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THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION
(Singapore, 1991)
Preface The
theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist
Council has now been going on for twenty-five years. The early years of this
dialogue dealt with a wide range of issues, doctrinal, ethical and pastoral. In
the last fifteen years, the dialogue has focused on a series of interrelated
doctrinal issues which have also been the subject of attention in other
ecumenical dialogues. In 1981 we produced report on The Holy Spirit and
in 1986 Towards a Statement on the Church. To these documents we now add
our text on The Apostolic Tradition. In it we seek to address some of the
questions that are outstanding, following on previous studies. It is
important to note that this report has deliberately not addressed all the
differences of doctrine or practice that exist between us in respect of the
questions it deals with. For example, there is no detailed examination of the
question of Apostolic Succession; we do not investigate the different ways in
which Catholics and Methodists actually teach and hand on the faith. Nor do we
evaluate the ecclesiological self-understanding that is specific to either
Catholics or Methodists. Our concern, rather, has been to set out theological
perspectives within which such more specific questions may be viewed. We propose
these perspectives as consistent with the doctrinal positions of both churches
but not as full expositions of them. What we hope is that a careful reading of
this report may enable Catholics and Methodists to see their own and each
other’s doctrine and practice in a wide theological and historical perspective,
and to discern convergences between them. This approach
is consistent with our conviction that we already share a certain though, as
yet, imperfect communion. It is a staging post at which we are aware of much
that we hold in common and respect the gifts that have been bestowed on one
another in our time of separation. But we are also “committed to a vision that
includes the goal of full communion in faith, mission and sacramental life”
(Towards a Statement on the Church, 20). The gradual realization of that
vision requires us to explore critically and constructively the theological
bases which underpin our present positions. This report is a contribution to
that process. This document
was completed at a plenary meeting of the Commission which took place at the
house of the “Filles du Cœur de Marie” at the Rue Notre Dame des Champs in Paris. The members of the Commission wish to
express their appreciation of the hospitality they received from the Sisters
there. Co-Chairmen: BISHOP JAMES W. MALONE DR. GEOFFREY WAINWRIGHT Roman Catholic Church World Methodist
Council April 15, 1991 PARTICIPANTS IN THE DIALOGUE Roman Catholics Rt Revd James W. MALONE, Bishop of
Youngstown, USA (Co-Chairman) Rt Revd John BATHERSBY, Bishop of
Cairns,
Australia Sister Mary CHARLES MURRAY, University of Nottingham, England Revd Professor Francis FROST, Ecumenical Institute,
Céligny,
Switzerland Rt Revd John ONAIYEKAN, Coadjutor Bishop of
Abuja, Nigeria Canon Michael RICHARDS, London,
England Fr George H. TAVARD, Brighton,
Massachusetts,
USA Very Rev Msgr Kevin McDONALD, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Vatican City
(Secretary) Methodists Revd Professor Geoffrey WAINWRIGHT,
University,
Durham,
North Carolina, USA
(Co-Chairman) Revd David BUTLER, The Queen’s College,
Birmingham, England Bishop William R. CANNON, Atlanta, Georgia,
USA Revd Ireneu CUNHA, Oporto, Portugal (1988 meeting) Revd Dr Ira GALLAWAY, Pagosa Springs,
Colorado,
USA Mrs Gillian KINGSTON, Roscrea,
Ireland Revd Dr Luis F. PALOMO, San Jose, Costa Rica Revd Professor Norman YOUNG, Queen’s College,
Melbourne,
Australia Revd Dr Joe HALE, World Methodist Council, Lake Junaluska, North
Carolina, USA (Secretary) Staff Mrs Linda GREENE, World Methodist Council Miss Josette KERSTERS, Vatican City THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION “Because God so loved the world, he sent his Son and the Holy Spirit to draw us
into communion with himself. This sharing in God’s life, which resulted from
the mission o f the Son and the Holy Spirit, found expression in a visible
koinonia [communion, community] of Christ’s disciples, the Church” (Report of the Joint Commission between the Roman Catholic Church and World Methodist
Council, 1982-1986, Fourth Series). INTRODUCTION 1. Jesus
Christ was sent among us by God the Father to make known and to bring to
completion the divine purpose of salvation, the “mystery of Christ “ hitherto
hidden and “now revealed in the Spirit” (Col
1:26 and Eph 3:5). In the power of the Holy Spirit, this mission
continues in and through the Church, the family Christ gathers together in
common obedience to the Father’s will. As Christ’s servant, the Church proclaims
to the world the message of his victory over sin and death, provides a living
sign of that victory, and summons everyone to repent and believe the gospel and
so receive the promised Spirit. 2. It is
Christ’s will that his disciples should live at peace with one another; he binds
them together through the gift of divine grace. The New Testament documents do
not present us with an unattainable ideal but describe the actual life of a real
society brought into being by Christ. This society is not a closed fellowship of
perfect observance: its members have not already attained all that God intends,
and it is open to all the world. It acknowledges that by his grace true
followers of Christ may be found everywhere and welcomes them into its company
as they affirm their Christian discipleship. 3. This Roman
Catholic-Methodist dialogue, and the whole movement for unity in the faith,
follows the path Christ set for his Church in obedience to the mission he
himself received from God the Father and transmitted to us (Mt 28:18-20).
