We must not put all our faith in structures, urges Michael Nazir-Ali
It is Christ who makes the Church, Christ who renews the Church, and Christ who reforms the Church. In the Letter to the Ephesians, St Paul tells us that “Christ fills his Church with all his fullness [pleroma]”; later, in Colossians, he writes that it is “Christ who is in us, the hope of Glory”. At the same time, it is characteristic of St Paul to say that “we are in Christ [en Christo]”.
We are in Christ, grafted as a branch on the vine, and Christ is in us: feeding us, making us, and renewing us. The process for how this happens in the Church has to do with the transmission of the Apostolic Tradition. Transmitted from generation to generation, culture to culture, and person to person – it may be done well or badly, wholly or in part, but it is going on. People who receive this Tradition sometimes notice particular elements within it.
Take God’s liberation of his people in Exodus. It is no surprise that this trajectory was noticed by the enslaved and oppressed; it is widely expressed, for example, in the African-American tradition. An Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, used to say that the definitive commentary on St John’s Gospel would come from India, where distinctive philosophical traditions would help Indian Christians notice things that others had not noticed. Pope St John Paul II spoke of a “feminine genius” in reading the Bible, from which men can learn.
How, then, does this Tradition engage with change; with new issues and new questions? St John Henry Newman’s views on the development of doctrine are crucial when dealing with changing paradigms. In this process of development, of engaging with the new, the Gospel must be conserved in all its fullness. Creation, redemption, and reconciliation with the one from whom we have become alienated: these aspects of the good news can never be compromised. The engagement must also have a conservative action on the past.
That is why in Church documents there is a constant reference to what has been taught before by councils, fathers or popes. Continuity of principle enables us to grapple with new issues; for instance, the principle of the sacredness of the person helps us with dealing with questions now surrounding abortion and euthanasia. We must also have anticipation of the future; we must be aware of the possible consequences of our actions. The case for euthanasia began with very hard cases of those with terminal illness; in parts of Europe it has now been extended even to children with depression. Similar things can be said about legislation to permit abortion.
Taking the above into account, how do we know that we are remaining faithful to the Apostolic teaching? The Vincentian Canon states the principle of universality: semper, ubique et ab omnibus – what has been believed always, by everyone and everywhere. However, at one time, nearly the whole Church had become Arian; Athanasius contra mundum was left almost alone in defending orthodoxy in the East. Universality alone therefore cannot be a sufficient criterion.
Some people say the Bible must be the standard; it stands within the stream of Apostolic tradition but it is once for all and unchangeable. As Dei Verbum teaches, it is how the Church orders her whole life. Scripture does not contradict Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Tradition does not contradict Scripture, but rather interprets it and is its living manifestation. This is why the study of the Scriptures is a primary necessity for the Church.
Scholars search for the oral traditions behind the text: experts examine and compare manuscripts and ancient translations while commentaries give us the background and intention of the writers. All of this is important, but scholars don’t have the last word. Having taken account of scholarship and the history of a text’s interpretation, the Church – by means of her teaching authority – has the last word as to what the text means.
Revelation then, as a whole, has to relate to culture and context. Lamin Sanneh, a Gambian Catholic theologian from a Muslim background, held that Christian revelation is completely translatable into every culture. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, even though the language of Jesus was Aramaic; thus we have translation from the beginning. The tasks of inculturation, then, are both immediate and continuing as the Church embodies the Gospel of Jesus Christ and with it meets different cultures.
Are there any limits to inculturation? In Redemptoris Missio, on the continuing missionary mandate of the Church, St John Paul II speaks of two limits. First, the nature of the Gospel itself: whatever the inculturation, it cannot compromise the Gospel’s core of creation, incarnation, atonement, resurrection and eschatology. Secondly, that inculturation has to be such that Christians, in different cultures, can recognise the same faith in one another.
There are those who speak of criteria for inculturation: how the mind of Christ relates to culture and context, making the Gospel intelligible and inspiring and informing people how they can be enabled to live a new life in Christ. Authentic inculturation points to unity in diversity, but there cannot be sheer diversity. Diversity must serve the unity, and vice versa. In other words, the diversity has to be legitimate – it must feed the unity and not detract from it.
The Catholic Church has, providentially, maintained the whole deposit of faith. Not only the sacred deposit of faith, of which Scripture is a norm, but also the sacred ministry – although not at the same level. The Church is the servant of the Word, and not its master; these two aspects have to be kept together. The laying on of hands is not just mechanical; it is the transmission of the whole of the Apostolic Tradition as a manifestation and interpretation of what has been revealed once for all.
On the question of Synodality, the first requirement must be about worshipping together. If the Church is not a praying church, it will not be an authentically synodal Church. Synodality is not only about activism. It is about participating in Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist which has been given from the very beginning and which makes and renews the Church. Here, preeminently, the Sacred Ministry is related to the Deposit of Faith, as the former makes available the latter.
Synodality is also about consulting, but those who are being consulted also need to be catechised, perhaps even evangelised. Otherwise all we will get is a reflection of the culture around people. The ecclesial dimension of the consultation has to be maintained; the consultation must prioritise the natural manifestations of the Church in the family, the parish, the diocese and the episcopal conferences. The Synod will need to attend particularly to what has been raised in these manifestations of the Church.
Consulting with the people of God is different from coming under pressure from activists. The sensus fidelium is not even what the laity and priesthood may think at any one time. It has to be informed by what the Apostolic Tradition always has taught and must articulate the mind of the Church throughout the ages, as well as around the world today. Both aspects are needed.
The sensus fidelium must also be articulated by those who have authority to teach. Bishops gathered together have a particular charism in this regard. The Bishop of Rome, with the college of bishops, has a specific service to confirm, clarify and declare what the whole Church has to believe and do. When the bishops come to meet in Rome, they will have to make some decisions about belief and discipline; they will have to say what is acceptable and what must be excluded. Not everything that people want will be given.As the Continental phase of Synodality begins, it is important to bear this in mind so that it can be handled sensitively.
Finally, we must not put all our faith in structures, for the Church is renewed instead by movements of faith and a deeper experience of God, as with the monastic movement, the emergence of the preaching orders and modern missionary endeavours. Of course, we need good structures, but renewal comes with allowing the Holy Spirit to bring newness among the people. Such renewal can then also bring reform of the structures so that they can better serve the universal mission of the Church.
Mgr Michael Nazir-Ali is Prelate of Honour to His Holiness; he was formerly Bishop of Rochester, in the Church of England. This is an abridged version of an address given to a meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences in Bangkok on 28 October 2022.
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