In God’s Sheepfold

Sketch of Class Notes for Pastoral

Theology

Herman Joseph Kalungi

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Historical Development of the Discipline of Pastoral Theology

The scientific study of pastoral theology can be considered to have begun in 1774,
when Empress Maria Teresa of Austria asked the Benedictine monk Franz Stephan
Rautenstrauch (1734-1785) to reform theological studies. The focus was on the duties of
priests.

Towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, with Johann
Michael Sailer (1751-1832), known as the Father of Pastoral Theology in the Catholic world,
the discipline takes on a historical-salvific nature. The objective was to form priests in such a
way that they might be in best position to promote the personal relationship of the faithful
with Christ.

In the 19th century, F. Schleiermacher (1768-1834) considers all theology to be

fundamentally practical. Consequently, “Practical Theology” would be the apex of all
theology. With the School of Tubingen, Practical Theology acquires an ecclesiological
character. A. Graf (1814-1867) understands Practical Theology as the science of the Church’s
self-edification. This edification is not a task of the Church’s pastors alone, but of all the
faithful. K. Rahner (1904-1984) considers Pastoral Theology as the science of the Church’s
self-realisation.

The Second Vatican Council issued sixteen documents, of which the four
constitutions are the most important. The centre and key for understanding all these
documents is the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, in which the Council focuses on the
being of the Church. In the other three constitutions, the Council focuses on the action of the
Church: Dei verbum on the Word of God, Sacrosanctum concilium on the liturgy and
Gaudium et spes on the Church’s activity in the world.

The Council explains that “Since the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament –
a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men – she here
[i.e., in the Council] purposes, for the benefit of the faithful and of the whole world, to set
forth, as clearly as possible, and in the tradition laid down by earlier Councils, her own nature
and universal mission.”1 Two principal implications derive from this conciliar affirmation:
first, the principal objective of the Council was not merely to guard the deposit of faith but,
rather, to transmit it; secondly, there is a distinction between the deposit of the faith and the
modes of transmitting it. We can identify two further implications: first, there is a need to

1
LG, n. 1: Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation ‘Dei Verbum,’
18 November 1965,” in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, ed. Austin Flannery
(Mumbai: St. Pauls, 2004), 320.

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find adequate modes for evangelisation, and, secondly, there is no room for separation
between “transmission of doctrine” and “pastoral activity” in the Church’s pastoral action.

1.2 The Material and Formal Object of Pastoral Theology

Pastoral Theology is a part of the Theology of Mission. Other parts include

Ecumenical Theology and the Theology of the Mission Ad gentes.

It is practical theology, but it is primarily speculative, because primarily it studies God

and his work. It is practical because it studies man’s collaboration with God. It is not
legitimate, in any case, to separate doctrine from action in the study of Pastoral Theology.
Furthermore, in studying man’s collaboration with God, the focus is not on the action of the
clerics alone but, rather, on the action of the entire people of God.

Within this context of Pastoral Theology, it is important not to confuse (pastoral)

action with physical activity. Rather, action here refers primarily to the salvific action of God,
and then the correspondence of the Church and of each Christian with the divine action.
Consequently, authentic pastoral action begins with prayer and contemplation, as St
Josemaría would say: “First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place – very much ‘in the
third place’ – action.”2

The Church’s pastoral action is founded on the missions of the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Consequently, Pastoral Theology is the theological reflection on the Church’s self-
edification through her correspondence with the salvific action of the Trinitarian persons.

Pastoral Theology can be defined as the theological study of the Church’s action from
the point of view of the action itself. Its material object is the Church’s action, while its
formal object quod (the point of view) is the “here and now” of the Church’s edification (that
is, the Church’s action itself), and the formal object quo (that is, the instrument) is reason
enlightened by faith. Its sources are Sacred Scripture; the teachings of the ecclesial
Magisterium; the writings of the Church Fathers, saints, theologians and other ecclesiastical
writers; the human sciences and the historical-social context.

2. THE TRINITARIAN FOUNDATION

OF THE CHURCH’S PASTORAL MISSION

The mission of the Church is founded on the joint mission of the Son and the Holy
Spirit, from which missions the Church receives her relation with the Trinity. For this reason,
Pastoral Theology, and Theology of Mission in general, must pay attention to the trinitarian
missions.

2.1 The Father sending the Son and the Holy Spirit

2
The Way, n. 82: Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, The Way; Furrow; The Forge (Makati City: Sinag-Tala
Publishers, n.d.), 19.

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 Right from the beginning of creation, the Father executes his works through the Son
and the Holy Spirit.3 As the three persons act inseparably within the Godhead, so do they in
their extra-trinitarian works. For this reason, the missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit are
inseparable. As such,

(1) The Father anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, and sent him preach the good news
(see Lk 4:18-21). Christ, “the Anointed,” became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and possesses the Holy Spirit (see Lk 1:35), and

(2) Christ gives his Spirit without measure (see Jn 3:34).

According to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, the anointing of Christ implies that there is no
distance, no separation, between the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the same way that there is no
distance between the body and the oil by which it is anointed.4

2.2. Jesus Christ, sent by the Father to shepherd his People

Jesus, “whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world” (Jn 10:36) presents
himself as the good shepherd of God’s people (see Jn 10:11-18). Anointed with the Holy
Spirit, Jesus announced the Kingdom of God, present in his own person, and fully revealed
the Father and his saving plan for men.

2.2.1. The Establishment of the Kingdom of God

After his resurrection, Jesus fulfilled his promise of sending the Holy Spirit upon his
disciples. “From this source the Church, equipped with the gifts of its Founder … receives
the mission to proclaim and to spread among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God
and to be, on earth, the initial budding forth of that kingdom.”5

The Church’s mission is, thus, a participation in the mission of Jesus Christ, by the
working of the Holy Spirit. She participates of Christ’s triplex office of priest, prophet and
king, being constituted as a priestly, prophetic and kingly people.6

The Church participates of Christ’s mission through her union with him, whose
mystical body she is. Bearing this in mind can be a help in overcoming the tendency of
conceiving the Church’s mission in a monistic fashion or, on the contrary, in a dualistic
fashion.

3
Gen 1:2; 2:7; Ps 33:6; 104:30; Ez 37:10.
4
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, De Spirito Sancto, 3,1.
5
LG, n. 5.
6
LG, nn. 11, 12, 27, 31, 34, 35.

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 The monistic conception arises when, exaggerating the historical dimension implied
by the image of the Church as the “People of God,” the Church’s mission is conceived as
exclusively temporal. In this way, the Church’s role ends up being reduced to social, political
or economic activism. Some liberation theologies, for example, seem to suffer from this
tendency.

The dualistic conception, instead, so separates the spiritual and the temporal
dimensions of the Church’s mission that there seems to be no connection between the two.

In reality, the Church has only one mission, whose purpose is the salvation of souls.
For that very reason, she takes interest both in the spiritual well-being of men and in the
temporal conditions in which they have to receive the gift of salvation. Her interest in these
temporal affairs is, in any case, from the religious perspective.

a mission of a primarily religious nature, which takes interest in the temporal

problems of men from this religious perspective. The purpose of the Church’s mission is the
salvation of souls. She however, cannot ignore the temporal conditions in which men live, in
which they have to strive for their salvation. Rather, she takes interest in those conditions, in
view of the salvation of souls.

2.2.2 Jesus, the Good Shepherd of God’s Flock

Sacred Scripture presents God as the Shepherd of Israel (see Ps 23; 80:1; Is 40:11; Ez
34:11-31). In his turn, Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd of God’s flock (see Mt
9:36-38; Mk 6:34; 14:27-28; 10:6; Jn 10:1-21).

Saint Peter’s first letter, the Letter to the Hebrews and the Book of Revelation refer
describe Jesus as the Shepherd of God’s people. 1 Pt 2:25; 5:3) describes him as the
“Shepherd and Guardian” of the souls of Christians, while Heb 13:20 refers to him as “the
Great Shepherd of the sheep,” and Rev 7:17 declares that “the Lamb in the midst of the
throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who freely lays down his life, and takes it up again, for
his flock (see Jn 10:14-18). He gives life to his flock by freely submitting to death to
suffering and death, and by rising again from the dead.

For this reason, the Eucharist and the other sacraments are privileged moments
through which Christ exercises his pastoral mission. Through the Eucharist, the sacrifice of
Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection is continually made present in the Church for the
faithful to partake of its infinite fruitfulness. Through the other sacraments, the fruits of that
sacrifice are applied to the faithful in different moments of their spiritual journey.

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 The New Testament also describes Peter and the others who preside over the Christian
community as shepherds (see Jn 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pt 5:3). It is their role to feed God’s
flock, to safeguard its unity, the guard it.

However, since all pastoral action is a participation in Jesus’ pastoral mission, only in
him is it possible to exercise authentic pastoral action. He is the only door, through which
every authentic shepherd must pass (see Jn 10:1-7; 15:1-17).

Furthermore, “even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28, see Mk 10:45), all authentic participation in his
pastoral mission implies requires giving one’s own life, in intimate communion with Christ,
for the others. This self-donation is made through humble service of the others, and also
implies suffering, which suffering may, in some cases, even reach the point of physical
martyrdom (see Mt 20:20-28; Mk 10:35-45; Jn 21:15-19).

2.2 Christ’s Triplex Munus

Jesus’ three offices (tria munera) as priest, prophet and king are in reality distinct but
inseparable dimensions of his saving mission. Consequently, it is more appropriate to speak
of a triplex munus.

Through this triplex office, Christ takes up the three principle functions within the
Chosen People of the Old Testament. These three functions were the prophets, the kings and
the priests, and they – especially in the case of priests and kings – were the object of special
anointing.

Christ, anointed with the Holy Spirit, takes up these offices in his one messianic
mission. He is the way (king), the truth (prophet) and the life (priest) (see Jn 14:6).

2.2.1 Christ’s Priestly Ministry

The priestly or cultic mission presides over the three dimensions of Christ’s saving
mission. For this reason, his prophetic and kingly office can also be described as priestly
prophesy and priestly kingship, respectively.

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 The Letter to the Hebrews strongly affirms that Christ is the only High Priest in the
true sense of the word. The Messiah’s priesthood was already prophesied in the Old
Testament (see Ps 110), and it was also prophesied that it would be through suffering that he
would save his people (see Isaiah’s poems of the “Servant of Yahweh”). Jesus fulfilled his
priestly mission by offering up his entire life – culminating in his suffering, death and
resurrection – as a sacrifice.

According to Heb 5:1, a priest is (1) taken from among men, (2) by God, (3) instituted
on behalf of men, (4) to present offering and sacrifices for sin. All these characteristics are
fulfilled in Christ. He is truly man, called by God, consecrated and offers the sacrifice of his
own life.

Christ’s priesthood is founded on his consecration, on his anointing with the Holy
Spirit. This consecration took place in the moment of the Incarnation, through the grace of
union.

The value of Christ’s sacrifice is infinite. This is because of the divinity of the priest
who offers it, Christ himself, and of the victim whom he offers, his own self.

For the same reason, his priesthood is unique and eternal. His sacrifice is unique and
unrepeatable, and its effects – the glorification of God and the salvation of men – remain
forever and extend to all times and places. When the Eucharist is celebrated, Christ’s sacrifice
is not repeated but, rather, made present so that the faithful can participate in it in all times
and places.

Christ’s is a heavenly priesthood. Having, once and for all, offered the sacrifice of
himself, he is now seated at the right hand of God in heaven, interceding for us.

Christ’s priesthood is the source of the supernatural life of Christians. For this reason,
the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, through which this priesthood is continually made
present in the Church, are the centre of Christian life and of the Church’s pastoral mission.

2.2.2 Christ’s Prophetic Ministry

Christ is the prophet par excellens (see Deut 18:15) because he is the full revelation of
the Father (Col 2:9). For this reason, Christ is the Master, who teaches by his own authority
(see Jn 13:13), the revealer, who alone knows and reveals the Father to whomever he pleases
(Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22). He is the eschatological prophet, the supreme witness to the truth.

2.2.3 Christ’s kingly (pastoral) ministry

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 Christ is the head and king of the Church and of the entire universe, and it is he who
has the power to save all (see Mt 28:18). His power, however, is not political, as some of his
contemporaries thought, nor is it a mere metaphor. Rather, he is the supreme Legislator and
Judge of all. His authority consists, above all, in service.