It is a movement that breaks down the barriers sin en Christians, drawing all
believers into a single fellowship of praise and turning lifelong enemies into
friends for eternity. Today as Catholics and Methodists we both face the urgent
task of evangelizing a world deeply affected by superstition and secularism, by
indifference and injustice; we must look together to the one Lord who sends the
Spirit upon us all that we may go out and witness in his name. Doing this with
credibility entails a common understanding of the Gospel and the ability to
recognize in each other’s lives and confessions an authentic witness to the
faith. 4. In order
to build on previous work in the dialogue, the Commission pursued a theme which
has proved increasingly important throughout the whole ecumenical movement,
namely the Apostolic Tradition, understood as the teaching, transmission
and reception of the apostolic faith. It is hoped that this approach may set the
difficult problem of ministry in a new light, since this topic has hitherto been
predominantly considered in its relationship to the administrative and
sacramental life of the Church rather than in relation to its teaching. 5. In the overall title of
this report, The Apostolic Tradition, the word “Tradition” signifies the
living transmission of the Gospel of Christ, by manifold means, for the constant
renewal of every generation. Christians do not order the life of the Church by
the fixed repetition of rigid routine laid down in the past. Rather, by
recalling and holding fast to the treasured memory of the events of our
salvation, we receive light and strength for our present faith as, under God, we
seek to meet the needs of our own time. It is Christian hope that makes possible
our wholehearted and active contribution to the continued handing on of the
transforming power contained in the Gospel. 6. Our
knowledge of the past life of the people of God, witnessing to their experience
of God’s action among them, enables us to recognize and to comprehend the risen
Christ as he speaks to us today. We learn to express ourselves in his language
in the midst of the people he has made; he sends the Spirit to us to open our
understanding and to guide our words and actions in the service of his loving
purpose for the extension and completion of God’s kingdom. We enter into his
loving purpose as, by God’s grace, we receive in faith the benefits of Christ’s
saving death on the Cross and with him, dying to self, are raised to new life (Rom 6:3-4). This is the mystery that constitutes the true life of
every believer and gives meaning and effect to all preaching and teaching of the
Church, to every practice, ministry and ordinance. PART ONE THE APOSTOLIC FAITH—ITS TEACHING, TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION 7. In the New Testament
description of the birth of the Church, a role is attributed to each of the
three Persons of the Trinity, which is both distinct and inseparable from the
role of the other two. To the Father is attributed the gracious purpose by which
we were chosen for filial adoption in union with the Eternal Word before the
foundation of the world. The actual work of founding the Church is attributed to
the Son and to the Holy Spirit. The Son founds the Church by his act of
Redemption. The Spirit is co-founder of the Church with the Son, by being the
Church’s principle of sanctification. The two divine missions - the sending of
the Son and of the Spirit by the Father are extensions in our world of time of
the two eternal processions in the Trinity. The new relationship, both
individual and corporate, which they bring about in human beings towards God, is
none other than what the New Testament calls the Church. 8. The
indivisible relationship between these two divine missions is everywhere present
in the patterns which govern every aspect of the life of the Church: its
confession of faith, the discipleship of its members and their communion with
one another. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to confess the truth revealed
in the Son, to be united to him in a relationship as adopted children of the
Father and to live in charity in the one Body of Christ. I. Word and Church 9. “In many
and various ways God spoke of old to our ancestors by the prophets; but in these
last days he has spoken to us by the Son, whom he appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1:1-2). The 10. It is the
Cross and Resurrection of Christ that supremely reveal him to us, achieving his
purpose and making him our Savior. When the apostles preached Christ, they
proclaimed Christ crucified and risen. When the Church preaches Christ today, it
is the same proclamation that is made. Christ, the Word of God incarnate, still
has the same message for us and the same gifts of grace by which he saves us. 11. The
apostolic mission, the charge laid on the apostles to transmit the message of
Jesus Christ to their own and to all successive generations, is precisely the
service of the Word. The person of Christ, his teaching and his work for us: it
was to all this that the apostles bore witness, for all this is God’s Word. 12. As the
Gospel was preached by the apostles, the Church was called together and built
up. Service of the Word was their overriding responsibility (Acts 6:2-4),
a service of Christ himself and of the community that by faith came to be
identified with him (Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20). 13. A profound understanding
of the Church must begin with a reflection on the Word of God, who brings the
Church into being and continues to make the Church what it is. The Word spoken
to us in Christ calls forth our response. Thus, the Church is sustained by a
conversation, initiated by the Lord. God, who called all worlds into being by
the power of his Word, speaks to us kindly and with sternness, gently and with
thunderous warnings, with laws and with love, in proclamation to his people and
heart-to-heart to each and every one. By calling together a messianic community
in which the promises were fulfilled, Christ made himself known as Messiah. As
he called his flock to follow him, he showed himself to be the Good Shepherd. 14. That
which the Church was to become as a consequence of the apostolic mission is
discernible in its first coming to birth, and to discern that coming to birth,
one must be aware of the extent to which Christ by deed and by word engaged his
followers in communication with himself. 15. Christ
was content to speak with other audiences and with later generations through
those who became his first disciples. Only this degree of confidence invested by
Christ in his followers could match the free self-communication of God to the
world and to those whom he has made in his own image. To draw all to himself,
the Son died upon the Cross. He gave us his words and his very self, and waits
patiently for us to understand. Any other way would have frustrated his own
purpose: to draw us to love him. In order to fulfil this saving purpose, he
called into being the Church where the Word’s recreating power is evident,
remaking people into a community that could share his life and live in
harmonious relationships with one another. Thus the Church is the place where
the Word of God is spoken, heard, responded to, and confessed (Rom
10:8-17). The Law of God, so the prophets said, was to become a law not written
externally on tablets of stone, but written on our hearts, taken in and made
heart-knowledge: it was to be our second nature (Jer 31:31-34). 16. The
Tradition received by the apostles itself continues an unbroken process of
communication between God and human beings. Every possible human resource is
employed to sustain and deepen this process: linguistic, ritual, artistic,
social and constitutional. The written word of Scripture is its permanent norm.
Through the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist the memory of the events
whereby the Church came into being is preserved. The living Word has made a
living community in which men and women converse with God and speak their faith
to one another. Guided by its pastors and teachers, the Church continues to
communicate with all generations, preserves its own identity and message, and is
daily renewed in its obedience. 17. Through
the living Word, recalling and renewing the acts of Christ’s life for us, his
history becomes our history. We celebrate our new birth, we are forgiven,
strengthened and healed, we are united with one another, we find our vocation
for ministry, and we give thanks to God through the power of Christ’s death and
living victory. In his life on earth, the Word confirmed his words by his
actions for us; the same is true today. 18. The
growth of the Church comes about through a continued hearing and assimilation of
the Word of God. To be sure that we are hearing the Word, we maintain communion
with those who have heard and obeyed the Word before us. But we will not be
saved simply by repeating what other generations have said and done. We must
express for ourselves, act for ourselves and ourselves be transformed through
the renewal of our minds and hearts, if the living Tradition of Christ and his
apostles is to be continued. The faith must be handed on. 19. In every time and in
every place, the Church lives and moves by calling to mind all that it has seen
and heard of the marvels of God’s Word in his created world and in the history
he is making with us. But we do not live in the past. Memory enables us to
recognize the Lord as he comes to us today. His presence in the events of our
lives proves to us that his words are true. His deeds for us today make possible
our own words of praise and our own acts of service by which God is glorified. 20. But the
Word of God, with us today, does not tell us, any more than the apostles were
told, what comes next in our story. Since the Gospel Tradition looks to the
future, we live in hope. And Christian hope is the strength that enables us,
claiming his promises, to be totally committed to the present. We know that we
are traveling towards the One whose memory we cherish and whose presence we
know. By confessing our faith in living words, we learn how to die with Christ,
to hide our life in him, so that when he appears we too will be made known in
glory. 21. In conclusion, we recall
that the search for ecumenical reconciliation has revealed only too clearly the
difficulty of reuniting Scripture and Tradition once they have been notionally
separated. Scripture was written within Tradition, yet Scripture is normative
for Tradition. The one is only intelligible in terms of the other. We do not
claim to have resolved here all the ecumenical problems that arise in relation
to this issue. What we have sought to do is to ask ourselves how the Christian
of today can confess with Christians of all time the one true faith in Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever separated. Scripture was written
within Tradition, yet Scripture is normative for Tradition. The one is only
intelligible in terms of the other. We do not claim to have resolved here all
the ecumenical problems that arise in relation to this issue. What we have
sought to do is to ask ourselves how the Christian of today can confess with
Christians of all time the one true faith in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today and for ever. II. Spirit and Church 22. In the New Testament the
action of the sovereign and life-giving Spirit is closely related to the action
of the Word. What God does through the Word is done in the Spirit, so that the
same effect can often be attributed to the Word, or to the Spirit, or to both.
