Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

Review Questions
Chapter 1
1. Who belonged to the Ecclesia ab Abel according to the Fathers.? In other words, what
were the condition(s) for belonging to this “church”?
Abel, Enoch and Noah, just man, isolated without support of the community. They believe
in God in some implicit way and they hoped in a coming redeemer
LG 2, n2. All the elect, before time began, the Father "foreknew and pre- destined to
become conformed to the image of His Son, that he should be the firstborn among many
brethren".

2. How could those living before Christ share in Christ’s redemption?

“Although they did not have an explicit faith, they did have faith in divine providence,
believing that God will liberate humankind in a way he chooses and as he has revealed
to some who have known the truth”
Every grace before Christ was received through an implicit faith in Christ that
conformed the believer to him. St Justin gave the name of Christians to those that came
before Christ, like Socrates, because they lived according to the logos spermatikos “the
seed of the logos.” All the just before the coming of Christ belonged to the Church as the
body of Christ since they were conformed to him by his grace.

3. In what basis did St Thomas declare that the “ancient fathers [in Israel] belonged to the
same body of the church to which we belong?
“By observing the sacraments of the Law, [the just man and women of the Old
Testament] were brought by Christ by the same faith and love by which we are being
brought to him. Therefore, the ancient fathers belong to the same body of the church to
which we belong.”
Their implicit faith and love reached Christ himself, although their understanding and
expression of this trust in future redemption were limited by the time period and
historical setting in which they lived.

4. Explain the goal and method of God’s paidagogia in Israel’s history?

God allows Israel to fall into satuations of death and destruction, such as slavery in
Egypt, drowning in the sea, dying from thirst and famine in the desert, or being
conquered by the surrounding great empires, which no human power could save her
from. It is in such desperate situations that God shows himself to be the savior of Israel
and teaches Israel absolute trust in him. The history of Israel is a rehearsal for the
Paschal Mystery.

5. Why and how is Abraham’s faith a prototype of the faith of Israel and of the Church?
Because he believed despite all empirical evidence to the contrary, that he would beget a
son with Sara and, in spite of God’s command to kill the son, God’s promises clearly
shows that he rejects human sacrifices, but. Only. After Abraham has proved that he
trusts and obeys God unconditionally.

6. Concerning the relationship of Israel’s kings to God, why does the institution of royalty
in Israel became a disaster?
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God expected the kind s of Israel to rule not in their own names, but as his visible
representatives, the anointed ones of YHWH. Eventually they struggle with power and
didn’t trust God’s protection

7. Explain the meaning and significance of qehā l YHWH for Israel and for the Church?
Israel is the qehāl YHWH, the gathering of those who were called by God to be a
‘kingdom of priest, a holy nation,” to proclaim God’s glorious deeds to all the nations
and to offer sacrifices to him and obey his commandments. The equivalent of qehāl
YHWH is ekklēsia tou theou, which became Paul’s favorite phrase to designate the
church.

8. How did the Torah serve to lead Israel to Christ?

God gave Israel first covenant, which depended on legal obligations, to teach her
insufficiency and to stir up within her a desire for his intervention, mercy, and
forgiveness.
 
So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:24

9. Illustrate the filial and bridal relationship between Israel and YHWH with some
important Old Testament texts.
Ex. 4:22-23
Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me”; if
you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your first-born son.’”
Hos. 11:1-4
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
     and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 
The more I[a] called them,
     the more they went from me;[b]
they kept sacrificing to the Ba′als,
     and burning incense to idols.
3 
Yet it was I who taught E′phraim to walk,
     I took them up in my[c] arms;
     but they did not know that I healed them.
4 
I led them with cords of compassion,[d]
     with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
     who eases the yoke on their jaws,
     and I bent down to them and fed them.

God remains faithful, the nuptial relationship between god and his people,

Chapter 2 – Review Questions

1. In what ways did the Jews expect the coming of the kingdom of the Messiah?
 Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

A miraculous conversion of Israel to the point that all of the people keep the Torah and
thus compel. God’s coming; or a cosmic upheaval that destroys all God’s enemies and
the entire old world.
Signs that can make him powerful.

