MODULE 2: Religious Structures & Processes

How a religion uses a particular structure and/or process to address important issues:

Process:

An established sequence or procedure used to achieve an outcome

Structure:

An established framework or system

Religious structures:

Organisation of a religion i.e. its leadership. It refers to how things are done in a religion

Understandings of structures and processes of the Catholic Church help explain how and why these exist and function:

  • The Church preserves and passes on the teachings of Christ
  • The work of Church is the work of Jesus
  • The Holy Spirit nourishes, heals and gives life to the Church and its members
  • The Apostles and their successors are responsible for preserving and passing on the teachings of Jesus
  • Bishops are the successors of the Apostles
  • Catholics believe that the spiritual gifts and the authority of the leaders of the Church is given to the Pope and the bishops
  • Along with the Pope, bishops are the official teachers of the Christian message and teach in the name of Jesus -> referred to as the Church’s Magisterium
  • Catholics recognise that the purpose of the Magisterium is to ensure that all who are trying to live and to teach the message of Christ do so authentically
  • Church’s Magisterium continues to hand on the liturgies, teachings and moral commands of Jesus today
  • Apostles understood that they could not change the teachings of Jesus, even when they were socially unpopular
  • Catholics believe that Magisterium is not superior to od of God, but its servant
  • At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this (Word of God) devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully
  • What are some examples of religious structures and processes?

Catholic Church has many structures and processes and they serve these three functions:

  • Teaching and safeguarding the Christian message
  • Providing for the growing holiness of believers
  • Governing the Church in Jesus’ name

Examples of religious structures include:

  • Synods
  • Ecumenical Councils: The Second Vatican Council
  • What are the main features of a particular religious structure and/or process?

Religious Structure/Process / Description
Synods /
  • Means ‘council’ and comes from Greek word Synodos which comes from the Latin word concilium
  • Purpose of synods is to deal with their own decisions but always under strict review
  • Meetings of bishops
  • Gathering of Church officials who discuss, provide advice or decide upon Church matters concerning beliefs, practice or life of the Church
  • Integral part of Church governance
  • Earliest and traditional forums for collegial discussion, debate and decision-making
  • First was Council of Jerusalem around 50AD
  • Made decisions either on diocesan province or national level before 1965 (where this was all changed)
  • Local synods since the change in 1965 have made their own decisions but under the strict review of the Holy See

Synod of Bishops /
  • Paul VI in 1965 established Synod of Bishops
  • Advisory group serving the Pope, the collegiality of the bishops of the word
  • Pope Paul VI stipulated that it was a strictly consultative body for the Pope

Diocesan Synod /
  • Mandated at 4th Lateran Council in 1215AD
  • Deal with problems on the local or on the broader level and to make decisions that, it was hoped, would improve the situation
  • An assembly of the priests and other selected members of a diocese for the purpose of assisting the bishop by offering advice about the needs of the diocese

Plenary Synod /
  • Could only be held with the authorization of the Supreme Pontiff who would designate a delegate to convene and preside over it
  • Held frequently throughout the Church from the 2nd century and continued to the Middle Ages

Provincial Synods /
  • Convened ever 20 years

  • What are some examples of important issues a religion needs to address?

In general terms, the main ideas that were looked at in the Second Vatican Council were:

  • The call to holiness
  • Revitalising the cause of the Church – which is to spread the Good News
  • Making efforts towards ecumenism
  • Achieving aggiornamento (bring up to date) through ressourcement (a return to the sources)
  • Essential teachings must be accessible and understandable to public
  • Tried to unite Christian tradition with the modern world
  • Reform the liturgy and Mass
  • Reaffirm the authority of the Catholic Church
  • Allow the Church to be involved in the modern world and modern issues

Looking at these ideas in more detail:

