Ecumenical Info

What is the Church?

April 2005

By Rev. Michael Demkovich, O.P.

The days that follow Easter up to Pentecost are known as “Mystagogia” for it is during this time that those received into the Church learn by now living the mystery they have received. It is a valuable concept for us long time Christians as well. We continue to learn the Faith by living the Faith, to be the Church in the World by living the mystery of what it means to be the Church. But for many of us, we are confused by what the “Church” means.

I am always amused when people defiantly say “We are the Church!” like it was some association or sports club. They assume that the visible Church is all that there is, and neglect the spiritual reality that is the Church. They can take its meaning too narrowly making it their exclusive little club or they use it too broadly and forget that it is Christ who defines the Church. In 2000 the Declaration on the Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church called Dominus Jesus set forth the Catholic Church’s theological understanding of Jesus Christ in human history and the role of the Church founded by Christ. This was no light weight document but the media made a mess of it confusing people even more.

First of all, when we talk about Church we must always realize that we speak of Faith in Jesus Christ as set forth in the Creed which is called the Symbol of Faith (Symbolum Fidei). It is the proclamation of Jesus’s Good News of Salvation that underpins any definition of Church. As such the Church is a living mystery. It is something greater in scope than any one congregation or historical moment. It is the Mystical Body of Christ at work in our world. And while in one sense it is correct to say “We are the Church,” the Church is not limited to us. It exists beyond us. This is why Roman Catholic theology chooses its words carefully, employing the significant philosophical notion called “subsistence.” We commonly use the word “subsist” to mean having enough to stay alive (e.g. She subsisted on bread and water.) Theologically it means to stand (-sistere) under (sub-), or underlie, which forms the base for something (e.g. His underlying concern was the child’s safety.) While this is a very basic explanation it is a key concept in Catholic thought. We believe that the Church subsists in the Catholic Church here on earth. It is visible in a special way in the Catholic Church which remains rooted in the Apostolic Tradition. We do not say that the Church exists as the Catholic Church but that the Church subsists in the Catholic Church. To some this sounds like splitting hairs, but if you fail to see this distinction you fail to understand the Church.

The clearest manifestation of the Church is in the Catholic Church but the Catholic Church does not exhaust or limit the Church of Jesus Christ. In this life, if we want to know what the Church is we look to its clearest manifestation, the Catholic Church. Vatican II beautifully expresses this mystery in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (called Lumen Gentium) when it tells us:

Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body. (8§1)

So when we talk about the Church we speak of an ongoing mystery of the Incarnation. As we see there are various Christians but not all are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Lumen Gentium specifies what is meant by the Catholic Church:

They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion. He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a "bodily" manner and not "in his heart." All the Church's children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged. (14§2)

We are the Church only if we are in Christ and the weight of the Tradition sees the Church as how we are in Christ. As a visible reality the Catholic Church rightly advocates for all Christians the bonds of unity that call us to be one. So even though we believe the Church subsist in the Catholic Church we are called to strive for the unity that is the reality of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that there are certain things required of us in answering this call to unity. The following seven requirements are at the heart of ecumenical unity in the Church. They are:

  • a permanent renewal of the Church in greater fidelity to her vocation; such renewal is the driving-force of the movement toward unity;
  • conversion of heart as the faithful "try to live holier lives according to the Gospel"; for it is the unfaithfulness of the members to Christ's gift which causes divisions;
  • prayer in common, because "change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name 'spiritual ecumenism;"'
  • fraternal knowledge of each other;
  • ecumenical formation of the faithful and especially of priests;
  • dialogue among theologians and meetings among Christians of the different churches and communities;
  • collaboration among Christians in various areas of service to mankind. "Human service" is the idiomatic phrase. (821)

Our present “mystagogia,” our learning by living the mystery as the Church means that we as the Catholic Church must work for the unity of all Christians that Christ demands. The seven requirements help us to realize what it means to be the Church. I invite you to continue your mystagogia by googling the following documents on line: “Lumen Gentium,” “Dominus Jesus” and “The Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Find out what it really means to be the Church