"Without communion with the Bishop of Rome, the episcopal
magisterium does not exist…"
Address of Cardinal Baum of Washington to the
Federation of Catholic Scholars
Given on 28 April 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri
Recent studies of the concept of Magisterium and the ministry of
teaching in the Church show that it is important to emphasize the link
that exists between the episcopal magisterium, the sacramental ministry
of the bishops and the permanence within the Church of the normative
apostolic proclamation of God's plan of salvation. It is the purpose of
this presentation to offer to you some reflections on the nature of this
link, and to suggest to you certain characteristics of a theology of the
magisterium which will be based on the relation between these three
realities of our ecclesial life. Your identity as an interdisciplinary
association of Catholic Scholars gives you an opportunity to develop the
many aspects and consequences of such a theology.
This paper does not attempt to discuss the unique and proper teaching
office of the Roman Pontiff, nor the relationship between his office and
the magisterium of the college of bishops in communion with him.
Although this is an important element in any discussion of the episcopal
magisterium, it will not be examined in this presentation. Let us simply
state this: without communion with the Bishop of Rome, the episcopal
magisterium simply does not exist. This is the faith of the Catholic
Church.
It might be useful to begin our reflection by considering some of the
points raised by recent studies in the theology of the episcopal
magisterium. While the best of recent scholarship on this subject
insists on these points, they are already found in the Second Vatican
Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum),
as we shall see.
The content of the teaching of the episcopal magisterium should not
be seen primarily as propositions conveying some abstract truths about
God and his will. Although such propositions are necessary because man
is not only will, but also intelligence, they are at the service of a
reality which goes beyond intellectual understanding, namely God's
communication of his life to the believer. Thus "by divine
Revelation God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the
eternal decrees of his will concerning the salvation of mankind" (DV
6). The purpose of the words of the Church is to "proclaim the
works (performed by God in the history of salvation) and bring to light
the mystery they contain" (DV, 2).
The teaching authority of the episcopal magisterium should not be
defined primarily in juridical terms, as if it were a species of
legislation. In this connection, the teachings considered to be an
"authentic" presentation of the Catholic faith should not be
limited to those having a source which is considered to be authoritative
only in juridical terms. This would rule out the teaching of many
saints, martyrs, and Doctors of the Church. According to Dei Verbum,
growth in insight into Divine Revelation "comes through the
contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their
hearts... It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which
they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have
received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the
sure charism of truth" (DV 8).
It is important to keep in mind that the competence of the episcopal
magisterium is limited to the proclamation and interpretation of those
saving realities which constitute God's saving deeds. Some scholars
complain that insufficient attention has been given to the rightful
autonomy of human sciences. Perhaps the most dangerous tendency today is
to make episcopal pronouncements concerning all aspects of human
activity in which a moral issue is detected, especially in political,
legal, social, and economic matters. Such practice weakens the
importance and authority of those interventions necessary to assure the
Church's fidelity to the apostolic proclamation. Instead, Dei Verbum teaches:
"What was handed on by the apostles comprises everything that
serves to make the People of God live their lives in holiness and
increase their faith" (DV 8).
The normative character and primacy of the apostolic proclamation
should not be obscured. Scripture and Tradition should not be used
simply to prove more recent magisterial statements, with the task of
theology seen primarily as finding such proofs. Language should be
avoided which presents the episcopal magisterium as somehow a more
certain norm of truth when compared to a remote, obscure, and ambiguous
source. Thus, according to Dei Verbum, the "magisterium"
is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only
what has been handed on to it... In the supremely wise arrangement of
God, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the
Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand
without the others" (DV 10).
Because of this conciliar teaching, the episcopal magisterium cannot
be considered as self-accrediting. The Holy Spirit's assistance to the
magisterium cannot be confused with inspiration; rather the assistance
is given to enable the episcopal magisterium to make present the
apostolic proclamation of. the Word, which alone is inspired. According
to Dei Verbum, the help of the Holy Spirit enables the
episcopal magisterium to "listen to (the Word of God) devotedly,
guard it with dedication, and expound it faithfully. All that it
proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single
deposit of faith" (DV 10).