2.4 The Church’s actualisation of Christ’s priestly, prophetic and royal ministry

“Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and
established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three
offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them.”7

All Christians, insofar as they are members of Christ’s body, participate in his triplex
office. The sacred ministers, in addition, participate in it in a peculiar way, through the sacred
power that they have received for the service of their brethren.8

Through their common priesthood, all the baptised receive, as a gift and, at the same
time, as a task, a participation in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and royal office. They are called
to serve their brothers, and to unite all creation to God in Christ. Christians are called upon to
convert their entire lives into a pleasing sacrifice to God, in Christ.

The sacred ministers, in addition, act in a way that is essentially distinct from the
common priesthood of all the baptised. They act in the person of Christ, head and shepherd of
his Church.

2.5 The Charisms, Given by the Holy Spirit for the Mission

The image of the Church as the Temple of the Holy Spirit highlights the role of the
Holy Spirit in the Church. He infuses in it the different charisms (from “charis,” which
means, grace/gift). According to Vatican II,

It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy
Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, ‘allotting his
gifts to everyone according as He wills,’ He distributes special graces among the faithful of
every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and
offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the
words of the Apostle: ‘The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit.’ These
charisms, whether they be the more outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are
7
CCC, n. 783.
8
LG, n. 18.

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to be received with thanksgiving and consolation for they are perfectly suited to and useful
for the needs of the Church.9

The charisms, therefore, are gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the Church. Their
unity, diversity and complementarity serve to build up the Church in unity. Their role is, for
this reason, dependent on the structure itself of the Church. For this reason, there is no
possibility of licit contraposition between the Church as an institution and the charisms freely
given by the Holy Spirit.

3. THE OBJECT AND PURPOSE OF THE MISSION

In the foregoing chapter we reflected on the divine origin of the Church’s mission. In
the present chapter we seek to answer questions of the kind: “Why did the Father send his
Son and the Holy Spirit to men?” “What does salvation actually mean, and of what
importance is it in the Church?” “What does our present life have to do with our meta-
historical future?”

3.1 The Object of the Mission: The Communication of Supernatural Life to Man

The Church’s mission is to unite each and every human being to Christ, to the Saviour
who leads man to that perfect happiness which every man desires.

“God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals,
without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as
one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness.”10 For
this reason, salvation implies communion with all the others that are united to Christ.

3.2 The Glory of God as the End of the Mission

The end of the Church’s mission is the recapitulation of all things in Christ, through
the action of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father (see Eph 1:3-12). The glory of
God and the salvation of man are not two different ends but, rather, two distinct dimensions
of one and the same mission of the Church. As Saint Ireneaus wrote, “Gloria enim Dei vivens
homo, vita autem hominis visio Dei” (For the glory of God is the living man, and the life of
man is the vision of God).11

9
LG, n. 12.
10
LG 9.
11
Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, Book 4, Chapter 34, Section 7.

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 The Church glorifies God either mediately or immediately. She glorifies him
mediately through her relation with temporal realities. She glorifies him immediately in two
distinct ways: that is, objectively and subjectively.

God is objectively glorified in the Church insofar as his holiness shining through her
(see Eph 1:5-14). However, on account of the sins and defects of her children, the Church
also partly veils God’s glory.

The Church subjectively glorifies God when she consciously adores and praises him
in the Liturgy. This is the Church’s most important task. Its “summit and source” is the
celebration of the Holy Eucharist.12

3.3 The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Jesus dedicated his public ministry to announcing and establishing the Kingdom of
God. He also declared that its attainment should be the topmost priority of man: “But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt
6:33).

When we, Christians, pray “Thy Kingdom come,” we declare that the Kingdom of
God is not an individualistic or purely spiritual reality but, rather, is a family, a communion,
of all those who are united with God in Christ. We also declare that the primacy of God and
his love is the topmost priority of our existence.

However, only those who open themselves God’s love and live according to the
beatitudes can attain the Kingdom. For this reason, the attainment of the Kingdom requires a
metanoia – a radical conversion – on the part of man: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).

By all means, the Kingdom is a free gift of God, which man cannot attain it by his
own efforts alone. Rather, only those who humbly accept it like little children can receive:
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter
it” (Mk 10:15, see also Lk 18:17).

During Christ’s earthly pilgrimage, the Kingdom was present in him but only visible
to those who believed. Ever since his death and resurrection, the Kingdom has already come
in power (see Mk 16:28), but it is not yet fully consummated. Rather, it is still under the
forms of the present world. As such, it is a mystery whose reality can only be explained
through parables and images.

1212
LG 11, see CCC 1324.

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3.4 The Church and the Kingdom of God

According to Vatican II, “the Church … receives the mission to proclaim and to
spread among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God and to be, on earth, the initial
budding forth of that kingdom.”13

Without being completely identical, the Church and the Kingdom of God are already
mysteriously and inseparably present in the world, and they keep growing and being purified
until the end of time. The Church is like a sign and instrument of the Kingdom of God. As it
grows, so does the Kingdom of God also grow, even outside the visible confines of the
ecclesial institution.

The Church is not a theocracy, nor is it a merely intra-historical institution, nor is the
Kingdom of God purely spiritual and interior, nor is eschatologism acceptable. The theocratic
view considers the Church as the incarnation of the Kingdom of God. Instead, the naturalist
or temporalist consideration would confine the Church within history. Another extreme is the
reduction of the Kingdom of God to a purely interior reality that would have nothing to do
with the visible Church and with any manifestation of the Christian faith in social and public
life. Eschatologism, instead, would declare the Kingdom of God to be completely outside
history.

The Kingdom of God, rather, is a pneumatic reality. It is united and vivified by the
Holy Spirit, to establish the sovereignty of God in the entire cosmos by recapitulating all
things in Christ. It is, above all, in the heart of man that the Kingdom of God is built.

The sacramental sign par excellence of the Kingdom is the Eucharist. In this
sacrament, the Holy Spirit, through the ministry of the Church, transubstantiates material
elements of this world into the Body and Blood of Christ. This is “the cosmic character” of
the Eucharist.14

3.5 The Eschatological Nature of the Church’s Mission

The consummation of the Kingdom of God will take place at the second coming of
Christ, with the full manifestation of God’s glory. This event will, however, not be the
culmination of the progressive christianisation of earthly realities but, rather, will come all of
a sudden. Christ will then extend his Lordship to all men, granting them a participation in his
Kingdom.

The Church, as it is now, is the means for the establishment of the Kingdom of God,
but is not the end in itself. For this reason, the temporal realities, which are supposed to be

13
LG, n. 5.
14
Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 8.

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incorporated in the Kingdom of God, are, nonetheless, not directed to form part of the Church
as an institution. This is the foundation of their legitimate autonomy.

Even then the Church has the mission of working for the establishment of the
Kingdom of God in the world, in spite of the fact that the Kingdom of God comes as a gift
from on high.. In particular, the lay faithful have the mission of working for the construction
of the Kingdom of God in the temporal realities of the world.

4. THE CHURCH AS THE SUBJECT OF THE PASTORAL MISSION

The “Christus totus, caput et corpus (the whole Christ, head and body)”15 – to use St.
Augustine’s famous expression – is the single and undivided subject of the pastoral mission.
However, within this single mystical person, Christ, as head, has distributed a particular role
– with the necessary gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit in order to fulfil the role – to each
of the different members. As St. Paul puts it,

He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he
might fill all things. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the
work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph 1:10-13).

In this chapter, our object is to examine, first, how the Church, Christ’s mystical body,
as a single subject acts in carrying out the mission. Attention will then be paid to how the
individual Christians, as multiple subjects, organically complement each other as distinct
members of the same mystical body.

4.1 The Church as an Organic Subject of the Pastoral Mission

The Church comes forth from God’s trinitarian love as a mystery of saving
communion of men with God. As a sign and instrument of salvation, her mission is to actuate
her own structure in uniting men to God.

This implies, presupposing the missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, that the entire
Church is a single subject of the pastoral mission. All her members – sacred ministers,
consecrated souls, lay faithful – together form a single subject of the pastoral mission.

15
Augustine, On the Epistle of John, 1.2.

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 Informed by the life of grace that she receives from God through the trinitarian
missions, the Church behaves like a living organism in the execution of her mission. As in a
living organism, different members in the Church perform different functions, all of which
are, in a certain way, equally important.

Even as they are equally important, however, there is a certain hierarchy among the
functions within the Church, for they are articulated in such a way that some are dependent
on others. The Church, as the historical subject of the pastoral mission, is an organic subject,
which functions in a living and articulated way. It is thus that, through her structure, and
through both sacramental and charismatic means, she receives supernatural life from the
Trinity and communicates it to her members.

Although the Church as a whole is the single and undivided subject of the pastoral
mission, it is the individual Christians that are responsible for that mission. In its essence, in
fact, the Church is a communion of persons, that is, of human persons with divine persons.
Consequently, it is to these persons that the responsibility for fulfilling the Church’s mission
concretely falls, each one according to his particular vocation.

It is as a sacred and organically structured priestly community16 that the Church is

subject of the pastoral mission. For this reason, it is through their participation in Christ’s
priesthood that Christians participate in this mission, “through the sacraments and the
exercise of the virtues.”17

On the other hand, the three sacraments that imprint indelible characters impart two
distinct modes of participating in the priesthood of Christ and, thus, in the pastoral mission of
the Church. Through Baptism, all the faithful receive the gift of the common or baptismal
priesthood, which is afterwards reinforced through the sacrament of Confirmation. Through
the sacrament of Holy Orders, the ordained faithful receive the gift of the ministerial or
hierarchical priesthood. Vatican II explains, however, that “though they differ from one
another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the
ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own
special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.”18

4.2 The Collaboration of the Common Priesthood and the Ministerial Priesthood in the
Church’s Pastoral Mission

In the Church, the common priesthood enjoys substantial priority over the ministerial
priesthood. This is because the Church is substantially a communion of supernatural life, of
grace, animated by charity, which are aspects of the common priesthood.

16
LG, n. 11.
17
LG, n. 11.
18
LG, n. 10.

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 On the other hand, the ministerial priesthood has enjoys a functional priority over the
common priesthood. This is because it is the most important function within in the Church,
since it communicates grace from God, which grace the community cannot confer upon itself.

As a consequence of the foregoing, the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the

common priesthood, and not the other way round. In reality, both the sacred ministers and the
other faithful are at each other’s service: “pastors of the Church, following the example of the
Lord, should minister to one another and to the other faithful. These in their turn should
enthusiastically lend their joint assistance to their pastors and teachers.”19

4.2.1 The Collaboration of All the Faithful in the Pastoral Mission

All the baptized are anointed by the Holy Spirit to collaborate in the Church’s
mission, each one according to his or her particular vocation:

“The Christian faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated in Christ
through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they have
become sharers in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal office in their own manner, they are
called to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in
accord with the condition proper to each one.”20

The faithful, thus, collaborate in the pastoral mission by exercising the priestly office,
the prophetic office and the royal office.

They exercise the priestly office in two distinct ways: through the offering of their
own life, and through the celebration of the sacraments. When Christians live in the state of
grace and employ themselves, in union with Christ, in fulfilling their ordinary duties and
doing good works, all these acts of theirs, their entire life, becomes a pleasing offering to
God, in union with the Eucharistic sacrifice. When they celebrate the sacraments, Christ
himself acts in them and through them. In particular, when they receive the Eucharist, they
unite themselves to his self-offering, and participate in his mission.

The faithful exercise the prophetic office through the sensus fidei (the sense of the
faith) and the charisms. The sense of the faith enables them to adhere to the faith, and to
comprehend it ever more profoundly, and to give witness to it through their words and their
example. Instead, the charisms, which are special graces – different from habitual grace, the
sacraments, the ministries, the virtues and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit – are given by the
Holy Spirit for the edification of the Church: “Whether extraordinary or simple and humble,

19
LG, n. 32.
20
CCC 871; CIC, can. 204 § 1; see. LG 31.

15
charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered
as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world.”21

The faithful exercise the royal office by dedicating themselves to the service of their
fellowmen. Through the fulfilment of their ordinary duties, according to the particular
vocation of each one, and through their efforts at illuminating all human realities with truth
and charity, especially in favour of the poor and the weak, Christians show participate in the
mission of Christ, who came “not to be served but to serve” (Mt 20:28).

4.2.2 The Collaboration of the Sacred Pastors in the Pastoral Mission

Vatican II highlights the truth that “that duty, which the Lord committed to the
shepherds of His people, is a true service, which in sacred literature is significantly called
‘diakonia’ or ministry.”

This service is identified as the triplex office of teaching, sanctifying and governing
God’s people in the name, the power and the person of Christ the head and shepherd of his
flock.