It is God’s action that is perceived in all cases. 23. Thus the
Spirit appears in the New Testament narrative as early as the Annunciation: the
angel assures Mary that “the Holy Spirit will come” upon her and “the power of
the Most High will overshadow” her (Lk 1:35). Therefore her Son will be
called Son of the Most High and will be recognized by the prophet Simeon,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, as the one through whom God has prepared his
salvation (2:30). 24. As
Jesus’ ministry begins at his baptism by John, the Spirit descends upon him in
the form of a dove, and leads him to the desert where he rejects the temptation
from the Evil one to carry out this ministry in ways disobedient to the will of
the Father (Mk 1:10, Mt 3:16). At
Nazareth, Jesus affirms that the prophecy of Isaiah
61:1-2 (“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...”) is now fulfilled in him (Lk
4:18-21). At the heart of Jesus’ ministry Luke places the promise of an
outpouring of the Spirit (Lk 11:13). 25. The
Gospel of John emphasizes particularly the promise and presence of the Spirit.
The Baptist identifies Jesus as one who “baptizes in the Holy Spirit” (Jn
1:33). True worship will be “in Spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23).
The promised Spirit is the Paraclete (Advocate), and the Spirit of truth
(14:15-17; 15:26). This promise is fulfilled when Jesus is
glorified on the Cross (7:37-39). 26. The
outpouring of the Spirit is presented in several ways in the New Testament. For
John, the Spirit is given by the risen Christ on the evening of the Resurrection
and empowers the disciples to forgive and to retain sins (20:22-23). For
Luke in Acts (2:1-11), the Spirit is given on the day of Pentecost, and
the Spirit’s presence is manifested in extraordinary ways. In Acts, the
manifestation of the Spirit is seen as a proof that baptism has been received:
those who have been baptized must receive the Spirit (the sealing). The Spirit
is received by all those who “hear the Word”, both Jews and Gentiles
(Acts
10:45). The Spirit leads Paul in his missionary journeys (Acts
13:2-5). 27. The
Spirit distributes gifts to all for the good of the koinonia
(1 Cor
12:1-11). The Spirit is the inner power of the new life in Christ.
Because the faithful are in Christ and with Christ, they receive the Spirit and
are in the Spirit. There is a diversity of gifts, yet these are united in their
source, the one Spirit, and in their purpose, the koinonia. Ye the Spirit
“blows where it wills”, and the faithful cannot put limits to the Spirit’s
action in humankind. 28. The Holy
Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, acts, not as an impersonal force, but
personally inspires and guides those who come to believe. The Spirit seeks the
unbelievers and reaches them in ways that are often mysterious, transforming
their hearts. The Holy Spirit prepares the way for the preaching of the Word to
those who do not believe, enabling them to respond in faith and to know the
saving grace of God. The Spirit thus creates and maintains the oneness of the
Church, bringing the many into unity and joining to their Head the members of
the Body of Christ. Believers recognize one another as members of the Body,
share in one ministry of word and sacrament, and partake of the eucharistic
meal, where, through and with Christ, in the Spirit, they offer a sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving to the Father. 29. As the
Spirit abides in the community where the faith is confessed in fidelity to
Christ, the Spirit makes the faithful aware of the presence among them and
within them of Christ and of the Father. God dwells in the faithful, and they
dwell in God, in whom they “live and move and have their being”. This spiritual
presence is pure, unmerited gift. It calls the faithful to holiness, brings them
to and keeps them in the justice that is of Christ, sets them on the way to
perfection and empowers them to act through the Spirit’s many gifts. As the
faithful use their gifts of the Spirit for the good of the community and the
spread of the Gospel, they also receive the fruits of the Spirit (Gal
5:22-23), which build up the life of the Church in peace and joy. 30. Yet the
gifts can be neglected and abused. In their sinfulness, the believers can resist
and grieve the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is also the Paraclete or Advocate,
who pleads for them, and brings about repentance, forgiveness, and
reconciliation. 31. The Holy
Spirit reminds the disciples of the message and words of the Lord, and enables
them to participate in the saving events of the life, death and rising of
Christ. The Holy Spirit is invoked in the Supper of the Lord; and, in preaching
and proclamation, it is the Spirit, moving the hearts and minds of the hearers,
who leads them into the fullness of truth. The Spirit’s abiding presence in the
Church through the ages is enlivened by moments of abundant outpouring, times
when the faithful have the impression of living through “a new Pentecost”. Thus
the Spirit guides the Church in recognizing the Word in the Scriptures, so that
they become the document and charter of its life. The Spirit enables the people
of God and their ministers to understand and interpret the Word in the
Scriptures, to transmit and explain it verbally, to hear it and receive it with
faith. When it becomes necessary, the same Spirit leads the Church to
self-criticism and so to reform and renewal, in greater fidelity to its memory
of Christ. The Spirit thus writes the Gospel in the hearts of the faithful, and
this Gospel in the heart inspires the members of the koinonia to let the Word
which they believe give form to their prayer of praise and thanksgiving. In all
these ways the Spirit continues to shape and enrich the memory of the community. 32. The power
and presence of the Spirit lead the faithful from grace to grace. As the Holy
Spirit leads them to reflect on their memory of Christ, to partake of his
memorial, and to experience Christ as a present reality, they are opened to
God’s purpose both for themselves and for the whole of creation. The Spirit
inspires them to pray and strive for the welfare of all of God’s creatures, and
so to protect and promote the habitat that God has given them. In ways that are
known to God alone, the Spirit is also present and active among those who have
not heard the Gospel or have not believed it. The Christian believers trust in
God’s hidden action transforming the world according to God’s ultimate purpose.
They seek to discern God’s saving power at work. The Spirit makes them eager to
see the fulfilment of all of God’s promises and to pray for the coming of God’s
Kingdom. The same Spirit gives them the certainty that the obstacles and evils
that are symbolized in “the world, the flesh, and the Devil” will be overcome by
God’s power in God’s own time. But the Christian hope, that is nurtured by the
Spirit, also looks further than this earth and the present life. It looks
forward to the eternal Kingdom, where God reigns among the saints of all ages
and nations and tongues. In this final transformation the Spirit will bring to
an end the trials of the Church on earth, the sufferings of the saints, and will
bring the elect into the glory that the Father has reserved for those who love
him (1 Cor 2:9). III. The Pattern Of Christian Faith 33. In John’s gospel, Jesus
says “I am the way, the truth and the life”, and goes on to affirm that though
he is to go away, he leaves his Spirit who will witness to him. The Spirit will
convince us of sin and lead us into the truth. Since the truth is always
Christ’s, there is a continuum of faith with the past. Thus the Holy Spirit has
enabled the faith to confess Christ in every generation, and the Church
continues in this communion of saints. It is this permanence in Christ and in
the Spirit which gives the Church its identity and self-understanding and keeps
it in the Gospel which it has to proclaim to the world. 34. In each generation the
Church inherits a history in which earlier Christians have sought to express the
truth of God in their own time and place, and in that history an important place
is given to those theologians who provided the earliest elucidations of the
faith. The Church also knows that God will provide witnesses to the faith in the
future, but the present Church has its own particular responsibility to the Word
and the Spirit now. 35. We know
from past history and present experience that Christ’s Spirit of truth works in
a dynamic of continuity and change. The Holy Spirit brings home to us the truth
of the Gospel in a variety of ways. For while the Spirit never changes, the
manner of the Spirit’s operation may vary with each group of believers. The
Spirit moves in a gracious and positive manner, even when demanding costly
discipleship. And we have the injunction laid on us not to grieve the Spirit;
rather, we must cooperate with the Spirit. 36. What
co-operation is thus demanded? Referring to the Holy Spirit’s role in binding us
to Christ, St. Irenaeus maintained that through God alone can God be known.