More attention should be given to the intrinsic meaning and
value of the proposed teaching, to which the Council
calls "the intimate sense of spiritual realities which
(believers) experience" (DV 8).
What some have called an "ecclesial monophysitism" should
be rejected, namely, a theology in which the word of the Church loses
its identity as the human expression of a divine mystery. Equally
unacceptable is what might be called an "ecclesial Nestorianism",
in which the divine and human character of the word of the Church are
seen as separable. Hermeneutical considerations are thus important: both
what may be called a "human hermeneutics" which respects the
human character and corresponding relativity of the ecclesial word; and
a "hermeneutics of the divine Spirit", which respects the
divine character of the word of the Church and its corresponding
certainty. What the Council teaches about Sacred Scriptures should be
applied to the teachings of the episcopal magisterium: "God speaks
through men in human fashion... The words of God, expressed in the words
of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the
eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness,
became like men" (DV 13).
In my opinion, these and other similar observations point to the need
for a theology of the magisterium based on the evangelical notion of the
proclamation of the kerygma and on the sacramental nature of the
episcopal order. We shall examine these two realities in turn.
It will be useful to begin with a brief linguistic survey of the
pertinent New Testament words.
In the secular world of the time of the New Testament the word keryx
designated the herald who proclaimed the outstanding events of the polis
and the Greek court (events such as the birth of the son of the king,
coronations, victories in battles, the arrival in a city of the king,
etc.). The announcement of the keryx was not something conveyed
purely for the sake of information. Rather, it was an announcement which
actually had an impact on the daily life of the people, such as, for
example, the inauguration of a period of public celebration with the
granting of certain privileges such as amnesty to prisoners, etc.
The word keryx also acquired a cultic use. It designated a
messenger of divinity. In stoic philosophy the keryx was the
witness to the true philosophy of salvation.
Notice that throughout these various uses of the word keryx there
is an emphasis on three points. First, there is the authority of the keryx,
who was an official herald who spoke with official approval. Second,
there is the public or political nature of the proclamation. The mission
of the keryx was not a private mission, but a publicly authorized
one. And third, there is the existential import of the news itself, that
is, the proclamation brings about a change in the life of the hearer.
It is difficult to give a simple definition of the word kerygma as
found in the New Testament itself. Any one definition is bound to
exclude some important aspects of it, or to emphasize some at the cost
of others, because it would be attempting to give a restrictive
technical meaning to something which does not have such a sense in the
New Testament. With these qualifications in mind, however, it is still
possible to summarize the characteristics of the kerygma in the
New Testament which have a bearing on the subject of our reflection.
The kerygma is the word of God who solemnly proclaims
the salvation of humanity through the Incarnation, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the announcement of the mirabilia
Dei actualized in us. It is the announcement of the paschal mystery
of Christ: the mystery of his person and his mission, but especially his
death, resurrection, and exaltation to Lordship. The kerygma is
the inauguration of the Kingdom of God and the proclamation of the
beginning of the period of waiting for its definitive manifestation. For
that reason it always involves the urgency of conversion.
The notion of kerygma can never be limited to its
"format". That is to say, the kerygma is not
only a powerful appeal to existential self-transcendence in such a way
that the content of what is proclaimed or transmitted is not important.
Rather the kerygma always incorporates historical elements of the
life of Jesus of Nazareth. This shows that what is reported, what is
proclaimed, what is transmitted is not a subjective creation. The real
elements of the historical life of Jesus underline the extra-nos character
of salvation as something offered to us prior to our faith.
Limiting the kerygma to an appeal to existential
self-transcendence also does violence to the dimension of authority and
of witness which are always associated with kerygma. In
this connection, it is to be noted that preaching and mission are always
intimately related in the use of kerygma in the Acts of the
Apostles and elsewhere. That is to say, the speaker as a keryx presents
himself as someone sent to make this proclamation, someone officially
sent, and therefore authorized.
On the other hand, the call to self-transcendence—more
precisely, the call to repentance and conversion—is
a constitutive part of the kerygma and its importance cannot be
minimized. The message is not presented merely as some information but
rather as a confession, an acknowledgement which leads necessarily to a
demand for a change of heart, for acceptance, for obedience. This is
always an inseparable characteristic of the proclamation of the New
Testament church.
