Pastoral Action Models Part I
Pastoral Action Models Part I
Introduction (missing)
Chapter one
ACTION MODELS
PASTORAL
AND MODELS
ECCLESIOLOGICAL
THE MODEL
NORMATIVE
New Testament
The Church has not fallen from
sky already made. The model
New Testament, although
regulatory for everyone
times, it wove itself through the
tradition apostolic,
constitutive of the Scriptures,
inspired by the Spirit
Saint.
2.1 The prophetic pastoral: the Church as a ministry of communion (Ecclesia Mater)
This model of action and the ecclesiological model derived from it are typical of the Church.
ancient, which encompasses the entire patristic period (from the 2nd century to the beginning of the 7th century in
the West, and in the 8th century in the East); although with the arrival of the Constantinian era (century
IV) and of Augustinianism (5th century), the model of 'Christendom' began to be outlined.
the ecclesiological model of this period is conceived from action; the model of the period
the next one will overlap with it.
Action model
In the ancient Church, there are three main actions that occupy the lives of Christians:
the testimony of life (martyria), the proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ (kerigma) and the
teaching of the word of God (didaskalia). The baptized becomes part of the 'community of
the saints," which has in the Eucharist the most vivid expression of new life. The Word and
preaching occupies a central place, especially in the lives of those who are in leadership.
the communities: the episcopoi (bishops), the presbyteroi (presbyters), as well as the
prophets, the doctors, the guides, the evangelists, and those in charge. The pastoral action is
centers, therefore, on testimony and announcement, in the Eucharistic celebration and in the
assistance to the poor, derivation or consequence of the Word and the Eucharist. The
announcement is made through missionary preaching, through the homily and through catechesis, which in this
the period was closely linked to preaching. Instruction or catechesis is
community-based, which will later give rise to the catechumenate and, with it, to the 'schools
of theology
from the Scriptures) and from Antioch (more literal interpretation). During that period, the reflection
theological is basically biblical, which characterizes the theology of the time as a
wisdom theology or "wisdom" (sapientia).
With the controversy of the lapsi (Christians who faced persecution from the Roman Empire
they renounced their faith) and of the traditionalists (responsible for the Church that under pressure
they delivered the sacred books of the Church to the Empire to be burned), they acquire great
the importance of reconciliation and penance. On one hand, there is the need for the
sinner return to the communion of saints and, on the other hand, the generosity and the capacity to
apology from the ecclesial community. There is strong resistance to the integration of the
Christians in the pagan and oppressive structures of the Roman Empire, such as service
military and the exercise of public office, the production and trade of objects for the
pagan cult and its presence in circus shows. Christian literature, at first
moment, it is of an epistolary type (letters of mutual edification between the Churches), after
type 'apologetic' (defense of the Christian faith against the Empire and heresies) and, finally,
of a 'theological' type, with which the contents of faith are sought to be explicitly stated in a more
systematic and free.
Ecclesial model
In its origins, there was generally only one Church (ecclesia/assembly) in each city,
united around the Sunday Eucharistic celebration and gathered around a school of
presbyters, who normally took turns presiding over the celebration, although at times
some passages of the Scriptures suggest that there is more than one domus ecclesiae in
the same city (cf. Rom 16:3-5,10,11,14,15). The people who make up the
communities, in general, come from the humiliores: people from the plebeians, from the
peripheries. Later, in Upper Egypt, the first rural communities were created, to
relieve the faithful from long walks to participate in the Eucharist, always in the
early morning of Sunday, the Lord's Day.
There is only one category of Christians: the baptized. The catechumens are still preparing.
to be it. Everything is everyone's mission, in the shared responsibility of the same faith. Only from
from the 3rd century, when the triad of bishops-presbyters-deacons is established, although it already existed.
the beginning of the 2nd century with Ignatius of Antioch (year 107), the word "laity" emerges, to
distinguish it from the clergy, as was the case in Judaism. Also the term
"lay" already appeared in the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (40,6) in the 1st century (year
There is a completely ministerial Church, in which laypeople, among other tasks, keep
and administer the Eucharist, exercise the ministry of education in faith, participate in the
election of bishops and presbyters, and in the administration of goods
ecclesiastics. With this purpose, in many Churches there existed the 'council of laypeople,'
called lay seniors.