Developing the same theme, St. Athanasius asserts that the divine Word became
human so that we, in some sense, might become divine. Thus we cooperate with the
Spirit as we take to ourselves this self-giving of God in the mystery of the
incarnation. This, according to biblical witness, is the way God has chosen from
all eternity for the salvation of humankind. Therefore every ordered expression
of the Gospel is an attempt to proclaim this mystery - the love of God who saves
in Christ - and all our efforts to discern and describe Christian belief must
find their focus here. Since the heart of the Gospel and the core of the faith
is the love of God revealed in redemption, then all our credal statements must
derive from faith. Thus, as Vatican II recognized, “there exists an order or
‘hierarchy’ of truths since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the
Christian faith” (Unitatis redintegratio, 11). Likewise
Methodists, following Wesley, recognize an “analogy of faith” among the major
doctrines of the Church. 37. The faith
which is believed is believed within particular settings. The expression of the
faith has been shaped by cultures before us, and we in turn seek to speak it in
the language of our time and place. Inculturation conveys the faith
authentically only when what is contextual, be it language or any other form of
cultural expression, is itself transformed by the transcendent truth of the
Gospel. It then in turn becomes an effective means of transforming the lives of
those who belong to this culture. Affirmations about God made by the believing
community are active symbols, calling for realization in the lives of its
members. Therefore, when Christians recite the Creed within a liturgical
setting, they do more than list a set of beliefs - they identify themselves with
that great company “whose lives are hid with Christ in God” (Col
3:3). Because the Spirit provides in the Church such abundant gifts of
perception and understanding, the recitation of the Creed engenders in every age
a great diversity and richness of faith. We say “we believe” and the life of the
Church is deepened and renewed. 38. The
Nicene Creed, used by both Catholics and Methodists in their liturgy and
teaching, is a comprehensive and authoritative statement of Christian faith. It
was the text upon which John Wesley based his explication when, in his Letter to
a Roman Catholic, he summarized “the faith of a true Protestant”. We include the
text of the Creed, known as the Nicene Creed, since it constrains us to take
very seriously the degree of communion that Catholics and Methodists already
share. In a world deeply affected by superstition and by unbelief, our
proclamation of this common faith must be an occasion for giving thanks and a
stimulus to deepen our unity in Christ: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of
all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of
the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten,
not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us
men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy
Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake
he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the
third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into
heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from
the Father and the Son. With the Father and Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the
life of the world to come.
Amen IV. The Pattern Of Christian Life 1. The Gift of New Life 39. Faith in
Jesus Christ involves assent to the truths of the Gospel. In confessing these
truths we likewise confess our new identity as sons and daughters of God. As our
minds are filled with the truths of the Gospel, they are transformed, and that
transformation brings about a new life.
St. Paul
tells his converts to be “transformed by the renewing of their minds” (Rom
12:2). Through the hearing of and response to the Gospel a crucial change
of both heart and mind takes place. So it is that Paul prays to God for his new
converts “that you may be filled with knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual
wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in
knowledge of God” (Col 1:9-10). 40. Through
Christ’s death and resurrection the way is opened for reconciliation to the
Father in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, the sacrament of faith, is the sign of that
new life which the Father gives us through Christ in the Spirit. Christ’s death
has put to death sin in our lives; it has freed us from the bondage of sin and
death. The new life that replaces the old is a life of love: it is a sharing in
the inner life of God that is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit: “God’s love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to
us” (Rom 5:5). This love is pure gift, and in virtue of it we are drawn
ever more deeply into the inner life of God and are able to cry “Abba, Father”
(Gal 4:6). It is other-centered and boundless in its range and
scope, directed to the whole world. In particular, it pushes us out to the poor,
the weak and the unloved. It is love without preference and without distinction
since, because of the work of Christ, there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or
free, male or female (Gal 3:28). 2. The Challenge of New Life 41. This gift
is also call and responsibility. Paul tells the Colossians that it is precisely
because they have died and been raised to new life that they must put to death
those features of their old way of life which still persist. They must put away
their old garments and “put on the garment of God’s chosen people” (cf. Col 3:12).
The obligation of Christians to change their lives is rooted and grounded in
what God has done for them. For a few, the transformation comes quickly, as John
Wesley noted in his “Plain Account of Christian Perfection”. But for most the
putting-to-death of the old way of life and the taking on of the new involves
Christians in a long and painful process of maturing in love. It is a costly
journey and inevitably involves suffering since the pattern of Christian life
will reflect the pattern of Christ’s dying and rising. It was the constant
concern of Paul to foster and nurture this growth. Individuals, then, are
changed by the saving action of God in Christ that is appropriated through the
power of the Holy Spirit. But the bestowal of the gift of new life on
individuals constitutes a new principle of unity. The baptised share together in
the life of love, and this sharing is a vital dimension of the koinonia
which is the Church. 3. The Communion of New Life 42. By
allegiance to Christ the believer becomes part of the community in which Christ
is remembered (anamnesis). Christ’s words to his disciples are relevant
here. The Christian is brother, sister, mother to Christ in community with
others (Mk 3:31-35, Mt 12:46-60; Lk 8:19-21). 43. The early
Christian believers were part of a community where life was lived in common with
others, the disunity of Babel
being reversed by the events of and after Pentecost (Acts 2:44; 4:32).
In Acts 2:42 we read of the four fundamental elements in their
life together: hearing the teaching of the apostles; communion (koinonia);
breaking of bread; and the prayers.
44. In their worship on the
Lord’s day they experienced his presence and renewing grace as they celebrated
the Eucharist together. In the service itself the profound nature of their
relation to each other was manifested in the giving of the peace and,
pre-eminently, in the Holy Communion: “The bread which we break, is it not a
sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are
one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:16-17).
The Eucharist remains the focus where the pattern of life specific to Christians
is shown forth. 45. It has
been customary to state that Methodists regard the preaching of the Word as the
central act of worship, while for Catholics the Eucharist is “the center and
culmination” of Christian life (Vatican II,
Presbyterium ordinis, 5).
