What does “Church” Mean?
When we use the word ‘church’ we may mean a lot of things related to religion (or not). For our purposes, we’ll look at three uses:
- The Ideal Church; that church that was founded by Christ and handed to Peter.
- The Church in Practice: How we, as humans, prone to sin and error, have executed the mission of Jesus to “go forth and make disciples of all nations.” Not always a pretty story.
- The Brick and Mortar Church: The buildings that house our sacred space.
The Ideal Church
When you hear the term “the church” what do you think of? Do you think of the building? Do you think of the worldwide organization? Do you think of your parish? It’s another one of those words that has many ‘meanings’ and little agreement. We’re going to look at three interpretations of the word ‘church.’ First, we’ll look at the church that Jesus founded, we’ll call it the ‘ideal’ church:
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.
Mt 16:13-20
This passage in Matthew is what we Catholics identify as the founding of the church. Obviously, Jesus did not intend for Peter to physically become a stone on which to build a new building. Jesus was talking about us; those that would follow Him. So we have the very beginnings of this church, it’s founder, Jesus, ordaining Peter and granting him authority over this church. It’s interesting to note that the exchange we just read takes place during His ministry, with the Passion still a ways away. Jesus knew, even as he ordained Peter, that Peter would deny even knowing him. Jesus knew that His church was comprised of men and women who, despite the best intentions, would fail him on occasion. Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) said it best: “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”
The Mission of the Ideal Church
Jesus gave them this mission after the resurrection:
“Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always,
until the end of time."
Mt 28:18-20
This is one of those passages in the Gospels that is so loaded with meaning, we could spend quite a while unpacking it. At the center of it, however, is the mission of the church. Go and make disciples of all nations, teach them to observe what He commanded.
The Practical Church
It’s important to not that the apostles believed that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. There was an urgency in the early church, not a drive towards institutionalization. Issues that came up were discussed among the leaders of Christian communities with guidance from the apostles. We can see this process unfolding in the New Testament Letters. This is the Practical Church, the way we try to fulfill the mission of Jesus as a group.
The apostles experienced Jesus’ teachings, death, and resurrection first hand. Now they were tasked with sharing the message with others. Others being those who were pretty hostile to the message. For the first three hundred years, the church was actively suppressed, and not by strongly worded memos. Christians were hunted down, arrested and killed. Yet the church grew in number.
Around the year 50, the big debate of the growing church was whether or not new members had to become Jewish before being a Christian. From the early, ideal church, we begin to see the Practical church emerging. As Christians try to observe what Jesus commanded, they begin to run into unexpected circumstances. They meet in council and prayer to decide the outcome. This first meeting (sometimes called the Council of Jerusalem because it took place there) marks the point at which Christianity and Judaism parted ways.
After that first council, there have been 21 others, spanning the two-thousand years to the present. The Councils remind us that the practical church isn’t perfect, only the Ideal church is. The practical church stumbles, succumbs to corruption, loses it’s way, and falls. But the ideal church does not, and because each of us are part of the ideal church, the practical one gets picked up, dusted off, straightened out, and pushed towards the ideal, over and over again. Good and faithful men and women always step forward in times when the practical church goes astray. Even during our darkest hours, when the practical church was drunk with power and corruption seemed everywhere, God called from the ranks of the faithful men like St. Francis of Assisi to ‘Fix his church!’
Activity: The Council of Concord
We Are The Church
Councils are attended by Bishops, but they get their info and intel from us, the faithful. If it were all about the bishops, Councils would be pretty pointless. Every generation faces unique challenges. Paul faced the problem of pagan converts not wanting to go through circumcision to become Christian. Our generation faces challenges; some profoundly serious ones.
Your assignment is to identify the challenges of our age, then provide some ideas for dealing with the challenges. To get you started, here’s a few big-ticket items on everyone’s mind:
- Dwindling supplies of priests: The number of priests, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, is at critical levels, and the number of men in the seminary (training to become priests) isn’t enough to replace those priests who are ‘aging out’ of ministry and dying.
- Sexual abuse scandals continue to emerge around the world. These scandals destroy the confidence in the clergy and the hierarchy of the church, and seriously impinge on our ability to fulfill the mission of the church.
In your groups, discuss these and other issues you see facing YOUR church. This isn’t a macaroni-and-popsicle-stick exercise, this is real. You will be facing these issues as practicing Catholics, and you will deal with the repercussions if we don’t address them.
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