As an example of the New Testament model, the Church is local. In the communion of people.
concrete ones that make it present the whole Church (heir of the People of God of
A.T.), although not the entire Church. It is made up of the "called" or "saints",
disciples, brothers, or simply Christians (characterized this way for the first time in
Antioquia), which constitutes the eschatological people of God. The self-understanding of the
The Church (ecclesiology) is founded on pneumatology: the Church is the assembly (gathering) and the
koinonia (communion) of those called by the mysterious decision of God in Jesus Christ,
to live in unity, through the gifts of the Spirit, capable of embracing differences
of races and cultures. That is why the Church is generally called 'mother' (Ecclesia mater),
bride of Christ (sponsa Christi) and mystery of communion (koinonía). Without triumphalism, it
self-conceives as the 'little grey', which, in the face of a pagan and hostile world, is called to
to be different, to live in risk, in persecution and in martyrdom.
2.2. The sacramental pastoral: the Church as the body of Christ ('Mater regina')
This model has its roots in the Constantinian turn of the 4th century and in Augustinianism.
of the 5th century. The first meant a profound change in the life of the Church, both in
internal misconception as well as in its external configuration. Intolerance would be left behind,
illegitimacy and persecution. The ecclesiastical, the empire, and the geographical would begin to have
bonds that would configure the ecclesial model of medieval Christianity. The second
factor, Augustinianism, makes the civitas Dei the horizon of a model that will legitimize,
on one hand, the intervention of the State in the life of the Church and, on the other, the Church
as ideological support of the State.
Ecclesial model
The medieval ecclesiastical model is linked to the concept of Christendom, which, above all
After the split between East and Rome (1054), it has a clearly defined connotation.
state and imperial. Christianitas is understood and lived as a reality
ecclesiastical and political in which two powers are combined: the sacerdotium (altar) and the
imperium (throne), since the highest authority resides in the Roman Pontiff. The
bishops become supreme officials of the State, with their insignias, titles and
respective privileges. The pope takes on an imperial profile. The 'People of God' becomes
turns into populus christianus, a concept that is not only theological but also
sociological and political. The enemy is not spiritual evil, but the enemy of the Empire, and
The non-Christian is a political enemy. The cross, a theological sign of redemption, is
convert into military victory sign and official imperial insignia.
In this period, the image of the Church, which reaches its peak with the Thomistic system, is
the Feast of Corpus Christi, but not as a reference to the mysterious reality of the Church,
its sociological dimension, called "Christianity". It, as an institution,
polarizes the entirety of temporal and spiritual order, highlights its aspects
legal and is presented as congregation or power. The mission of the Church is to order the
world according to the 'laws of Christ', so that even the patristic image of the mother
Ecclesia is replaced by the imperial image of Ecclesia regina. The image of Jesus, the
Good Shepherd is overshadowed by the Pantocrator (Christ the King). It is made evident that the
sovereignty and the dominance of the Church's spiritual power over humanity. As
Christ is the head of the Church, the clergy is the head of the Christian people; for
so much, altered Christ. The reigning Christendom conceives the Church as originating from the
the power of Christ, which passes through him to the apostles and, from them, to the bishops. There is no place for
the Holy Spirit. Everything comes from divine right, given by Christ to the
hierarchy, to whom it is appropriate to integrate humanity, society, in one word, the world
to the Church, which is the only means of salvation, since it identifies itself with the
Glorious and risen Christ. It is the identification of ecclesiology with a christology.
docetist.
Action model
In the face of the collapse of the civil administration of the dying Roman Empire, especially
from what remained of the cities invaded by the barbarians, the bishop took over the
function of defensor civitatis, in charge of temporary responsibilities: exercise of
judicial power, collaboration in the administration and economy of the region, role
military and advisor to the princes. The identity, previously Eucharistic and sacramental of
the communities, now scattered in the peripheries and in the rural area, occur around the
presbyter, whose identity is associated with the presidency of the Eucharist. Thus, the
the center of unity moves from the diocese, linked to the political model of the city
ancient, to the parish, associated with the medieval fief, where the priest assumes the
function that belonged to the bishop in the ancient Church. The bishop has much of the figure of
prince, and the priest, of the feudal lord.