This contrast should not be put too strongly. In the beginnings of
Methodism, the Wesleys encouraged and practice a much more frequent observance
of the Lord’s Supper than was customary in the Anglican Church of the time, and
in recent decades Methodists are increasingly appreciating the centrality of the
Eucharist and Catholics the fundamental importance of the preaching of the Word. 4. The Source of New Life 46. By
baptism we are received into the community of belief and are nurtured there as
the faith is passed on to us (“traditioned” to us) through the family and the
Church. Unless this “traditioning” takes place, we receive little of the
Christian faith. Each generation and each person must claim for themselves the
life of faith. We receive the faith in more explicit terms through hearing the
preached Word, Sunday schools, catechism classes, first communion classes,
confirmation classes, and Church-sponsored schools. Sustained growth in the
Christian faith requires time spent in study of the Scriptures and in prayer
based on the Scriptures. The faith is nourished in both our traditions by
devotional life that plays a significant part in its growth. There are also many
ways in which the spiritual life has been nurtured among us, e.g., Christian
family life, Methodist class meetings, various lay apostolates and renewal
movements in the Catholic Church, the practice of retreats, ecumenical house
groups and marriage enrichment courses. In all these situations “heart speaks to
heart” (cor ad cor loquitur). 5. The Practice o f New Life 47. The
Christian hope is that humanity will one day be gathered into Christ when the
Gospel has been preached to all nations (Mt 24:14; 28:19). In the
widest sense of the mission of the Church, there is the mandate to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners, welcome the stranger
(Mt 25:31-46). These “works of mercy” belong to the Christian
mission in the widest sense and Catholic-Methodist cooperation has often been
most successful in this area. In particular, both churches have tried to promote
true Christian community without respect of race, sex or class. In places that
are hostile to Christianity, missionary endeavor has been difficult, and
fidelity to the Gospel has proved very costly. The picture in Hebrews of the
saints who watch from heaven and encourage us is pertinent here (Heb
12:1). 48. The
proclamation of the Gospel by words is an essential task for each generation of
believers. Christians also bear witness when they seek to let their light shine
before others so that their conduct as well as their words may bring others to
glorify God (Mt 5:16; 1
Pt
2:12). Personal evangelism contributes to the corporate mission and
is vitally important in making new believers. V. The Pattern Of Christian Community 49. The real
relationships existing within the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are
reflected within the ordered life of creation and, still more clearly revealed
to the eye of faith, in the pattern they establish and make possible for the
community life of God’s people. 50. Whenever
the Word of God is truly heard, the Church shapes its life in due obedience; the
pattern thus brought into being becomes in its turn a means of showing forth the
Word. As individuals are healed and remade by Christ, so also are the
relationships within which their life is brought to fulfilment. When, for
example, the community of Christians at Philippi was told to have the mind of
Christ, who emptied himself and took the form of a servant, this was not just an
instruction to private individuals, but an exhortation for the benefit of their
common life. Further still, it was not just for their own health and happiness
as a community, but for a making known the Word to the world: it was a setting
forth of the Word through an effective embodiment of the servanthood of the
Incarnate One. One passage in the New Testament - 1 John 1:1-3 -
dares to suggest that the life of the Christian community is a reflection
of the life of the Godhead: thus the communal life of Christians has a vertical
as well as a horizontal dimension. They do not merely enjoy fellowship with each
other; their life together is a sharing in the life of the Father and his Son
Jesus Christ. 51. The
Savior rescues us from loneliness and sets us within the infinitely diverse
security of his friends. The images used in the Gospels and in the apostolic
preaching give indications relating to the ordered life brought into being by
Christ. The images are corporate as well as individual. They evoke the
Bridegroom as well as the Bride, the Good Shepherd’s care, the growth and
pruning of the Vine, the manifold activities and talents of the Body, family
life in the Home, good stewardship, the tender care of the Samaritan, the touch
of the Healer, the watchful love of the Father. In the light of the Lord’s
Supper, the image of the Body has inspired profound insights and reflections on
the Church as the Body of Christ. 52. It must
also be remembered that in the New Testament, the actions that allow the Church
to grow in strength and ordered life - the setting apart of new ministers, or
corporate decisions and teaching, for example - are always accompanied by the
action of the Holy Spirit, who makes it possible for us to live in communion and
harmony with one another (Acts 13:2; 15:28; 16:6-7; 2 Tim 1:14).
The Spirit is the invisible thread running through the work of the Church in
the world, enabling our minds to hear and receive the Word, enlightening them to
understand the Word, and giving us tongues to speak the Word (Jn 14:26;
16:13-14; Acts 4:31). Relating us to one another and to Christ our
Head, the Holy Spirit gives coherent shape and variety to the people of God.
Within that people as they are, and for that people as they shall be, the Holy
Spirit invites us all to share in the service of the One who came to serve. PART TWO MINISTRY AND MINISTRIES: SERVING WITHIN THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION 53. The life
of the Church, of the human race as it is gathered together and renewed by
Christ, is a life of worship, by which believers share in the exchange of love
that is the life of the blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With
Christ our Head and in the power of his Spirit, we serve God in a variety of
ways for God’s glory and for making known God’s loving purpose. I. Service of the Word 54. As the
Apostle sent by God (Heb 3:1), Christ shared his carrying-out of
the Father’s will with others. These he sent into the world to serve the Gospel,
just as he himself had been sent into the world to serve (Jn 20:21-23).
They were given the formal title of apostle. Theirs was a ministry of
ministries: they were sent out to make him known and to care for his people. The
apostles, already joined together in the public ministry of Christ, continued
after the Ascension to be his friends and servants, fully aware of their
appointed responsibility to tell everyone of what God had done for them in
Christ. 55. In the Book of Acts, the
apostles are described as ‘servants of the Word’ (Acts 6:4; cf.
Lk 1:2). This phrase holds a rich meaning, conveying all that is said
in Scripture about God’s action through his Word in creation and in his saving
purpose in history. What he says, he does. What he does, makes him known to us.
There is a solidarity between word and deed. This complete interdependence of
word and deed in God’s action for us culminates in the coming of the Person who,
in his entire being, is the Word of God. ‘Service of the Word’ implies the
service of a living Person, whose words are always fruitful and whose deeds make
him known. Supremely in Christ, words and actions are one. Through the Spirit
these deeds and words culminate in the living presence of Jesus in us. It is in
this context that the sermon and the sacrament must be understood. In preaching,
the Word of God himself addresses us through the preacher: “Whoever hears you
hears me” (Lk 10:16). In the Eucharist, our Lord’s words, ‘This is
My Body’, ‘This is My Blood’, convey both his meaning and the actual giving of
himself. 56. The ‘servants of the Word’ are therefore those who bring the
whole of this divine life into the world, enabling all of us, in our turn, to
become servants, each one unique and different, but all gathered together in
perfect harmony.
57. The
present disharmony among Christians is crucially reflected in divisions of
doctrine and practice concerning this service of the Word. An arrival at a
common mind over Christ’s purpose for ministry would therefore have a
far-reaching effect in the promotion of unity throughout the
Christian Churches. II. Gifts Of The Spirit 58. The
entire Christian community has the responsibility of spreading the Gospel and
witnessing to the Lord’s work of salvation until he comes. This task has “its
origins in the mission of the Son and that of the Holy Spirit according to the
purpose of God the Father” (Vatican II,
Ad gentes, 2). 59.