2. Characterize Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom. How does the coming differ from the
expectations? Who are invited, who can enter, and what are its central images?
The people wanted to crown him after the multiplication of the loaves, but Jesus
abandons them. He refuses to perform any grand cosmic sign and sought out the
notorious sinners rather associating with the law-abiding Pharisees. It was nor earned
by the good deeds of law-abiding Pharisees, but was offered as an undeserved gift to the
poor, to those who mourn, to the meek, to those thirsting for holiness, to the merciful,
and to the clean of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the repentant sinners and
lawbreakers. The repentant sinner and the law-abiding Pharisees are invited is the
central image of the kingdom.
Jesus pointed out: “if it is by the spirit of God that I dive out demons, then the kingdom
of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:28). The kingdom of God is thus in the hidden yet
powerful presence of God in Jesus, forgiving sins, restoring wholeness and life to all
those who accept him in faith. Surprisingly, the greatest resistance to Jesus was
provoked by his love for sinners. Because he reached out to those beyond the religiously
motivated social boundaries, he unsettles and upset not only the religious hypocrites but
also the average, law-abiding, devout Jew, who walked in the path of righteousness and
avoided the ways of the wicked.

3. What was Jesus’ original plan and how was it frustrated?

Jesus’ original plan was to convert all of Israel so that she might become the center for
all the nations who join her in the same new, extended qehāl YHWH. But Israel’s leading
elite observe Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners, his claim to have authority to forgive
sins, his healing on the sabbath, and his thorough reinterpretation of the law of Moses,
they turn against him.
When he hears about the execution of John the Baptist, he withdraws to a deserted place.
He must have realized at that point that his fate also had been sealed. The people
following him after the first multiplication of loaves and want to make him king, but he
declines to become the messiah of a militant uprising. He focuses on educating his
disciples and no longer counting on the conversion of all Israel, he begins building his
own ekklesia, an assembly of those called by God from the remnant of Israel and from
the gentiles.

4. What does the election of “the Twelve” reveal about the intentions of Jesus?
He appointed twelve that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons. He makes them the Patriarchs of the
converted, a renewed Israel, each representing one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the
tribe that issued from each. Jesus intends at this time to gather all the lost sheep of
Israel. He knows. That with his presence the end of times have arrived, when God will
restore all of Israel.
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5. Why can we say the Church is constituted by the first Eucharist at the Last Supper?
The church tends toward the kingdom and enters into it “in mystery” whenever she
receives -under the vail of the consecrated bread and wine- Christ, who has already fully
entered into it. In this way, the church was established at the last supper, but she begins
her mission only after Jesus’ resurrection and the descent of the holy spirit.

6. Why can we call Mathew’s Gospel the “ecclesial” Gospel per excellence?
Because the gospel shows how the church of their time (and of all time) is fundamentally
identical with the community of the disciples of Jesus. Mathew has the crucified and
risen Lord remaining present and active in the church until the end of this age. In
Mathew the church is the kingdom of the son of Man, where the children of the kingdom
and the children of the evil one will live together until the end of history. Then the just
will be transform into the kingdom of the Father, where they shine like the sun.

7. Show that, according to Mathew, Jesus did not definitively give up on Israel.
Jesus does not give up on Israel, although he does indict the scribes and Pharisees with a
scathing sevenfold “woe” and predicts that they will call on their heads the guilt for the
blood of all the righteous from the murder of Abel up to the recent killing of Zachariah.
Foreseeing the destruction of the temple and the city. He shows his tender love for
Jerusalem. Jesus knows that his father’s eternal plan calls for him to rescue Israel from
her sin and that this plan must be fulfilled. He knows that he must shed his own blood for
the forgiveness of the blood guilt of all Jewish and gentile generations.

8. Explain the significance and the mode of the speaking of languages at Pentecost by the
apostles.
At Babel, God confused the languages of the proud builders so that no one could
understand the other since they wanted to reach God by their own powers. At Pentecost,
the Holy Spirit did the opposite. He enabled everyone to understand the proclamation of
the Gospel and drew those who converted into one community.

