IO-RE2

FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY
CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION(CREED)
OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS(ORA)
 PRAYER BEFORE STUDY
By St. Thomas Aquinas

Lord, true source of light and wisdom,

give me a keen sense of understanding,
a retentive memory,
and the capacity to grasp things correctly.
Grant me the grace to be accurate in my expositions
and the skills to express myself
with thoroughness and clarity.
 Be with me at the start of my work,
guide its progress and bring it to completion.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Our Father…
St. Thomas Aquinas (Pray for us.)
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
NATURE & MISSION
In this module, the students will be able to
 demonstrate understanding of the nature and mission of the
Church, the Communion of Saints, and the role of Mary as
Mother of the Church;
 analyze the scriptural images and marks of the Church in
relation to its status quo;
 appreciatethe inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the journey of
the Church; and
 design a simple system in the Church where the members can
participate actively regardless of their ministry.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
NATURE & MISSION
CHURCH
Jesus replied: “I for
my part declare to
you: you are “Rock”
[Peter], and on this
rock I will build my
Church and the jaws
of death shall not
prevail against it.”
(Mt. 16:18)
You are fellow citizens of the saints and
members of the household of God. You form a
building which rises on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, which Christ Jesus
himself as the capstone…. In him you are being
built into this temple, to become a dwelling
place for God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:19-22)
I. NATURE OF THE
CHURCH
 NATURE OF THE CHURCH

“gahal”
CHURCH
“ekklesia”

“the people of God called together”

“assembly convoked by God”
The Church therefore is not just a social
grouping of people drawn together by cultural
values and attitudes. This faith-conviction that
God is the ever-present source and ground for
the Church is the reason for explaining the
Church as “mystery” and “sacrament”.
What is the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church is the community of men

and women, united in Christ and guided by the
Holy Spirit, under the leadership of the
successor of Peter and the Bishops in
communion with him. As such, “they press
onward towards the Kingdom of the Father as
bearers of the message of salvation intended
for all” (Gaudium et Spes 1).
 THE CHURCH AS MYSTERY
“mystery”
it mean not something we
cannot know nor understand,
but rather a reality we can
never fully grasp because there
is always more to learn (NCDP
200)
To affirm the Church is a mystery simply means:

1.It is a reality imbued with the hidden presence of

God… always open to new and greater exploration
2.It has a unique relation to God Himself, and therefore
also with us who are called to salvation precisely as a
people.
 How is the Church related to the Trinity?

The Church:
 originates according to the Father’s eternal plan, from the side of the
Crucified Christ, and is animated by and united by the coming of the Holy
Spirit;
 structured as a community of love modelled on the Trinity’s loving union of
Father, Son, and Spirit;
 missioned (sent) by the Father following the joint Mission of Son and Spirit;
 destined as a pilgrim people to journey toward perfect communion with the
Trinity in heaven.
 Do Catholics as Church members experience the Trinity?

In practice, Filipino Catholics experience the Trinity in their parish

community. Without consciously attending to it, they actually:
 come to worship God as their Father,
 through their union with Jesus Christ, their Savior (especially in the
Eucharist),
 guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and
 under the leadership of their parish priest and the Bishops,
successors of the apostles.
 THE CHURCH AS SACRAMENT

Sacrament may be described as visible

sign of invisible grace.

The Church, like Christ himself, is rightly called

“sacrament” because it is a visible sign which makes
present a spiritual grace-filled reality.
 What advantages does thinking of the Church as “sacrament” offer?

Thinking of the Church as fundamental sacrament helps us

 unite the visible (institutional) and invisible (mystery) aspects of the
Church;
 relate the Church to non-Catholics for whom it is called to be the
“light” of the world and “salt” of the earth;
 link the Church with the Eucharist in its union with Christ; and
 love the Church, as our home.
SCRIPTURAL IMAGES OF THE CHURCH

“Kingdom of God”
C
H
“People of God”
U
R “Body of Christ”
C
H “Temple of the Holy Spirit
 What is meant by the Church as “Kingdom of God”?

The Church is the “Kingdom of God in process”, that is:

the Good News preached to the poor,
the seed quietly sown, and
the leaven in the dough, gradually raising all
in the pilgrimage to the Kingdom of the
Father, through Christ in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
 How is the Church the new “People of God”?