Throughout the ages the Holy Spirit has poured out gifts on those who have been
baptized in the name of Christ. These gifts are for the building up of the
Church, which is charged with proclaiming the Good News for the salvation of the
world, so that all people may come to faith and share in the worship of the
Triune God (cf. Rom 15:7-16; 2 Cor 4:13-15). Thus, each
charism that is given elicits a response that must be lived out in ministry and
in service: “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of
ministry for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph 4:11-13).
The gifts of the Spirit, therefore, are for communion (koinonia): for
the drawing of humanity into communion with the Father and the Son, and for the
building up and strengthening of communion among those who believe. 60. Among the
gifts bestowed by the Spirit there is the specific charism received by those who
are called to the ordained ministry. This charism is directed toward the
ordering and harmony which must prevail in the exercise of all the gifts.
Properly to understand the relationship between the ministries of the ordained
and the non-ordained it is vital to see in both of them the activity of the
Spirit who enlivens and unifies the Church through the gifts: “Now there are a
variety of gifts but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but
the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who
activates them all in everyone” (1 Cor 12:4-7). The same Spirit
operates among all the baptized and across all the generations.
61. The New
Testament describes the Spirit filled life in the early Christian communities.
The origins of the ordained ministry are found in the commission that Christ
gave to his apostles (Mt 28:18-20). While there was at the
beginning no single pattern, the ordained ministry was a gift to the Church for
leadership in its corporate and worshiping life, for the maintenance and
deepening of its order and structure, for the organization of its missionary
witness and for discernment in understanding and applying the Gospel. As time
passed, the Church was led by the Spirit to recognize the threefold ministry of
bishop, presbyter and deacon as normative; some other patterns of ministry that
may be discerned in the New Testament became assimilated to the threefold one.
While not all the many gifts of the Spirit for ministry have figured equally
throughout the history of the Church, all have been bestowed afresh at times of
crisis and opportunity. Yet the testimony of the New Testament must continue to
throw light on the ways in which the ordained ministry has developed and to
challenge the ways it functions in our different communions. III. The Church, A Living Body 62. The
community of the faithful is brought into existence by the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit relates the faithful to one another, distributing gifts among them. Thus
the community receives a living structure. Some of the New Testament images - a
body, a household, a people, a vineyard - point to dynamics of growth and to a
reality with many aspects and dimensions. Others - the bride, the flock - imply
also that it has its own definite identity and is the center of God’s attention,
called to share the divine love, and opened to the Holy Spirit in whom the
faithful experience God’s love. As it spreads abroad the good news, the
community calls all people to conversion and new life. Led by the Spirit, it
extends throughout the many and varied cultures of the world, and is sustained
through time from year to year, generation after generation. Through the
centuries it is rejuvenated as the Gospel strikes the imagination and the Spirit
stirs up the love of new and younger members. Like the sap of the vine that
brings greenness to all branches and twigs, the Church is an overflowing source
of life. From the human environment it receives new riches that nurture it and
which it in turn transforms, opening up the many cultures of the world to
intimations of the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit directs the course
of the Christian community by bringing to it the harvest of love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control (Gal
5:22-25). The community is a living organism, not a collection of individuals;
it is a place of meeting where people exchange things old and new, not a museum
where things are looked at. What is handed on by its Tradition in the form of
memory acts as a leaven among those who receive it, who then enrich it as they
cherish it and pass it on again to their successors. There are times, of course,
when Christians do not respond as they ought to the Spirit’s guidance. They lack
fidelity to Christ, they are lukewarm in the worship of God, they do not show
love toward one another, they fail in missionary outreach. So, like all living
organisms, Christian communities go through periods of dormancy and decline. But
even then hope is held out for vigorous and healthy life because the Church is
sustained by the Spirit of God who never leaves himself without witnesses. 1. The Community of Faith and Baptism 63. The Spirit calls people to this new life, as those who have heard the Word
come to Christ, the only Savior and Mediator. Baptism is given in the midst of the community to new
Christians who, at their baptism, confess the faith they have received.
Symbolically they are plunged in the cleansing waters where they receive the
Holy Spirit and are given the garment of faith “in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit”. United to Christ in his dying and his rising, they
bear witness that they are reborn in him. In the administration of baptism, the
community testifies to its faith with the words of the traditional creed. For
example, the Apostles’ Creed had its origin in the candidates’ confession of
faith. Methodists and Catholics agree that Christians are baptized into the
faith that has been received from the apostles and obediently preached by the
community and its members. In both our traditions it has been the normal
practice for the pastors of the community to preside over the entire process of
Christian initiation. Both the Methodist and the Catholic Churches
consider it right to baptize the infants born to believers. They encourage their
members to take the opportunities presented to them to renew the vows that they
made, or that were made for them, in baptism. 64. Those who
confess their faith, endorsed by the community, are brought through the
baptismal waters into the life of God that is communicated through Christ in the
Holy Spirit. This life, being the very life of the divine Persons, is itself a
life of communion and involves participating in the bond of love established by
the Spirit between God and creation. The baptized become sisters and brothers in
Christ. They are constituted as the family of God, sharing in its privileges and
responsibilities. 65. By
baptism, the community of the believers shares in the holiness of God, a
holiness that is manifested in the Christian life of the faithful. The community
feeds on the memory of the Lord, celebrates his abiding presence, and looks
forward in hope to the continuing service of God and of neighbor until the end
of time, thus affirming its trust in the ultimate victory of Christ over the
power of evil. It is itself a sign and instrument of God’s kingdom. 66. Thus the
baptized and believing community is a communion. Holding in common the faith in
which they are baptized and all the things that are God’s gifts, they grow into
a communion of the people who are made holy by God’s grace and power. While all
the baptized thus make up “the communion of saints”, they also recognize the
conspicuous presence of divine grace in specific persons -the Saints - whose
lives and example testify, even to the shedding of their blood for Jesus, to the
transforming action of the Spirit of God in every generation. The “cloud of
witnesses” transcends denominational barriers. 2. The Community of Worship 67. The
Christian community continues to flourish by virtue of the common baptism and
faith of its members. But is also sustained and nurtured by the celebration of
the memorial of the Lord, the service of thanksgiving in which it experiences,
as the Spirit is invoked, the presence of the risen Christ. There the Word of
God is heard in the Scriptures and the proclamation of the Gospel. Through the
holy meal of the community, the faithful share “a foretaste of the heavenly
banquet prepared for all mankind” (British Methodist Service Book
1975). As they receive the sacrament of his body and blood offered for
them, they become the body through which the risen Lord is present on earth in
the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 10:16-17). As they share his body and blood
that have brought to the sinful world salvation and reconciliation, they
proclaim today the past events of the Lord’s death and resurrection, and as they
do so they present to the world their confidence and hope that Christ who “has
died and is risen” will also “come again”.
