The Church as Servant in the New Millenium - Essay Example

THE CHURCH AS SERVANT IN THE NEW MILLENIUM Church as Servant Introduction. In his 1974 book Avery Dulles, S.J. presented five models of the Catholic Church - the Church as Institution, as Mystical Communication, as Sacrament, as Herald, and as Servant. To Father Dulles, the five models represent the principal images of the Church, images that are rooted in reality, reflect reality and illustrate the reality of the Church to the people. For instance, Dulles describes the Institutional Church as "a structured community...(with) a pastoral office equipped with authority to preside over the worship of the community as such, to prescribe the limits of tolerable dissent and to represent the community in an official way."2 It is a model of the Church that is traditional and familiar, and therefore provides a kind of security to many Catholics bewildered by changes and challenges both inside and outside the Church. However, taken by itself Church as Servant 2 and to the extreme, this model can produce a "rigid, doctrinaire and conformist"3 Church unable to respond to or even read the "signs of the times."4 As Dulles explained, not any one of the five models, by itself, can represent the totality of Church history and praxis5. What may seem to be the dominant model or models of the Church may even prove to be inadequate in a time of sudden and earth-shaking changes, and need further elaboration as images of the Church. New models may even arise as the Church perseveres in using insights from the Gospel and its own praxis in adjusting to such changes and challenges. More than 40 years have passed since the Gaudium et Spes (Church and the Modern World) laid the basis for the Church as Servant, a model that has shaped and still has a significant impact on both the Church itself and the total human community. Today we can glimpse at least part of the outcome of the Church's decision to update and renew Church as Servant 4 itself and take on the role of Servant as qualified by Vatican II. Furthermore, it gives us bases to reflect on what the future holds for the Church. Church Renewal Vatican II was an unparalleled event and development in the two-millenium history of the Church. From 1962-1965, the Vatican II Council embodied and encouraged the spirit of renewal and openness to change, within the framework of basic truths revealed by Christ in the gospel. For the first time the Church bishops, including the Bishop of Rome, Pope John XXIII and upon his death, Pope Paul VI, focused their considerable collective energy and experience to examining the state of humanity. The Vatican Council recognized and praised the many achievements of humanity in the field of economics, politics and culture. But it also pointed to the unfulfilled search of many individuals for their origin, life purpose and goal, encompassing not only the Church as Servant 5 temporal but also the realm of spiritual life. The Council also lamented the fact that while human society has achieved so much, still millions remained poor.6 Following the example of Christ, who devoted himself to ministering to both body and spirit, the Vatican Council laid the basis for the Servant Church that has continued to travel along this road up to the present. The force behind Vatican II, Pope John XXIII, wrote the great encyclical Pacem in Terris.7 It was groundbreaking in 1963 and still valid almost 45 years later. The people's pope provided a definition of the rights and duties of human beings as well as human institutions such as governments. It contained an affirmation of women's equality and role in society, a "strong insistence on racial equality," and the inclusion of freedom along with truth, justice and charity as the bases of peace in the world. 8 Has the Servant Church upheld Pope John XXIII's statement on human rights, striking for its "generosity, breadth and contemporaneity" then and still so at present Church as Servant 6 Church in Latin America: A Ministry of Human Rights In Latin America Pope John XXIII's 1963 definition of human rights in Pacem in Terris was transformed into a human rights ministry, one that has persisted from the late sixties to the present. The encyclical was incorporated in the "style" of local churches. Latin America then was a continent in flux, undergoing substantial social, political and economic changes. From the early sixties to the early seventies, a series of military coups enthroned dictatorships in countries like Chile, El Salvador, Peru, Honduras, Ecuador and Argentina. Earlier, the growth of peasant and labor movements, and the popularity of progressive political figures such as Salvador Allende in Chile, had proved to be alarming to the Nixon government, which responded by strengthening the local military establishments. The military was oriented toward blocking any changes that could endanger US interests in Latin America, including the issue of "internal security" in what Church as Servant 7 was perceived to be America's backyard.9 The Catholic Church, which was identified with the establishment, metamorphosed into new roles: as strong critic of Latin American governments involved in human rights violations and as the reliable support of movements of the poor, especially the indigenous tribes, to obtain their rights to land, living wages, et al. As early as the sixties, the "pastoral activity of the churches," and not "academic reflection" bore fruit