  • The Church
  • Lumen Gentium: The Dogmatic constitution on the Church
  • Church not defined as the hierarchy but defined as mystery and as the People of God
  • Holiness is the vocation of all Christians
  • Hierarchy gains their meaning from the entire people of God and the mystery of God’s love
  • Authority in the Church
  • Affirms the role of the pope as the supreme head of the Church
  • Collegiality: the authority of the pope is seen as joined with all bishops as those called to authority in the Church
  • Concept of collegiality is one of mutual respect and copperation
  • Concept does not diminish Pope’s authority
  • Increased sense of shared authority or collegiality among bishops and between them and the Pope
  • Ecumenism
  • UnitatisRedintegratio: Papal encyclical that addressed ecumenism
  • Movement within the Church that works towards greater Christian unity
  • “For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptised are in communion with the Catholic Church even through this communion is imperfect” (UR, 3)
  • New spirit of ecumenism
  • Addressing of sectarianism and formal apology and regret for past events
  • Vatican I was a short-lived ecumenical council that preceded Vatican II, efforts were made by the Pope towards ecumenism however the Pope instead forced the Orthodox Patriarch to join Catholicism and profess him as the true leader
  • Lead to much negative reception for the Eastern Orthodox Church
  • Pope Paul VI and the Orthodox Patriarch formally met up to apologise for past events and discuss efforts for ecumenism
  • Acknowledged freedom of belief and separation from the Church
  • E.g. NCCA (National Council of Churches in Australia)
  • Council that consists of several denominations of Christianity
  • They work together to discuss social justice issues and issues around Australia
  • Non-Christian Religions
  • Church encourages dialogue with them and respect for their religious and cultural values
  • Document addresses Church’s relationship with Judaism

The church rejects nothing that is good and true in other religious faiths.

  • Encourages dialogue in the search for spiritual and moral values
  • Special respect and understanding should be given to the Jews. They are not to be blamed for the death of Jesus Christ.
  • All kinds of persecution and discrimination are condemned
  • Seeks to eliminate any mentality among Christians which perpetuates anti-Semitism
  • The Church and the World
  • Gaudium et Spes:Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern World
  • From “fortress mentality”: defensive and over protective
  • Church wanted to preserve itself and protect us from the evils of the world
  • Aggiornamento: to update
  • Church seeks to unite itself with humanity rather than separate itself from humanity
  • The Church must show how faith should affect the way that Christians live in the world
  • Church recognises the importance and dignity of individual conscience
  • Recognises advances of science and culture and such advances need not be seen as a threat to the Church
  • Encourages human solidarity in search of justice and peace on earth
  • Abandoned ideology that the Church was to conserve every tradition and resist change in the modern world
  • Church was to to engage with the rapidly changing world
  • Gaudium et Spes outlines the relationship between Church and modern world
  • Council is ‘credited with essentially shaping the modern Catholic Church’ (Teicher, 2012)
  • “The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel…thus she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other” (Gaudium et Spes, 1965)
  • Church engaging in human rights; the Church was an observer at UN and now it an active participant in the UN
  • “Church is, or is expected to be, at the forefront of protest against the infringement of people’s freedoms and rights” (Father Ian Ker, 2002)
  • Since Church has been engaging in modern world, “the pursuit of justice and peace has sometimes seemed to supersede the preaching of the Gospel” (Father Ian Ker, 2002)
  • The Church and the Bible
  • Dei Verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
  • We recognise the Word of God as the source of Church teaching and theology
  • Teaching authority of the Church (the Magisterium) is not ‘above’ God’s word but meant to serve it
  • “Easy access to sacred scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful” (DV, 22)
  • Church encourages Scriptural scholarship
  • Scholars are to present their findings to Church authority for guidance and approval
  • Embrace of scripture has an will continue to renew the spirituality of the Church
  • Through scripture we understand the Lord more fully
  • The Liturgy
  • SacrosanctumConcilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
  • There was progressive liturgical movement stemming from prior century but was strongly opposed by conservatives in Rome
  • Help the faithful more fully understand the importance of Scripture and Sacrament
  • Church brought a renewal in the area of liturgy
  • Need for Mass to be in vernacular
  • Greater flexibility in meetings
  • Flexibility in terms of music
  • Congregation is encouraged to participate in all facets of celebration: full, conscious and active participation
  • Also means being passive participants in terms of silence and prayer
  • New code of canon law: mass being said in vernacular so people could engage in mass
  • Religious Freedom
  • The Laity
  • ApostolicumActuositatem: Papal encyclical that addressed the laity’s role in the modern world and in the liturgy
  • Laity should involve itself in the Church sacraments and in the Mass
  • The laity should

What role has a particular religious structure and/or process played in helping a religion address important issues?