This greater closeness to the population linked to the medieval agrarian world contributes to a
deeper integration of the Church in society, which becomes a supporter of the
Christian Western civilization. This does not mean a greater enculturation of
Christianity; on the contrary, faithful to the Augustinian imagery of the civitas Dei, the Church, in
place of incarnating in history, absorbs the world, sacralizing it, in the name of
a power received from God. At the same time, there is a clericalization of the
Church, there is a sacralization of the world, which is seen as a whole penetrated by the
sacred. Indeed, there is a dualism in the opposition between the temporal and the spiritual,
but this one is superior to that one and has the right to govern it. The same dualism is transferred
within the People of God, to the extent that the clergy associates itself with the spiritual, and
the laity to the temporal. A vision also becomes part of Christianity
pejorative of the world. In secular tasks, there is a danger to the autonomy of what
spiritual and for the freedom of the Church in the world. Therefore, the ideal prototype of a
holy life is no longer the martyrdom of the patristic period, but the monastic, celibate life
secluded from the world, that forges the typical medieval spirituality of the fugue world, now
and work of Saint Benedict.
Unlike what happened during the patristic period, in which there was a true
interest in the contents of faith and in dialogue with Greco-Roman culture, in the
In the medieval church, there is a strong decline in the cultural level, especially among the clergy. With the
the birth of universities and the emergence of theology professors,
the doctoral function of the episcopal ministry practically disappears. Thomas of
Aquino will talk about the need and relevance in the Church of two magisteriums: that of the
bishops and those of theologians, although the role of the former is to confirm authenticity
of the faith. The bishop limits himself to the legal-practical management of his own diocese, which
it practically becomes a branch of Rome, and he, a vicar of the pope.
During this period, the "high" and "low" clergy also arise. The former is urban and
scholar; the second, poorly formed and scattered, tasked with managing the
sacraments in small dispersed rural communities, made up of faithful
generally without access to writing, that is, illiterate. The first consists of
of the regular clergy; the second, of the secular clergy. The secular clergy is concerned with the care
souls and is linked to the bishop. The regular clergy depends directly on the Roman
Pope. That is why preaching is largely the responsibility of the orders.
beggars, created for this purpose to fill that gap, since the clergy, now
chosen by the princes, without any theological preparation, does not go beyond the
common ground of an spontaneous faith.
Progressively, a separation will occur between the secular clergy (diocesan) and the regular clergy.
(religious). While the former is unlettered and rural, the latter attends universities, provides services
to the great papal works, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition, and enjoys privileges
pontifical. As a backdrop, there is a double pastoral criterion: the regular clergy is
aware of the insufficiency of territorial limit as a normative principle of action
ecclesial, while the secular clergy conforms to acting within the borders of its
parish.
A serious factor in the medieval pastoral action model is the end of catechesis of
adults, the catechumenate. The "conversion" en masse to Christianity - Christians not
evangelized-, reduced the catechumenate, which in the past was two or more years of
formation in faith, during Lent. One of the causes is the gradual decline of
number of adults requesting baptism, until completely disappearing, and the increase
staggering number of children whose parents do it for them.
This period encompasses two distinct moments within the same project
apologetic: the first faces the Protestant Reformation with the Counter-Reformation
Catholic; the second, taking a stance towards Modernity, promotes the
emancipation of the human being and the world with respect to the reigning theocracy.
councils wove the ecclesiological model of this period: the Council of Trent and the
Vatican Council 1. One standing up a movement in favor of a 'second
"scholasticism" and the other, of a "third scholasticism", what will really happen.