God saves us not merely as individuals, but by calling us into a single people,
united in faith, whose:
1. Head is Christ the Lord;
2. unifying soul is the indwelling Spirit;
3. members are those who believe in Christ and are reborn through water
and the Spirit in Baptism;
4. structure is the Christ-instituted hierarchy of apostles and their successors,
the Bishops, with the Roman Pontiff as head;
5. law is Christ’s new commandment of Love;
6. mission is loving service of neighbor, and
7. final destiny is sharing in the perfect community of Love, of Father, Risen
Incarnate Son, and Spirit.
 How is the Church the “Body of Christ”?

“By communicating his Spirit to his brothers and

sisters, called together from all peoples, Christ made
them mystically into his own body” (Lumen Gentium
7).
Thus the Church is not just like a body, but IS the
Body of Christ, really made one in him, in his
“mystical” Body.
 How is the Church the “Body of Christ”?

Christ’s “body” then, can refer to:

1. the physical body of the historical Jesus, assumed at
the Incarnation (Jn 1:14); or
2. his Eucharistic body, making sacramentally present to
us the Person of the Risen Christ in his saving sacrifice; or
3. his mystical body, the Church, the faithful united to
Christ as their Head, and united and vivified by His Spirit.
 How is the Church the “Temple of the Holy Spirit”?

 St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “You are the temple of

God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor 3:16).
Animating the Church as the “Body of Christ” is the Holy
Spirit. Traditional teaching of the Church declares: “As
Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit is the
soul”.
II. ESSENTIAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
CHURCH’S LIFE
ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE CHURCH’S LIFE

ONE

APOSTOLIC CHURCH HOLY

CATHOLIC
A. THE CHURCH AS ONE

SOURCE
ONE GIFT
LIFE
A. THE CHURCH AS ONE

ONE GIFT AS SOURCE . . .

as a people made one with the unity
of the Trinity and its founder, Jesus
Christ;
A. THE CHURCH AS ONE

ONE GIFT AS LIFE . . .

as one body and one Spirit in:
1.the confession of one Faith;
2.common sacramental worship;
3.loving service of one another;
4.loving obedience to the Vicar of Christ on earth.
 How is the Church’s oneness a “Task”?

 As followers of Christ and members of his Body, the

Church, we are called to a radical change of heart to
overcome the divisions rooted in heresy, apostasy and
schism, and especially our own factions, rivalries, and
dissensions that fracture the visible communion of Christ’s
people.
B. THE CHURCH AS HOLY

The Church is holy as a gift from Christ who

unites her to himself as his Body, and sends her
his Holy Spirit. Empowered by the Spirit, the
Church sanctifies her members by her
preaching, loving service, sacramental life, and
charismatic gifts.
 How is the Church’s holiness also a “Task”?

“…Till we become one in faith and in the

knowledge God’s Son, and form that perfect man
who is Christ come to full stature… Let us profess
the truth in love and grow to the full maturity of
Christ the head. Through him the whole body
grows… and builds itself up in love” (Eph 4:13-16).
C. THE CHURCH AS CATHOLIC

“Catholic” katholikos universal

universal as a gift from the Lord because she is sent to bring all
people “to Christ the Head in the unit of his Spirit” (Lumen
Gentium 13).
But it is also a Task since “all – without exception are also called
to mission, that is, to evangelize (PCP II 402; cf. Lumen
Gentium 33).
 D. THE CHURCH AS APOSTOLIC

“the foundation of the apostles” (Eph 2:20)

Apostolic succession is the handing on of the authority from
Jesus to the 12 apostles, and down to the present Bishops
and Pope.

As Task, the apostolic nature of the Church is exercised by all

the faithful who carry on the mission entrusted by Christ to his
apostles.
III. MISSION AND MINISTRIES
OF THE CHURCH
 A. MISSION

Christ founded his Church to continue his

saving mission on earth.
The Church received the mission to proclaim and establish
among all people the Kingdom of Christ and of God (cf LG
5). She is the “Universal Sacrament of salvation” for the whole
world.
Every member of the Church, therefore, shares in this mission,
i.e., “the obligation of spreading the faith” (LG 17).
 B. MINISTRIES IN THE CHURCH

Ministry “service”

Christian ministry refers to “serving the people of God in a

stable fashion”. This includes any public activity of a baptized
disciple of Christ, animated by the grace (charism) of the
Holy Spirit, performed on behalf of the Christian community,
and in the service of the Kingdom of God.
 B. MINISTRIES IN THE CHURCH

Ministry is characterized by:

1. doing something
2. for God’s Kingdom
3. in public
4. on behalf of the Christian community
5. empowered by a gift of faith received in baptism or
ordination
6. identifiable within the diversity of ministerial activities
 B. MINISTRIES IN THE CHURCH

Ministry in its general sense, is not

the privilege of a selected
few, but the vocation of all
baptized.
 B. MINISTRIES IN THE CHURCH

Christians The grace of God’s active

presence among us, is the
source, the context, the
judge and the goal of all
Church ministries.
CHURCH MINISTRIES

ORDAINED MINISTRY

LAY APOSTOLATE

THE RELIGIOUS
ORDAINED MINISTRY

1.This arises from the Sacrament of the Holy Order.

