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Vatican II themes: The church is ecuмenical
by Richard McBrien on Aug. 15, 2011 Essays in Theology

Every year in January we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. And every year we seem to be not an inch closer to outright reunion -- at least on the official level.

At the unofficial level, however, Christians are worshipping and receiving Communion in one another's liturgies. And many Catholics, especially younger Catholics, do not even think along denominational lines when referring, for example, to weddings and funerals.

That is because the Second Vatican Council understood the church as ecuмenical, that is, embracing "the whole wide world" of Christians. The Body of Christ consists not only of Catholics, but also Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans (in the United States they are known as Episcopalians), Protestants, and Oriental Christians alike.

In the years, decades, and centuries preceding the council, the common assumption of Catholics and the official teaching of the Catholic church was that the Catholic church is "the one, true church of Christ."

All other churches and ecclesial communities were regarded as "false churches," completely outside the Body of Christ and beyond the pale of salvation.

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Over the next several weeks, Fr. McBrien's columns will explore the major ecclesiological themes or principles proclaimed at the Second Vatican Council.

Vatican II themes: The church as mystery, or sacrament

Vatican II themes: The people of God

Vatican II themes: The church as servant

Vatican II themes: The church as communion

Vatican II themes: The church is ecuмenical
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Vatican II decisively changed that mentality. The Decree on Ecuмenism defined the goal of the ecuмenical movement as the "restoration" of Christian unity, not the "return" of the separated brethren to the preexisting unity of the Catholic church (n. 1)

As disruptive as were the East-West Schism of the 11th century and the Reformation of the 16th, the communion among and between the churches was not completely destroyed. That is why the council viewed the goal of the ecuмenical movement as the restoration of "full communion with the Catholic church" (n. 3, my italics).

The council also acknowledged that "people on both sides were to blame" for the historic breach of Christian unity, and that the baptized living today "are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic church" (n. 3).

Therefore, the differences between and among separated Christians always "exist in varying degrees." Because of this all "have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as sisters and brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic church."

Indeed many of the most important ecclesial elements are found outside as well as inside the Catholic church: the Sacred Scriptures; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, along with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit. As such, the Holy Spirit can use these separated churches as means of salvation.

The pastoral consequences of the council's teaching on the ecuмenicity of the church have been the formal dialogues (also known as "consultations" and "bilaterals") between the Catholic church and other Christian churches at the local, national, and international levels; a common pursuit of renewal and reform; cooperation in the social apostolate; joint theological study in seminaries, colleges, and universities; common prayer, particularly on special occasions and the aforementioned Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; and various initiatives toward the mutual recognition of one another's ordained ministries.

One of the most controversial texts in all of the docuмents of Vatican II is that of article 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium). The church "subsists in" the Catholic church, rather than "is" the Catholic church, as the earlier text had it.

Other changes in the article worth noting include the dropping of the adjective "Roman" and the replacement of "Roman Pontiff" with "the successor of Peter."

The argument over the correct interpretation of article 8 achieved renewed intensity in July 2007 with the publication of Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

The CDF docuмent took issue with the common interpretation given by theologians and council fathers alike, namely, that the council changed the wording from "is" to "subsists in" to break the exclusive connection between the Catholic church and the Body of Christ.

The CDF declared, somewhat densely, that "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."

Nevertheless, the weight of interpretation of article 8 continues to favor the great majority of theologians and bishops who have directly commented on this matter.

Jesuit Fr. Francis Sullivan, long-time professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, gave the best translation of the subsistit in clause as "continues to exist fully only in the Catholic church."

The key word is "fully." In introducing the notion of "degrees of communion," Vatican II gave us the best way of interpreting the ecuмenicity of the church.

© 2011 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

by Richard McBrien on Aug. 15, 2011 Essays in Theology

Every year in January we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

This, right off the bat, is heretical. All Christians are united by sharing the same Faith. To suggest otherwise is complete and utter heresy.

And every year we seem to be not an inch closer to outright reunion -- at least on the official level.

This is just another repetition of the heresy that not all Christians are united.

At the unofficial level, however, Christians are worshipping and receiving Communion in one another's liturgies. And many Catholics, especially younger Catholics, do not even think along denominational lines when referring, for example, to weddings and funerals.

This is blatant heresy, especially what is in bold and underlined. It is heretical to assert that Catholics should think like Protestants do, which is what the word "denominational" suggests in this context. Protestants are heretics and believe unto damnation false doctrines.

That is because the Second Vatican Council understood the church as ecuмenical, that is, embracing "the whole wide world" of Christians. The Body of Christ consists not only of Catholics, but also Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans (in the United States they are known as Episcopalians), Protestants, and Oriental Christians alike.

More heresy. There is no "whole wide world of Christians" that are outside of the Church. Saying that within the body of Christ that there are schismatics and heretics is heresy.

In the years, decades, and centuries preceding the council, the common assumption of Catholics and the official teaching of the Catholic church was that the Catholic church is "the one, true church of Christ."

It is not a mere assumption to say that the Catholic Church is the True Church of Christ. It is Divinely revealed fact that the Catholic Church is Christ's Church. Denying that, or suggesting that the Bible can be read so as to say that the Catholic Church is not Christ's Church is heretical.

All other churches.