68. This
experience of the presence of the Lord in the setting of worship attunes the
hearts and minds of the faithful to all other aspects of his presence. They
return to him the love they have received from him, when they serve the poor and
when they struggle for social justice. In the sick and suffering they see the
sufferings of Christ. In their own pains and sorrows endured for the sake of the
gospel they share in the passion of Christ. In all this the faithful experience
the wonderful exchange by which, in Christ and the Holy Spirit, all is common to
all. And they present to God all that they have and all that they are as their
own sacrifice of praise. 69. In the worshiping
fellowship the community confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, shares the peace which
Christ gives, and so anticipates the heavenly kingdom where the risen Christ
fills all things to the glory of God the Father. The community of the faithful
is thus the proclaiming, celebrating and serving community which gives glory to
God in the name of all creatures. By its gatherings on the Lord’s Day the
community shapes the life of its members, helping them to make their weekly and
daily tasks expressions of the royal priesthood of the believers gathered
together under the high priesthood of the risen Lord. Thus the community
provides for its members a pattern of life consecrated to God and directed
towards fulfilment in the final manifestation of Christ. 3. The Ordained Minister in the Community 70. Ever
since the time of the apostles, ministers have led the community in the worship
of God, in proclaiming Christ and receiving him, in organizing the community’s
life of service in the Spirit. Worship, witness and service join hands in word
and sacrament: this has served as the central model for what Christian ministers
must both be and do. 71. Chosen
from among the people, the ordained ministers represent the people before God as
they bring together the prayers of the community. Entrusted with the pastoral
care of the community, they act in Christ’s name and person as they lead the
people in prayer, proclaim and explain the Word, and administer the sacraments
of faith. 72. In each place the pastor
gathers the faithful into one, and as all the ministers relate to one another
and transmit the same Gospel, they ensure a universality of conviction and
communion among all the faithful. They transmit what they have received: the
good news as taught from apostolic times, the sacraments as signs and
instruments of the Lord’s saving presence and action, the call to holiness that
the Holy Spirit addresses to all. 73. United
around their minister in worship and in witness, and in the carrying out of
their vocational tasks, the faithful know themselves to be gathered in Christ by
the Holy Spirit. In the pastoral care that is extended to them the faithful
perceive themselves to be led by the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the
sheep. 74. As the
community is renewed from one Lord’s Day to the next, it is nourished by the
Tradition it has received, and responsibility for this is especially entrusted
to those ministers who inherit the apostolic function of oversight in the
community. The function of oversight entails on the part of the ministers
solicitude for all the churches: they are charged to ensure that the community
remain one, that it grow in holiness, that it preserve its catholicity, and that
it be faithful to apostolic teaching and to the commission of evangelization
given by Christ himself. 75. These
four “marks” of the Christian community should be exemplified at each moment of
its existence. They should also be effectively transmitted from one generation
to the next. The saints who have passed into the fulness of the mystery of God’s
grace are forever part of the community: the witness and examples of the past
continue to be cherished; the saints in heaven are held as instances of Christ’s
“closest love” and as present tokens of the ultimate fulfilment of all God’s
promises. 76. The
transmission of the Gospel is the work of the whole assembly of the faithful
under the guidance and with the encouragement of their pastors. The living
presence of the Lord among his people is the source of the Christian life. The
pastors of the community are his servants as he provides grace and spiritual
strength to his people and leads them to the goal of their earthly pilgrimage. 77. The
transmission of the Gospel in word and sacraments is itself the work of the
Spirit. As they urge the faithful to Christian perfection, the ordained
ministers obey the call of Christ, and they help the community in its search for
the forms of Christian holiness that are appropriate to different periods, ages
and conditions of life. Catholics and Methodists are at one in seeing in a
divinely empowered ministry the guidance of the Holy Spirit and are moving in
the direction of greater shared understanding of the nature of ordination and of
the structure of the ministry in regard to the responsibility to teach and to
formulate the faith. IV. The Ordained Ministry: Call and Empowerment 78. We
consider now the call to the ordained ministry, ordination to the ministry, and
continuance in it. 1. Call 79. Both
Methodists and Catholics recognize the power of God in the enabling of all
ministry. During his earthly ministry the Lord Jesus himself in his sovereign
freedom appointed twelve. The experience of Paul, who according to his own words
received the call to be an apostle direct from the risen Christ, attests to the
freedom and movement of the Holy Spirit to call persons at will into ministry.
This call may be experienced in several ways: as an internal compulsion that we
feel bound to obey; through the convergence of several external factors all of
which indicate its possibility; through the influence of the Church and its
people which exercises a claim upon us; or through the indication of a need and
the ability under God to fulfill that need. Whichever way the call is
experienced, it does not remain an inward compulsion but is tested by the Church
and finally confirmed before the candidate is ordained. The different ways in
which this judgment is made in the Catholic and Methodist contexts reflect the
different understanding and experience of being churches that have developed
during centuries of independent growth. 2. Ordination 80. Both our
traditions retain the practice, attested in the New Testament documents, of
setting apart for ministry by the laying on of hands with prayer; prayer is made
for the gift of the Holy Spirit appropriate to the particular form of ministry.
Ordination takes place in an assembly of the Church in which the people give
their assent to the candidates, appropriate scriptures are read, and candidates
profess their adherence to the faith of the Church. Through the laying on of
hands ordinands are incorporated into the existing body of ministers. 81. In the Catholic
understanding and practice of apostolic succession, the bishops through the act
of ordination share ministerially the high priesthood of Christ, in one degree
or another, with other ministers (bishops, presbyters and deacons), who are
their fellow workers in carrying out the apostolic duties entrusted to them (cf.
