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Evangelii Nuntiandi, Chapter VI
The Agents of Evangelization
Nos. 60-62, An Ecclesial Action
No. 60 brings two points about evangelization within the Church that we touched on already in the article about no. 59. “The first is that evangelization is not the act of the solitary individual but is wholly ecclesial.” Whatever a pastor does for his people, however private it may seem to be, he accomplishes an action of the Church. His action is connected to the whole Church institutionally and by the grace of God. He acts in persona Christi and his action is the action of Christ and his Church.
The second point follows from the first. “If a person evangelizes in the name of the Church, then he is not the supreme judge of his own evangelizing.” The Church is the supreme judge. He must be in communion with the Church and her bishops in all that he says.
No. 61 is a reflection on the universality of the Church. The early Christians knew that the Church was one, although dispersed among the nations, that she had no limitations of space or time. They took pride in that. They felt themselves as members of a Church that stretched back to Abel the just and will continue until the last of the elect enters her. That is the Church we belong to.
Yet this universal Church is embodied in local Churches, says no. 62. These local Churches are not separate entities federated to the universal Church. They are part of the one universal Church, “a varying outward appearance” of the one Church because they have been colored by the customs and culture of that part of humanity to which they belong.
No. 62 draws two conclusions from this universality of the Church. The first is that “any local Church which deliberately cuts itself off from the universal Church loses its place in God’s plan and much of it ecclesial character.” That is what happened in the Protestant Reformation. Whole parishes and territories deliberately cut themselves off from the Catholic Church. Today most of those territories and parishes are far from the Church and from full Christianity. The same thing will happen to the Church in Germany if it persists in going its own way contrary to the teachings of the universal Catholic Church.
The second point No. 62 makes is that “the Church spread throughout the world would become an abstraction if she did not derive embodiment and life from the local Churches.” The universal Church does not exist by itself. It is always embodied in a local Church. Even the Vatican itself is the home of a local Church, which is similar to the Italian Church but not the same. Pope Paul VI says we must keep these two aspects of the Church in mind, if we want to comprehend the rich relationship that exists between the universal Church and the local Church.
Mary, Queen of the Missions, grant us the grace of a great love for the Church which your Son founded for the salvation of the world. Amen.
The Agents of Evangelization
Nos. 60-62, An Ecclesial Action
No. 60 brings two points about evangelization within the Church that we touched on already in the article about no. 59. “The first is that evangelization is not the act of the solitary individual but is wholly ecclesial.” Whatever a pastor does for his people, however private it may seem to be, he accomplishes an action of the Church. His action is connected to the whole Church institutionally and by the grace of God. He acts in persona Christi and his action is the action of Christ and his Church.
The second point follows from the first. “If a person evangelizes in the name of the Church, then he is not the supreme judge of his own evangelizing.” The Church is the supreme judge. He must be in communion with the Church and her bishops in all that he says.
No. 61 is a reflection on the universality of the Church. The early Christians knew that the Church was one, although dispersed among the nations, that she had no limitations of space or time. They took pride in that. They felt themselves as members of a Church that stretched back to Abel the just and will continue until the last of the elect enters her. That is the Church we belong to.
Yet this universal Church is embodied in local Churches, says no. 62. These local Churches are not separate entities federated to the universal Church. They are part of the one universal Church, “a varying outward appearance” of the one Church because they have been colored by the customs and culture of that part of humanity to which they belong.
No. 62 draws two conclusions from this universality of the Church. The first is that “any local Church which deliberately cuts itself off from the universal Church loses its place in God’s plan and much of it ecclesial character.” That is what happened in the Protestant Reformation. Whole parishes and territories deliberately cut themselves off from the Catholic Church. Today most of those territories and parishes are far from the Church and from full Christianity. The same thing will happen to the Church in Germany if it persists in going its own way contrary to the teachings of the universal Catholic Church.
The second point No. 62 makes is that “the Church spread throughout the world would become an abstraction if she did not derive embodiment and life from the local Churches.” The universal Church does not exist by itself. It is always embodied in a local Church. Even the Vatican itself is the home of a local Church, which is similar to the Italian Church but not the same. Pope Paul VI says we must keep these two aspects of the Church in mind, if we want to comprehend the rich relationship that exists between the universal Church and the local Church.
Mary, Queen of the Missions, grant us the grace of a great love for the Church which your Son founded for the salvation of the world. Amen.