(Three degrees: bishop, priest, deacon). These
ministers receive the authority and power to serve the
Church, acting in the person of Christ, the Head
(alter Christus).
LAY APOSTOLATE

the ministries of the lay faithful

PCP II (Second Plenary Council of the Philippines) described the
laity’s field of evangelization activity as: education, politics,
society, economics, culture, sciences and the arts, of international
life (OFWs), and of the mass media.
THE RELIGIOUS

Religious Brothers and Sisters, who bind

themselves to Christ in a state of life
consecrated to God by profession of the
evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity,
and obedience (cf. LG 44; CCC 914-33).
THE RELIGIOUS

The Church recognizes various forms of

consecrated life: monastic, eremitic, religious
institutes, secular institutes, etc., and different
societies of apostolic life.
DIALOGUE with our Filipino and
Asian brothers and sisters of other
religion is an important part of the
Filipino Catholic’s evangelizing mission
(PCP II 104-8,137-40).
IV. SUPPORTING THEMES
 A. THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

Communion of;

of Christ’s holy people

in holy things
 B. MARY: DAUGHTER, MOTHER AND MODEL OF THE
CHURCH

MARY
Daughter of the Church

Mother of the Church

Virgin Mary “Model” of the Church

MARY IS:
the first to be evangelized and redeemed

the first evangelizer

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Matching Type

Assign to each group one specific Scriptural Image of the Church, and
one Mark of the Church.
o In 3 to 4 sentences, each group should describe a specific activity or
advocacy of the Church (of their local parish, or of their church group
like youth ministry, or choir, or acolytes) that reflects that specific
Scriptural Image assigned to them.
o In another paragraph of 2 to 3 sentences, each group will explain “how”
that advocacy can promote the Mark of the Church (assigned to them)
as both gift and task.
o Each group will present their output AFTER FIVE MINUTES.
INTEGRATION
The doctrine of the Church as the People of God has a
profound effect on Catholic Morality. For if it is true
that God’s very life and grace are shared with us as
members of the Church, then the social dimension of
all authentic morality becomes even more sharply
evident. More concretely, this doctrine of the Church
underlines the Christian community’s necessary role in
the ongoing formation of Christian conscience,
especially through the moral guidance and
enlightenment offered by the Church’s Magisterium to
the People of God in regard to difficult moral
problems.
Moreover, viewing the Church as the “foundational
sacrament” grounds the whole sacramental order and
fosters a renewed appreciation of Worship…. The
liturgical renewal owes much to this new dynamic view
of the Church. But the most fruitful change wrought by
this new ecclesiology is the stress on the spiritual
vocation of all members of the Church. All are called
to life of authentic prayer and holiness, marked by a
genuine personal intimacy with the Lord. This life is
developed in the subsequent chapters on the
sacramental life of the Church.
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

CHURCH MINISTRIES

Design a simple system in the Church (in your parish) where the
members can participate actively in the life of the Church (or
Parish) regardless of their ministry. In each ministry, include a
short description of tasks that contribute to the life of the Church.
See the sample church ministries. They can also put sub-
ministries to cater to the different members of the Church.
Consider also the Parish Pastoral Council and other religious
groups in a parish. Each group will present their output.
EXAMPLE

Parish
Priest

Youth Senior
Catechesis Worship
Ministries Citizens
HOMEWORK

Collage Making

Browse the old magazines and newspapers and cut out

several images, concepts, advocacies, and other related
events that reflect the Scriptural Images of the Church.
Cut out at least one image per Scriptural Image and
paste them on a short bond paper
CLOSING PRAYER
 13TH Century Dominican Blessing

May God the Father bless us.

May God the Son heal us.
May God the Holy Spirit enlighten us,
and give us eyes to see with,
ears to hear with,
hands to do the work of God with,
 feet to walk with,
a mouth to preach the word of salvation with,
and the angel of peace to watch over us and lead us
at last,
by our Lord’s gift, to the Kingdom.
Amen.

Hail Mary…
St. Dominic (pray for us)