Vatican II,
Presbyterorum ordinis, 2). 82. In Methodist
understanding and practice, including those Methodist churches that are
episcopally ordered, candidates for ordination are accepted by the Conference
after examination as to the genuineness of their call, their spiritual fitness
and their capacity for ministry. They are then ordained by prayer and the
imposition of hands by the Bishop, or by the President of the Conference, and
given the tasks of declaring the Gospel, celebrating the sacraments and caring
pastorally for Christ’s flock. 3. Continuance in the Ministry 83. Within
the community of the people of God, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an
authentic ministry, of the ordained as of all the people of God, communicates
Christ to persons, edifies them and builds them up in the faith. In one way or
another it is shown by its fruits. 84. All
ministry continues to depend entirely upon God’s grace for its exercise. The God
who calls crowns his call with gifts for ministry. It is not only the use of the
personal gifts of the minister which is at issue here. The minister lives
constantly in the grace of God by means of prayer, study of the Scripture, and
participation in the sacraments. As an instrument in God’s hands, the ordained
minister imparts the Word of God to God’s people, both by speech and by the
sacraments of the Church. Both Methodists and Catholics maintain the principle
that while the preached Word and the acted Word call for holiness in the
minister, it is not the ministers’ worthiness that makes them effective, but the
transforming power of the Holy Spirit. 85. The call
of God is seen to be a stable and permanent one by both Catholics and
Methodists. The ordained person is committed to a lifelong ministry; therefore,
just as baptism and confirmation are not repeated, neither is ordination. Both
communions are here faithful to the constant practice of the Church. V. Convergences And Divergences 86. Previous
paragraphs make it clear that Methodists and Catholics share a fundamentally
important perspective on ministry, affirming that the ordained ministry is
essentially pastoral in nature. Ordained ministers have the special
responsibility of exercising and holding together the functions of proclaiming
the Gospel, calling people to faith, feeding the flock with word and sacrament
and making Christ known through the ministry of servanthood to the world. The
ordained ministry is a representative one, in the sense expounded in paragraph
71 above. 87. Within
this perspective there remain several unresolved issues related to ordained
ministry which call for further examination. 1. Sacramentality 88. For
Catholics, ordination is a sacrament. Methodists are accustomed to reserve the
term sacrament for baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They do, however, with
Catholics, look upon ordination as an effective sign by which the grace of God
is given to the recipient for the ministry of word and sacrament. 89. A way forward may lie in
deeper common reflection on the nature of sacrament. Christ, “the image of the
invisible God” (Col
1:15), may be thought of as the primary sacrament, revealing God’s nature and
purpose and enabling us to know and serve him. We may also discern within his
action on our behalf certain gifts by which our lives are ordered, nourished and
sustained. These have traditionally been classified by Catholics as sacraments
in a more specific use of the word. 90. Both
Methodists and Catholics see the Holy Spirit as the One who empowers all
ministry, both ordained and lay. Further, both Methodists and Catholics would
agree that all the people of God must be a sign of Christ in a real sense and
that all ministry must be exemplary of Christ and the Gospel. Thus a life
clearly in consonance with Christ is a vocation for all Christians. 91. At
Vatican II the Roman Catholic Church referred to the Church in terms of a
“sacrament of salvation” (Ad gentes, 5; cf.
Lumen gentium, 1).
Methodists would prefer the word “sign” to sacrament, but the meaning in
each case is essentially the same, because the Church obeys the mandate of its
Founder to preach to all nations the Gospel of salvation it has received. 2. Episcopè 92.
Methodists and Catholics can acknowledge together the reality of episcopè
(oversight) in the New Testament and can agree that an ordained ministry which
exercises episcopè is vital for the life of the Church. Without the
exercise of this gift of oversight, disorder and therefore disunity are
inevitable. Koinonia and episcopè imply one another. In a Catholic
perspective this mutual implication reaches its culmination when the bishop
presides over liturgical worship, in which the preaching of the Gospel and the
celebration of the Lord’s Supper weld together into unity the members of
Christ’s Body. 93. Central
to the exercise of episcopè is the task of maintaining unity in the Truth. Thus
teaching is the principal part of the task of episcopè. In a Catholic
understanding the Church is united through its unity in faith and sacramental
communion. The teaching of a common faith by the college of bishops in union
with the successor of Peter ensures unity in the Truth. The succession of
bishops through the generations serves the continued unity of the Church in the
faith handed on from the apostles. In the Methodist tradition, Wesley accepted
and believed in the reality of episcopè within the Church of England of
which he was a minister. In relation to the Methodist societies he exercised
episcopè over the whole; all his followers were bound to be in connection
with him. He expounded the main teachings of the Church by means of his Sermons,
Notes on the New Testament and Conference Minutes, and made available to his
people authorized abridgements of doctrinal and spiritual work. His appointment
of Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke to the superintendency in America was rooted
in his belief that the Holy Spirit wished to bestow the gift of episcopè
at that time and in that place for the sake of maintaining unity of faith with
the Church of all ages. It was part of a fresh and extraordinary outpouring of
the gift of the Spirit who never ceases to enliven and unify the Church.
94. As we
continue to consider remaining differences over the sacramental nature of
ordination and the forms of succession and oversight, we rejoice in the work of
the Spirit who has already brought us this far together, recognizing that the
ecumenical movement of which we are part is itself a grace of the Holy Spirit
for the unity of Christians. When the time comes that Methodists and Catholics
declare their readiness for that “full communion in faith, mission and
sacramental life” toward which they are working (Towards a Statement on
the Church, 20), the mutual recognition of ministry will be achieved not
only by their having reached doctrinal consensus but it will also depend upon a
fresh creative act of reconciliation which acknowledges the manifold yet unified
activity of the Holy Spirit throughout the ages. It will involve a joint act of
obedience to the sovereign Word of God. 3. Who may be ordained 95. In the New Testament
record there is strong evidence that the pastoral ministry was exercised by both
married and unmarried people. By long-standing tradition the Latin rite of the
Catholic Church, seeing a positive congruence between celibacy and the ordained
priesthood, requires that priests remain unmarried, although exceptions to this
practice have been allowed. Methodists, in common with other Protestant
churches, ordain both married and unmarried people, but no ultimate doctrinal
obstacle divides Methodists and Catholics here. 96.
Methodists ordain women because they believe that women also receive the call,
evidenced by inward conviction and outward manifestation of the gifts and graces
and confirmed by the gathering of the faithful. 97. Catholics
do not ordain women, believing that they have no authority to change a practice
that belongs to the sacrament of order as received in the Tradition of the
Church. 98. Our
general reflections on the nature of ordained ministry and our treatment of this
particular question will need to be mutually illuminating. Further thought will
be of benefit to both traditions. CONCLUSION 99. Together
Catholics and Methodists confess the Church as part of the Triune God’s eternal
purpose for the salvation of humankind. The Church is the communion of those who
have received, receive and will receive through faith the benefits of the
redemptive work of God accomplished in the life, death and resurrection of the
Word made flesh. In the Holy Spirit they acknowledge the lordship of Christ to
the glory of the Father. Thus constituted and sustained by the Word and the
Spirit, the Church is both a sign and an instrument of the Father’s good
pleasure for the world: it is a sign, because it is the first fruits of God’s
gracious purpose and work; it is an instrument because it has the task of
further proclaiming the Gospel and doing the works that belong to God’s kingdom.
By its own communal life it bears witness to that society of love in which the
city of God will consist.
100. Catholic
and Methodist formularies differ over the concrete location of the Church which
they both confess. While Wesley and the early Methodists could recognize the
presence of Christian faith in the lives of individual Roman Catholics, it is
only more recently that Methodists have become more willing to recognize the
Roman Catholic Church as an institution for the divine good of its members. For
its part, the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II certainly includes
Methodists among those who, by baptism and faith in Christ, enjoy “a certain
though imperfect communion with the Catholic Church”; and it envisages Methodism
among those ecclesial communities which are “not devoid of meaning and
importance in the mystery of salvation (Unitatis redintegratio, 3). 101. In the quarter-century
since its inception, the Joint Commission between the Roman Catholic Church and
the World Methodist Council has contributed to the degree of mutual recognition
which now exists. It has done so by the clarification of Methodist and Catholic
positions and traditions, especially as these impinge on each other. A large
measure of common faith has been brought to light, so that the increase in
shared life that has begun may confidently be expected to continue. The need now
is to consolidate the measure of agreement so far attained and to press forward
with work on those areas in which agreement is still lacking. Continuing
doctrinal progress should both encourage and reflect the growth in mutual
recognition and in sharing in the life of the Triune God.
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