Furthermore, the kerygma is not a narration of events in the
way of an historical instruction into the ways and acts of Jesus of
Nazareth. Without faith these narrations are of no present importance.
The Kerygma is tied to faith, and it is indeed this connection
which gives to the proclamation a certain independence from the moment
or the particular context of the original proclamation and allows it to
be applied and developed in many faith-situations. That is why St Paul
is able to say that his "kerygma is not chained" (2 Tim 2:9)
in "its triumphant march through the world" (2 Thess 3:1).
It is also important to advert to the notion of power which is
involved in the proclamation. The Apostolic Church believes that it is
the power of God which is present in the proclamation, not the power of
the preacher. This power does not derive its justification from the
objectivity of what is announced in itself, but rather it is God himself
through his Word who is forming the community of salvation through this
very proclamation. That is why the keryx is someone who has to
receive from God the authority to make this proclamation in power. The
evangelizer presents himself as someone who has received this authority
and power from Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who is the only
self-accrediting salvific event.
The evangelist's proclamation derives its power from the gift of the
Spirit. It is interesting to note in this connection that holiness,
understood as the communication of a divine life with visible results in
the life of the evangelist, is appealed to as demonstrating the
authority and the power of the message.
One should also notice the public nature of the announcement. Through
it the community of salvation is not only constituted, but it is also
defined publicly as such, and thus separated from the rest of the world.
The kerygma contains what one may call true information,
including truths about the nature of God's salvation, but it contains
these as necessary for the realization of the salvific event which is
always the central point of the kerygma.
A word must also be said about the normative nature of the apostolic kerygma.
St Paul alludes to an earlier kerygma in some of his letters or
even summarizes it (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-23; 2:28; 2 Cor 4:3-5; Rom 2:16;
etc.). There are also references to earlier proclamations in the
synoptic gospels, especially in the passion narratives (cf. Mt 16:21;
17:22-23, 20:18-1). It appears from these references that the decisive
acts of salvation have been summarized very early in somewhat stabilized
phrases and concepts. There is evidence of respect for a kind of
official version of a kerygymatic formula. The impact of the missionary
preaching was apparently kept in fixed forms and these were deepened by
systematic theological instructions. In this connection, one of the
stable elements appears to be a way of interpreting Old Testament
passages. There seems to be already a certain canon of Christian
interpretation of the Old Testament. The presence of the Old Testament
references also underlines the salvation-history aspect of the kerygma.
That is, although what is announced is a new intervention of
God, this intervention is always referred to as a plan which has its
roots in former interventions of God in the past. There is thus a
certain continuity, and the interpretation of this continuity is itself
part of the profession of faith.
Another element which is present in the New Testament notion of the kerygma
is the confession of faith as a judgement in the time of
persecution. For example, in 1 Timothy 6:12-16, the context shows
Timothy represented as standing at the bar of judgement where he has
already made "a good confession of faith" in the presence of
many witnesses. Now he has to "fight the good fight" that is,
to confess Jesus Christ openly before his judges as Jesus Christ did
during his own trial, and in this way to testify to the arrival of the
messianic kingdom. The confession of First Corinthians 12:3, for
example, portrays the Holy Spirit as the court paraclete (cf. also Mt
10: 17-20; Lk 12:11-12). These confessions judge the persecutors as
guilty of opposing the appearance of the messianic kingdom (a
characteristic theme also in Johannine theology). There is thus
frequently a polemical tone to these proclamations of faith, especially
in the struggle against false teachers.
It is the position that the saving reality conveyed by the act of
proclamation as discussed above constitutes the proper content of the
activity of the episcopal magisterium. The purpose of the episcopal
magisterium is to ensure the permanence within the Church of the
apostolic proclamation of the faith, a proclamation which has the
characteristic outlined above.
According to this perspective, the teachings of the magisterium will
then be seen as confessions of faith. Just as in apostolic times common
confessions of faith had certain obligatory directional lines which
guided or configured the preaching of the Church, the teachings of the
episcopal magisterium also have this obligatory, directional and binding
character. They define the visible boundaries of the community of faith.
