THE CHURCH AT THE SERVICE OF THE NATION
*Ivo da Conceição Souza
Introduction
The traditional dichotomy between the profane and sacred, between the Church
and the world has been revised in the new light. The new world vision is
found in the documents of the Vatican II. The Church is a part of humanity
and is there as a leaven so as to build up love and brotherhood. God, Man,
World are three actors in the history. Their interplay is God’s Will, his
saving design. In this essay, we shall attempt to give a sketch of the
contribution of the Church to the making of today’s world by pinpointing the
different areas of her service.
1.1: The New World Vision: The discovery of Man is a new phenomenon which
has its repercussions in our thought and behaviour. Man is conscious of his
own dignity as well as of the meaning of existence. He is the starting-point
of the Universe. He gives meaning to the Universe, he leaves the imprint of
his human creativity and personality on the creation. He is the centre and
summit of the Universe. He is the Priest through whom the Universe can
praise the Creator and reach its goal. He is the King of the creation—he can
give a direction to the historical development. Man is the “center and
crown” (Gaudium et Spes, no.12). The narrative of the book of Genesis
gives us the blueprint of this vision: God created Man to his image and
likeness (Gn 1:27-28). The Psalmist praises God for the creation of Man (Ps
8:4-6).
In today’s existentialist-personalistic approach, Man is not static being,
but dynamic, he is existence, movement, ‘be-coming’. He is moved by triple
dynamism: a)personality development; b)group life; and c)historical
adventure. He experiences relationships, needs, goals, values, situations,
problems. Man discovers himself through experience of group life, which
enriches him. It brings him growth, progress, fulfillment. Man, individually
and in groups, lives in his historical conditioning, grows with his tasks,
skills, and responsibilities. He works for a better quality of love and
life, for his liberation by transforming himself and the world. His aim in
life is integral development of the whole man and of every man. We live in
an enriching I-thou relationship, which opens itself up to another
relationship to the Transcendent Thou and brings him to the discovery of
values, of the meaning of the human existence.
1.2: God speaks to Man through the events of life and history and, thus,
reveals himself in his creative love and in his relationship to Man and the
Universe. God is to be found in the heart of the world, in the events of our
history and in the midst of our life. God has always been an IMMANU-EL, a
God-with-us. People of Israel experienced the liberating hand of God, as
individuals and as a group. They formed themselves into the family of God,
his assembly (qahal), with a response of faith and love. The Church of the
New Covenant is the renewed community of the Lord, sent to serve humanity.
She is the sacrament of love, the servant. She is a sign of hope for the
world.
1.3: In its Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, Vatican II
provides biblical images of the Church, among them that of the People of God
is dominant. It focuses attention on the Church as a “network of
interpersonal relationships”, as a “community”. In the postconciliar period
the model of the Church as a Servant came up. It is suggested by the
Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. It
emphasizes the solidarity of the Christian community with the world in its
struggle for justice, prosperity and peace. It is popular now, since it
satisfies the common hunger for a better world.
By being sensitive to the “rhythm of times” and reading the “signs of the
times”,
Vatican II outlined a new understanding of the relationship between the
Church and the world of our day. The Church has to respect the achievements
of the world, learn from it, feel herself as a part of the total human
family and share its concerns and struggles. Today’s ecclesiology follows
the “secular-dialogic” method. As Jesus of Nazareth came into the world not
to be served, but to serve (cf.Mk 10:45), likewise the Church seeks to serve
humanity by fostering love and brotherhood. It will work for a better world
also by proclaiming its specific message of the Gospel (Cf.Avery DULLES,
SJ, Models of the Church, Image Books, Doubleday, New York, 1978, pp.95-108)
1.4: In his pastoral letter, “The Servant Church”, in Advent 1966, Richard
Cardinal CUSHING of Boston, set worth powerfully the image of Christ the
Servant:
“Jesus came not only to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, he came also to
give himself for its realization. He came to serve, to heal, to reconcile,
to bind up wounds. Jesus, we may say, is in an exceptional way the Good
Samaritan. He is the one who comes alongside of us in our need and in our
sorrow, he extends himself for our sake. He truly dies that we might live
and he ministers to us that we might be healed”(Richard Card.CUSHING, The
Servant Church, Daughters of St.Paul, Boston, p.6).
As the Lord was the ‘man for others’, so must the Church be ‘the community
for others’, by announcing the coming of the Kingdom “not only in word,
through preaching and proclamation, but more particularly in work, in her
ministry of reconciliation, of binding up wounds, of suffering service, of
healing” (Ibidem, pp.7 and 8). Faithful to the message and witness of the
Lord, the Church has to serve wholeheartedly her brothers and sisters. As
Vatican II puts it: "Mindful of the Lord's saying: ‘By this will all men
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (Jn
13:35), Christians cannot yearn for anything more ardently than to serve
the men of the modern world ever more generously and effectively” (GS
93).
1.5: The new secular world vision comes to us particularly from two
thinkers: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As a priest, scientist and anthropologist-theologian, Teilhard worked for a
Christocentric synthesis: Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the point of
convergence of the Universe. Led by two great loyalties toward science and
toward the Church, he perceived unity between theology and science, between
religion and technology, between the Church and the world—all the energies
in the Universe were ultimately converging on Christ, the Omega Point. The
Church is called to help the vital energies of the world to be rightly
channeled, to be the spearhead of the axis of evolution by being open to the
dynamism of the human spirit, as concretized in science and technology
(Cf.P.Teilhard de CHARDIN, SJ, The Divine Milieu, Harper & Brothers, New
York, 1960, p.138).
For Bonhoeffer, Jesus is the “Man for Others”, without selfishness and
without defenses. Christ is the “beyond in the midst”, the universal Lord.
The Church must be a community of faith, called to serve others. “The Church
is the Church only when it exists for others”. She must “share in the
secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and
serving” (D.BONHOEFFER, Letters and Papers from Prison, Macmillan, New York,
1967, pp.203f.).
1.6: We have also Protestant representatives of secular-dialogic
ecclesiology: Gibson WINTER, Harvey COX and the Anglican Bishop, John
A.T.ROBINSON. According to them, the Church is the servant of the city and
has to strip down its structures, which can be an obstacle to its mission.
It has to work within the structures of the world, rather than building
parallel structures (Cf.G.WINTER, The New Creation as Metropolis, Macmillan,
New York, 1963, p.55; H.COX, The Secular City, Macmillan, New York, 1965,
p.134; J.A.T.ROBINSON, The New reformation?, Westminster Press,
Philadelphia, 1965, p.92).
Regards.
Fr.Ivo