Teaching is the first duty of the bishops22 and their collaborators – the priests and
deacons – because without it people cannot live the faith nor celebrate the sacraments. The
Church’s Magisterium has received the mission of authentically preaching the faith and
whatever is related to the faith. God has even endowed the Magisterium with the charism of
infallibility, when it solemnly defines matters of faith and morals, or when the bishops are
unanimous in their ordinary teachings regarding any matter of faith or morality.

The sacred ministers sanctify God’s people through their prayers, their preaching and
all their other activities. Above all, they fulfil this duty through the celebration of the
sacraments, most especially the Eucharist.23

The sacred ministers have received the mission of governing the people of God. They
fulfil this mission through the exercise of the sacred authority and power that they have
received, and through their example and their advice. The pope and the bishops receive this
sacred power and authority as vicars and ambassadors of Christ, while the priests and
deacons participate of it as collaborators of the bishops.24

4.2.3 The Participation of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Work of the Sacred Pastors

21
CCC, n. 799.
22
LG, n. 25.
23
LG, n. 26.
24
LG, n. 27.

16
 Non-ordained faithful, both lay and religious, can be called upon to collaborate in
some duties closely linked to the work of the sacred ministers. They can assist in teaching the
faith, presiding over the celebration of certain liturgical acts, governing other faithful. 25

This assistance rendered to the sacred pastors does not convert the non-ordained
faithful into pastors. For this reason, these faithful must formally receive official delegation
from the sacred pastors, and their service should be supervised by the ecclesiastical authority.
Furthermore, in referring to the services rendered by these non-ordained faithful, terminology
such as “pastor,” “chaplain” and others that could confuse their function with those of the
ordained ministers should be avoided.

The non-ordained faithful are also called upon, in view of their baptism, to witness to
the Word of God. They are particularly called upon to help in catechesis. They can also be
called upon to help in preaching, but not during the homily at Mass.26

The non-ordained faithful can be called upon to help in some liturgical duties
ordinarily reserved to ordained ministers. In case of urgent necessity, for example, a non-
ordained faithful can serve as an extraordinary minister of Baptism. In certain conditions,
after obtaining the favourable vote of the Episcopal Conference and the mandate of the Holy
See, the diocesan bishop can delegate suitable lay faithful to serve as qualified witnesses for
the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. In case of scarcity of ordained ministers, the non-ordained
faithful can preside over the celebration of funerals.

However, the non-ordained faithful should not pronounce liturgical words, carry out
liturgical gestures or use liturgical vestments reserved to the sacred ministers. The Sunday
celebrations in the absence of the priest should always be done in accordance with the
Church’s regulations, and any confusion with the Mass should be avoided. They are always
but a temporary solution.

Non ordained faithful can serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. In

addition to the instituted acolytes, who are extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the
bishop can delegate – temporarily or definitively – a non-ordained minister to help in
distributing Holy Communion, even outside Mass. Their help is called upon when there are
not enough ordinary ministers of Holy Communion (priests and deacons), or when these are
impeded from carrying out that ministry. In any case, the extraordinary ministers should not
distribute Holy Communion to themselves as if they were concelebrants.

Non-ordained faithful can be called upon, in case of pressing need, to participate in

the pastoral ministry of the priests. However, they cannot be the directors of parish activity.
They can form part of both the diocesan and parish pastoral councils, but not of the council of
priests. They can also form part of groups of experts for the study of particular questions.

25
AA, n. 24. Here in Uganda, the catechists stand out in this regard.
26
CIC, can. 766.

17
 The collaboration of the non-ordained faithful is of particularly great importance in
the spiritual attention of the sick. They do help the sick to ask for the sacraments of Penance
and the Anointing of the sick.

In all these cases, the non ordained faithful who collaborate in the duties of the sacred
ministers should be of sound doctrine and of exemplary moral conduct. They should also be
given adequate formation.

4.3 The Specific Collaboration of the Lay Faithful and the Religious in the Pastoral
Mission

Secular life and religious life are the two great currents of the charisms which the
Holy Spirit pours out on the Christian faithful. These currents modify the basic conditions of
“baptised faithful” and “sacred minister/sacred pastor” which Christians receive through the
sacraments which imprint character. In this way, three fundamental ecclesiological positions
or vocations arise among Christians: the lay faithful (secular, non-ordained, faithful), the
religious and the sacred ministers. Some religious may also be ordained and, hence, be sacred
ministers as well.

4.3.1 The Specific Collaboration of the Lay Faithful

According to the Second Vatican Council, “what specifically characterizes the laity is
their secular nature.”27 Although the entire Church has a secular dimension,28 the lay faithful
participate of this secularity in a peculiar way. Thus, while the sacred ministers can at times
be engaged in secular activities, “they are by reason of their particular vocation especially
and professedly ordained to the sacred ministry.”29 Similarly, the religious live a certain
detachment from the world, and “give splendid and striking testimony that the world cannot
be transformed and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes.”30

But the laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in
temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the
world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live
in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of
their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper
function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the

27
LG, n. 31.
28
John Paul II, Christifideles laici (1987), n. 15.
29
LG, n. 31.
30
LG, n. 31.

18
 world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others,
especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity.31

Thus, what specifically characterises the laity is that, by the very nature of their
vocation, they live in the world and occupy themselves with temporal affairs, ordering these
affairs to the glory of God.

This secular nature characterises the participation of the lay faithful in the Church’s
mission. They participate in Christ’s priestly office by offering themselves and all their
activities, in union with the Eucharistic sacrifice, to God through Christ. Thus, they
consecrate the world to God. They participate in Christ’s prophetic office by testifying to
their faith through their words and their way of life, with naturalness, in their ordinary family,
professional, social and political life. They participate in Christ’s royal mission by ordering
the realities of this world, with the help of God’s grace, to the true good of men.

In order to fulfil their mission, the lay faithful need to be formed adequately. In
concrete, they need to be helped to appreciate the true nature of their vocation, and to be
stimulated and guided to fulfil their mission. The principal means of this formation are
listening to the Word of God, meditating it (e.g., Lectio divina), prayer and spiritual direction.
This formation should help the lay faithful to acquire that unity of life (that is, living their
entire lives – 24 hours – for God) without which they cannot fulfil their mission.