They constitute what the community professes at any given time and
situation in order to remain itself by being faithful to the apostolic
proclamation which gives to it its life. In the words of Dei Verbum,
"in this way the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship,
perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself
is." (DV 8)
On the other hand, just as in the apostolic proclamation no one
theological system is presented as all-inclusive, the teaching of the
episcopal magisterium embodies a divine salvific reality which cannot be
exhausted by human concepts. The teaching is like a reflection of this
reality; it always points to mystery, that is, to something given
beforehand by God. It is not to be identified with the reality
proclaimed.
Because of its origins in the apostolic proclamation, a magisterial
teaching cannot be dissociated from the experience of the history of
salvation. We know that all human statements are historically
conditioned. Yet, the "history" which conditions magisterial
teachings cannot be reduced to secular history. It is always the history
of salvation. These teachings are a part of this salvation history; they
are not isolated, a-temporal truths about God, but rather the continuing
unfolding of the history of salvation. This history, prefigured in
historical events of the past and brought to fulfilment in Jesus Christ,
continues in the life of the Church. The teachings of the episcopal
magisterium—both as a proclamation
and contour of the faith—are
therefore instrumental in the continuation of the history of salvation.
The necessary eschatological character of the teachings of the
episcopal magisterium is related to its roots in an apostolic
proclamation which was shown above to be a judgement amidst persecution.
This persecution denotes the presence of something which is not part of
the history of salvation, which is in opposition to it: the history of
sin. The proclamation of the faith, and therefore the teaching of the
episcopal magisterium, is thus a decision against this other opposed
history. There is thus always a narrowing of possibilities present in
the teachings of the magisterium, a rejection of a path seen to be
contrary to the history of salvation. In each of the great controversies
in the Patristic Church we see the Church proclaiming this judgement
against theological paths which were not those of the apostolic kerygma
"in its triumphant march through the world" (2 Thess 2:1
quoted above). This judgement is part of the judgement of God revealed
in Christ, especially, the judgement of the Cross against merely human
wisdom, human law, and human effort. (After all, the word
"Truth" has this meaning in Scripture: the meaning of
judgement by the realization of God's plan of salvation).
The link between the episcopal magisterium and the apostolic
proclamation of the faith also allows us to give a proper place to
hermeneutical considerations. The obvious variety of emphasis,
terminology, and even theological development of the New Testament's
proclamations are reflections of the human and thus
historically-conditioned character of the proclamation. On the other
hand, since this proclamation is an event in the history of salvation,
what we have called a "human hermeneutics" is not sufficient
to capture its meaning. The presence of the Word of God in the
proclamation creates a history for itself. Its presence in the
proclamation made in the power of the Spirit already is part of, and
communicates, that divine life which is not subject to the limitations
of the flesh. A spiritual interpretation, a hermeneutics in and of the
Spirit is therefore always necessary, and this is not possible without
faith, without grace, without the activity of God within us.
We have discussed the link between the episcopal magisterium and the
permanence within the Church of the normative apostolic proclamation of
God's plan of salvation. It remains to say a word about the basis of
this link in the sacramental ministry of the bishops.
Dei Verbum will again help us, for it teaches that
the "Tradition which comes from the apostles makes progress in the
Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit" as a result of the "preaching
of those who have received along with their right of succession in
the episcopate, the sure charism of truth" (DV 8). Although
the power to preach in this manner is one of the factors through which
"there is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are
being passed on," the Council insists on its normative character.
What interests us now is the use of liturgical, sacramental terminology
to describe the episcopal magisterium.
The reason for this is the sacramental nature of the life of the
Church itself. God's plan for our salvation, the purpose of salvation
history, consists in our assimilation into the risen Body of Christ: in
this way to share the life of the Holy Trinity. The risen Body of Christ
is thus the primordial sacrament through which our divinization takes
place.
Now, according to the Second Vatican Council, the church herself
"in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament—a
sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among
all men" (Lumen Gentium, 1).
