even a place for a good sense of humor. Yet at the core of the sacred liturgy, we are about the serious work of worshipping almighty God, which is anything but a trivial pursuit. The good bishop explained the source of his burden. He remind ed the people that are only going to render an account for yourselves alone, while shall be giving one both for myself and for you. (3) While one could carry this thought to an extreme, effectively absolving members of the flock from personal responsibility, it is likely that those in attendance understood perfectly well their bishop's point. There is indeed a weighty duty that accompanies ecclesial ministry and one may rightfully speak of accountability with respect to the actions of the ministers of the Gospel, especially for those called to the episcopacy. In the past decade the Catholic priesthood has felt a crushing burden, a modern day sartina, (4) primarily due to the grievous sins of sexual misconduct by our brothers, and in some cases, the lack of proper ecclesiastical oversight from the episcopacy. To help the Church bear this heavy burden, propose that she rediscover one of her venerable traditions--praying the penitential psalms. Recovering an Important Spiritual Tradition Praying the penitential psalms is a tradition that was inexplicably discarded following the Second Vatican Council, but it need not be irretrievably lost. Augustine was thoroughly steeped in the psalms and, understandably, passed that knowledge along to his flock. I nourish you with what nourishes ... offer to you what live on myself, he once told his congregation. (5) At the same time, Augustine's episcopal duties too often prevented him from pursuing the intellectual life to the degree he desired. Many bishops today would heartily agree with him when he said, Little force would be needed to make me to lead a life of leisure instead. ... There could be nothing more enjoyable than rummaging around in the divine treasure chest with no one to plague ... Preaching, arguing, correcting, building God's house, having to manage for everyone--who would not shrink from such a heavy burden? But the Gospel terrifies me. (6) Augustine was not alone, even if he was rather bold in describing his responsibilities as he did. At the dawn of Vatican II, the Church's liturgy was remarkably candid with respect to the burden of the sacred ministry. In the conclusion of the 1962 ceremony for the conferral of Minor Orders, the Roman Pontificale reveals a striking similarity to the homily referenced above. The closing reads, Dearly beloved sons, carefully consider the order which you have received today and the burden which has been laid upon your shoulders. Endeavor to live holy lives devoted to religion and to be pleasing to the almighty God, that you may obtain His grace. May He in His mercy deign to bestow it upon you. (7) What happened next in the ceremony for conferral of minor orders might come as a surprise to many young clerics today. …

Visions of Hope: Emerging Theologians and the Future of the Church ed. by Kevin J. Ahern (review)

Reviewed by: Visions of Hope: Emerging Theologians and the Future of the Church ed. by Kevin J. Ahern Paul J. Schutz Visions of Hope: Emerging Theologians and the Future of the Church. Edited by Kevin J. Ahern. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013. 261 pp. $40.00. In the spirit of Pope Paul VI’s 1966 letter to the International Theological Congress, Visions of Hope takes as its starting point the “renewing breath” of Vatican II. With Massimo Faggioli and editor Kevin J. Ahern, a team of twenty authors from seven countries analyzes the state of the council’s vision and suggests ways for cultivating the “seeds of life” planted at the council. Ahern’s introduction situates the volume’s essays within the context of the church’s dialogue with the contemporary world. Faggioli examines the relevance of the council vis-à-vis the relationship between intra-ecclesial expressions of faith and the church’s relationship to society, concluding that the “joy and [End Page 66] hope” of which the council speaks not only describe its manner of engagement with the world, but also provide the key to understanding its teachings. Building on this foundation, essays on liturgy consider the church as mystical body through the lens of critical theory (e.g. Judith Butler) and explore the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion vis-à-vis hospitality and disability. Essays on ministry present a compelling relational ethics of ecclesial authority rooted in the baptismal priesthood and call for a renewed consideration of the structures that undergird ecclesial ministry. One such essay focuses on the continued renewal of the permanent diaconate as a bridge between celibate and non-celibate vocations. Two excellent essays address interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, focusing on the dynamics of evangelization and mutuality in light of scripture and on common consultation and discernment as a means to an ecumenical sensus fidelium, or consensus ecclesiarium, respectively. After three essays on moral theology – one of which insightfully uses the Trinitarian anthropology of the Focolare movement to illustrate the potential value of lay movements for a church in crisis, the volume concludes with a section on ecclesiology. A helpful conclusion summarizes these essays and points the way to realizing the hope to which the book’s title refers. In sum, Visions provides excellent material for discussions of Vatican II especially appropriate for introductory courses. In addition, the authors’ extensive research – found in the footnotes – will provide anyone researching the council with excellent material for further reading. As an outstanding resource for students of theology by students of theology seeking to bring the teachings of Vatican II to bear on the contemporary situation, Visions is a valuable addition to any college library. Paul J. Schutz Fordham University Copyright © 2014 American Catholic Historical Society

Celebrating Lay Ecclesial Ministry

Celebrating Lay Ecclesial Ministry

Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the Parish: A New Stage of Development

In a recent letter accompanying a pastoral statement, the archbishop of Los Angeles wrote, “At this time we are being called to discern new modes of parish leadership and a more participatory exercise of ministry in which lay, religious and ordained together seek to build up the Body of Christ through the charism of leadership.” This charism is to be exercised, in particular, by parish life directors who “are responsible for the welfare of the parish in the absence of a resident priest pastor.” At the conclusion of the letter, the archbishop states: “I pledge my commitment and my support for the training and formation of our parish life directors as well as for the successful implementation of this form of leadership so that the pastoral needs of the people of this archdiocese can be met by competent ministers of Christ and the church” (Mahony 2005, 299). Such a statement is but one indication of the growing acceptance and recognition of the charism of leadership exercised by lay ecclesial ministers in parishes across the United States.

A vision of unity from a Catholic perspective

Looking at the vision of unity from the perspective of the Catholic Church three questions arise: (1) What is the Catholic Church's ultimate ecumenical goal? (2) What should unity in practice look like? and (3) How can it be achieved? If the Church is understood rather as a sacramental entity than an institution, the ‘Christ mystery’ in the Eucharist releases and demands communion in the apostolic faith, the sacraments and a ministry serving the two. The intra-Catholic elements of the interdependence of eucharistic and ecclesial communion, ministry and church, Church universal and particular churches constitute the parameters for a still imperfect communio of denominational churches which could become local churches in the full sense of the word. In this model of ‘ecumenical’ communio ecclesiology the papal ministry is conceived of as being at the centre of unity and collegiality rather than merely having juridical tasks for the governing of the Church.