On Church Authority: A Catholic Reflection

Florovsky-Newman Week 2019 was a most stimulating experience. This event meets a significant need for more serious theological exploration, and I learned a great deal from Fr. Geoff Boyle, Dr. Alexis Torrance, and Stephanie Mann. But the Catholic plenary presenter seemed preoccupied with a Freudian format for the restructuring of the Church rather than offering an understanding of authority in faith and morals based on the Church’s own self-understanding. The following personal reflection does not pretend to be a thorough exposition of Catholic ecclesiology. I am simply sharing some of the thoughts that occurred to me as I listened.

An exploration of authority in the Church begins with her ontology, as her authority flows from what she is. This also provides the proper foundation for a critique of the exercise (sometimes well, sometimes poorly) of her authority. Contrary to popular opinion, the Church’s authority is not coterminous with the hierarchy. Even the Council of Trent distinguished between the pope who sits on the chair of Peter and the throne of the risen and ascended Lord. Peter does not speak independently but as one who responds to Christ and is in service to Him.

As explained by Hans Urs von Balthasar, the Church begins with the kenosis of Christ and the outpouring of blood and water on the Cross. The Church is both Bride of Christ and Body of Christ, at whose center is the personal encounter and nuptial union between God and man. As the Body of Christ, the Church, while distinct, is never separable from her Head; as Bride, she is never separable from her Groom.

Mary is the personal center of the Church. She is not the Word but the adequate response to Him. The Incarnation – which took place with Mary’s “Yes” – is the primordial ground of the Church and began in the womb, prior to Jesus’ active ministry and prior to the calling of any apostles. The Church’s primary mission is to give birth to Christians, other Christs. Hence, we refer to the Church as Mother, not Father.

The Church does have a visible historical and sociological existence in the world, but this aspect of the Church is never independent of her center in Christ. Her work is to bring others into that personal union with Him, not to rule for her own purposes. She has no other mission, as this nuptial encounter constitutes the living center of the Church.

Unfortunately, according to von Balthasar, the Church began to lose this fundamental understanding of herself in the late medieval or early modern period. While von Balthasar focuses on the post Reformation Church as fostering an emphasis on the external, outward functions of office in the Church – what he calls form over content – I would place the divergence in the fourteenth century with the advent of Nominalism. (N.B. Alistair McGrath offers in his book Reformation Thought an interesting discussion of how the deficient theology of the late Middle Ages, based on Nominalism, influenced Luther’s theological problems with scholasticism.)

Nominalism notwithstanding, the offices and work of the Church are always developed and evaluated in light of her true, inner being as Bride of Christ and Body of Christ and in light of her true mission – the formation of Christians. And, while the Church has been faithful to her mission in many areas, there is plenty of ground here to critique some of the more egregious abuses of power we have seen lately. Certainly, much work needs to be done to bring the Church back to her true center in these areas. But Freud’s animus against the “father” does not provide the way back. The Church’s own theology provides ample material for reflection.

Finally, at this point it is obvious that Pastor Aeternus and #22 of Lumen Gentium are not the full and complete understanding of authority in the Catholic Church. Following von Balthasar’s method, we must take in the whole before the parts. The First Vatican Council was dispersed by the Italian wars of unification and did not finish its work. The first Council’s focus on the papacy was in response to the problems caused by Gallicanism, Febronianism, Josephinism (usurpations of the Church by the secular kings), and by the French Revolution and its aftermath. A strong papacy outside the control of the secular powers was seen as a way to protect the independent ministry of the Church. The persecution of the Church in Communist China today emphasizes the wisdom of this insight.

Lumen Gentium , on the other hand, presents the Church from many angles, beginning with the mystery of the Church, in which Christ remains the one mediator. The Church is not only the hierarchy, where, yes indeed, the Council reiterates the definition of papal authority, but also includes the developing role of the Laity (not a pejorative term), the Church as Pilgrim, the spiritual contribution of her Religious, and finally considers Mary’s role in the Church. While I can’t say the Council went as far or as deeply into Mary’s fiat as the primordial ground for the Church that von Balthasar proposed, there are grounds in the Council for development in that direction.

The Council certainly provided a solid jumping off point for a development of our understanding of authority in the Church, a point from which St. John Paul II wrote his encyclicals on the Laity (1988), the Priesthood (1994), and the Bishops (2001). Perhaps most importantly, he extended the discussion in Ut Unam Sint as part of his ongoing search for Christian unity, an openness that continued under Pope Benedict XVI. These invitations for discussion remain open today.

-------------------------

Jeri Holladay writes from Wichita, Kansas where she has been Associate Professor of Theology, Chairman of the Theology Department, founding Director of the Bishop Eugene Gerber Institute of Catholic Studies at Newman University, and Director of Adult Education at the Spiritual Life Center of the Diocese of Wichita. She has also served on Eighth Day Institute’s Board of Directors.

-------------------------

Eighth Day Institute seeks to renew culture by promoting the common heritage of of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We are committed to facilitating a dialogue of love and truth as a step in that direction, which means we gladly allow a broad range of perspectives. We hope and pray that you will join the conversation. And we humbly ask you to help us continue the work of renewal by joining our growing community of Eighth Day Members.

Donate before July 1, 2019 and your gift will be matched.