That the Vatican would offer here again ”” as in other texts of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, since 1992, and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church (at n. 817) ”” an ecclesiology of wound, this time at the outset of a text that introduces a gracious provision for itinerant, Catholic-minded Anglicans, should go a long way to alleviate fears of undue and untoward Roman triumphalism. If the one Church of Jesus Christ is wounded by dint of inter-Christian divisions, then the Christians in question must already be caught up in the life of the Body of that Church. The division is rather more intra than inter.
The author needs a basic course in English composition. In fact,
recent articles in The Living Church show a difficult and pondorous
style which is hard to get through. Overwritten.
#1, I agree with you. It’s unclear what this article is trying to say.
On the other hand, it is one of the most rational Episcopal/Anglican responses to the Vatican’s action.
#1 and #2:
THANK YOU. I must confess that I seriously began to doubt my own intellectual capacity. Even after reading this multiple times, I am [i]still[/i] unable to grasp the central thesis.
[blockquote]This apparently means in part that none of us, including Roman Catholics, are yet enjoying the fullness of Catholic communion, a vitally important point that the frequency of the phrase “full communion†in ecumenical literature potentially obscures.[/blockquote]
::sigh:: No; wrong; zero points. Editors of “Living Church,” please do your homework, specifically reading section IV:16-17 of [i] Dominus Jesus,[/i] before opining on matters you do not understand.
For example:
#17
[blockquote]“The Christian faithful are therefore not permitted to imagine that the Church of Christ is nothing more than a collection — divided, yet in some way one — of Churches and ecclesial communities; nor are they free to hold that today the Church of Christ nowhere really exists, and must be considered only as a goal which all Churches and ecclesial communities must strive to reachâ€.64 In fact, “the elements of this already-given Church exist, joined together in their fullness in the Catholic Church and, without this fullness, in the other communitiesâ€.65 [/blockquote]
and,
#16
[blockquote] With the expression subsistit in, the Second Vatican Council sought to harmonize two doctrinal statements: on the one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the divisions which exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only in the Catholic Church, and on the other hand, that “outside of her structure, many elements can be found of sanctification and truthâ€,55 that is, in those Churches and ecclesial communities which are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church.56 But with respect to these, it needs to be stated that “they derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Churchâ€.57 [/blockquote]