9. Characterize the life of the Church in Jerusalem according to Luke.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (community life), to
the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul; and many
wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And all who believed were together
and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed
them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking
bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God
and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day
those who were being saved. Acts 2: 42-47

10. Describe the significance of the division of Acts in two connected parts (1:1-12:19;
12:20-28:31)
Luke upholds the complexity of Paul’s position in the apostolic church as a sign of God’s
sovereign freedom vis-à-vis the budding “institutional church. Paul’s missionary work
becomes so widespread and effective that Luke centers the larger second part of his work
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on Paul. The imprisoned Paul’s arrival in Rome marks a providential turning point in
the life of the Church.

11. How does Acts express hope about the eschatological future of Israel?
The eschatological future is not hopeless. The Virgin Mary and Simeon prophesied by the
Holy Spirit and, therefore, their words must be fulfilled. In Jesus, God has come to the
help of Israel his servant, and he will become the glory of his people.

-Restoration of Israel, the end of Israel being united. Christ is the eschatological Israel,
and the Holy Spirit is sent to continue the mission of Christ until he comes again.

12. Why does the arrival of the captive Paul in Rome mark a new stage in the history of the
Church?
The imprisoned Paul’s arrival in Rome marks a providential turning point in the life of
the Church. at the explicit command of the risen Lord, her center has moved from
Jerusalem to Rome. Since most of Israel rejected the Messiah, the church and, in
particular, Paul turn to the gentiles. Paul is emphatic about being appointed and sent by
the risen Christ himself, yet he places himself within the church structure, which was
established by the earthly Jesus, but he is also evidence of the Lord’s creative
intervention during the church’s foundational phase.

13. Why did many Fathers call John the “spiritual Gospel”?
The gospel reveals the Ineinandersein (indwelling of the Trinity) (being within each
other) of the mystery of Christ, the sacraments, and the church. First part of the Gospel,
only seven signs are selected from the “works” of Jesus. The second part, the Paschal
mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection are presented. Just as the father revealed
everything to Jesus, who rest in his bosom, Jesus does also to the beloved disciple, who
rests on his breast at the Last Supper. The gospel introduces us into Jesus’ inner life, his
relationship to the Father, as well as to his disciples who believe in him and love him.

14. What do we man by the statement that in John Jesus’ activity, passion, and resurrection
are contemporaneous to the Church?
por la participacion de la Iglesia y la actualizacion de la passion por medio de la
eucaristia, todos los miembros son contemporaneos de la actividad
we continue to participate in that mystery, because is not invisible

15. How do the words of the risen Christ in John 20 sum up the entire mission of the
disciples?
The eyewitness disciples are sent to those who have not yet seen so that they can believe
and, in this way, share in the communion with the Father and the Son. The entire future
community of believers who have not seen has its foundation in the disciples who have
seen and believed. The testimony of the latter as to what was made visible to them is
confirmed by the invisible testimony in the hearts of the faithful by the holy spirit.

16. What is the ecclesiological significance of the relationship between “those who have seen
and believed” and “those who have not seen yet believed” (cf. Jn 20:29 with 1 Jn 1:1-4)
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The entire future community of believers who have not seen has its foundation in the
disciples who have seen and believed. The testimony of the latter as to what was made
visible to them is confirmed by the invisible testimony in the hearts of the faithful by the
holy spirit.

17. What does the book of Revelation teach about the history of the Church?
It sheds light on the entire history of the church from the heavenly perspective. On the
one hand it is the gigantic battle between the forces of Satan and the devotees of the
Lamb, but on the other it is the celebration of the splendid heavenly Eucharist, which
climaxes in the wedding feast of the Lamb. This is the heavenly liturgy and through it the
blood of the Lamb obtains victory over Satan and all the kingdoms that serve him.

18. Who is the woman with a crown of twelve stars in Revelation 12?
Virgen Mary, and also the Church since she has other offspring

19. Summarize Romans 11 on the relationship between Israel and the church.
The unbelief and the hardening of some of the people of Israel does not mean that God
rejected his people. The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. They did not

20. Explain the meaning of the ekklēsia tou theou in Paul.

This term means the gathering of those who are called by God and so belong to God. The
NT ekklesia are called and gather together “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. The preposition En indicates the relationship of Jesus to the churches.