What characterizes Modernity is the search for autonomy with respect to the
theocracy and ecclesiocentrism, with a view to affirming the human being, of reason
and the temporal in its own sphere. This yearning for autonomy of the princes and of the
civil society came from the 11th century. But starting in the 16th century, it begins to take shape.
great modern civilizing project. Two moments mark this process: the first
illustration (emancipation of individual reason) around humanism, to
Renaissance, to rationalism, to empiricism and to the scientific revolution; and the second
illustration (emancipation of practical reason) around the philosophers of praxis
and of the idealist and Marxist dialectics, as well as of the industrial revolution. What
the movement of the Protestant Reformation is triggered by its reception in the field
religious of individual reason and subjectivity. Already the project of neochristianity,
tissue around social Catholicism, which leads to Rerum Novarum by Leo
XIII (1891), has in the third scholasticism established by the Vatican Council I its
ecclesiological reference of reconquest for the Church, although now no longer from above
downward, through the clergy, but from bottom to top, through capillary action
of the laity within the emancipated society.
As in the previous period, here too the action model is preceded by the
ecclesiological model, preconceived to defend Catholicism from attacks from the
Protestant heresy and secularism.
Ecclesial model
The ecclesiological model, both from the first moment of Modernity -the
Counter-Reformation, like the second - neo-Christianity -, is based on the image of the
Church as the body of Christ, with the backdrop of theocentrism and the
ecclesiocentrism, spiritual-temporal dualism, and the clerical-laity binomial.
While on the Protestant side a more spiritual and personalistic ecclesiology emerges.
(sola fide, sola gratia, sola Scriptura) and the only common priesthood of the faithful, from the side
Catholic continues the vision of an institutional Church, of a universal character, that emphasizes
the supremacy of the hierarchical priesthood over the common priesthood of the faithful and the
sacraments as the only means of salvation.
Roberto Bellarmine, the official theologian of the Trent position, conceives the Church as
"continuous incarnation": the society of human beings united by the profession of
true faith, the communion of the same sacraments and under the governance of the legitimate
pastors, primarily the only vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff.
Action model
From the controversial confrontation against Protestantism, it shifts to the fight against the
positivism, against the modern democratic state and against the sciences
methodologically non-religious, seeking to recover their former place at the top of
the social pyramid.
To highlight the Catholic specificity before the Reform Churches, ecclesial life
It revolves around the real presence of the Most Holy Sacrament (adoration), of the
devotion to the Virgin Mary, to the Mass as a sacrifice, and to the clerical priesthood. The
Protestants had placed the Bible in the hands of the people, but in response, the Church
Catholic, instead of recommending prudence in the reading of the Bible by the
faithful, practically prohibits it. The condemnation of Pascual Quesnel is well known, on the 8
September 1713, by the dogmatic constitution Unigenitus of Clement XI,
condemnation confirmed in 1718 by Clement XI himself, and in 1756 by Benedict
XIV, to those who defended the reading of the Scriptures by all indiscriminately.
At that first moment, pastoral action remains focused on the parish, tied to
a rural mentality even in cities that breathe modern culture. It is a
mass action, confined to a territory, without regard to people like
individuals and present in environments beyond the residential world. The Church does not
perceives the emergence of a new project of civilization around Modernity
emergent or thinks that it is about the mindset of some heterodox individuals.
In the second moment of the Church's presence in the midst of Modernity, the action
ecclesial, always framed in an apologetic stance, will move from the model of Christianity
to a new model, that of neochristianity, designed around a significant and
important search for the public presence of the Church in social media,
configured in the so-called social Catholicism. It will lead to the Rerum Novarum
of León XIII, preceded by the First Vatican Council, which had set up a
"Third scholasticism." The post-Tridentine pastoral action had been more of a response
against the Protestant Reformation as a reaction against the emerging Modernity.
The Catholic apologetic stance towards Modernity seeks to defend itself from two
enemies: liberalism and socialism. For the Church of that time, the former threatens
against the Catholic Church as the only true religion and against the magisterium,
sentinel of the truth that inhabits reason, which is collective and not individual, as it
it proposes Modernity. The error has no right. The second suppresses the
sacred right of private property, which is a natural right, and reduces the
human beings to an equality that wounds the differences cherished by God.
