THE CHURCH

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THE CHURCH
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SEVEN MODELS

• The Political Society
• The Body of Christ
• The Sacrament
• The Pilgrim People of God

• The Human Community
• The Servant
• Communion

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THE POLITICAL SOCIETY

• Model from 1600 to 1940
• one true Church
• professes same Christian faith
• with same Sacraments
• under authority of Pope and bishops

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THE POLITICAL SOCIETY

• Weakness
• enumerates only visible and structural
  characteristics
• political and exclusivist intent
• overstresses authority of hierarchy
• lacks lay involvement.

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THE POLITICAL SOCIETY

• Strength
• gives definite guidelines
• establishes bonds
• of professed faith
• provides government
• promotes the Sacraments.

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THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Mystici Corporis, 1943
• Ancient model
• Resurrected in 19th Century
• Complemented previous model

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THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Strength
• stresses the abiding presence
• of Jesus Christ
• represents the gifts
• of the Holy Spirit
• shows interdependence
• of the members

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THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Strength
• presents a mystery of faith
• stresses the mystical, supernatural community of
  grace.

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THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Weakness
• doesnt encompass
• the visible society
• of human beings
• or else, it divinizes
• the visible community
• of the faithful

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THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Weakness
• can be anti-institutional
• doesnt resolve tension between
• visible institution
• spiritual communion
• can be exclusivist

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THE SACRAMENT

• Vatican II Lumen Gentium
• ancient model
• resurrected in 1940s
• Sign and instrument of
• union with God
• unity of people

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THE SACRAMENT

• Strength
• addresses the relationship between the visible
  and the invisible
• contrasts less the Church and non-Church

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THE SACRAMENT

• Strength
• gives room
• for constructive criticism
• avoids the impression
• of perfection or completeness.

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THE SACRAMENT

• Weakness
• a theological model
• rather than a popular model
• has had less impact
• than the two previous models.

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THE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Vatican II Lumen Gentium
• Scriptural, patristic, liturgical
• Sacred history
• Unite all peoples in Christ

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THE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Strength
• presents a historical community
• on pilgrimage,
• moving, not static
• democratic,
• stresses basic unity of members

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THE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Strength
• transcends hierarchical, clerical, juridical,
  triumphalist limitations
• stresses need for repentance and renewal
• provides the spirit of liturgical renewal.

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THE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Weakness
• under-stresses relation between the People and
  Jesus Christ
• can give impression that the Church is still
  living under the Old Law
• has not impacted outside
• the documents of Vatican II.

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THE HUMAN COMMUNITY

• Less theological, more pastoral
• Pentecostal
• Sociological, psychological
• Group dynamics

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THE HUMAN COMMUNITY

• Strength
• fosters friendship and trust
• freer of institutional structures
• can unite community and institution.

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THE HUMAN COMMUNITY

• Weakness
• can engender anti-institutionalism
• can become closed in
• on themselves (narcissism)
• can develop into splinter groups and sects.

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THE SERVANT

• Vatican II Gaudium et Spes
• theological
• in social documents

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THE SERVANT

• Strength
• carries on Jesus Christs mission
• of service to the world
• shares in the problems of human life, serving
  people
• scrutinizes the signs of the times

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THE SERVANT

• Strength
• introduces an attitude of listening to the world
  and learning
• inspires a theology of liberation.

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THE SERVANT

• Weakness
• the Churchs contribution in the socio-political
  sphere not clear
• gives a social meaning to biblical terms
• shifts of meaning need to be looked into.

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COMMUNION

• Communio et Progressio, 1971
• Novo millennio ineunte, 2000
• Develops Body of Christ
• School of communion

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COMMUNION

• Strength
• aims at unity and
• brotherhood of all people
• traces its source and model
• to the Blessed Trinity
• promotes the giving of self in love through
  communication.

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COMMUNION

• Weakness
• develops the Body of Christ model
• tension remains between
• spiritual communion,
• visible institutional society