4.3.2 The Specific Collaboration of the Religious

The religious state is characterised as a publicly recognised and stable way of life,
usually lived in common, in which the demands of the Christian vocation are lived through
the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.32 The religious
offer a great variety of services to the Church and the world, depending on the particular
charism of the religious institute in question.

Although religious life “is not the hierarchical structure of the Church, [it]
nevertheless, undeniably belongs to its life and holiness.”33 It is a gift of God the Father,
through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, to the Church. By following the narrower path of the
public profession of the evangelical counsels, the religious “encourage their brethren by their
example, and bear striking witness ‘that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God
without the spirit of the beatitudes.’”34

31
LG, n. 31.
32
Perfectae Caritatis, n. 1.
33
LG, n. 44.
34
CCC, n. 932, see LG 31.

19
5. THE CHALLENGES OF THE SECTS, WITCHCRAFT, SYNCRETISM

For oral discussion in class

6. PASTORAL ACTIVITY

“Pastoral activity” refers to the activity of the Church ad intra, that is, towards her
own members. This pastoral activity takes place through expressions of faith, liturgical
expressions and expressions of ecclesial life. Different epochs of the Church’s history have
laid emphasis on different aspects of these expressions.

6.1 Historical Overview

The first Christians had a particularly strong awareness of the proximity of Our Lord’s
second coming, and of the mystery of the Church as his Mystical Body. In this context,
Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Pastoral activity was soon organised around the three
ministries of the Word, the liturgy and the service and governance. The universal Church was
viewed prevalently as a constellation of local churches. She was also considered as the
Mother Church, who generates and nourishes her children through the Word and the
sacraments.

When, between the years 300 and 450, the Church was freed from the condition of
clandestinity to which she had been condemned by persecutions perpetrated by civil
authorities, pastoral activity continued to be centred on the three ministries, according to the
new circumstances. Catechetical schools were formed; the celebration of the liturgy was
more streamlined, and pastoral-missionary attention and the service of charity, were better
organised at the social level.

In the middle Ages, the consideration of the Church as Mother and Spouse
progressively gives way to the vision of the Church as an institution, as the Queen whose
mission it is to spread the Gospel throughout the world. The Pope is the supreme authority,
and the development of canon law seeks to ensure the Church’s freedom and her political
supremacy. Due to great centralisation, the bishops came to be considered vicars of the Pope.
The relationship between the hierarchy and the rest of the faithful turned into a relationship
between rulers and ruled. Theological reflection got separated from pastoral work. Because of
the poor formation of the clergy, preaching and catechesis lost importance, and the
transmission of the faith was left to the families. As for the celebration of the liturgy, the
contrasts between the different liturgical rites obscured its essential nucleus. The resulting

20
liturgical confusion forced people to take refuge in private devotions, which also favoured
religious individualism.

The Council of Trent (1545-1563) gave a great impulse to the much needed renewal
of the Church, which had started a little before. Its ordinances and teachings greatly improved
discipline among the clergy; improved the formation of the clergy (it decreed the
establishment of seminaries); favoured the cure of souls; systematised preaching and
catechesis (the Catechism of St. Pius V); codified the liturgical books (e.g., Roman Missal,
Breviary); encouraged popular missions, religious orders, confraternities, religious formation
of youth, popular piety, and revived the vigour of the parish.

Post-Tridentine ecclesiology and, by consequence, the pastoral orientation, however,

also inclined to some extremes, provoked by the Protestant challenge. At times it laid too
much emphasis on the institutional and hierarchical dimensions of the Church, obscuring the
co-responsibility of all the baptised in the Church’s mission. The sacraments were almost
viewed as private acts. The relationship between the Church and the world tended to be
viewed as negative and antagonistic.

The twentieth century has been a period of renewal in all spheres of Church life and
pastoral activity, especially after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Some pre-
conciliar Papal documents, such as Pope Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis (1943) and Mediator
Dei (1943) also contributed greatly. Vatican II laid emphasis on the understanding of the
Church as the People of God, and it greatly highlighted the role of the laity in the pastoral
mission. Pope St. John Paul II’s Exhotation Christifideles laici particulary pointed out that
which Lumen gentium had already declared, that the peculiar way in which the lay faithful
participate in the Church’s mission is through their involvement in temporal activities,
Christianising them from within.

Pope Francis is especially highlighting the importance of the service towards the poor
and disadvantaged: “a poor Church, for the poor.” His Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et
Exsultate, on the call of Christians to holiness in today’s world, coupled with his post-synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelium Gaudium highlight the role of all the faithful in the
pastoral mission. His Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Christus Vivit
emphasise the importance of comprehension, right discernment and personalised attention in
the pastoral attention of married faithful and the youth, respectively.

6.2 The Local Church and its Pastoral Organisation

The Second Vatican Council has highlighted the fact that, in the “here and now” of
concrete reality, the pastoral mission is done in the local Church. The local Church is, thus,
not a mere unit of governance of the universal Church but, rather, the universal Church is a

21
communion of the local Churches. In the decree Christus Dominus the Council, referring to
the diocese, explains:

A diocese is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop to be

shepherded by him with the cooperation of the presbytery. Thus by adhering to its
pastor and gathered together by him through the Gospel and the Eucharist in the Holy
Spirit, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
Church of Christ is truly present and operative.35

The local Church is, thus, consists of the faithful, “a portion of the people of God” and
the sacred pastors (although explicit mention is made only of bishop and the presbytery, the
deacons are also, evidently, implied). It is the role of the bishop, “with the cooperation of the
presbytery,” to shepherd the local Church, by teaching, sanctifying and governing it. 36

6.3 The Parish

Vatican II emphasized the theological dimension of the parish as a local community

within the local Church, and the centrality of the Sunday Eucharist in its life. 37 The parish is
the ordinary sign of the Church and her mission. The strengthening of parish life hinges on
the prudence of the pastors in the concrete circumstances of each time and place.

Here in Uganda – and the entire AMECEA region, the Sub-parishes, in whose
pastoral attention the priests receive great help from the catechists, play a very important role
in parish life. The Sub-Parishes, in their turn, are subdivided into zones, and the zones into
Small Christian Communities (SCC), whose role is very important in reaching out to all the
members of the parish community.

The parish community flourishes when it is founded on preaching and meditation of

the Word of God; fellowship and fraternal charity among all the members of the community,
especially taking care of the children, the elderly, the weak and the needy; the celebration of
the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and prayer, both private and communal. These have
always been the means through which the Christian community has grown, as the first
Christians did: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 4:42).

6.4 Associations of the Faithful, Ecclesial Movements and Religious Communities

35
Vatican II, Christus Dominus, n. 11.
36
Vatican II, Christus Dominus, nn. 12, 15, 16 and 17.
37
Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 42.

22
 The twentieth-century attention to the call of all the faithful – including the laity – to
holiness has led to a flowering of movements and associations of the lay faithful. Such
movements as the Legion of Mary, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Uganda Martyrs’ Guild, ...
are the fruit of this renewal. They provide dynamism, variety of charisms, companionship to
the faithful, and are a very effective means of offering catechesis and continuing spiritual-
religious, human and apostolic formation to the lay faithful.

The religious communities, according to the particular charism of each one, contribute
greatly to the life of the Church. They need some legitimate autonomy, whose defence is the
role of the local ordinary. They give force to the pastoral-missionary impulse of the Church,
and enrich it with a great variety of charisms and spiritual dynamism.

6.5 Synods and Councils

In addition to the parishes, the dioceses are endowed with several other channels
through which the faithful can collaborate in the pastoral activity of the local church. Among
these are the Diocesan Synod;38 the Priests’ Council;39 the Diocesan Curia;40 the Board of
Consulters;41 the Pastoral Council;42 the Council for Economic Affairs,43 and others,
according to the circumstances of each time and place.

6.6 Pastoral Programming

Effective pastoral activity requires continuous discernment and planning, which

planning should be done at short, medium and long-term basis. This discernment and
planning can be done following the methodology of the “Pastoral circle,” which involves
four stages, that is, (1) insertion or contact; (2) social analysis; (3) theological reflection and,
finally, (4) pastoral planning.

Insertion or contact is the first moment of encounter with the persons – and the place
and the other circumstances that constitute the context – to whom the pastoral endeavours are
to be directed. This stage already involves making immediate objective observations, together
with subjective intuitions.

Social analysis involves asking the relevant questions in order to understand the
deeper reality of the community and its context. It is important to understand the fundamental

38
Vatican II, Christus Dominus, n. 36.
39
Vatican II, Christus Dominus, n. 27.
40
CIC, can. 469.
41
CIC, cann. 272 and 1277.
42
CIC, can. 511.
43
CIC, can. 272.

23
cultural beliefs, values, strengths problems, structures and other relevant circumstances of the
community in question. Such issues as the age of the population (proportion of children,
youth, adults, old people); languages and tribal groups; the level of education; the income
level; the political situation; the religious composition (the proportion of Catholics, other
Christians, Moslems and other religions); the level of participation in Church activities; the
average stability of families, among others, can be of great relevance in pastoral activity.

Theological reflection involves reflecting on the situation and its context in the light
of the Faith. It must be born in mind that the primary agent of pastoral action is God, who
works in us through his grace. It must also be born in mind that the end of all pastoral activity
is the glory of God and the sanctification and eternal salvation of every member of the
community. Furthermore, the means to achieve this end are also primarily supernatural: the
Word of God, fraternal communion, the sacraments and prayer (see Acts 2:42).

Bearing these in mind, therefore, reflection should be done on the situation and its
context, in a spirit of prayer and in the light of Holy Scripture, the Church’s Tradition and the
teaching of the Magisterium. This theological reflection is done both at personal and
communal level.

All this discernment, at every stage, should also involve making a SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This helps to identify more quickly the best way
forward, and with less risk of error. Certainly, though, one should fall neither in the
presumption of expecting to perfectly resolve all the problems encountered, nor in the false
humility – often a disguise for laziness or lack of confidence in God’s help – of not
addressing the issues that should be addressed. Above all, the presumption of thinking that
success depends on human effort alone should be avoided.

The primacy of God and his grace, and of persons, who are both the agents and
supposed beneficiaries of the pastoral endeavours, can never be overstated. Neither can it be
over stated that the primary end of authentic pastoral activity is the glory of God through the
sanctification and eternal salvation of every person, without exception. It is thus that the
Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, is continuously built, “until all of us come to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of
Christ” (Eph 4:13).

Pastoral planning or response involves putting in place a concrete project for each
stage: for the short, the medium and the long term. The planning regards both the persons
involved – both as agents and as beneficiaries – and the means, together with means of
verification and evaluation. It is important to clearly identify the priorities, the actions to be
undertaken and the ways of executing them (being clear on who does what, and the source of
the necessary means).

24
6.7 Pastoral Structures at the Service of the Local Churches

In addition to its structuring by divine right, the Church has, over time, put in place
some hierarchical-pastoral forms of self organisation for the work of the mission. Among
these are “special personal dioceses or prelatures (vicariates), and so forth, by means of
which, according to their particular statutes and always saving the right of bishops, priests
may be trained and incardinated for the good of the whole Church.”44 Examples of these
structures are the military ordinariates; the Anglican ordinariates; territorial prelatures, and
the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

The personal prelatures are analogous to dioceses. At their head, they have prelates,
who may be bishops or presbyters (priests that are not bishops). The personal prelatures,
however, are not local churches. Their faithful continue belonging to the dioceses in which
they live. In addition, personal prelatures do not represent the totality (the dioceses do so, at
least potentially) of the life and the mission of the Church. Rather, they are dedicated to a
particular pastoral activity. Nevertheless, the personal prelatures are not institutes or religious
or consecrated life. In effect, their constitution, insofar as they are prelatures, neither implies
separation from the world, as would be the case with religious and consecrated persons, nor
the public profession of vows of the evangelical counsels.

7. THE EDIFICATION OF THE CHURCH THROUGH THE WORD

It was through his Word that God created heaven and earth (see Gen 1:1-31). In the
fullness of time, the Word, which was from the beginning, and was with God, and was God,
became man, our Lord Jesus Christ (see Jn 1:1-3,14). It is in Jesus Christ that God is fully
revealed to us; he is the centre of history, and it is him to reveals to us the sense of the Holy
Scriptures. It is the mission of the Church to make Jesus Christ known, by teaching the
people to know and to live according to the Gospel. The witness to the Gospel is a task of all
Christians, both personally and in association, through both word and example.

7.1 The Christian Witness and Apostolic Dialogue of the Lay Faithful

The lay faithful can carry out their apostolate both individually and in communities
and associations.45 Individual apostolate flows from an authentically Christian life (see Jn
4:14),46 and is the foundation of all secular apostolate. It is permanent and universal, and all

44
Vatican II, Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 10.
45
Vatican II, AA, n. 15.
46
Vatican II, AA, n. 16.

25
the faithful are called to participate in it, always and everywhere.47 At the same time, there is
need to promote associated forms of lay apostolate, in order to have more effective influence
in society.48

The laity’s freedom of association is rooted in Baptism, and should be exercised in

communion with the whole Church.49 The criteria for the discernment of lay movements and
associations include:
- the primacy of each Christian’s vocation to holiness;
- the duty of each one to bear witness to the Catholic faith;
- communion with the Pope and the bishops;
- conformity and participation in the apostolic effort of the entire Church;
- the duty of being present in human society, serving fellow men in accordance with the
Church’s social doctrine. The fundamental expression of this presence in society is through
the life of each individual lay faithful, through the testimony of his entire life.

The Christian life of the lay faithful attains maturity through the organic integration of
its different dimensions, i.e., prayer and the reception of the sacraments; family life; work;
friendship; social political activity, etc. For this integration and growth to take place, it is
important to note that:
- every Christian has a personal responsibility to seek holiness and to do apostolate;
- the professional work of Christians, carried out with the grace of God and according to the
spirit of the Gospel, is itself apostolate, and
- struggle for personal holiness, work and the apostolate are essential dimensions of authentic
Christian life of the lay faithful.

For this reason, the lay faithful need suitable formation in the different aspects of their
life – doctrinal, spiritual, professional, cultural and apostolic – so that they may be able to
seek personal holiness and to do effective apostolate, with true unity of life. Some concrete
ruptures of unity of life to be avoided include:
- devotionalism or pietism, that is, intense dedication to spiritual activitie but without
apostolic fruits;
- apostolic activism, which involves intense dedication to human promotion but without a
solid spiritual foundation;
- professional work detached from spiritual life and apostolate, as if the professional work
was an end in itself;
- a non-Christian family lifestyle, without interest in the practice of the virtues, in prayer, in
the reception of the sacraments, in the practice of charity (a case in point, especially acute in
Uganda today, is the so-called “obufumbo obw’ensonga,” in which Christians live in sexual
unions but without wedding);
- hedonistic and consumeristic ways of resting, in which God is forgotten, and other people,
especially the poor, are not considered.

47
Vatican II, AA, nn. 16-33.
48
Vatican II, AA, nn. 20-22.
49
Vatican II, AA, n. 23.

26
 There are three features that characterised personal apostolate. First, it is an apostolate
of friendship and confidence, in imitation of Jesus who called “friends” those to whom he had
taught what he himself had learnt from the Father (see Jn 15:15). Second, it takes place
within the context of ordinary life, especially in the liturgy, family life, work, service of
charity towards others, sports, socio-political activities, etc. third, it is a dialogue focused on
Christian experience, on the experience of life with Christ, and how this influences one’s
family life, professional acivity, social life, etc.

7.2 Preaching

Preaching is the proclamation of the love of God towards men, manifested in the
history of salvation, especially through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a
transmission of the knowledge concerning Jesus and his teachings, preparing consciences for
an encounter with God. It is a salvific encounter, for it is God himself who invites men to
conversion.

The principal subject of preaching (i.e., the one who preaches) is always Jesus Christ,
who carries it out through the ministry of the bishops, priests and deacons. The witness given
by non-ordained faithful is not preaching, strictly speaking.

The efficacy of preaching comes principally from God, but, it also depends on the
person of the minister and the dispositions of the faithful that listen. In effect, unlike the
sacraments, which unite those who receive them ex opere operato to the mystery of Jesus
Christ, the personal factors of the preacher – his personal sanctity, his preparation, his fidelity
to the truth of the Gospel, the love with which he preaches, etc – determine how well or
poorly he represents Jesus Christ. At the same time, the docility of the faithful, their fidelity
in putting into practice what is taught to them, determines greatly the fruits of the preaching
in their lives.

Preaching always has an ecclesial and social dimension. It seeks the conversion and
personal sanctity and salvation of the listeners, but not only that. It also aims at the building
of the entire Church, and it should inspire the listeners to contribute generously to the
establishment of justice and peace in society.

There are different types of preaching. Depending on the listeners and on the
modality, preaching may be considered missionary, catechetical or liturgical. Preaching can
also be thematic, centred on a concrete argument. This can be done, for example, in a
meditation, a talk, a conference, a popular mission, a triduum, a novena, a retreat.

There are various sources for preaching. Holy Scripture – both the Old and the New
Testaments – is the first and obligatory source for all preaching. Other sources include the
liturgy of the Church, the teachings of the Magisterium, writings of the Church Fathers,

27
writings of saints, writes of spiritual authors, writings of other preachers, treatises of
theology, etc.

A particularly important form of preaching is the homily. This involves announcing

the Word of God; normally during a liturgical celebration; basing on the Sacred Scriptures;
taking into consideration the particular dimension of Christ’s mystery that is being
celebrated; taking into consideration the needs of the listeners, and aiming at helping the
listeners to witness to the faith through their lives and their word.

7.3 Spiritual Direction

Spiritual direction is a particular way of collaborating in the transmission of the faith.

It is based on Christian fraternity, and is not reserved to the sacred ministers. In the Church
there have always been many non-ordained people, both lay and religious, that were great
spiritual directors.

Spiritual direction has an ecclesial and social dimension, and must build on personal
liberty, taking into consideration the essentially dynamic nature of the spiritual life. No
Christian can live without the Church, no one can follow Christ alone. For this reason,
spiritual direction, too, takes place within the Church, in communion with her. Because of the
dynamic nature of the Christian life, the necessities of the individual keep changing, and no
two individuals are identical. For this same reason, respect for the liberty of the directee is
paramount: each Christian should follow the way that the Holy Spirit marks out for him or
her.

The work of spiritual direction should take advantage, insofar as it is possible, of the
human sciences, but it should not be reduced to them. Psychology, sociology and pedagogy
can be very helpful. Nonetheless, the principle source is the Word of God, and the objective
is to help one’s brethren on the road towards holiness and fruitful apostolic work. By all
means, spiritual direction should take into consideration the concrete life situation – age, sex,
work, health, ... etc, of each individual.

7.5 Dimensions of Integral Christian Formation

7.6 Catechesis According to the Different Age Groups

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