Situated in the mid-19th century, social Catholicism would be the first incarnation
historical of an antimodern, anti-revolutionary, anti-liberal, and anti-socialist project,
thesis borrowed from intransigent Catholicism, which is an ideology that feeds
imaginary of large contingents of Catholics determined not to yield to what they
they imagine it is the "accident" of the French Revolution. In truth, Catholicism
Social is inscribed in a context of Catholic restoration.
As it is not possible to travel to various European countries here, such as France, Italy,
Germany and Belgium, the setting for multiple initiatives of social Catholicism, and to show their
realizations, for illustrative purposes we limit ourselves to some facts of social Catholics
French. Undoubtedly, it is in France where social Catholicism gains significance and
meaning.
Broadly speaking, we can say that the movement went through two phases: one before and
another after the Rerum Novarum. The previous period is characterized by the "era
"paternalistic social employers," who primarily sought to improve the
working conditions of their employees and provide them with social assistance in the face of
needs that they deemed most urgent: religious education, food and
health. The period of the movement after Rerum Novarum is characterized by the
evolution towards Christian democracy and Catholic Action, functioning as
transition towards the reception posture of Modernity operated by the Council
Vatican II.
In the case of France, the first phase of social Catholicism, -the period before the Rerum
Novarum will evolve in two stages: the first, from 1850 to 1870, is the era influenced
by Armand de Melun and Le Play; the second, from 1870 to 1890, the era of Albert de Mun and
the work of the circles of Catholic workers. During the first stage, the men and the
action women who are troubled by misery are relatively few, and most of them
they are inspired by Le Play's theories, which, combined with a strict interpretation
from the Syllabus, agreed with the doctrine of the counter-revolution. Armand de Melun
(1807-1877) is characterized by the organization of assistance and, as a legitimist and
member of the nobility, tends to unite the social classes. Wants to organize them within the
parameters of Christianity, independent of the State, but between workers and bourgeois.
With Rerum Novarum, social Catholicism enters a second phase, to the extent
in which the pontifical magisterium echoes many of the disputed theses within
of the movement, especially of those that are more in tune with the values
of Modernity. A change occurs, especially in the political field and
economic, by proposing the re-Christianization of society and the State, but no longer of
upward and downward, through the clerical route, but from the base, through the laity and
secular institutions. The pope's concern is that Catholics make their own the
aspirations of their time, in order to imbue all forms with a Christian spirit
of modern civilization. The opening of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to freedoms
modern policies combine with the will to ensure a direction of
political and social project of re-Christianization. The openness to Modernity stimulates
the progressive formation of various organizations responsible for framing life
everyday life of Catholics and promoting a Christian vision of society.
But on the cultural level, the Rerum Novarum is still very timid, as it is aligned with
the mentality of Christianity. The idea is maintained that Christianity must be linked to
a civilization, to a culture. The morbid desire for the restoration of a culture persists.
Christian Global: A Cultural Catholicism.
2.4. The pastoral of the whole: The Church as the people of God
The pastoral of the community and the Church considered as 'People of God' characterize
the period of post-Christianity officialized by the Second Vatican Council (LG, nn. 9-14).
As we have just seen, the desire for renewal and reconciliation with Modernity,
overcoming an apologetic stance and adopting an attitude of dialogue and service towards
the world came from afar. The same Pius X (1903-1914), despite his conservatism,
He marked his papacy with a great pastoral concern and laid the foundations of a
gradual process of ecclesial renewal with its principle revertimini ad fontes (return to
the sources). Later, on the side of the reformers, Kart Barth advocates for the regressus
to the divine word (return to the word of God). Theologians with sensitivity will arise
pastoral, in an effort for a deeper contact with revelation and
updating of Christian thought with the demands of the world
modern.
Little by little, the Second Vatican Council was being prepared, in a slow process, but
gradual, in which various renewal movements would be the protagonists: the
biblical movement, focused on returning to the Scriptures and on a re-reading of the
word of God from history in its current context; the ecclesiological movement,
wanted to overcome heliocentrism and reclaim the category 'Kingdom of God'.
eclipsed by a Christomonist ecclesiology; the ecumenical movement, which sounded
with the restoration of the unity of Christians and an opening of Christianity to a
true dialogue with religions; the lay movement, which claimed a place
specific within the Church as a subject and with its own identity; the movement
theological, which sought to overcome the methods of the Augustinian and Thomistic meta-narrative and
locate theology within the paradigm of modern rationality; the movement
ecumenical, which aimed to create a new rite, based on new theological foundations and more
embodied in contemporary culture, etc.
Action model
Helped by the experience of the Specialized Catholic Action, the lay people
they find their place in the Church and, due to their privileged situation of insertion more
Lay ministries are born, not only
inward, but especially outward from the Church. Worship ceases to deplete the
participation of the members of the Church in the building of the Kingdom of God already in
this world. The same truths that are subjected to the sieve of their verification
historical in ecclesial practices. Renewed catechesis emerges, the liturgy linked to
life and to social pastoral, the result of the awareness of the meaning and of the experience of
triple ministry of baptism: the tria munera: prophetic, liturgical, and of the
charity (LG 13). The subject of ecclesial action ceases to be the clergy, until then
seen as "the shepherd", to make the ecclesial community as a whole, all of it
ministerial, founded on the same baptism and the common priesthood of the faithful. The
respect for the human right to religious freedom gives rise to the service of dialogue
ecumenical and macro-ecumenical. Respect for the autonomy of the temporal promotes
cooperative and shared service actions with initiatives, groups and
civil society organizations for a supportive world.
In this new post-apologetic context, the mission is not so much about reaching out.
to bring the distant ones to the Church, but to freely carry the gospel and
embody it in history. The overcoming of parochialism and territorial pastoral care
it must be noted the rediscovery of the diocesan dimension of pastoral care,
situating every and any action, even if punctual and local, within this horizon. For this
an institutional reform will be carried out through the creation of organizations of
globalization of ecclesial action, such as assemblies and councils (CD, n. 27), thus
as new coordination mechanisms with teams and their first
responsible, whose functions are defined communally.
Ecclesial model
The Second Vatican Council, while remaining theological, aimed to be essentially pastoral.
Since the 'new signs of the times' (GS, n. 4), it has turned towards
Church, seeking a new self-understanding of its being and its mission. A ...
dialogue with the modern world, in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation. The Church,
that finally recognizes not having all the answers to the world's problems.
Today, it is proposed, as a pilgrim in history with all of humanity, to seek them with
"all people of good will," in the expression of John XVIII. As
institution, and therefore also as a cultural factor, recognizes the need to
constantly renewing itself (Ecclesia semper reformanda) and keeping up to date
(update), not starting from trends and ideologies, but through a true
return to biblical and patristic sources.
The main elements of the Church model from the Second Vatican Council, as
appear in the Lumen Gentium and in the Gaudium et spes, are the following:
The Church understood as communion (LG, nn. 8-9). As koinonia, the Church is
sacramento of the unity of the Trinity and, in it, with human beings and of
human beings among themselves. The ministries are an expression of universality of
the gifts of the Spirit, ordered to serve for the good of all, Christians and non-Christians
Christians. In light of this, the theological scope of the sacrament is redefined.
baptism and, from there, the diversity of ministries. A new one is developed.
theology of ordered ministries, especially that of the bishop in relation to
Petrine ministry, within the apostolic college. The laity reclaim their identity.
and their place in the Church and in society, as members of one body, that
it is the Church, made up of a single category of Christians: the baptized. It
rearticulates the synodal or collegiality principle among the local churches of a
region, Pals, continent or around the papal ministry. In summary, what the
Vatican II understands communion not as mere unity or obedience to the pope and to
the bishops, but the unity of the diversity of their members, and of these with all the
human gender.
The Church understood as the People of God (LG, nn. 9-13). The People of God are not
only the laity, but all the baptized; therefore, the clergy is part of it, whose
the ministry is founded on the common priesthood of the faithful, a gift that God grants through
the baptism of all the 'children of the Church'. All the people of God are holy and
sinner, anointed, prophetic, charismatic, helpful and participant in the mission of
Jesus Christ dead and resurrected in the Spirit. A people, whose authority is the
service, dedicated preferentially and primarily to the minor and to the last.
new People of God, the Church prolongs in history the pilgrimage of the ancient
People of God towards the Promised Land, the new heaven and the new earth,
rescued by the Crucified for all humanity. The Church is a sacrament.
-sign and instrument of the Kingdom-, inaugurated by Jesus and built in the Spirit by
all people of good will. The historical configuration of a Church
peregrina shows its institutional precariousness, thus overcoming the concept of
perfect society.
The Church as the body of service of the Kingdom of God in the world (GS, n 1).
The church does not exist for itself, but for the Kingdom of God, which is also inexhaustible.
in it. It is her sacrament: sign and instrument of her realization in history ("already")
although aware that it will never be fully realized here ('not yet').
Consequently, the Church needs a spirit of cooperation and service to the world,
of dialogue and welcome. As Irenaeus of Lyons said, "everything that is not embraced, is not
is redeemed". Redemption, as we have seen, that transcends the borders of the
ecclesial mediation, although it is the Church's responsibility to offer the Gospel to everyone and
contribute to the meeting and unity of all human beings around the same Father.
The universal Church present in the local Church (LG, n. 23; CD, n. I 1; AG, nn.
20.38). The Second Vatican Council has rediscovered the universality of Christianity in
the peculiarity of local Churches. The Church of Christendom confused
"catholicity" with the Roman particularity; "universality" as a determined one
a particularity that extends over the others, absorbing and annihilating them.
For the Council, catholicity is not generalized uniformity. The universality of the
The church is not due to a single way of being, but to the same faith; to its trinitarian source.
and to the gift of salvation that God offers to all humanity. According to the book of
the Acts of the Apostles, unity consists of 'having the same in common' (He
2, 42ss). That is why, in Antiquity, the Churches were called 'Churches in' and not
Churches of
They are born different, without being excommunicated for that. The part does not contain the whole,
but the portion does. In this way, the entire Church is in the local Church, even though not
the whole Church. This 'whole Church,' for it is the guardian of the entirety of the mystery
of salvation. But it is not 'the whole Church', because no local Church exhausts this.
mystery. Hence, the catholicity of the Church is, from the local Church, in the
communion of the Churches, since the Church of Jesus Christ is the 'Church of Churches'.
In this perspective, the Church, the more inculturated it is, the more incarnated it is
in each of the different cultures, it will be more universal and catholic. On the contrary,
the more embodied and present one is in a single culture, the less Catholic and
universal will be in other cultures.
Action model
Given the strong socio-transformative and liberating connotation of this model, it emerges
the pastoral action in the protagonism of the lay people and the poor. The lay people are
considered as subjects with "voice and vote", with their own ministries, with opportunity
of biblical and theological-pastoral training, and a place of decision in councils and assemblies,
as well as coordination in front of the different pastoral services. With respect to
to the poor, changes the perspective: from objects of others' charity, they become subjects of
a supportive and fraternal world. The Church, in addition to taking on its cause, also takes on
its social place through ecclesial communities embedded in a perspective
liberating, with an emphasis on social pastoral, given their precarious situation. The born the
pastoral services with their own spirituality and foundation, such as worker pastoral.
the pastoral of the land and rural areas, the pastoral of health and the sick, the pastoral of
human rights, children's ministry, ecology ministry, ministry of
the black and indigenous consciousness, the pastoral care of women, etc.
Within this model, space is opened for the reflection and action of women.
of the Afro-American and Indigenous contingents, who forge from their practices a
re-reading of Scripture and the truths of faith, making revelation the word of
salvation 'for us today', as stated by the Second Vatican Council (GS, no. 62). The
catechesis privileges experience and community integration in a process of
permanent education in faith. The liturgy interacts the paschal mystery with the
"passion" of the people, which in its disfigured face prolongs the passion of Jesus Christ in
the world. In the preaching or in the meditation of the word of God in worship
Sunday services without a priest aim to nurture the hope of the people by updating
the revelation in the context of the victims of an unjust and exclusionary system. From
faith, aims to also form civic consciousness, so that the same excluded
two, organized as citizens, should be protagonists, within civil society,
of a supportive and inclusive world.
