3: Document on the Church.

Vatican City -- On July 10, 2007, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (C.D.F.) issued a letter entitled Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church. It consisted of five responses to five questions, the text of which follows below.

The CDF letter was issued in order to remind Catholics of some basic principles about the study and theology of the Church (called ecclesiology, from the Greek ecclesia=assembly).

The Second Vatican Council with its Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, its decree On Ecumenism (relationship and understanding of other Christian bodies) and other documents such as Nostre aetate (relationship with non-Christian religions) began a renewal towards a deeper understanding of the nature of the Church founded by Jesus.

However, some theologians, priests and lay people developed the notion that the Second Vatican Council was an entirely new beginning, a new Church, one moreover which needed to be supplemented by characteristics from other Christian bodies or perhaps even from other religions, in order to be truly the Church of the Lord Jesus. Some theologians seized on the word "subsist," used in Lumen gentium as the Church "subsists in," to argue that this proved that the Catholic Church was not complete by herself alone.

Text

The following is the text of the document. Footnotes have been omitted. These are available from the Vatican website:

FIRST QUESTION

Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic doctrine on the Church?

RESPONSE

The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to change this doctrine, rather it developed, deepened and more fully explained it.

This was exactly what John XXIII said at the beginning of the Council. Paul VI affirmed it and commented in the act of promulgating the Constitution Lumen gentium: "There is no better comment to make than to say that this promulgation really changes nothing of the traditional doctrine. What Christ willed, we also will. What was, still is. What the Church has taught down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain, is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear formulation." The Bishops repeatedly expressed and fulfilled this intention.

SECOND QUESTION

What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?

RESPONSE

Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community," that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. "This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic [...]. This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him."

In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium 'subsistence' means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth.

It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them. Nevertheless, the word "subsists" can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe ... in the "one" Church); and this "one" Church subsists in the Catholic Church.

THIRD QUESTION

Why was the expression "subsists in" adopted instead of the simple word "is"?

RESPONSE

The use of this expression, which indicates the full identity of the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church, does not change the doctrine on the Church. Rather, it comes from and brings out more clearly the fact that there are "numerous elements of sanctification and of truth" which are found outside her structure, but which "as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel towards Catholic Unity."

"It follows that these separated churches and communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."

FOURTH QUESTION

Why does the Second Vatican Council use the term "Church" in reference to the oriental Churches separated from full communion with the Catholic Church?

RESPONSE

The Council wanted to adopt the traditional use of the term. "Because these Churches, although separated, have true sacraments and above all--because of the apostolic succession--the priesthood and the Eucharist, by means of which they remain linked to us by very close bonds," they merit the title of "particular or local Churches," and are called sister Churches of the particular Catholic Churches.

"It is through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each of these Churches that the Church of God is built up and grows in stature." However, since communion with the Catholic Church, the visible head of which is the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter, is not some external complement to a particular Church but rather one of its internal constitutive principles, these venerable Christian communities lack something in their condition as particular churches.

On the other hand, because of the division between Christians, the fullness of universality, which is proper to the Church governed by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him, is not fully realised in history.

FIFTH QUESTION

Why do the texts of the Council, and those of the Magisterium since the Council, not use the title "Church" with regard to those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century?

RESPONSE

According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense.

Approved by the Pope and signed by William Cardinal Levada, Prefect and Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B., Secretary.

Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary noted that "The Congregation also points out that the Catholic Church falls short of what it should be because of the division between Christians," when it says, "the fullness of universality is not fully realized in history."

"There are some who think ecumenical or religious dialogues are like other dialogues--negotiations between countries, bargaining between labour and management, or any attempts to find middle ground between disputing parties. This is not the case. Dialogue in society involves compromise; that's how we get things done, and that is good.

But when people of faith talk to one another, they are not attempting compromise. Our goal in dialogue is not to pretend that our differences don't exist and seek to construct one religion, but to share and learn from one another. Religious dialogue is both a process of spiritual growth and a set of experiences that can have a transforming effect on those engaged in it. This kind of dialogue is the art of spiritual communication. The participants maintain their religious practice, they invite their partners to be present when they pray and they seek to understand how each understands what one must do to be holy.

In religious dialogue, we are also compelled to make our language understandable, acceptable and well-chosen, so that we can be both truthful and charitable to one another" (Calgary Herald, July 29, 2007).