So today we're looking at how the office of the Vicar of Christ is essential for the unity of the Church!! Get excited.
How is the Papacy both theologically and practically essential for the
unity of the Church?
The practical considerations
regarding the way that humans govern societies have theological implications
for the teaching of one faith by the Church, God’s heavenly society still on
pilgrimage on earth. The Church founded by Jesus Christ has four identifying
features- She is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The unity of the Church is
in Her government, worship, and faith.[1]
The governing body of the Church is also Her visible teaching authority, the
magisterium, which Christ has endowed with the gift of infallibility, so that
She may remain one in faith and worship by proclaiming God’s objective revelation
with clarity and certainty. In order for the magisterium to govern as one, it
must have a single head. This head of the Church is Christ first and foremost,[2]
but a visible group of teachers on earth needs a visible head. This office
Christ entrusted to Peter,[3] to
be continued successively through all the ages of the Church, so that She may
always effectively proclaim the Gospel, preserve the deposit of faith, and
answer new questions as they appear. The fruits of a purely collegial government
or no government at all, in terms of their effects on unity, are clearly
manifested in the current states of Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
The unity of the
Church refers to the notion that by Her very nature She is one. The Church’s
unity is derived from Her source, Her Founder, and Her “soul” (the Holy
Spirit). The Church, as the Body of Christ, is a visible entity in the world,
and as such, Her unity is manifested through visible bonds- charity, one
apostolic faith, common celebration of worship, and apostolic succession.[4]
The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ’s Body are the sins of heresy,
apostasy and schism, since each of them injures one or more of the visible
bonds.[5]
The bond most vulnerable to injury is the oneness of faith, as the possibility
for misunderstanding revelation on the part of individuals is very great, due
to human fallibility, the complexity of Scripture and Tradition, and the
unfathomable depths of the mysteries revealed by Christ.[6]
Jesus was aware of certain disputes that would arise, and so provided for this
by embedding a visible, hierarchical structure of authority within His Kingdom
as manifested on earth, so that the Church may be “the pillar and bulwark of
the truth.”[7]
The government
of the Church, the magisterium, is the visible structure that Christ
established through which the Holy Spirit works to preserve the visible bonds
of unity, especially unity of faith, which is the root of the others.[8] It
consists of the college of bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome.
Governing is but one of the magisterium’s roles, the others being to sanctify
and to teach, each of which it receives by virtue of Christ’s position as priest,
prophet and king.[9] With
regard to teaching, the magisterium exists as a living authority to preach the
gospel, to defend the truth against error, and to answer new questions
definitively when they arise. Thus it is through the magisterium that unity in
faith is preserved.
Since the
magisterium is composed of many (the bishops), if there is to be unanimity in
teaching, a unifying principle is necessary. St Thomas Aquinas lays out clearly
that one man as leader is more appropriate than a collection of persons leading
together equally:
Furthermore, it
is evident that several persons could by no means preserve the stability of the
community if they totally disagreed. For union is necessary among them if they
are to rule at all: several men, for instance, could not pull a ship in one
direction unless joined together in some fashion. Now several are said to be
united according as they come closer to being one. So one man rules better than
several who come near being one.[10]
Perhaps some would say that Christ,
the Head of the Church, or the Holy Spirit, Her soul, are sufficient. However,
as has been mentioned, the Body of Christ is a visible entity, and as such Her
visible teaching office must be united by a visible head. This head, the Church
claims, is Christ’s earthly representative,[11]
the Bishop of Rome, successor of St Peter, and Vicar of Christ the King.[12]
The practical
necessity of the papacy can be seen by observing the state of the various
non-Catholic Christian groups. The Orthodox Churches, since the schism of 1054,
have not held any Ecumenical Councils, and have experienced stagnation in
doctrinal development.[13] They
also do not claim infallibility (which the Church founded by Christ indeed
ought to claim),[14] as well
as being divided over various doctrines.[15]
It has no method for determining the orthodoxy or lack thereof of its bishops
or theologians, which has led to it not issuing any authoritative and binding
statements on newly disputed points of doctrine or vital issues of modern
morality (such as birth control, IVF, indissolubility of marriage, etc).[16]
The Orthodox Church was united at the time of schism, but this unity of
obedience has been ruptured by secular princes who required that each kingdom
should have its own separate and subservient church.[17]
The lack of
unity amongst Protestant Christians is even more apparent. There are many
thousands of Protestant denominations, in ever increasing numbers, such that it
is impossible to give a precise figure.[18]
Each of these groups has their own set of beliefs about what the Bible teaches,
and furthermore, even within each group, there are likely to be people who do
not entirely agree with the groups’ “official” position, and see no hindrance
to having their own personal opinion. Thus, by excluding the concept of a
magisterium altogether, Protestantism, through its principle of private
biblical interpretation, with the Holy Spirit assured to each believer, renders
each individual essentially their own pope. Ultimately, it is up to the
individual whose interpretation they will agree with, which church they will
join, based on their own reading of Scripture.
In conclusion,
those churches not in communion with the Bishop of Rome have experienced a
proliferation of divergences between and within them in terms of belief and
practice. This observable phenomenon is accounted for by the understanding that
it is practically essential for the college of bishops to have a visible head
figure as a unifying principle, so that they may infallibly proclaim the truth
of Christ with one voice. Furthermore, this teaching of one faith, as one of
the visible bonds of the Church’s unity, is theologically essential for
maintaining the oneness of the Church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aquinas, Thomas., On
Kingship to the King of Cyprus, within Minor
Texts, Gerald Phelan (Trans.) (Belgium: Universa,1992)
Bellito, Christopher., Ten
Ways the Church has Changed (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2006)
Bliss, Frederick., Catholic
and Ecumenical: History and Hope 2nd
Edition (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007)
Cross, Brian., Philosophy and the Papacy (Aug
21st, 2011)
(NB: Accessed sometime in 2011,
before Logos existed, but it was of some influence)
Haddad, Robert., Defend the Faith! (Sydney: Lumen
Verum Apologetics, 2003)
John-Paul II, Pope. Ut
Unum Sint (25 May 1995)
(Accessed 01 November 2012)
Murphy, Francesca. & Asprey, Christopher. (Eds.), Ecumenism today- The Universal Church in the
21st Century (UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2008)
New Catholic
Encyclopedia 2nd Edition Volume 14, Marthaler, Berard. (ed.)
(Washington, D.C.: Thomson Gale, 2003)
Rausch, Thomas, S.J., The
Roots of Catholic Tradition (USA: Liturgical Press, 1991)
Ray, Stephen., Crossing
the Tiber (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997)
Ray, Stephen., Upon
this Rock- St. Peter and
the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999)
Sheed, Frank., Theology
and Sanity (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993)
The Holy Bible Revised
Standard Version Catholic Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)
Ware, Timothy., The
Orthodox Church (Suffolk: Penguin Books, 1963)
[1]
Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine, p.141
[2] Eph.
5:23
[3] Mt.
16:13-20
[4] CCC 815
[5] CCC 817
[6]
Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine, p.147
[7] 1 Tim.
3:15
[8]
Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine, p.142
[9] CCC 873
[11] Christ
bestows on Peter some of His own titles- the rock, the key-bearer, the
shepherd. Frank Sheed, Theology and
Sanity, p. 288
[12] Mt. 16:13-20;
CCC 882
[13] Stephen
Ray, Crossing the Tiber, p. 80
[14] Archbishop
Michael Sheehan, Apologetics and Catholic
Doctrine, p. 146
[15]
Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine, p. 161; For example, Constantinople and Russia
disagree regarding the validity of Baptism conferred by a Protestant of
Catholic
[16] Ibid
[17] Ibid,
p.162
[18]
Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine, p.150
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