21. Explain the twofold meaning of Paul’s understanding of the Church as the body of Christ.
The image means that Christ rules his church and the church is subjected to him; as
head, he is the principle out of which all life and growth comes into the church; and he is
the goal toward which the church grows.

22. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ?
The same Holy Spirit who makes the Christian one by joining them to the one body-
person of Christ is also the principle of the members’ differentiation; that is’ the Holy
Spirit creates both the unity of the body and the different functions of each member.

23. What is the meaning of the Pauline notion of “head” to the body of Christ? Where in the
Epistle of Paul is this term found?
as head, Christ is the principle out of which all life and growth comes into the church.
Found in Cal 2:19

24. How does the bridegroom-bride image qualify the relationship between Christ’s personal
body and his ecclesial body?
This analogy shows that the unity of Christ and the church is not of nature but derives
from a personal relationship of Love. On the cross, Christ gave himself up to his bride,
the church, “so that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or
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wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without. Blemish. The church, on
her part, fully surrends herself to Christ in love.

25. Explain in what sense the body of Christ is a dynamic reality.

In Christ, the fullness of the divinity dwells bodily, but the church in this world is only the
road towards the fullness that is in Christ. The church is the center that unites the whole
universe un Christ. She is the “fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts.”

26. Show that Paul’s ecclesiology exhibits the characteristics of “early Catholicism”
The apostolic Authority from Christ. With sovereign authority he establishes order in the
exercise of charisms and charges that those who will not obey his instruction should be
ignored by the community. He issues strict orders concerning the celebration of the
eucharist and regulates the legal and moral issues on marriage. Paul considers the
ecclesial office-bearers as recipients of a certain charism of their own. Faith is not only
trust in the Son of God, but also obedience to the Gospel. Evidence can be found in
Paul’s writings in the importance of baptism, Eucharist, marriage and the
excommunication/readmission of the sinner.

Chapter 3

1. List and explain briefly each of the characteristics of patristic ecclesiology

They developed their biblical themes within the context of the Hellenistic culture of their
times, but at the same time they transform the meaning of culture’s Hellenistic concepts
and images into expression of Christ Mysteries

Ratzinger - The Fathers take up a rabbinical theology which had conceived of the Torah
and Israel Pre-existent.
They were convinced that the church has existed before creation in God’s eternal
design.
She has existed before everything else, and everything else has been created in
view of the full realization.

Historical reality
Because from Adan and Abel on, just man and women could always be found in
every
nation scattered throughout the world. – Gregory the Great.
With the election of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God begun his preparation for
the new
advent of the redeemer by forming and educating the people of Israel – and has
been fulfill in Mary, the immaculate, perfect Israel.

The Fruit of the Paschal Mystery

The new eve is born from the side wound of Christ on the Cross. She is the
spotless bride of
the new Adam.
Justin – we are true Israel, we who have been quarried from the innards of Christ
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Leo the Great- Here is the fountain of Life which washes clean the entire earth,
taking its origin from the wound of Christ.
Tertullian – the church coming forth from the side of the Lord in the water of the
spirit and blood of redemption

Sun and moon relationship

Symbol of life-giving activity of the church
As the moon diminishes and dies into the sun, so the church dies into the blinding
light of Christ’s splendor
Ambrose - The moon imitates Christ, who has emptied her in order to fill her, just
as Christ empties himself that he may fill all things.
Maximus of Turin – the church is compared to the moon since she also
besprinkles us with the dew of a bath and make us alive the soil of her body by the
dew of baptism

Head and Body

2. Explain at length the trinitarian aspect of Irenaeus’s ecclesiology.

Her nature and life are intelligible inly within a trinitarian context that brings out her
different relationships to each person of the divine person

Irenaeus
The spirit becomes the immanent principle of divine life in the Church. He penetrates
and transforms the flesh so that the flesh forgets itself and assumes the quality of the
spirit. He comes from Christ and molds us into the likeness of Christ. He unites
individuals into one universal church as members of Christ. Participation of the spirit
completes our humanity and lead us to full maturity through the vision of God. The spirit
is divine life itself, makes our flesh capable of incorruption and immortality. The spirit is
the agent who brings about the process of conforming to Christ. The whole church being
configured to the image of the son. Christ is the head of his body the church, Christ rules
over his church. And the body must follow its head. Christ communicates the vital seed of
the spirit to his bride on the cross, thereby enabling the church to engender children for
God. Because of her union with Christ through the holy spirit the church truly mediates
salvation to the world. its final goal is personal communication with the father.

3. Characterize briefly the close relationship, bordering on identity, between the mystery of
Mary and that of the church of the Fathers.
There is only one virginal mother, the church whose perfect embodiment and archetype
is Mary the mother of God.
Origen- she is the mother of the members of the church in the sense and to the extent that
Jesus is born in them as. they conform to Christ.
Women in book of revelation – is at once the people if Israel, Mary and the church
The pure one opening purely that pure womb which regenerates men unto God and
which he himself made pure
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4. Comment on the relationship between the local church and its bishop in the theology of
the Fathers.
It is the duty of the bishop to support the penitent, to comfort and prepare them for
reconciliation

The church is spread through the whole world, and at the end of history she will be
identical with the whole renewed human race. But she exists in the local communities,
each which is centered on the bishop’s eucharistic celebration. Local church
communities are seen not as an administrative part of a whole, but as the local presence
of the one individual church of God in Christ Jesus.
Peter Damian- the whole church is in the whole, and the whole is in each local church.
The universal church exists as the communion of all the local churches, and the term
ekklesia does not refer to the hierarchy alone, but to everyone in the eucharistic
assembly.

Ekklesia does not exist without her bishop who stand in line of apostolic succession and
thus continue the mission of Christ. While representing Christ the bishop also
incorporates the church into himself and acts on her name. The bishop was not imposed
by the pope on the local assembly but in principle the entire local church, clergy and
people all, elect the bishop who will always act together with his people. His role is to
teach, shape and form his people so they can develop the same mind and heart.

Cyprian – The church are people united to the bishop and the flock clinging.

The bishop is the successor of the apostles and. The church is presents in its. Fullness in
the local church. The fulness of the universal church

Chapter 4
1. Explain briefly the positive and negative results of the Constantine and medieval symbols
between the church and the empire.
Constantine saw a sign of a cross and heard that with that he will conquer, and becamse
a symbol for them and freeing Christianity from persecution.

Positive
The church was no longer persecuted.
Monastic

Negative
The people of God, the church, was seen as the Christian people rather than the people
of God
Heresy.
Church was secular
Lack of inner conviction for belonging to the church
Corruption- (monastic movement saves the church from corruption)

?
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Persecution
Bishops possessed secular judicial power
Pope secular power

2. Explain the “investiture controversy” between the empire and the papacy (causes,
outcome, positive and negative effects.
The emperors justified the practice of imperial investiture by the fact

Secularization and corruption

3. Characterize the curia ecclesiology

The church is the dioceses of the pope and the bishops are the vicars in certain areas

4. Explain the image of the bride and groom in St. Bernard and the relationship of the many
brides to the one bride.
The church is. the bride, but every soul is the bride
Christ own the bride.

5. Explain the relationship of personal body of Christ and his ecclesial body.
The friend of the bridegroom

6. What does St. Bernard say about the radical centralization of power in the hands of the
Roman Pontiff, and how does he say it?
He acknowledges the fulness of power of the pope, yet he severely criticizes the state of
the papacy. The popes had become closer to successors of Constantine than of Peter;
their tribunals were full of the laws of Justinian rather than those of the Lord. He also
defends the rights of the bishops against the pope.
He writes to Pope Eugene III “you are mistaken if you think that your supreme apostolic
power was alone establish by God. you create a monster if you remove the fingers frim
the hand and attach them to the head”

7. Who is the symbol of the ministerial priesthood for Bernard, and why did Bernard choose
this figure?
The image of the minister as the “friend of the bridegroom,” whose role is to present the
church as a chase virgin to Christ.
For Bernard, Christ is the bridegroom, and the role of the abbot, priest, bishop, and
pope is to announce the coming of the bridegroom and yield the place to him.

8. What does Thomas Aquinas say about the just man and women of the Old Testament
regarding the Church?
By seeing and performing the rituals they embraced in and through these images the
reality they symbolized: “Thus, observing the sacraments of the Law, the Fathers were
carried unto Him. And so the ancient Fathers belonged to the same body of the Church
to which we belong.
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9. Why is the “true church” the heavenly church according to St. Thomas?
The true church is the heavenly Church, which is our mother, and to which we tend;
upon it our earthly church is modeled.

10. What is the most preponderant factor in the law of the New Testament according to St.
Thomas? Why? What is the role of the other elements of the church?
The grace of the Holy Spirit which is given through faith in Christ.
Other elements dispose the members to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, or they are
means of that grace and instruct us how to live those virtues for whose practice we
received the grace of the Holy Spirit
The church on earth, as means of grace, as an institution lead us to heaven and it will
cease there while the church as communion with God and with one another will be
perfected in heaven.

Chapter 5
1. Without elaboration, list the causes of corruption in the church if the sixteenth century.
Popes centered on beautifying Rome, promoting the arts, and defending and expanding
the papal states rather than the pastoral care of the faithful and uprooting the abuses in
the papal curia and the church at large. Openly immoral and criminal life of Pope
Alexander VI.
Immoral behavior of popes and bishops
Morally corrupt and uneducated priests
Abuses in sacramental practices and indulgences

2. What was Luther’s great discovery in the tower?

While meditating alone on the letter to the Romans, he discovered the Gracious God of
Mercy

3. How did this discovery facilitate for Luther his abandonment of the magisterium?
He believed that God forgave his sins and made him just as a result of the infinite merits
of Jesus Christ. As much as he had worried beforehand about his own salvation, now he
believed in it with absolute, unshakable trust. Questioning the certainty of his own
salvation became tantamount to questioning the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice. Belief in
one’s personal salvation became part and parcel of faith itself

4. What essential truths of revelation did Luther reject?

The church’s faith in efficacy of Christ’s grace ensures the salvation of the church, the
individual believer cannot have absolute certainty of his or her own salvation without
special revelation.
He rejected the divine authority of the pope and ecumenical councils.
He rejected the special powers that only the clergy received through ordination
He rejected the sacraments except baptism and eucharist and retain the optional
sacrament of holy absolution
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The personal interpretation of scripture gradually became for Luther the one ultimate
guarantor of true belief. The we are not justified by good works, but by underserved
graced not caused by any previous merits of our, but trough faith, which brings with it
trust and love.

5. Why is the true church “hidden” for Luther?

The church is hidden; it lives in spirit and inaccessible lights, God has buried it under
errors, infirmity, and sin so that it appears nowhere to the secondary senses.

6. How does Luther justify infant baptism?

He believed in the church as communion based on the faith of the ecclesial assembly that
an infant could participate in. The assembly “comes to aid the children through its faith
and aids even those who offer the children… in this way, through the almighty powers of
the offering and believing church, the faith poured out changes, cleanses and renew the
child.

7. What does Luther say about the priesthood?

It is enough to have unity of belief concerning the teaching of the Gospel and the
administration of the sacraments. It is not necessary that there should everywhere be the
same tradition of men, or the same rites and ceremonies devised by men.

8. Evaluate the article of the Augsburg Confession of Faith on the Church from a Catholic
perspective.
It is enough to have unity of belief concerning the teaching of the Gospel and the
administration of the sacraments. It is not necessary that there should everywhere be the
same tradition of men, or the same rites and ceremonies devised by men.

9. Show the inconsistency of Calvin regarding the visible church.

Predestination

10. How did the Council of Trent respond to the Lutheran notion of the church?
Luther’s idea – Hidden

11. Study and comment on Bellarmine’s definition of the church.

12. In comparison with patristic ecclesiology, what is missing in this definition?

Chapter 6
1. Why did Vatican I (1969-70) deal only with the papacy and not treat the role of the
bishops?
Because of the approaching Italian army, which intended to abolish the papal states and
create a unified Italian state, the council was suspended in 1870 after dealing with the
primacy of the Roman Pontiff.
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2. Why were Vatican I’s definitions of the two dogmas on the papacy opportune for that
time?
The pope, as successor of peter, has supreme, immediate, ordinary and full power of
jurisdiction over the universal church not only in matters of faith and morals but also in
matters that pertain discipline and government.

The pope possesses under certain conditions “the infallibility with which the divine
redeemer willed His church to be endowed in defining doctrine concerning faith or
morals” and that these definitions of the Roman Pontiff “are therefore irreformable of
themselves not because of the consent of the Church

3. Explain the dogma on papal jurisdiction

It rejects any interference from secular authority and any curtailment by bishops of
the pope’s legal power to intervene in the affairs of a diocese. Not meant to stand in
the way of the ordinary and immediate jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop over his
dioceses

4. If every bishop has ordinary has ordinary jurisdiction in his own diocese, what is the
rationale for the pope’s ordinary jurisdiction in each diocese of the church?
The bishops were appointed by the Holy Spirit and were successors to the apostles. The
pope, as supreme and universal shepherd, rather affirms, strengthens, and vindicates
their power. Pope has power everywhere

5. Explain the dogma on infallibility in opposition to the ultramontanist position.

They held that whatever the pope teaches on matters of faith and morals is infallible. At
the intervention of a thoughtful minority, the council finally agree on these points: the
pope has no right to define a new doctrine, but only explain what has been revealed.
Under some definite conditions, such as when he speaks ex cathedra, the Roman pontiff
“possesses through divine assistance the infallibility promised to him in the person of
Blessed peter, the infallibility with which the divine redeemer willed his church to be
endowed in defining the doctrine concerning faith or morals. That such definitions of the
Roman pontiff are therefore irreformable of themselves, not because of the consent of the
church.

6. How and why did Britain and Germany misinterpret the dogmas on the papacy?
The short paragraph in Pastor Aeternus on bishops was sufficient to dispel the false
impression that diocesan bishops were mere delegates of the pope, agents of a foreign
power and unable to be loyal citizens of the states. This misunderstanding caused
enormous difficulties. Newman in England and the bishops in Germany attempted to
dispel this erroneous interpretation.

7. Characterize briefly the various aspects of what Romano Guardini called “the awakening
of the Church in the souls” of the twentieth century.
 Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

Ecclesiology began to describe the church as a communion of persons united by the

power of the holy spirit into the mystical body of Christ as well as hierarchically ordered
society.
Catholic scholars rediscovered the long-buried riches of biblical and patristic theology.
Biblical and patristic ecclesiology began to shape catholic thinking, experience and
practice in these countries.
Catholic became aware that in the liturgy the biblical word is actualized as the word of
Christ that awakens our faith in order to celebrate the eucharist, which transforms us
into his mystical body
The church became spiritual mother by. Conceiving Christ in these souls and by
carrying. Christ to those who do not know him

8. Explain the reaction of Pius XII in Mystici Corporis to the ecclesiological renewal. What
are its well-developed themes and what was treated inly in Lumen Gentium?
The pope beautifully unfolds the role of the Holy spirit in the mystical body of Christ by
showing that the whole spirit dwells in Jesus, in the Church, and in each of the faithful of
the human race. The spirit is the soul of the church, existing in each member and in the
whole organism. Thus the nature of the mystical body of Christ is qualitative different
from the mere moral union of society, which merely shares the same goals, and also
different from physical body, whose members have no personal identity.

Chapter 7
1. How did John XXIII and Paul VI articulate the goals of Vatican II?
The church should awaken to a deeper understanding of herself and articulate this for
herself and the world. (responding to the needs of the church and the world today) (a
positive presentation of the gospels in a language that modern men and women
understand.)
The church must renew herself by looking on Christ as a mirror in which she can identify
her stains, shadows, and shortcomings. (act as a new Pentecost)
She should seek the recomposition of unity of each baptized Christian brother and sisters
who believes in Christ. (be able to work more efficiently with other Christians from other
churches for the restoration of Christian unity)

The church should also embrace the world with the redemptive love of Christ.

2. Compare the first draft and the final text of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and
explain the silent points of the latter.
Objections to the first draft were:
The phrase “militant church” evokes the defensive ecclesial posture of the post-
Tridentine age.
The only biblical image treated in the draft was the mystical body; notions such
as people of God, spouse, and mother were missing
Legal language prevails at the expense of a biblical and patristic approach
The sequence bishop-religious-laity suggested a hierarchical ecclesial
membership with successively lower status at each level.
 Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

LG articulates the perspectives of the fathers who spoke about a church that is
coextensive with the entire history of humankind. Ch 1 uses biblical images of the church
rather than that of the mystical body alone.

In LG – the phrase “people of God” becomes the church’s most important designation.
In this way, the council eliminated the dominance of the one-sided notion of the mystical
body. It declares the equal dignity of all baptized Christians, whether laypeople or
members of the hierarchy.

LG included the teaching of Pastore Aeternus of VI on papal primacy, but

counterbalanced it by explaining the sacramental nature of episcopal ordination and by
articulating the meaning of the doctrine of epicopal collegiality.

LG- laypeople- made one body with Christ and establish among the people of God by
baptism, share in their own way the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and
carry out his threefold mission in the church and the world

Everyone in the church is called to holiness and the fullness of Christian life

Religious – the example and practice of religious for all Christians, who can see in them
the indissoluble bond of love that unites Christ and the church

LG treats explicitly the eschatological nature of the church, a pilgrim people on march
towards heaven.

Mary – Death came through Eve, but life through Mary.

Chapter 8
1. What were the causes of the so-called post conciliar crises in ecclesiology?
A clamor began for a different kind of progress, a thorough secularization of society,
culture and politics.
Priest trying to appear “progressive”
Media –political hermeneutic – interpret in political terms

2. Draw up a “balance sheet” showing the positive developments and distortions of the post
conciliar period in ecclesiology.
 Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

3. Biblical and patristic titles
for the church.
Body of Christ
“Spouse” and “mother”
Relationship between
pope, the college of
bishops, and the laity
Ignored or forgotten by the
so-called cutting-edge
theologians
- Progressive theology
Used in sociological sense as
the unity and equality of the
diverse members with diverse
ecclesial functions
Were avoided but Sharply
criticized by some feminists
as the harmful residue of an
oppressive patriarchal
theology
Interpreted as a power
struggle, a fight for the
church’s democratization
The recovery of the role of
the Holy Spirit and the
notion of the church as a
communion that participates
in the trinitarian community
Equally significance and
fundamental was the
articulation of the Church’s
sacramental and eucharistic
structure
The unfolding of her spousal
and maternal aspects, which
are fully exemplified in the
Blessed Virgin Mary
There has never been so
many laypeople active in the
life of the parish and the
diocese as in the post
conciliar age
Much progress has been
made in the area of Catholic-
Orthodox, Catholic-Anglican,
Catholic- Protestant relations

What are the achievements of the ecumenical movement? Why did it stall?
1964 – lifted the mutual excommunication between Rome and Constantinople – Pope Paul VI met
Patriarch. Athenagoras and asked forgiveness of sins committed by Catholics.
2007 – Ecclesial Communion Conciliarity and Authority – Declared for the first time in an
ecumenical Catholic-Orthodox dialogue that there is a need for one “first” (protos) of ecclesial
authority on both the local and regional level, as well as the universal level of the church. The
two sides also agreed that this function of a. united Catholic-Orthodox Church should be
exercised by the bishop of Rome

Ecumenical Commissions were set up also between Catholics and many protestants
denominations on national and international levels.
Document – Baptism, eucharist, and Ministry – it articulates surprising convergences on
the teachings of baptism, eucharist, and holy orders. Points of basic agreement and also major
differences.

Declaration on Non-Christian Religions – declaring that the Jews are our older brothers and
Judaism is part of the Church’s mystery

Chapter 9
Ecclesiology and Ecumenism