MODULE I

THE TRIUNE GOD AS LOVE:

THEOLOGICAL
BASIS OF PROPHETIC DIALOGUE
 PART 3. PROCLAIMING THE WORD AS DIALOGUE BY
THE CHURCH GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT

• A. Catholic Nature and Orientation of the Church

• B. The Missionary Church in History: Lights and Shadows
• C. Today’s Magisterial Church on Catholicity, Inclusivity, and Dialogue
• D. The Asian Church as a Laboratory for the Becoming of a Dialogical Church
• E. Plenary Council of the Philippines on Dialogue
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

A. BACK TO EDM 1: JESUS EMBODIED THE FULLNESS OF THE FATHER’S LOVE > JESUS’
MISSION: TO PROCLAIM BY WORD AND EXAMPLE WHAT THAT FATHER’S LOVE IS
ALL ABOUT.
B. DISCIPLES TO CARRY OUT HIS MISSION (MT. 28:18-20) > SENDING OF THE SPIRIT
(ACTS 2:1-36) > DISCIPLES TRANSFORMED

C. STRIKING: THE DISCIPLES PREACHED IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES SO THAT THE

CROWD WHO CAME FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS WERE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT THEY WERE PREACHING (ACTS 2:1-11) >>>>> CHRISTIANITY’S CATHOLIC
CHARACTER AND ORIENTATION
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

A. CATHOLICITY FROM THE GREEK KATHOLIKOS, WHICH MEANS “PERTAINING TO OR

ORIENTED TO THE WHOLE”
B. IMPLICATION: CHRISTIANITY TO WELCOME DIVERSITY INSIDE THE MOVEMENT

C. DIFFERENTIATED UNITY: ONE GOSPEL, ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM,YET
ITS EXPRESSIONS WOULD TAKE IN A PLURALITY OF FORMS.
D. CULTURAL DIFFERENCE BECAME AN INSTRUMENT FOR A REALIZATION OF A
MORE PROFOUND SPIRITUAL UNITY.
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

RELIGIOUS BASES OF THE CHURCH’S BELIEF ON THE GOODNESS OF DIFFERENCE

A. DOCTRINE OF CREATION

B. DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION
C. DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

CATHOLICITY FROM THE GREEK KATHOLIKOS, WHICH MEANS “PERTAINING TO OR

ORIENTED TO THE WHOLE”
(1) DOCTRINE OF CREATION, THAT IS, SINCE CREATION IS GOOD, THEN DIFFERENCES
IN CREATION MUST BE CELEBRATED;

(2) DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION, THAT IS, GOD, OTHER THAN GOD’S SELF HAS TRULY
BECOME THE OTHER IN JESUS OF NAZARETH;
(3) DOCTRINE OF TRINITY, THAT IS, DIFFERENCES GROUNDED IN THE GOD WHO IS A
TRI-UNITY OF DISTINCT SUBSISTENT RELATIONS.
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

OLD TESTAMENT: TWO CONTRASTING TRADITIONS

A. THE FIRST BELIEVED THAT GOD’S SAVING LOVE WAS EXCLUSIVIST,WHICH WAS LINKED
TO ETHNIC PURITY.
B. THE SECOND VIEWED GOD’S SALVATION AS INCLUSIVE (IS 49:60: SEE ALSO THE BOOKS
OF RUTH AND JONAH).
- The inclusive view was affirmed in Acts whose central theme was the emergence of the church
as a missionary community confident that the gospel is hospitable to all people and cultures
(Acts 1:8).
SO THE CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH IS REVEALED IN AND THROUGH ITS MISSIONARY
MANDATE.
A. CATHOLIC NATURE AND ORIENTATION OF THE CHURCH

ECCLESIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLE OF THE

BIBLICAL ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH:
THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT ERASE DIFFERENCE BUT
RENDERS DIFFERENCE NONDIVISIVE.
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