This is another heresy. There is only one Church. False religions do not constitute "churches", for there is only one Church and one Faith. There are parts of the Church that are nationally separated, but these are all apart of the same Church and hold the same faith.

and ecclesial communities were regarded as "false churches," completely outside the Body of Christ and beyond the pale of salvation.

They were regarded as "false churches" because they ARE false churches and they teach heresy.

Vatican II decisively changed that mentality. The Decree on Ecuмenism defined the goal of the ecuмenical movement as the "restoration" of Christian unity, not the "return" of the separated brethren to the preexisting unity of the Catholic church (n. 1)

Vatican II was a false, heretical council convened by an Antipope. Vatican II docuмents contain heresy and as such cannot be considered to be valid. One heresy is the Vatican II teaching on religious liberty. This paragraph quoted however, repeats the same heresy that was previously repeated, that all true Christians are not already united.  

As disruptive as were the East-West Schism of the 11th century and the Reformation of the 16th, the communion among and between the churches was not completely destroyed.

This is another repetition of the previously mentioned heresy - that there is more than one Church - and the proclamation of another heresy - that these so-called churches are somehow in communion with each other, despite all being in contradiction with each other.

That is why the council viewed the goal of the ecuмenical movement as the restoration of "full communion with the Catholic church" (n. 3, my italics).

It is heresy to suggest that a false religion can be in communion with the Catholic Church.

The council also acknowledged that "people on both sides were to blame" for the historic breach of Christian unity,

This is another heresy. It is heretical to suggest that the Church is to blame for heretics refusing to be apart of her. The Church welcomes heretics to join her with open arms given that they reject their evils and embrace Truth, thereby no longer being heretics.

and that the baptized living today "are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic church" (n. 3).

Another heresy postulated by Vatican II is that there is "partial" communion with the Church. This is false and no saint, Doctor of the Church, Apostle, Cardinal, Pope, etc. who wasn't a heretic ever taught this prior to Vatican II.

Therefore, the differences between and among separated Christians always "exist in varying degrees."

More heresy. There are no Christians outside of the Church.

Because of this all "have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as sisters and brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic church."

This is astounding heresy. In my signature we can see that St. Robert Bellarmine has taught that non-Christians are not members of the Church. He also taught that one cannot be a Christian and not be a Catholic.

Indeed many of the most important ecclesial elements are found outside as well as inside the Catholic church: the Sacred Scriptures; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, along with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit. As such, the Holy Spirit can use these separated churches as means of salvation.

Even more heresy. It is a dogma that there is no salvation outside of the Church. Suggesting that God would use false religions as a means of salvation is heretical. It's apostatical. Why even be Catholic if you can be saved in false religions?

The pastoral consequences of the council's teaching on the ecuмenicity of the church have been the formal dialogues (also known as "consultations" and "bilaterals") between the Catholic church and other Christian churches

This is just another repetition of the previous heresy that there are Christians outside of the Mystical Body of Christ.

at the local, national, and international levels; a common pursuit of renewal and reform; cooperation in the social apostolate; joint theological study in seminaries, colleges, and universities; common prayer, particularly on special occasions and the aforementioned Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; and various initiatives toward the mutual recognition of one another's ordained ministries.

More repetition of already mentioned heresies.

One of the most controversial texts in all of the docuмents of Vatican II is that of article 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium). The church "subsists in" the Catholic church, rather than "is" the Catholic church, as the earlier text had it.

The reason why that text is so controversial is because it's blatantly heretical. There is no "church" that "subsists in" the Catholic Church. Saying so is a complete denial of the DOGMA that there is only one Church.

Other changes in the article worth noting include the dropping of the adjective "Roman" and the replacement of "Roman Pontiff" with "the successor of Peter.

That isn't surprising given the fact that heretics rightly do not want to be called the Roman Pontiff, as they are not.

The CDF docuмent took issue with the common interpretation given by theologians and council fathers alike, namely, that the council changed the wording from "is" to "subsists in" to break the exclusive connection between the Catholic church and the Body of Christ.

Therein lies the apostasy, the heresy and the complete break from Catholic Tradition. To suggest that the Catholic Church is not the mystical body of Christ is heresy.

The CDF declared, somewhat densely, that "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."

Or in other words, there is a "church" that exists within the physical, visible bounds of the Catholic Church that have existed since the founding of the Church. WRONG.
 

Jesuit Fr. Francis Sullivan, long-time professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, gave the best translation of the subsistit in clause as "continues to exist fully only in the Catholic church."

The key word is "fully." In introducing the notion of "degrees of communion," Vatican II gave us the best way of interpreting the ecuмenicity of the church.

It doesn't matter what the "key word" is. It is still manifestly heretical to assert that there exists a church within the True Church of Christ, which is the Catholic Church.

Daegus,

So, just to be clear, you sare saying that Fr. McBrien's article contains heresy?  :wink:

I don't see why you'd even bother to ask me that question when it's obvious to me that you know the answer to it.

Daegus,

:devil2:

Lighten up!

Never. :gandalf: :gandalf:

Notice the winking smiley face by my question.

:detective:

It was mean to be humorous.

 

Obviously you thought it was heretical

 :detective:  :applause:, my dear Watson.

since you referred to heresy 45,678 times in your response.

 :heretic:

That is why I thought it was funny.   No big deal!

 :soapbox: :guitar: :guitar: :farmer: