scholarly journals Ecumenical discussion about deacons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomi Karttunen

This article assesses the concrete contemporary ecumenical situation in the discussion of the place of deacons in the ordained ministry. This will lead us to an analysis of its relation to deep ecclesiological and even Christological aspects. The analysis begins with Vatican II and its accompanying theological renewal. This shapes the necessary background for an examination of the Lima Document and the Porvoo Declaration. The threefold ministry can be seen as instrumental in these key areas of mission, which are rooted in the Church’s Trinitarian and Christological nature. If the more narrow sense of diaconia is not also present, the nature of the Eucharist as a sacrifice of love is diminished, and without the sacramental dimension, its spiritual content is thin. The ecumenical discussion of the place of deacons in the ordained ministry seems to concern how theologically and practically to embed the ministry within a sacramental communion ecclesiology. The key question is, in what way to reveal its significance as a sign and instrument of faith, hope, and love. It is therefore necessary, firstly, to come to a deeper understanding of Trinitarian communion ecclesiology and the place of diaconal ministry within it. Secondly, an understanding is needed of the practical consequences of the interplay between leitourgia, diaconia, and martyria in the mission of the church facing the suffering world today.

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (316) ◽  
pp. 262
Author(s):  
Sinivaldo Silva Tavares

Na Exortação pós-sinodal Querida Amazônia, o Papa Francisco apresenta o Documento final do sínodo “de maneira oficial” e, por esta razão, em vez de querer superá-lo ou substituí-lo, convida “a lê-lo integralmente”. Daí o fato de sugerir “uma recepção harmoniosa, criativa e frutuosa de todo o caminho sinodal” (QA, 2). Como articular o Documento final com a Exortação pós-sinodal com vistas a uma potencialização recíproca? Reputa-se que questões candentes emersas no curso do longo processo sinodal continuam postas sobre a mesa. E isso justificaria, portanto, o fato de se continuar refletindo sobre as mesmas. A teologia tem por missão iluminar a prática pastoral no intuito de torná-la mais lúcida e eficaz. Nesse sentido, serão aqui problematizadas algumas das questões em torno a três nós temáticos: 1) a Igreja faz a Eucaristia, mas é a Eucaristia que edifica a Igreja; 2) a ”privatização” do ministério ordenado e da eucaristia; 3) a relação entre “sacerdócio batismal” e “sacerdócio ministerial”. Antes, porém, são partilhadas algumas perplexidades relativas, sobretudo, às questões tratadas nos parágrafos que se situam no quarto capítulo, intitulado “Sonho eclesial”, e, mais precisamente, nos números relativos à “inculturação do ministério” (n. 85-90) e à “força e dom das mulheres” (n. 99-103). Manifesta-se, enfim, a convicção de que tais questões devam ser analisadas e aprofundadas no horizonte de uma eclesiologia de comunhão enredada ao redor do binômio comunidade-ministérios.Abstract: In the post-synodal Exhortation Dear Amazon Pope Francis presents the final document of the synod “in an official manner” and for this reason, instead of wanting to go beyond or replace it invites us to “read it in its entirety”. Hence his suggestion for “a harmonious, creative and fruitful reception of the entire synodal path” (QA, 2). How to link the final Document with the post-synodal Exhortation with the intention to produce a reciprocal enhancement? It is believed that complex topics kept under the surface throughout the long synodal process continue on the table. This would justify, therefore, the fact that we continue to reflect about them. Theology has as its mission to throw light on the pastoral practice in order to make it clearer and more effective. In this sense, some of the issues around three thematic knots there will be discussed and analyzed here: 1) the Church makes the Eucharist but it is the Eucharist that builds the Church; 2) the “privatization” of the ordained ministry and of the Eucharist; 3) the relation between “baptismal priesthood” and “ministerial priesthood”. Before this, however, some perplexities related, above all, to the issues dealt with in some paragraphs of the fourth chapter – entitled Ecclesial Dream – are shared. And, more precisely, the numbers related to the “enculturation of the ministry” (n.85-90) and to “the strength and gifts of women” (n. 99-103). Finally, the conviction that such issues must be further analysed and studied more deeply in the horizon of a communion ecclesiology entangled with the binomial community-ministries.Keywords: Eucharist; Inculturation; Baptized priesthood; Community; Ministries.


Ecclesiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fahey

AbstractDrawing upon his thirty years experience of teaching ecclesiology, the author tries to identify some developments and paradigm shifts he recognizes as having influenced theological reflection on the Church in Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant contexts. He contrasts the present-day situation of Catholics to the isolationist doldrums that characterized the post-Modernist and pre-Vatican II eras. The impact of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches was already notable when Catholics belatedly began to participate in ecumenical dialogue. Various advances in ecclesiology can be identified, especially the use of 'communion' ecclesiology. Negatively, the achievements of ecumenical exchanges are little known by the faithful and rarely cited by church leaders. Canonical regulations especially affecting eucharistic hospitality do not take into consideration the doctrinal consensuses that have emerged. A select bibliography is appended.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Flynn

This chapter provides an interpretative framework for understanding de Lubac’s ecclesiology. It first reconstructs key elements in his vision of the church within his overarching view of a ‘total’ ecclesiology. De Lubac’s vision of ‘totality’ provides a hermeneutical key to interpret his thought on the church and is considered in the context of his contribution to the renewed theology of the ‘mystical body’, the fruits of which have been garnered since Vatican II under the appellation ‘communion ecclesiology’. The second major section expounds de Lubac’s profoundly Eucharistic ecclesiology and shows how it provides a spiritual and social vision for the contemporary world.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 799
Author(s):  
Kimberly Hope Belcher ◽  
Christopher M. Hadley

A liturgical phenomenology of Roman Catholic priesthood based on the experience of images of priests and people in scripture and liturgy lends itself to a renewed appropriation of Vatican II and post-conciliar approaches to priesthood. The authors interpret the relational dynamics of Christ’s own priesthood using the pericope of Christ’s anointing at Bethany (Mark 14:1–9), followed by a phenomenological examination of the dialogical introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer or anaphora in the Roman and Byzantine Eucharistic rites. The way ordained ministry is exercised in dialogical and symbolic fashions then provides the impetus for a new look at the significance of prostration in the context of Good Friday and of the Roman Catholic ordination rite. The trinitarian implications of the unified but differentiated priesthood of the Church are the theme of the final section.


Author(s):  
Susan K. Wood

This chapter considers the Roman Catholic vision of ordained ministry. It takes a broadly historical approach, showing how conceptions of the ministry of bishop, priest, and deacon gradually emerged in the first few centuries of the Church, and how those conceptions evolved. It traces the development of a Eucharist-focused theology of the priesthood developed at the Council of Trent to the more broadly ecclesial and ministerial theology that emerged from the Second Vatican Council, including the restoration of the permanent diaconate. The chapter also gives an account of the revisions in the rite of ordination subsequent to Vatican II.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Krisztina Frauhammer

This article presents the Hungarian manifestations of a written devotional practice that emerged in the second half of the 20th century worldwide: the rite of writing prayers in guestbooks or visitors’ books and spontaneously leaving prayer slips in shrines. Guestbooks or visitors’ books, a practice well known in museums and exhibitions, have appeared in Hungarian shrines for pilgrims to record requests, prayers, and declarations of gratitude. This is an unusual use of guestbooks, as, unlike regular guestbook entries, they contain personal prayers, which are surprisingly honest and self-reflective. Another curiosity of the books and slips is that anybody can see and read them, because they are on display in the shrines, mostly close to the statue of Virgin Mary. They allow the researcher to observe a special communication situation, the written representation of an informal, non-formalised, personal prayer. Of course, this is not unknown in the practice of prayer; what is new here is that it takes place in the public realm of a shrine, in written form. This paper seeks answers to the question of what genre antecedents, what patterns of behaviour, and which religious practices have led to the development of this recent practice of devotion in the examined period in Hungarian Catholic shrines. In connection with this issue, this paper would like to draw attention to the combined effect of the following three factors: the continuity of traditions, the emergence of innovative elements and the role of the church as an institution. Their parallel interactions help us to understand the guestbooks of the shrines.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Gary Carville

The Second Vatican Council and, in particular, its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, changed much in the daily life of the Church. In Ireland, a country steeped in the Catholic tradition but largely peripheral to the theological debates that shaped Vatican II, the changes to liturgy and devotional practice were implemented dutifully over a relatively short time span and without significant upset. But did the hierarchical manner of their reception, like that of the Council itself, mean that Irish Catholics did not receive the changes in a way that deepened their spirituality? And was the popular religious memory of the people lost through a neglect of liturgical piety and its place in the interior life, alongside what the Council sought to achieve? In this essay, Dr Gary Carville will examine the background to the liturgical changes at Vatican II, the contribution to their formulation and implementation by leaders of the Church in Ireland, the experiences of Irish Catholic communities in the reception process, and the ongoing need for a liturgical formation that brings theology, memory, and practice into greater dialogue.


Horizons ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-305
Author(s):  
Lieven Boeve

ABSTRACTThe Church has the duty in every age of examining the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the gospel, so that it can offer in a manner appropriate to each generation replies to the continual human questionings on the meaning of this life and the life to come and on how they are related. There is a need, then, to be aware of, and to understand, the world in which we live, together with its expectations, its desires and its frequently dramatic character (Gaudium et spes 4).


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 264
Author(s):  
Clara Ramirez

This is a study of the trajectory of a Jewish converso who had a brilliant career at the University of Mexico in the 16th century: he received degrees from the faculties of arts, theology and law and was a professor for more than 28 years. He gained prestige and earned the respect of his fellow citizens, participated in monarchical politics and was an active member of his society, becoming the elected bishop of Guatemala. However, when he tried to become a judge of the Inquisition, a thorough investigation revealed his Jewish ancestry back in the Iberian Peninsula, causing his career to come to a halt. Further inquiry revealed that his grandmother had been burned by the Inquisition and accused of being a Judaizer around 1481; his nephews and nieces managed, in 1625, to obtain a letter from the Inquisition vouching for the “cleanliness of blood” of the family. Furthermore, the nephews founded an entailed estate in Oaxaca and forbade the heir of the entail to marry into the Jewish community. The university was a factor that facilitated their integration, but the Inquisition reminded them of its limits. The nephews denied their ancestors and became part of the society of New Spain. We have here a well-documented case that represents the possible existence of many others.


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