56. The Mission of the Church
24. The Supernatural Aim of the Church
The pilgrim Church has her origin in the mission of God the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the plan of God the Father. The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is accomplished in the Church, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Church is not added to the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit; it is its sacrament.1 The Church has a supernatural aim: to make people participate in the communion existing in the Father with the Son in his Spirit of love.
The Church is the effect and the fruit of the Blessed Trinity’s saving action, born of God the Father’s decree, founded by God the Son, and vivified by God the Holy Spirit. The Church is the sacrament and instrument of God’s saving action in history.
Therefore, God entrusted this mission to the Church in order to accomplish his divine plan, whereby he decreed that all things should be restored in Christ. “The Church was founded to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth for the glory of God the Father, to make all men partakers in redemption and salvation, and through them to establish the right relationship of the entire world to Christ.”2
The proper perspective for understanding the Church’s existence and mission is none other than God’s call to mankind, elevating it to share in his intimate life. The Church’s role in this call is that of a universal and necessary means for the life of grace, for salvation, and for the communication of God’s life to humanity.
The First Vatican Council declared, “The eternal Shepherd and Guardian of souls, in order to render the saving work of redemption lasting, decided to establish his holy Church.”3 The Second Vatican Council stated:
Christ did not bequeath to the Church a mission in the political, economic, or social order: the purpose he assigned to her was a religious one.
By her nature and mission the Church is universal in that she is not committed to any one culture or to any political, economic or social system.4
The same council also underlined the analogy between Christ’s mission and the Church’s, which “continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor.”5 All these texts directly echo Holy Scripture.
The missionary mandate of the Lord has its ultimate source in the eternal love of the Blessed Trinity for mankind.
God desires the salvation of all through knowledge of the truth. As the depository of revelation, the Church has received the mission to “preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). Throughout twenty centuries and until the end of time, Christ’s voice is still heard through the Church. She has revelation in deposit and cannot change divine teaching.
Thus, she has always defended the integrity of revealed truth and has never accommodated error or biased and wayward views. She has always guarded the purity of the faith and has taught the Gospel throughout the world because “it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom 1:16).
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded (Mt 28:18–20).
In those simple but sublime words that conclude St. Matthew’s gospel, we find the obligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise of Christ’s continual assistance to his Church. You cannot be faithful to Our Lord if you neglect these supernatural demands: the instruction in Christian faith and morality and to make the sacraments our supernatural sustenance. It is with this mandate that Christ founded his Church. Everything else is secondary.6
The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of life.7
The Church is not a political party, nor a social ideology, nor a worldwide organization for harmony or material progress, even though we recognize the nobility of these and other activities. The Church has always undertaken and undertakes today an immense work on behalf of the needy, of those who suffer, of all those who suffer in any way the consequences of the only true evil, which is sin. And to all—to those in any way needy and to those who claim to enjoy the fullness of earthly goods—the Church comes to confirm only one, essential, definitive truth: that our destiny is eternal and supernatural, that only in Jesus Christ are we saved for all time, and that only in him will we achieve in some way already in this life true peace and happiness.8
The Church, then, has an exclusively supernatural aim: the glory of Christ and the eternal salvation of souls. “The Church’s mission is concerned with the salvation of men; and men win salvation through the grace of Christ and faith in him. The apostolate of the Church therefore, and of each of her members, aims primarily at announcing to the world by word and action the message of Christ and communicating to it the grace of Christ,”9 as well as attaining the means and activities to achieve her end. These means are:
· announcing the message of salvation,
· administering the sacraments as means for communicating grace,
· being a living testimony of holiness,
· prayer.
The Church is now present here on earth and is composed of human beings. She is the Kingdom of God present as a mystery, and, at the same time, she has received the mission of announcing and installing that Kingdom. However, she has a saving and eschatological purpose that can be fully attained only in the next life.10
25. The Church and the Temporal Order
Most societies base their institutions on a certain preeminence of mankind over all other things. The Church clearly recognizes mankind’s origin in God. Because of her mission and competence, she is not confused with political communities; she is the sign and safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.11
The mission of the Church is supernatural and eternal; the task of a state is temporal. Each of these realms—the eternal and the temporal—has spiritual and material aspects. The Church does not have any power (in the juridical sense) over temporal issues. Earthly affairs enjoy their own autonomy, their own order, and laws.
However, one cannot decide on these affairs as if they had no relation to their Creator. Christ’s sovereignty reaches all human issues because these issues imply not only technical problems, but also problems of conscience. “All human actions have a necessary relation to man’s last end; thus, all actions are subject to God’s law. And the Church is the guardian, interpreter, and infallible teacher of God’s law.”12 Through the members of the Church, Christ illuminates the entire human society with his saving light.13 Thus, it belongs to the Church “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those that are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.”14
26. The Participation of All the Faithful in the Mission of the Church
Christians constitute “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation … once you were no people but now you are God’s people” (1 Pt 2:9–10).
This people of God has been “established by Christ as a communion of life, love and truth, it is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all; as the light of the world and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13–16). It is sent forth into the whole world.”15
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18–20). This command of Christ applies to all the members of his Mystical Body:
In the Church there is a diversity of ministries, but there is only one aim: the sanctification of men. And all Christians participate in some way in this task, through the character imprinted by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. We must all feel responsible for the mission of the Church, which is the mission of Christ.16
The fulfillment of the mission of the Church is called apostolate; its object is to spread the kingdom of Christ all over the world for the glory of God the Father.
The hierarchy renders service to the mission of the whole Church. The mission of the hierarchy is to be the instrument of Christ, the head of the Church. Thus, the task proper to the hierarchy is to organize and watch over the fulfillment of the mission of the entire Church.
All members of the Church must share in the apostolate—guided by the bishops and the pope—according to their status in the Church. The Second Vatican Council asserted the participation of each Christian—specifically of the laity—in the common mission of the Church:
The apostolate of the laity is a sharing in the salvific mission of the Church. Through Baptism and Confirmation all are appointed to this apostolate by the Lord himself.17
The pastors, indeed, know well how much the laity contribute to the welfare of the entire Church. They know that they themselves were not established by Christ to undertake alone the whole salvific mission of the Church to the world, but that it is their exalted office so to be shepherds of the faithful and also to recognize the latter’s contribution and charisms that everyone in his own way will, with one mind, cooperate in the common task.18
Hence:
· The mission of the entire Church and that of the hierarchy are not identical, just as the words Church and hierarchy are not synonymous.
· The Church’s mission falls squarely on the shoulders of all her members, while the mission of the hierarchy—a particular aspect of the mission of the Church—is carried out only by the members of the hierarchy and those members of the people of God who are authorized and qualified to help them.
· The mission of the laity is not merely a participation in the mission of the hierarchy, but it is a participation in the mission of the Church.
27. The Exercise of the Mission of the Church
27a) The Tasks of Teaching, Sanctifying, and Ruling
The apostolic mission is the concern of all the faithful of the Church: “Each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability.”19
Catholic doctrine teaches that Christ passed on to the apostles a triple office, or authority (in Latin munus; plural munera): the office of sanctifying, the office of teaching, and the office of ruling. This triple office, or power, is to build up Christ’s Mystical Body. All Christians must make the faith known, spread Christ’s teaching, and bring all people under the mantle of the Church.
However, there are specific tasks for each segment of the faithful within the common apostolic mission.
27b) The Task of Sanctifying People
The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is the sanctification of mankind for the glory of God the Father. Although the entire life of Christ has redemptive value, the redemption “was achieved principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed passion, resurrection from the dead, and glorious ascension, whereby ‘dying he destroyed our death, and rising, restored our life.’”20 To perpetuate that saving death and Resurrection throughout history and make the effects of his sacrifice reach all, our Lord entrusted to his Church precise means of sanctification: the sacraments. “The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.”21
The sacraments make the redeeming sacrifice of Christ present, unite us to his sacrifice, and apply the grace flowing from that sacrifice to us.
The Church carries out her office of sanctifying in a special way in the sacred liturgy, which is indeed seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy, by the use of signs perceptible to the senses, our sanctification is symbolized and, in a manner appropriate to each sign, is brought about. Through the liturgy a complete public worship is offered to God by the head and members of the mystical body of Christ.22
This worship and sanctification reaches its height in the celebration of the Mass—the center and root of Christian life—and through the sacraments, around which the whole liturgical life revolves.23 The Eucharist is the apex of all activities of the Church, and the wellspring of all apostolate.
The Church participates in Christ’s priesthood; the sacraments are the consequence of this participation. Through their ministerial priesthood, the members of the hierarchy act in the person of Christ and administer the sacraments to the faithful. The bishops and priests sanctify the Church with their prayer and work by means of their ministry of the word and the sacraments.24
On the other hand, the lay people, by virtue of the common priesthood (also called baptismal priesthood) of all the faithful, actively participate in the sacraments in their own way. “The laity—no matter who they are—are called, as living members, to contribute with all their strength to the building up of the Church and to her continual sanctification … All the lay people, then, have the exalted duty of working for the ever greater spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch and all over the earth.”25 “All their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of body and mind, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne—all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist, these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. In so doing … the laity consecrate the world itself to God.”26
27c) The Teaching Office: the Church’s Magisterium
The Church is a prophetic community that preaches the word of God. As Christ was sent by the Father to be a witness to the truth, so also has the Church been sent by Christ to preach the Gospel to the entire human race, enabling all to believe and be saved. This prophetic nature is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people of God, whereby his children unfailingly adhere to the faith. To guide the faithful in this growth and to teach the truth, Christ endowed his Church with a living Magisterium.27
This was the reason why Jesus Christ instituted in the Church a living, authentic, and never failing teaching authority. This teaching authority he endowed with his own power; he endowed it with the Spirit of Truth; he authenticated it by miracles; and it was his will and solemn command that the doctrinal precepts of this Church be accepted as his own.28
The mission of the Magisterium is not to reveal new truths (revelation ended with the death of the last apostle). Rather, it is to defend, guard, and interpret the received deposit of faith. The Church’s Magisterium, even though carried out through human instruments, is not a human magisterium: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).
The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive character of the Covenant between God and his people. To fulfill this service, God made the universal Church infallible. This means that she cannot err in her teachings. The exercise of this charisma has the following characteristics:
· The Roman pontiff is infallible when he solemnly teaches matters of faith or customs, or in his ordinary Magisterium, when he teaches truths—concerning faith or morals—that have to be held definitively by all Christians.
· The college of bishops, under its head, the pope, is subject of the same infallibility when—gathered together in an ecumenical council and exercising its Magisterium as teacher and judge of faith and morals—it definitively declares for the universal Church a doctrine to be held concerning faith or morals. Likewise, the college is infallible when the bishops—dispersed throughout the world but maintaining the bond of union among themselves and with the successor of Peter—together with the same Roman pontiff, authentically teach matters of faith or morals and are agreed that a particular teaching is to be definitively held.29
· The totality of the faithful possesses a supernatural sense of faith. They are infallible when they unanimously believe that a truth has been revealed by God.
Thus, the holy People of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office. The whole body of the faithful … cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people, when, “from the bishops to the last of the faithful” they manifest a universal consensus in matters of faith and morals.30
The ordinary Magisterium of the pope and the bishops—in communion with the pope—dispersed throughout the world also enjoys Christ’s assistance, and is always authentic because it is exercised in the name and with the authority of Christ: “He who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16). It proposes infallible definitions when it sets forth truths contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, or when it pronounces itself in a “definitive manner” (i.e., a conclusive manner) on some truth.
The scope of the Church’s Magisterium covers everything that refers in any way to faith and morals. This has the following consequences:
i) The Church has the right and duty to condemn all errors concerning faith and the salvation of souls.
ii) The Church has the right and duty to make judgments, with maximum authority, on social questions. As the Code of Canon Law states: “The Church has the right always and everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social order, and to make judgments about any human matter in so far as this is required by fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls.”31
iii) By divine right, she has the duty to interpret the natural moral law, whose faithful fulfillment is necessary for salvation.
iv) Regarding the interpretation of Holy Scripture, “no one should dare to rely on his own judgment … and to distort Sacred Scripture to fit meanings of his own that are contrary to the meaning that holy Mother Church has held and now holds; for it is her office to judge about the true sense and interpretation of Sacred Scripture.”32
The assent due to the different magisterial declarations differs, depending on the type of documents involved or whether or not it is proposed in a definitive manner.
By divine and Catholic faith everything that is contained in the written word of God or in tradition, and that is proposed by the Church must be believed as a divinely revealed object of belief, be it in a solemn decree or in her ordinary, universal teaching.33
Regarding the doctrinal and moral decisions of the ordinary Magisterium of the Roman pontiff and of the bishops in the exercise of their authentic Magisterium, external silence is not sufficient. One has “to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind.”34
The laity—part of the Church—also teaches, announcing Christ with their words, the testimony of their lives, and their speech. Thus, they teach their children, relatives, and friends “so that the power of the Gospel may shine out in daily family and social life.”35 Lay people with sufficient knowledge may impart catechetical formation, teach the sacred sciences, and collaborate in the means of social communication. In keeping with their knowledge, they also have the right and the duty to manifest to the pastors (and to the other faithful) their views on matters that concern the good of the Church, always respecting the integrity of faith and morals.36
It is their task to cultivate a properly informed conscience, and to impress the divine law on the affairs of the earthly city.… The laity are called to participate actively in the entire life of the Church; not only are they to animate the world with the spirit of Christianity, but they are to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind.37
This evangelization [by the lay people] … acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.
[Married and family life have] a special importance in this prophetic office [of the Church].… In it the married partners have their own proper vocation: they must be witnesses of faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children.…
Therefore, even when occupied by temporal affairs, the laity can, and must, do valuable work for the evangelization of the world.38
27d) The Pastoral Task
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18). But Christ exercises this authority over the entire world through humans. As Christ made himself the servant of all, for a Christian, to reign is to serve.39
The Church possesses an internal power of government—embodied in the hierarchy—that is aimed at safeguarding the purity of doctrine and regulating the exercise of her mission.40 Her juridical makeup shows this. The office of government of the faithful (the hierarchy) is of divine origin: “This authority, moreover, although given to man and exercised by man, is not human but divine.… Whoever, therefore, resists this authority thus ordered by God, resists the Command of God” (cf. Rom 13:2).41 The Church has received this power of government from God, not from the community of the faithful.42
The sacred power of the Roman pontiff and the bishops is the threefold, namely, issuing laws, judging, and governing.
The Roman pontiff enjoys full and supreme power over the universal Church: “It has always been the common and firm understanding of Catholics and a dogma of faith that the Roman Pontiff, the successor of St. Peter, has a Primacy over the whole Church, not only of honor but also of authority and jurisdiction, and that therefore the bishops themselves are subject to him.”43
The pope’s authority extends immediately to each and every diocese, to each and every Christian. This in no way opposes the authority of each bishop in his own diocese, which, exercised “personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church and can be confined within certain limits if the usefulness of the Church and the faithful require that.”44
The college of bishops, united with the pope and under his full authority, also holds the universal power of government:
Just as, in accordance with the Lord’s decree, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a unique apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another.… The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, at its head, whose primatial authority, let it be added, over all, whether pastors or faithful, remains in its integrity.… This power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff.45
“The bishops, as vicars and legates of Christ, govern the particular churches assigned to them by their counsels, exhortations, and example, but over and above that also by the authority and sacred power.… This power, which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church.”46 The bishops are not delegates of the pope. The pope’s ordinary and immediate authority over the entire Church does not annul the bishop’s authority over his diocese but confirms and safeguards it. The bishop’s authority must be exercised in communion with the entire Church under the guidance of the pope.
The ordinary faithful also participate in Christ’s task of ruling the world47 in a manner appropriate to their vocation:
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will.
It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are so closely associated that these may be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.48
The laity are given this special vocation: to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth.49
By their competence in secular disciplines and by their activity, interiorly raised up by grace, let them work earnestly in order that created goods through human labor, technical skill, and culture may serve the utility of all men … Thus, through the members of the Church will Christ increasingly illuminate the whole of human society with his saving light.… By so doing they impregnate culture and human works with a moral value. In this way the field of the world is better prepared for the seed of the divine word, and the doors of the Church are opened more widely through which the message of peace may enter the world.50
The laity can also collaborate in the mission proper of the hierarchy if appointed to certain ecclesiastical offices.51
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 737–738, 767, 849–856, 863.
2. AA, 2.
3. DS 3050.
4. GS, 42.
5. AG, 5; cf. DS 3050.
6. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 9.
7. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptor Hominis, 13.
8. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Loyalty to the Church, p. 15.
9. AA, 6; cf. CCC, 2105.
10. Cf. GS, 40.
11. Cf. CCC, 2244–2246.
12. Pius IX, Enc. Divini Illius Magistri.
13. Cf. GS, 36; LG, 36.
14. GS, 76.
15. LG, 9.
16. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Loyalty to the Church, pp. 21–22.
17. LG, 33.
18. Ibid., 30.
19. LG, 17; cf. CCC, 783–786.
20. SC, 5; cf. Easter Preface of the Roman Missal.
21. LG, 10; cf. CCC, 784.
22. CIC, 834.
23. Cf. SC, 6.
24. Cf. CCC, 893.
25. LG, 33.
26. Ibid., 34; cf. CCC, 901–903.
27. Cf. LG, 12; CCC, 785, 888–892.
28. Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum.
29. Cf. CIC, 749.
30. LG, 12.
31. CIC, 747.
32. DS 1507.
33. DS 3011.
34. LG, 25.
35. Ibid., 35; cf. CCC, 904–907.
36. Cf. CIC, 212, 229, 774, 776, 780, 823.
37. GS, 43.
38. LG, 35.
39. Cf. CCC, 786.
40. Cf. Ibid., 894–896.
41. Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302: DS 874.
42. Cf. Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, Aug. 28, 1794: DS 2603.
43. Gregory XVI, Commissum Divinitus, June 15, 1835.
44. LG, 27.
45. Ibid., 22.
46. Ibid., 27.
47. Cf. CCC, 908–913.
48. LG, 31.
49. Ibid., 33.
50. Ibid., 36.
51. Cf. Ibid., 33.
The pilgrim Church has her origin in the mission of God the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the plan of God the Father. The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is accomplished in the Church, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Church is not added to the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit; it is its sacrament.1 The Church has a supernatural aim: to make people participate in the communion existing in the Father with the Son in his Spirit of love.
The Church is the effect and the fruit of the Blessed Trinity’s saving action, born of God the Father’s decree, founded by God the Son, and vivified by God the Holy Spirit. The Church is the sacrament and instrument of God’s saving action in history.
Therefore, God entrusted this mission to the Church in order to accomplish his divine plan, whereby he decreed that all things should be restored in Christ. “The Church was founded to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth for the glory of God the Father, to make all men partakers in redemption and salvation, and through them to establish the right relationship of the entire world to Christ.”2
The proper perspective for understanding the Church’s existence and mission is none other than God’s call to mankind, elevating it to share in his intimate life. The Church’s role in this call is that of a universal and necessary means for the life of grace, for salvation, and for the communication of God’s life to humanity.
The First Vatican Council declared, “The eternal Shepherd and Guardian of souls, in order to render the saving work of redemption lasting, decided to establish his holy Church.”3 The Second Vatican Council stated:
Christ did not bequeath to the Church a mission in the political, economic, or social order: the purpose he assigned to her was a religious one.
By her nature and mission the Church is universal in that she is not committed to any one culture or to any political, economic or social system.4
The same council also underlined the analogy between Christ’s mission and the Church’s, which “continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor.”5 All these texts directly echo Holy Scripture.
The missionary mandate of the Lord has its ultimate source in the eternal love of the Blessed Trinity for mankind.
God desires the salvation of all through knowledge of the truth. As the depository of revelation, the Church has received the mission to “preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). Throughout twenty centuries and until the end of time, Christ’s voice is still heard through the Church. She has revelation in deposit and cannot change divine teaching.
Thus, she has always defended the integrity of revealed truth and has never accommodated error or biased and wayward views. She has always guarded the purity of the faith and has taught the Gospel throughout the world because “it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom 1:16).
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded (Mt 28:18–20).
In those simple but sublime words that conclude St. Matthew’s gospel, we find the obligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise of Christ’s continual assistance to his Church. You cannot be faithful to Our Lord if you neglect these supernatural demands: the instruction in Christian faith and morality and to make the sacraments our supernatural sustenance. It is with this mandate that Christ founded his Church. Everything else is secondary.6
The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of life.7
The Church is not a political party, nor a social ideology, nor a worldwide organization for harmony or material progress, even though we recognize the nobility of these and other activities. The Church has always undertaken and undertakes today an immense work on behalf of the needy, of those who suffer, of all those who suffer in any way the consequences of the only true evil, which is sin. And to all—to those in any way needy and to those who claim to enjoy the fullness of earthly goods—the Church comes to confirm only one, essential, definitive truth: that our destiny is eternal and supernatural, that only in Jesus Christ are we saved for all time, and that only in him will we achieve in some way already in this life true peace and happiness.8
The Church, then, has an exclusively supernatural aim: the glory of Christ and the eternal salvation of souls. “The Church’s mission is concerned with the salvation of men; and men win salvation through the grace of Christ and faith in him. The apostolate of the Church therefore, and of each of her members, aims primarily at announcing to the world by word and action the message of Christ and communicating to it the grace of Christ,”9 as well as attaining the means and activities to achieve her end. These means are:
· announcing the message of salvation,
· administering the sacraments as means for communicating grace,
· being a living testimony of holiness,
· prayer.
The Church is now present here on earth and is composed of human beings. She is the Kingdom of God present as a mystery, and, at the same time, she has received the mission of announcing and installing that Kingdom. However, she has a saving and eschatological purpose that can be fully attained only in the next life.10
25. The Church and the Temporal Order
Most societies base their institutions on a certain preeminence of mankind over all other things. The Church clearly recognizes mankind’s origin in God. Because of her mission and competence, she is not confused with political communities; she is the sign and safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.11
The mission of the Church is supernatural and eternal; the task of a state is temporal. Each of these realms—the eternal and the temporal—has spiritual and material aspects. The Church does not have any power (in the juridical sense) over temporal issues. Earthly affairs enjoy their own autonomy, their own order, and laws.
However, one cannot decide on these affairs as if they had no relation to their Creator. Christ’s sovereignty reaches all human issues because these issues imply not only technical problems, but also problems of conscience. “All human actions have a necessary relation to man’s last end; thus, all actions are subject to God’s law. And the Church is the guardian, interpreter, and infallible teacher of God’s law.”12 Through the members of the Church, Christ illuminates the entire human society with his saving light.13 Thus, it belongs to the Church “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those that are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.”14
26. The Participation of All the Faithful in the Mission of the Church
Christians constitute “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation … once you were no people but now you are God’s people” (1 Pt 2:9–10).
This people of God has been “established by Christ as a communion of life, love and truth, it is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all; as the light of the world and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13–16). It is sent forth into the whole world.”15
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18–20). This command of Christ applies to all the members of his Mystical Body:
In the Church there is a diversity of ministries, but there is only one aim: the sanctification of men. And all Christians participate in some way in this task, through the character imprinted by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. We must all feel responsible for the mission of the Church, which is the mission of Christ.16
The fulfillment of the mission of the Church is called apostolate; its object is to spread the kingdom of Christ all over the world for the glory of God the Father.
The hierarchy renders service to the mission of the whole Church. The mission of the hierarchy is to be the instrument of Christ, the head of the Church. Thus, the task proper to the hierarchy is to organize and watch over the fulfillment of the mission of the entire Church.
All members of the Church must share in the apostolate—guided by the bishops and the pope—according to their status in the Church. The Second Vatican Council asserted the participation of each Christian—specifically of the laity—in the common mission of the Church:
The apostolate of the laity is a sharing in the salvific mission of the Church. Through Baptism and Confirmation all are appointed to this apostolate by the Lord himself.17
The pastors, indeed, know well how much the laity contribute to the welfare of the entire Church. They know that they themselves were not established by Christ to undertake alone the whole salvific mission of the Church to the world, but that it is their exalted office so to be shepherds of the faithful and also to recognize the latter’s contribution and charisms that everyone in his own way will, with one mind, cooperate in the common task.18
Hence:
· The mission of the entire Church and that of the hierarchy are not identical, just as the words Church and hierarchy are not synonymous.
· The Church’s mission falls squarely on the shoulders of all her members, while the mission of the hierarchy—a particular aspect of the mission of the Church—is carried out only by the members of the hierarchy and those members of the people of God who are authorized and qualified to help them.
· The mission of the laity is not merely a participation in the mission of the hierarchy, but it is a participation in the mission of the Church.
27. The Exercise of the Mission of the Church
27a) The Tasks of Teaching, Sanctifying, and Ruling
The apostolic mission is the concern of all the faithful of the Church: “Each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability.”19
Catholic doctrine teaches that Christ passed on to the apostles a triple office, or authority (in Latin munus; plural munera): the office of sanctifying, the office of teaching, and the office of ruling. This triple office, or power, is to build up Christ’s Mystical Body. All Christians must make the faith known, spread Christ’s teaching, and bring all people under the mantle of the Church.
However, there are specific tasks for each segment of the faithful within the common apostolic mission.
27b) The Task of Sanctifying People
The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is the sanctification of mankind for the glory of God the Father. Although the entire life of Christ has redemptive value, the redemption “was achieved principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed passion, resurrection from the dead, and glorious ascension, whereby ‘dying he destroyed our death, and rising, restored our life.’”20 To perpetuate that saving death and Resurrection throughout history and make the effects of his sacrifice reach all, our Lord entrusted to his Church precise means of sanctification: the sacraments. “The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.”21
The sacraments make the redeeming sacrifice of Christ present, unite us to his sacrifice, and apply the grace flowing from that sacrifice to us.
The Church carries out her office of sanctifying in a special way in the sacred liturgy, which is indeed seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy, by the use of signs perceptible to the senses, our sanctification is symbolized and, in a manner appropriate to each sign, is brought about. Through the liturgy a complete public worship is offered to God by the head and members of the mystical body of Christ.22
This worship and sanctification reaches its height in the celebration of the Mass—the center and root of Christian life—and through the sacraments, around which the whole liturgical life revolves.23 The Eucharist is the apex of all activities of the Church, and the wellspring of all apostolate.
The Church participates in Christ’s priesthood; the sacraments are the consequence of this participation. Through their ministerial priesthood, the members of the hierarchy act in the person of Christ and administer the sacraments to the faithful. The bishops and priests sanctify the Church with their prayer and work by means of their ministry of the word and the sacraments.24
On the other hand, the lay people, by virtue of the common priesthood (also called baptismal priesthood) of all the faithful, actively participate in the sacraments in their own way. “The laity—no matter who they are—are called, as living members, to contribute with all their strength to the building up of the Church and to her continual sanctification … All the lay people, then, have the exalted duty of working for the ever greater spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch and all over the earth.”25 “All their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of body and mind, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne—all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist, these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. In so doing … the laity consecrate the world itself to God.”26
27c) The Teaching Office: the Church’s Magisterium
The Church is a prophetic community that preaches the word of God. As Christ was sent by the Father to be a witness to the truth, so also has the Church been sent by Christ to preach the Gospel to the entire human race, enabling all to believe and be saved. This prophetic nature is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people of God, whereby his children unfailingly adhere to the faith. To guide the faithful in this growth and to teach the truth, Christ endowed his Church with a living Magisterium.27
This was the reason why Jesus Christ instituted in the Church a living, authentic, and never failing teaching authority. This teaching authority he endowed with his own power; he endowed it with the Spirit of Truth; he authenticated it by miracles; and it was his will and solemn command that the doctrinal precepts of this Church be accepted as his own.28
The mission of the Magisterium is not to reveal new truths (revelation ended with the death of the last apostle). Rather, it is to defend, guard, and interpret the received deposit of faith. The Church’s Magisterium, even though carried out through human instruments, is not a human magisterium: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).
The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive character of the Covenant between God and his people. To fulfill this service, God made the universal Church infallible. This means that she cannot err in her teachings. The exercise of this charisma has the following characteristics:
· The Roman pontiff is infallible when he solemnly teaches matters of faith or customs, or in his ordinary Magisterium, when he teaches truths—concerning faith or morals—that have to be held definitively by all Christians.
· The college of bishops, under its head, the pope, is subject of the same infallibility when—gathered together in an ecumenical council and exercising its Magisterium as teacher and judge of faith and morals—it definitively declares for the universal Church a doctrine to be held concerning faith or morals. Likewise, the college is infallible when the bishops—dispersed throughout the world but maintaining the bond of union among themselves and with the successor of Peter—together with the same Roman pontiff, authentically teach matters of faith or morals and are agreed that a particular teaching is to be definitively held.29
· The totality of the faithful possesses a supernatural sense of faith. They are infallible when they unanimously believe that a truth has been revealed by God.
Thus, the holy People of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office. The whole body of the faithful … cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people, when, “from the bishops to the last of the faithful” they manifest a universal consensus in matters of faith and morals.30
The ordinary Magisterium of the pope and the bishops—in communion with the pope—dispersed throughout the world also enjoys Christ’s assistance, and is always authentic because it is exercised in the name and with the authority of Christ: “He who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16). It proposes infallible definitions when it sets forth truths contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, or when it pronounces itself in a “definitive manner” (i.e., a conclusive manner) on some truth.
The scope of the Church’s Magisterium covers everything that refers in any way to faith and morals. This has the following consequences:
i) The Church has the right and duty to condemn all errors concerning faith and the salvation of souls.
ii) The Church has the right and duty to make judgments, with maximum authority, on social questions. As the Code of Canon Law states: “The Church has the right always and everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social order, and to make judgments about any human matter in so far as this is required by fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls.”31
iii) By divine right, she has the duty to interpret the natural moral law, whose faithful fulfillment is necessary for salvation.
iv) Regarding the interpretation of Holy Scripture, “no one should dare to rely on his own judgment … and to distort Sacred Scripture to fit meanings of his own that are contrary to the meaning that holy Mother Church has held and now holds; for it is her office to judge about the true sense and interpretation of Sacred Scripture.”32
The assent due to the different magisterial declarations differs, depending on the type of documents involved or whether or not it is proposed in a definitive manner.
By divine and Catholic faith everything that is contained in the written word of God or in tradition, and that is proposed by the Church must be believed as a divinely revealed object of belief, be it in a solemn decree or in her ordinary, universal teaching.33
Regarding the doctrinal and moral decisions of the ordinary Magisterium of the Roman pontiff and of the bishops in the exercise of their authentic Magisterium, external silence is not sufficient. One has “to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind.”34
The laity—part of the Church—also teaches, announcing Christ with their words, the testimony of their lives, and their speech. Thus, they teach their children, relatives, and friends “so that the power of the Gospel may shine out in daily family and social life.”35 Lay people with sufficient knowledge may impart catechetical formation, teach the sacred sciences, and collaborate in the means of social communication. In keeping with their knowledge, they also have the right and the duty to manifest to the pastors (and to the other faithful) their views on matters that concern the good of the Church, always respecting the integrity of faith and morals.36
It is their task to cultivate a properly informed conscience, and to impress the divine law on the affairs of the earthly city.… The laity are called to participate actively in the entire life of the Church; not only are they to animate the world with the spirit of Christianity, but they are to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind.37
This evangelization [by the lay people] … acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.