Vatican II General Information:

  • Pope Pius dies in 1958
  • Angelo Roncalli elected as new Pope; Pope John XXIII
  • Aggiornamento: to bring the essential teachings of the Church up to date and understandable for people in society
  • Ressourcement: a return to the sources to achieve aggiornamento to unite Christian tradition with modern world
  • 4 sessions from 1962 to 1965 which 2500 participants
  • All bishops around the world attended
  • Observers were welcomed from Protestant, Eastern Orthodox churches along with lay observers
  • Pope John XXIII died in June 1963 (between first and second sessions)
  • Pope Paul VI continued work

Role of addressing important issues:

  • Addressing Church and on the meaning and role of Church itself

The Four Constitutions:

  • Lumen Gentium: The Dogmatic constitution on the Church (1964)
  • There is intense debate about:
  • Papal authority and the collegiality of the bishops
  • Church that had too greatly copied secular institutions as the societas perfecta
  • The insistence and exclusivity about the Roman Catholic Church as the only one true Church
  • The mystery between Christ, Mary and the Church
  • Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965)
  • Dei Verbum: Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation (1965)
  • Touches main cornerstones of our faith: Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium
  • Council decided that Magisterium had only mediating function between scripture, tradition and people of God
  • SacrosanctumConcilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963)

Pope John XXIII’s intentions for the Council:

  • First announced by John XXIII in 1959
  • October 11, 1962, first day of Council
  • Address given in St Peter’s Basilica
  • Had heavy opposition from conservative bishops and cardinals because they did not want to change
  • Wanted to bring church up to date with the world
  • All the speeches were to be in Latin
  • Pope John XXIII died 3 June, 1963
  • Pope Paul VI elected June 22, 1963

Themes:

  • Aggiornamento: bringing up to date
  • Pope John XXIII wanted to create a new and positive relationship with the modern world and in modern thought
  • Ressourcement:
  • John wanted to purify and simplify the life of the Church by turning again to the sources of its life and faith
  • Looking scripture, liturgy and foundational theology
  • The Church
  • Revelation
  • The Liturgy
  • Ecumenism
  • Non-Christian Religions
  • The Church and the Modern World

Structure of Vatican II:

  • Preparations for council took more than 2 years
  • General sessions for the council were held in the fall of four successive years 1962-1965
  • Met to review and collate the work of the bishops and to prepare for the next period
  • Speeches (called interventions) were limited to 10 minutes
  • 2,908 persons were entitled to seats at the council

Who was Who at the Council:

  • The Popes: Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI
  • Council Fathers: Term used for members who were entitled to vote and to speak in the debates
  • Advisors or Experts (periti): Each Council Father was entitled to bring a theologian or other appropriate expert of his choice
  • Observers: senior members of other Christian denominations were invited to the Council as observers and were not infrequently valuable in private discussions

The Sessions:

Period / Description
First Period (October 11 to December 1962) /
  • Public Session that included Council Fathers, representatives of 86 governments and international bodies
  • Bishops voted not to proceed as planned by the curial preparatory commissions, but to first consult among themselves
  • Resulted in reworking of structure of council commissions
  • Issues considered during sessions included liturgy, mass communications, Eastern rite Churches and nature of television
  • Schema on revelation was rejected by majority of bishops
  • Pope John XXIII died on June 3, 1963
  • Pope Paul VI elected on June 22, 1963 and announced continuation of council’s continual

Second Period (September 29 to December 4, 1963) /
  • Pope Paul worked to correct some of the problems of organisation and procedure
  • Invitd lay Catholic and non-Catholic observers
  • Reduced number of chemas to 17
  • Four purposes of pastoral nature of Council:
  • to more fully define the nature of the Church, and the role of the bishop;
  • to renew the Church;
  • to restore unity among all Christians, including seeking pardon for Catholic contributions to separation;
  • to start a dialog with the contemporary world
  • Bishops approved the constitution on the liturgy (SacrosanctumConcilium)
  • Decree on media of social communication (Inter Mirifica)
  • Work went forward with schemas on church, bishops and dioceses and ecumenism
  • Joseph Cardinal Frings openly criticised the Holy Office

Third Period (September 14 to November 21, 1964) /
  • Proposed schemas further revised
  • 8 religious and seven lay women observers invited
  • Schemas on ecumenism (UnitatisRedintegratio), Eastern Rite (Orientalism Ecclesiarum) and constitution of the Church (Lumen Gentium) were approved and promulgated by the Pope
  • Votum or statement concerning the sacrament of marriage for the guidance of the commission revising the code of Canon Law
  • Pope Paul instructed bishops to defer the topic of artificial contraception
  • Controversy over revisions of the decree on religious freedom
  • Schemas on life and ministry of priests and the missionary activity of the Church were rejected and sent back for complete rewriting
  • Pope Paul closed the third period by announcing change in Eucharistic fast and declaration of Mary as “Mother of the Church”