Ecclesial model
In the presented molds, the pastoral action shapes a specific ecclesial model.
Theologically, its foundations are based on the 'creative reception' of Vatican II, made
for Medellín, and of the Evangelii nuntiandi), carried out by Puebla. It is therefore a model
ecclesiological with the face of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. It can be characterized
as 'ecclesiogenesis', as 'community of communities', which arise from small
communities embedded in their own context of exclusion. From this network, the small
the ecclesial community becomes a people, that is, it inserts itself into the pilgrimage of the People of God and
of humanity, in search of the 'Promised Land', of the 'Land Without Evils, of a
"New Society", which confuses with the immanent dimension of the Kingdom of God. In the
"Council of Jerusalem" of the early Church, Christians opened themselves to the pagans (Acts 1)
5, 1-30); in Vatican II, the Church opened up to the world; in Medellín, it opened up to the poor;
and, in Puebla, to the cultures. They are realities already present in the Vatican II Council, but that
In Latin America, they are recreated and expanded based on their concrete needs for evangelization.
Vatican II points towards a Church as the People of God, made up of all the
baptized, in a relationship of communion and living in community following the model
presented by the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:42 and following). The Church in America
Latin America and the Caribbean place the People of God in the historical pilgrimage of all humanity.
sharing the same destiny and the same promises with her. The 'mystery of communion'
From Vatican II (LG, n. 13) emerges on the continent as the co-responsibility of all.
in a fully ministerial Church, that moves beyond the clergy-laity binary to be a community-
ministries. Community life is seen as possible only in small
communities, of human size, of experiences and of base (Medellín, n. 15,10). Only from
this founding experience - ecclesiogenesis - it is possible to speak of 'parish community' or
diocesan, since there is no Church if there is no experience and living of faith in
specific communities.
Vatican II also called the baptized for the mission in the world, in a spirit of
service and dialogue. The 'waiting for a new land should not dampen, but rather
"to arouse the concern to perfect this earth" (GS, n. 39). In light of this, the Church in
Latin America makes the mission in the world a commitment to transformation of the
current society in a new society, an action not merely religious, but in unity
with all the intermediary bodies and organizations that are part of the perspective of a
solidarity world. The dialogue between faith and science translates into interaction between knowledge
scientific knowledge and popular knowledge, between Christian faith and ideologies as mediation of action, between
Gospel and cultures, from an ecumenical perspective, macro-ecumenical and with all people
in good faith.
Finally, in the convocation of the Council, Pope John XXIII advocated for 'a Church of
the poor, so that it may be the Church of all." In Latin America, such a challenge is
translate in the preferential option for the poor against poverty (Medellín, n. 14, 7-10);
assumed and lived in the integration into popular media (Medellín, 14, 8-17); in the
transformation of structures as eradication of structural sin (Holy
Sunday, n. 243; the same document mentions 'conversion of structures', n.
30); in short, in a prophetic attitude, that does not negotiate with the values of the Gospel, and by
consequently, a martyr Church following the example of the Master, who was faithful until the end.
Summary
2. What model of action and Church is present in the community where you are?
committed?
3. What is necessary to make the New Testament model take flesh in your own life?
reality, especially from the perspective of the poor and excluded?
Basic bibliography
C. FLORISTÁN, Practical Theology. Theory and practice of pastoral action, Follow me,
Salamanca, 1991, pp. 53-80 (The pastoral action of the primitive Church) and pp. 81-105 (The
pastoral action in the history of the Church.
J.B. LIBANIO, Contemporary Church. Encounter with Modernity, Loyola, Sao Paulo
2000.pp. 109-151 (The Walk of the Church in Latin America).
A. DULLES, The Church and its Models, Paulus, Sao Paulo, 1978.
J. A. ESTRADA, The Church: identity and change. The concept of Church from Vatican I to
our days, Christianity, Madrid, 1985, PP. I7-134.
Supplementary bibliography
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Vatican II, Voices, Petropolis, 1965. Y. Congar, The Church in Our Days, Paulinas, Sao
Paulo, 1969. Y. CONGAR, The Church of St. Augustine in the Modern Age, Cerf, Paris, 1970.
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