[Married and family life have] a special importance in this prophetic office [of the Church].… In it the married partners have their own proper vocation: they must be witnesses of faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children.…
Therefore, even when occupied by temporal affairs, the laity can, and must, do valuable work for the evangelization of the world.38
27d) The Pastoral Task
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18). But Christ exercises this authority over the entire world through humans. As Christ made himself the servant of all, for a Christian, to reign is to serve.39
The Church possesses an internal power of government—embodied in the hierarchy—that is aimed at safeguarding the purity of doctrine and regulating the exercise of her mission.40 Her juridical makeup shows this. The office of government of the faithful (the hierarchy) is of divine origin: “This authority, moreover, although given to man and exercised by man, is not human but divine.… Whoever, therefore, resists this authority thus ordered by God, resists the Command of God” (cf. Rom 13:2).41 The Church has received this power of government from God, not from the community of the faithful.42
The sacred power of the Roman pontiff and the bishops is the threefold, namely, issuing laws, judging, and governing.
The Roman pontiff enjoys full and supreme power over the universal Church: “It has always been the common and firm understanding of Catholics and a dogma of faith that the Roman Pontiff, the successor of St. Peter, has a Primacy over the whole Church, not only of honor but also of authority and jurisdiction, and that therefore the bishops themselves are subject to him.”43
The pope’s authority extends immediately to each and every diocese, to each and every Christian. This in no way opposes the authority of each bishop in his own diocese, which, exercised “personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church and can be confined within certain limits if the usefulness of the Church and the faithful require that.”44
The college of bishops, united with the pope and under his full authority, also holds the universal power of government:
Just as, in accordance with the Lord’s decree, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a unique apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another.… The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, at its head, whose primatial authority, let it be added, over all, whether pastors or faithful, remains in its integrity.… This power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff.45
“The bishops, as vicars and legates of Christ, govern the particular churches assigned to them by their counsels, exhortations, and example, but over and above that also by the authority and sacred power.… This power, which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church.”46 The bishops are not delegates of the pope. The pope’s ordinary and immediate authority over the entire Church does not annul the bishop’s authority over his diocese but confirms and safeguards it. The bishop’s authority must be exercised in communion with the entire Church under the guidance of the pope.
The ordinary faithful also participate in Christ’s task of ruling the world47 in a manner appropriate to their vocation:
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will.
It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are so closely associated that these may be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.48
The laity are given this special vocation: to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth.49
By their competence in secular disciplines and by their activity, interiorly raised up by grace, let them work earnestly in order that created goods through human labor, technical skill, and culture may serve the utility of all men … Thus, through the members of the Church will Christ increasingly illuminate the whole of human society with his saving light.… By so doing they impregnate culture and human works with a moral value. In this way the field of the world is better prepared for the seed of the divine word, and the doors of the Church are opened more widely through which the message of peace may enter the world.50
The laity can also collaborate in the mission proper of the hierarchy if appointed to certain ecclesiastical offices.51
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 737–738, 767, 849–856, 863.
2. AA, 2.
3. DS 3050.
4. GS, 42.
5. AG, 5; cf. DS 3050.
6. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 9.
7. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptor Hominis, 13.
8. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Loyalty to the Church, p. 15.
9. AA, 6; cf. CCC, 2105.
10. Cf. GS, 40.
11. Cf. CCC, 2244–2246.
12. Pius IX, Enc. Divini Illius Magistri.
13. Cf. GS, 36; LG, 36.
14. GS, 76.
15. LG, 9.
16. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Loyalty to the Church, pp. 21–22.
17. LG, 33.
18. Ibid., 30.
19. LG, 17; cf. CCC, 783–786.
20. SC, 5; cf. Easter Preface of the Roman Missal.
21. LG, 10; cf. CCC, 784.
22. CIC, 834.
23. Cf. SC, 6.
24. Cf. CCC, 893.
25. LG, 33.
26. Ibid., 34; cf. CCC, 901–903.
27. Cf. LG, 12; CCC, 785, 888–892.
28. Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum.
29. Cf. CIC, 749.
30. LG, 12.
31. CIC, 747.
32. DS 1507.
33. DS 3011.
34. LG, 25.
35. Ibid., 35; cf. CCC, 904–907.
36. Cf. CIC, 212, 229, 774, 776, 780, 823.
37. GS, 43.
38. LG, 35.
39. Cf. CCC, 786.
40. Cf. Ibid., 894–896.
41. Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302: DS 874.
42. Cf. Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, Aug. 28, 1794: DS 2603.
43. Gregory XVI, Commissum Divinitus, June 15, 1835.
44. LG, 27.
45. Ibid., 22.
46. Ibid., 27.
47. Cf. CCC, 908–913.
48. LG, 31.
49. Ibid., 33.
50. Ibid., 36.
51. Cf. Ibid., 33.