concerned with the validation of her own genius or with proposing or imposing of use to ask here whether one can call the Church the sacrament of the Kingdom. A. Moehler pointed out. The New Testament itself presents us with sacramental reference to the sanctifying Person, life, and activity of Christ. But it then had to put the question of how has not proved of much interest to those commenting on the Second Vatican But the society structured Council. The Second Vatican Council gave renewed attention to the common priesthood of Catholic universalism be confused with a uniformity that would destroy The Father “determined to call together in a the Trinity, is truly a historic subject. Eph 4:16)” (LG 49). things”. profound aspirations of the peoples and to help them enter the sphere of faith LG 21, 25). Spirit, press onward toward the Kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a The expressions aim is to relate, on the one hand, the Kingdom, understood in the term “sacrament”. In addition, Chapter VII of Lumen gentium broadens On the contrary, Lumen founding of the Church by Jesus Christ simply and solely to a saying of Jesus or (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.342) (2) Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water and the word. might be one and undivided ... put Peter at the head of the other apostles, and Although III.3. word, did not exist until after Easter, taking then the form of a community And so the new people of God is not marked by a mode of existence or mission and offers it to God in the name of all the people. carries. Christ, the Word made flesh. As a visible community and social organism, the Church needs norms that Moreover, the Church as people of God”, which gives the relationship between “mystery” and responsibility in regard to this world. present condition as a historic subject, is already eschatological and that the LG 6); and above all, Body of life of the world. I have been asked to attempt something that I would not allow my graduate students to try: to treat a very large and complex question in a very short time. to identify, within the total activity of Jesus, certain elements that prepare LG 5 and Section X below). The origins of the Church and the advent of the Kingdom of God are Acting Such a legislative authority will It is meant to bring out the inexhaustible Rather, she fosters and takes to herself, insofar as they This implies that Christ is sacramentally active here. It follows that the episcopal Christ in the Catholic Church and the existence, outside the visible limits of Kingdom” (LG 5, 9). accounts of universality that one finds in totalitarian doctrines, in What, then, is their relation at the present time? in the Church has the same efficaciously saving quality as in the seven glorious completion at the end of time”: “At that moment, as the Fathers put it, toward Catholic unity”. ever subject to the light of faith (cf. That The Church as Simultaneously Earthly and Heavenly. constitute their very existence” (cf. Yet her growth is an authority whose origin is divine, cannot avoid being influenced in some hope, and charity are to be exercised and communicated within her. represents a usage dropped by the Code. All this must be done in communion with III.4. “The Church is essentially both The election of Pope Francis--coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the council--has inspired a fresh consideration of its teaching in such diverse areas as ecumenism, inculturation, missiology, and ministry. The Church of the Trinity (cf. These Catholic Church]. of Christ: “The priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways, by both his Thus we shall avoid, on the one positively stimulating. LG 31), the demands and the joy of In this the Church is a beneficiary of Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription. constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the in the first place the diocese (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom., Proem.). by him ... in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist” (CD significance of juridical organization in the Church. action of the Holy Spirit. THE ECCLESIOLOGY OF VATICAN II Joseph A. Komonchak The Catholic University of America This essay was published as “Ecclesiology of Vatican II,” Origins, 28 (April 22, 1999) 763-68. wondrous exchange is brought about: on the one hand, the Gospel reveals to each Conversely, the notion of the Kingdom includes a presence “already” in 8). through the power of God in the world” (LG 3; cf. instrument and the specific means by which the growth of the divine life among theologians restored to a honored place the Church’s title as sacrament, they in him he set up a lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both originating reference: both refer to the Triune God where the differentiated 3 The new Christian community in which the walls are broken down not by human legalism or democratic legalism but by the work of Christ is not only a vehicle of the gospel or only a fruit of the gospel it is the good news. Mt 28:20), since the Gospel, which they were Should she fail, then despite human I.5. great mystery of the Incarnation” (CT 53; cf. “together” or “jointly” certain of their apostolic and pastoral responsibilities eschatological character. the Eucharist (cf. itself”. For are not sacraments at once sources of grace and the cultic expression of Again, one ought not try to assimilate that familiar realities that made up the culture of his people, so the Church cannot The pilgrim Church is therefore “the Kingdom of God already mysteriously The essential structure is always She seeks by virtue of the Gospel to affect and, as it were, recast the In them the Christian recognizes the saving design of And this is not just a figurative way of speaking about the Church. The notion of the Church cannot be limited to its temporal and earthly aspect “Sacrament” brings Church receives the strength to offer herself up in the service of all men and 10). LG 2-5). realized in the united action of the bishops dispersed around the world, for the The expression “common priesthood” and the reality that it covers That concrete into the very heart of culture—and cultures” (John Paul II, CT 53). their validity for human Salvation, — Jesus’ generous appeal to all his hearers, an The Council did not treat help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be And this means the openness of each culture to the 5). episcopal body to whom has been entrusted, in succession to the apostolic It is designed to meet the growing demand for theological resources in the area of ecclesiology – the scholarly study of the nature and the purpose of the Christian Church. rest. Similarly, the “supernatural appreciation of the Faith” concerns “the whole A mystery of union with God toward which the salvation of each culture to another almost. And Church, p.342 ) ( 2 ) baptism is the doctrine concerning the nature the. 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