A. CHRISTIANITY FIRST FLOURISHED IN EUROPE > SPREAD, FIRST TO

THE AMERICAS AND LATER TO AFRICA AND ASIA.
B. BAD (TODAY’S ASSESSMENT): ASSOCIATION WITH THE GLOBAL
EMPIRE BEING ESTABLISHED BY EUROPEAN NATIONS.
C. NONETHELESS -- CHRISTIANITY WAS FROM THE BEGINNING
GLOBAL IN ITS IMPULSE, EMBRACING A CATHOLICITY OPEN TO
CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND, LATER, GEOGRAPHICALLY SPREAD
TO DIVERSE GLOBAL CONTEXTS
D. END OF FIRST MILLENNIUM:
▪ spread of the Islamic cultural revolution > dissolution of many Eastern Christian
communities outside of Byzantium into minority Christian enclaves
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

❑ EUROPEANIZATION OF THE CHURCH PLUS CHURCH MORE

HIERARCHICAL, MORE A CHURCH OF LAWS > SHRUNK SPACE FOR
A GENUINE DIVERSITY OF LOCAL CHURCHES
❑ RELATIONSHIP OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD: CHRISTENDOM
MODEL (SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH AND
EMPIRE FROM THE 16TH TO 19TH CENTURIES)
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

B. REDUCED CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH

1. MISSIONARY WORK RODE THE WAVE OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM.
2. MISSIONARY WORK IN THE AMERICAS WERE SHAPED BY THE
PATRONATUS SYSTEM, WHICH LED TO THE CHURCH’S COMPLICITY IN
MANY ABUSES AND ENSLAVEMENTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
3. ASIA: CHURCH’S MISSIONARY ENDEAVORS WERE NOT SO DIRECTLY
TIED TO MILITARY CONQUEST, BUT NEVERTHELESS DEPENDED ON THE
COLONIAL IMPULSE.
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

B. REDUCED CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH

4. MISSIONARY WORK WAS PRIMARILY CONCERNED
WITH THE QUANTITATIVE EXPANSION OF THE
CHURCH BY WAY OF THE PLANTATIO ECCLESIAE.
5. OPERATIVE CONQUEST PARADIGM DISPARAGED
LOCAL CULTURES AND SOUGHT TO PURGE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THEIR CULTURAL HERITAGE
AS A PRECONDITION TO RECEIVING THE GOSPEL.
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

B. REDUCED CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH

▪ CONQUEST PARADIGM CHALLENGED
▪ Bartolome de Las Cases in Mexico, Matteo Ricci in China, Roberto de Nobili in India,
and Alexandre de Rhodes in Vietnam
▪ Vatican document by the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith (1659)
▪ STILL THOSE WHO ADVOCATED GREATER CULTURAL SENSITIVITY IN MISSION
PRACTICE HAD A NARROW VIEW OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURES AND
THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE:
▪ They presumed an artificial distinction between the cultural and religious practices of
the indigenous peoples, affirming the former while condemning the latter.
▪ There was little sense that these cultures were themselves mediations of God’s grace.
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

B. REDUCED CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH

• CHRISTENDOM BATTERED BY THE FORCES OF
REFORMATION, ENLIGHTENMENT, MODERN SCIENCE,
NATIONALISM, AND REASON
• RESPONSE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: DEFENSIVE SIEGE
MENTALITY APPROACH
• STRENGTHENED BY THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
• INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH’S INTERESTS THREATENED >
ECCLESIAL PATERNALISM VIS-À-VIS THE LARGER SOCIETY
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

B. REDUCED CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH SAD LOSS:

• Capacity to learn from the world

• Sense of the Church’ catholicity as an embrace of peoples’
and cultural diversity
• Capacity for a respectful dialogue within and outside of the
church
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS: VATICAN II
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• C. Today’s Magisterial Church on Catholicity, Inclusivity, and

Dialogue
❑ Vatican II:
❑ theological significance of diverse human cultures, i.e. the Spirit of
God has been and continues to operate in these cultures.
❑ “Dialogue’ in virtually every page of the Vatican II documents
❑ The dialogical vision of the church biblically and theologically
founded on the Trinitarian shape of both creation (there’s so much
diversity in it) and divine revelation (God reveals himself to other
cultures).
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

❑ church’s catholicity: unity-in-diversity.