which became known as the theology of liberation. Conferences of Latin American bishops, including one held in Puebla, Mexico, affirmed the preferential option for the poor. Only a few bishops wished to turn back to the old partnership of government, rich landowners-businessmen, and the Church hierarchy.10 Human rights violations in Latin America became an international scandal, especially with death squads involved in assassinations, involuntary disappearances, kidnapping Church as Servant 8 of children, torture and rape. Public outrage and outcry jumped tenfold with the murder of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero, several nuns and priests, as well as numerous Church lay leaders and workers. A combination of national and sectoral mass movements, support from the Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as regional and international human rights organizations and institutions forced some regimes to retreat and make concessions, including the prosecution of military men for crimes against humanity and human rights. Although they still occur, human rights violations have lessened in number and gravity in the past two decades, especially with the defeat of repressive regimes through both electoral contests and popular actions. 11 The Catholic Church has championed human rights in Latin America, as well as other continents. But at least in one case, it is accused of involvement in human rights violations by no other than Amnesty International. A press release issued by AI in January 15 of this year expressed "particular concern at forced evictions carried out by Church as Servant 9 Angolan authorities, apparently at the request of the Catholic Church in Angola. The organization said that nearly all of the forced evictions were accompanied by excessive use of force, which sometimes involved police beatings of children and women - including one pregnant woman - and indiscriminate shooting at residents attempting to protect their homes."12 The land where the eviction was carried out was once owned by the Catholic Church prior to independence and then returned to the Church in response to a request from Pope John Paul II. Unfortunately the Church, which plans to put up a sanctuary in the site, asked the government to remove 2,000 families who have lived in the site for years, even decades. The Archbishop of Luanda justified the Church action with this reasoning "absolute justice can result in injustice."13 The Church instigated eviction is only one of a series of evictions carried out by the government, which is planning the "biggest urban project ever attempted in Africa, and Christ as Servant 10 is implementing other construction projects with financing from the Chinese government."14 Such is the tension and potential contradiction between theory and actual performance of the Church in its human rights ministry. Church Trends An interesting article by Jack Wintz, O.F.M. discusses the major trends in Catholic thinking and practice, trends that he traces to Vatican II renewal or aggiornamiento.15 Unprecedented numbers of men and women are taking on the role of lay ministers, conscious of their ministry to the Catholic and human communities. On the other hand, certain sectors such as women and indigenous peoples feel they can contribute even more. There has been a renewal of liturgies with the use of local languages and inclusion of cultural symbols and practices, which promote greater understanding and vibrant Church as Servant 11 participation of the community. There is greater appreciation and love for the Scriptures, contemplation and prayer and a growing drive for greater unity with God. There is a broader view of salvation, encompassing both the body and spirit and Catholic communities are increasing their grasp and praxis of the social gospel. The human condition has changed radically since Vatican II, with globalization, war and terrorism, and a world in danger of losing its capacity to sustain life. It would be difficult if not impossible to close the windows of the Church that Pope John XXIII opened, so that the people inside could look out and the people outside could look in. With such changes, the Church might have to throw a few more windows wide open. BIBLIOGRAPHY Amnesty International, Angola: Lives in Ruins, 14 Jan. 2007. Accessed March 14 from: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAFR120012007 Dulles, A., S.J., Models of the Church. Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. 1974. 192 pages. Flannery, A., O.P (ed), Vatican Council II: Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition, Costello Publishing Company, New York. 1062 pages. Murray, John C. S.J., Things Old and New in "Pacem in Terris." Accessed 13 March from: http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/library/Murray/1963J.htm Plou, D.S., A History of the Ecumenical Movement, WCC Publications. 2004. Accessed 14 March from: http://www.wcc-assembly.info/en/about-the-assembly/latin-america-brazil/ecumenical-history-of-latin-america.html Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty. Accessed 13 March from: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_xxiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem_en.html Pope John Paul II, The Council Took Place, Hope for the World. Speech delivered Nov. 8, 1995 in the Synod Hall. Accessed 13 March from: http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01051997_p-28_en.html Read More