Fourth period September 14 to December 8, 1965 /
  • Eleven schemas remained unfinished at end of 3rd period
  • Commission reviewed schema 13, on Church in modern world
  • Pope Paul opened last period with establishment of Synod of Bishops (permanent structure was intended to preserve close cooperation of the bishops with Pope after council)
  • First business of fourth period was the consideration of the decree on religious freedom (most controversial); DignitatisHumanae
  • Principal work was pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world (Gaudium et spes), decrees on missionary activity (Ad Gentes) and ministry and life of priests (PresbyterorumOrdinis)
  • Council gave final approval of pastoral office of bishops (Christus Dominus), life of persons in religious orders (PerfectaeCaritatis), education for the priesthood (OptatamTotius), Christian education (GravissimumEducationis), relations with non-Christian religions (nostra Aetate) and role of laity (ApostolicamActuositatem)
  • Pope Paul and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras joint expression of regret for many of the past actions that had lead up to the Great Schism between western and eastern churches
  • December 8, 1965, Council formally closed
  • To help carry forward the work of the council:
  • had earlier formed a Papal Commission for the Media of Social Communication to assist bishops with the pastoral use of these media;
  • declared a jubilee from January 1 to May 26, 1966 to urge all Catholics to study and accept the decisions of the council, and apply them in spiritual renewal;
  • changed the name and procedures of the Holy Office (once the Inquisition) -- now to be known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;
  • established post conciliar commissions for bishops and the government of dioceses, religious orders, missions, Christian education, and the role of lay persons;
  • made permanent the secretariats for the Promotion of Christian Unity, for Non-Christian Religions, and for Non-Believers

Constitutions, Decrees and Declaration:

  • Documents of Second Vatican Council deal with:
  • Inner nature of the Church
  • Workings of the Church
  • Church’s’ relationship with the world
  • Documents of the Second Vatican Council (Documents of Vatican II, 2016)
  • Constitutions:
  • Dei Verbum (1965)
  • Dogma on Divine Revelation
  • Relates Scripture and tradition to salvation of men (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014)
  • Lumen Gentium (1964)
  • Dogma of the Church
  • Defined the mission and identity of the Church; i.e. to preach the Good news (Encyclopedia.kids.net.au, 2016)
  • SacrosanctumConcilium (1963)
  • Sacred Liturgy
  • Encourages clerical participation in the mass and sacraments (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014)
  • Gaudium et Spes (1965)
  • Church in the Modern World
  • Relates church’s identity and revelation to needs of modern society (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014)
  • Acknowledges the inevitable change inherent within the world (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014)
  • Declarations:
  • GravissimumEducationis (1965)
  • Christian Education
  • Church has right to maintain schools (Galli, 1966)
  • Catholic schools should accept non-Catholics (Galli, 1966)
  • State has right to cooperate in education (Galli, 1966)
  • Nostra Aetate (1965)
  • Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
  • Activity of God in other religions must be recognized and acknowledged
  • DignitatisHumanae (1965)
  • Religious Freedom
  • Emphasis on dignity of the human person
  • No one to be discriminated for practicing another religion
  • Decrees:
  • Ad Gentes (1965)
  • Mission activity of the Church
  • Non-Christian religions are accepted by the Church (Galli, 1966)
  • Church can discover new perspectives of the scripture (Galli, 1966)
  • PresbyterorumOrdinis (1965)
  • Ministry and Life of Priests
  • Priest as a servant and a leader (Galli, 1966)
  • ApostolicamActuositatem (1965)
  • Apostolate of the laity
  • Lay people are recognized as fully responsibly member of the People of God (Galli, 1966)
  • Have direct apostolate of preaching the Gospel (Galli, 1966)
  • OptatamTotius (1965)
  • Priestly Training
  • Promotion of biblical piety, studying of theology and scripture (Galli, 1966)
  • Increased contact between seminarians and people in the world (Galli, 1966)
  • PerfectaeCaritatis (1965)
  • Renewal of Religious Life
  • Class distinctions in religious orders should be eliminated (Galli, 1966)
  • Religious orders encouraged to change and adapt to contemporary society
  • Christus Dominus (1965)
  • Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church
  • UnitatisRedintegratio (1964)
  • Ecumenism
  • Recognition of Church’s guilt for division (Galli, 1966)
  • Effort to understand other Christians and make Church’s position known (Galli, 1966)
  • OrientaliumEcclesiarum (1964)
  • Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite
  • Inter Mirifica (1963)
  • Means of Social Communication
  • Media important as a way and means for evangelization to the world (Galli, 1966)

Context of the Time Period: