Por uma igreja de rosto amazônico. Inculturação dos ministérios eclesiais

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.

Ecumenical discussion about deacons

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.

A noção de comunhão nos escritos eclesiológicos de Yves Congar no período pré-conciliar

Síntese: Parte de um projeto mais amplo de investigação das noções eclesiológicas mais destacadas, o presente texto estuda a noção de comunhão em três escritos de Y. Congar anteriores ao Concílio Vaticano II. Com ele se pretende contribuir para a compreensão dessa categoria, tão importante quanto discutida, e para contextualizá-la no movimento de renovação da eclesiologia. Espera-se contribuir para uma compreensão cada vez mais precisa da eclesiologia conciliar e de suas consequências para a vida da Igreja.Palavras-chave: Comunhão. Eclesiologia. Yves Congar.Abstract: As a part of a broader research project of the Ecclesiological concepts more highlighted, this paper studies the concept of communion in three writings of Y. Congar prior to Vatican II. The aims is contribute to the understanding of this category, as important as discussed, to its contextualization within the ecclesiological movement of renewal and to an understanding increasingly precise of the conciliar Ecclesiology and of its consequences to the Church’s life.Keywords: Communion. Ecclesiology. Yves Congar.

Henri de Lubac

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.

Yves Congar

This chapter provides an interpretative framework for understanding the ecclesiology of Yves Congar, one of the leading architects of ressourcement and communion ecclesiology in modern Roman Catholic theology. It examines how his comprehensive theology of the church, synthesized in the notion of a ‘total ecclesiology’, was formulated in response to particular problems of the time. The section ‘Return to the Sources’ reconstructs his vision of the church, which shows that a renewed ecclesiology forms an essential theological basis for church renewal. ‘The Vision of the Church in Congar’s Theology’ investigates the shape of the renewed church, with particular attention to the principal means proposed by Congar for its renewal. ‘The Shape of the Church in Congar’s Theology’ assesses his idea of true reform, based on the recognition of the indefectibility of the church’s visible institution and faithful adherence to its tradition.

Christology

In espousing a communion ecclesiology in which members of the church participate in the life of the Trinity through the work of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, most ecumenical dialogue has presumed Trinitarian and Christological belief in accord with the early councils of the church. Few dialogues have explicitly addressed the topic of Christology, but highly significant results have been achieved in those dialogues. This chapter analyses a number of decisive agreements reached between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian (Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian) churches, and several agreed statements between Reformation churches which, while accepting the Chalcedonian definition, have traditionally held different understandings of the communicatio idiomatum between the two natures of Christ and his divine person, with consequently varying understandings of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.