This sacramental nature of the Church is most profoundly realized and
made .manifest through the celebration of the Eucharist. Thus the
teaching of the Council: "For it is the liturgy through which,
especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist... the work of our
redemption is accomplished, and it is through the liturgy, especially,
that the faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to
others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true
Church" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 2). The same
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy begins its teaching on the nature of
the liturgy by relating it to the continuation of the history of
salvation, to the mirabilia Dei which, as we saw above, serve as
the content of the apostolic proclamation and the teaching of the
magisterium. Here we see the link between the proclamation, the
magisterium and the liturgy. The well-known teaching of the Council
asserts this link: "The liturgy is the summit toward which the
activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all
her power flows. For the goal of apostolic endeavour is that all who are
made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God
in the midst of his Church, to take part in the Sacrifice and to eat the
Lord's Supper" (SC, 10).
The episcopal magisterium, a reality within the Church, a reality
which, as we have seen, is so linked to the "apostolic endeavour"
of the proclamation of the Word, must also have as its goal the
faithful's participation in the liturgy.
Is this not the purpose of the sacramental ministry of the bishop and
of the priests who share it with him? Thus is established the link
between the episcopal magisterium and the sacramental liturgical
ministry of the bishop (which makes the celebration of the liturgy
possible). Thus is cemented the unique power and authority of this
magisterium, its doxological character, its relation to the apostolic
proclamation, and its authority to call for conversion, repentance,
obedience to the will of God: the indispensable conditions for an
efficacious participation in the celebration of the Liturgy.
There is a good word to denote this theology of the magisterium: the
word mystical, understood in its original sense. The word mystical and
the word mystery (which is the reality behind the notion of sacrament)
are related. The word mystery in the bible designates the saving plan of
God, the blueprint of salvation history, the designs of his
will. Later, it came to designate the sacramental rites, not in the
sense that these are to remain hidden or mysterious, but in that through
them we are assimilated into the mystery or plan of God in Christ: the
one paschal mystery. The adjective mystical (which originally meant only
"hidden" or "secret" without any religious
connotation) came to characterize the sacramental experience of the
mystery or plan of God into which we are
assimilated by the sacramental celebration. Accordingly, mystical
also designated that interpretation of Scripture and that proclamation
of the Word which was centred on the one paschal mystery: the salvific
power of the death and resurrection of Christ.
Is it not possible then to speak of the mystical nature of the
episcopal magisterium?
The theology which I propose for your study is one in which the
episcopal magisterium appears as a component of the episcopal
sacramental ministry. It is as such that the magisterium makes present
the saving mysteries proclaimed and celebrated by the Church. The
teachings of the episcopal magisterium have a mystical nature: they
interpret the paschal mystery for us with a power and authority which
enables us to be assimilated into this mystery by means of the
sacraments of our faith.
Such a theology will also give the required importance to the
bishop's ministry of preserving that intimate communion of life which
empowers the Church's celebration of the Eucharist to be the celebration
of the entire Church (on earth and in eternity) united with Jesus
Christ, the High Priest, whose heavenly liturgy is the one efficacious
liturgy.
To make the sacramental life a reality by preserving the Church's
unity of faith and life: this is the purpose of the episcopal
magisterium.
The episcopal magisterium is thus not above, below, or alongside that
of theologians and others. It is a reality of a different order. It
pertains to the sacramental transmission of the divine realities, the
saving mysteries, which define or constitute the Church as the ecclesia,
the assembly of worship, at all moments. The teaching of the
episcopal magisterium is thus to be distinguished from the making of
theology. While the task of theological development takes place
according to its own characteristics and requirements, the episcopal
magisterium has the duty of discerning the state of the Church's life
and making sure that the faithful are not separated from the mystery
into which we have been assimilated. The interventions of the episcopal
magisterium in the life of the Church and its judgements concerning the
faith of the Church are justified by this responsibility for the
permanence within the Church of the evangelical proclamation of the word
and its interpretation in the present situation of the Church according
to the paschal mystery.
A theology of the episcopal magisterium based on the link between the
evangelical proclamation of the Word and its mystical interpretation
will have the pastoral advantage of allowing the faithful to discern the
teaching of the apostles in the midst of the life of the Church and
distinguish it from the other possible authentic and even
authoritative testimonies to God's marvellous deeds for our salvation.
It is my hope that members of this fellowship whose competence covers
the spectrum of scholarship, will make a contribution to the formulation
of such a vision: at once so traditional and so urgent for the Church of
today.
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