❑ Net of catholicity extended to all Christian peoples, Jews,
Muslims, practitioners of other great religious traditions,
spiritual seekers, and men and women of goodwill.
❑ Part of the church’s task: to transform the world without
negating the positive features of contemporary society.

•
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

❑ Missiological orientation of the church: “The church on earth

by its very nature missionary since, according to the plan of
the Father, it has its origin in the mission of the Son and the
holy Spirit” (Ad Gentes 2).
❑ How does Vatican II now see the relationship between the
saving gospel and human culture?
• Answer: the saving gospel, the foundation of Christian
unity, must find expression in and through human culture.

•
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

❑ Enduring legacy of Vatican II: unswerving

commitment to dialogue among the human family
(Gerard Mannion).
❑ God must become Asian or African, black or
brown, poor or sophisticated…(Stephen Bevans)
•
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• D. The Asian Church as a Laboratory for the Becoming of a

Dialogical Church
• 1. Dialogue is not one event to be placed alongside the work
of evangelization. Both are properly pursued.
• 2. Three-fold dialogue: with the poor, with the religious
traditions of the region, with local cultures
• 3. Foundation of FABC’s theology of dialogue: the Spirit is
actively at work beyond the boundaries of the church
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• 4. Different levels of dialogue

• dialogue of life, more than formal dialogues with
religious leaders
• dialogue of action: willingness to work together for
justice based on common values but accompanied
by theological reflection (praxis)
• dialogue of discourse, formal conversations between
religious leaders and theologians
• dialogue of spirituality, sharing of religious
experience
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• 5. Mission of the church oriented in the first

instance to the furthering of God’s reign (not the
salvation of souls)
• 6. Authentic dialogue: when the Christian
conversation partner is free to share his or her
most profound convictions regarding the gracious
love of God that has come to our world in Jesus
Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• E. Plenary Council of the Philippines on Dialogue

❑ Between clergy and laity (Art 43): “Dialogue – one that is open to the
promptings of the Holy Spirit – should be encouraged between clergy and
laity.”
❑ Between religious and pastoral program planners (Art 62 #1):
“Mechanism on the national and the diocesan level should be set up to
promote regular dialogue between religious and planners of pastoral programs
in order to promote more fruitful collaboration.”
❑ To solve conflicts (Art 15): “Catholic moral formation must be considered as
an essential component of Catholic formation with emphasis given to the
values of justice and charity, love of preference of the poor, and dialogue as a
way of resolving conflicts.”
B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

❑ Inter-religious dialogue (nos. 110-115)

• + Reality of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian
elements among the Chinese and the presence of
Muslims > necessity of interreligious dialogue as an
imperative of mission
• + Appreciate inter-religious dialogue as a way of
seeing in our brothers and sisters a “ray of that
truth which enlightens all men.”
 B. CATHOLIC CHURCH AS MISSIONARY IN HISTORY:
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

• E. Plenary Council of the Philippines on Dialogue

+ Dialogue task requiring two movements:
1st – deeper knowledge and appreciation of our faith
2nd – openness in understanding the religious
convictions of others
+ Model: Muslims and Christians in Mindanao living and
working together (dialogue of life) > building of a just
society (common cause)
“We in the Church must be the first to start in undoing
past effects of our mutual grievances” (n. 115)
STUDENTS’ ACTIVITY (NEXT SESSION)

• As a Carolinian student, where do you place yourself vis-à-vis the current

perspective of the Catholic Church on its missionary nature and
orientation?
• Do you have any questions on the topic of the Catholic Church’s
missionary nature and orientation?