From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - Gaudium et spes 5 - "The Church in the world"
Date: 11 Apr 1992 00:00:30 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu


[The following is part of a series intended to be an educational
resource on the Catholic faith, particularly for those who would
know little or next to nothing about it - rest of introductory 
blurb being presently "improved" :-)] 


Gaudium et spes - Part 1. Chpt 4.

Note: Gaudium et spes is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church
      in the Modern World, authored/agreed upon by the Second Vatican
      Council.


Part 1. The Church and Man's Calling (cont.)

				Chapter 4.

			 The Role of the Church
			   in the Modern World


  40. Everything we ahve said about the dignity of the human person,
and about the human community and the profound meaning of human
activity, lays the foundation for the relationship between the Church
and the world, and provides the basis for dialogue between them [1]/
In this chapter, presupposing everything which ahs already been said
by this Council concerning the mystery of the CHurch, we must now
consider this same Church inasmuch as she exists in the world, living
and acting with it.

  Coming forth from the eternal Father's love [2], founded in time by
Christ the Reddemer and made one wiht the Holy Spirit [3]. the Church
has a saving and eschatological purpose which can be fully attained
only in the future world.  But she is already present in this world,
and is composed of men, that is, of members of the earthly city who
have a call to form the family of God's children during the present
history of the human race, and to keep increasing it until the Lord
returns.  United on behalf of heavenly values and enriched by them,
this family has been "constituted and structured as a society in this
world" [4] by Christ, and is equipped "by appropriate means for
visible and social union" [5].  Thus the Church, at once "a visible
association and a spiritual community" [6] goes forward together with
humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does.
She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society [7] as
it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God's family.

  That the earthly and the heavenly city penetrate each other is a
fact accessible to faith alone; it remains a mystery of human history,
which sin will keep in great disarray until the splendor of God's sons
is fully revealed.  Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper to
her, the Church does not only communicate divine life to men but in
some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth,
most of all by its healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the
person, by the way in which it strengthens the seams of human society
and imbues the everyday activity of men with a deeper meaning and
importance, the Church believes she can contribute greatly towards
making the family of man and its history more human.

  In addition, the Catholic Church gladly holds in high esteem the
things which other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities have
done or are doing cooperatively by way of achievine the same goal.  At
the same time, she is convinced that she can be abundantly and
variously helped by the world in the amtter of preparing the ground
for the Gospel.  This help she gains from the talents and industry of
individuals and from human society as a whole.  The Council now sets
forth certain general principles for the proper fostering of this
mutual exchange and assistance in concern which are in some way common
to the world and the Church.

  41. Modern man is on the road to a more thorough development of his
own personality, and to a growing discovery and vindication of his own
rights.  Since it has been entrusted to the Church to reveal the
mystery of God, Who is the ultimate goal of man, she opens up to man
at the smae time the meaning of his own existence, that is, the
innermost truth about himself.  The Church truly know that only God,
Whom she serves, meets the deepest longings of the human heart, which
is never fully satisfied by what the world has to offer.

  She also knows that man is constantly worked upon by God's Spirit,
and hence can never be altogether indifferent to the problems of
religion.  The experience of past proves this, as do numerous
indications in our own times.  For man will always yearn to know, at
least in an obscure way, what is the meaning fo his life, of his
activity, of his death.  The very presence of the Chruch recalls these
problems to his mind.  But only God, Who created man to His won image
and ransomed him from sin, provides a fully adequate answer to these
questions, and this He does through what He has revealed in Christ His
Son, Who became man.  Whoever follows after Christ, the perfect man,
becomes himself more of a man.  For by His incarnation the Father's
Word assumed, and sanctified through His crosss and resurrection, the
whole of man, body and soul, and through that totality the whole of
nature created by God for man's use.

  Thanks to this belief, the CHurch can anchor the dignity of human
nature against all tides of opinion, for example those which
underbalue the human body or idolize it.  By no human law can the
personal dignity and liberty of man be so aptly safeguarded as by the
Gospel of Christ which has been entrusted to teh Church.  For this
Gospel announces and proclaims the freedom of the sons of God, and
repudiates all the bondage which ultimately results from sin (cf. Rom
8:14-17) [8]; it has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience
and its freedom of choice, constantly advises that all human talents
be employed in God's service and men's, and, finally, commends all to
the charity of all (cf. Matt. 22:39) [9].

  This agrees with the basic law of the Christian dispensation.  For
through the same God is Saviour and Creator, Lord of human history as
well as of slavation history, in the divine arrangement itself, the
rightul autonomy of the creature, and particularly of man is not
withdrwn, but is rather re-established in its own dignity and
strengthened in it.

  The CHurch, therefore, by virtue of the Gospel committed to her,
proclaimes the rights of man; she acknowledges and greatly esteems the
dynamic movements of today by which these rights are everywhere
fostered.  Yet these movements must be penetrated by the spirit of the
Gospel and protected against any kind of false autonomy.  For we are
tempted to think that our personal rights are fully ensured only when
we are exempt from every requirement of divine law.  But this way lies
not the maintenance of the dignity of the human person, but its
annihilation.

   42.  The union of the human family is greatly fortified and
fulfilled by the unity, founded on Christ [10], of the family of God's
sons.

  Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the
political, economic or social order.  The purpose which He set before
her is a religious one [11].  But out of this relgiious mission itself
come a function, a light and an energy which can serve to structure
and consolidate the human community according to the divine law.  As a
matter of fact, when circumstances of time and place produce the need,
she can and indeed should initiate activities on behalf of all men,
especially those designed for the needy, such as the works of mercy
and similar undertakings.

  The Church recognizes that worthy elements are found in today's
social movements, especially an evolution toward unity, a process of
wholesome socialization and of association in civic and economic
realms.  The promotion of unity belongs to the innermost nature of the
Church, for she is, "thanks to her relationship with Christ, a
sacramental sign and an instrument of intimate union whith God, and of
the unity of the whole human race" [12].  Thus she shows the world
that an authentic union, social and external, results from a union of
minds and hearts, namely from that faith that charity by which her own
unity is unbreakably rooted in the Holy Spirit.  For the force which
the Church can inject into the modern society of man consists in that
faith and charity put into viatl practice, not in any external
dominion exercised by merely human means.

  Moreover, since in virtue of her mission and nature she is bound to
no particular form of human culture, nor to any political, economic or
social system, the CHurch by her very universality can be a very close
bond between diverse human communities and nations, provided these
trust her and truly acknowledge her right to true freedom in
fulfilling her mission.  For this reason, teh Church admonishes her
own sons, but also humanity as a whole, to overcome all strife between
nations and races in this family spirit of God's children, and in the
same way, to give internal strength to human associations which are
just.

  Therefore, this COuncil regards with great respect all the true,
good and just elements inherent in the very wide variety of
institutions which the human race has established for itself and
constantly continues to establish.  The COUncil affirms, moreover,
that the CHurch is willing to assist and promote all these
institutions to the extent that such a service depends on her and can
be associated with her mission.  She has no fiercer desire than that
in pursuit of the welfare of all she may be able to develop herself
freely under any kingd of government which grants recognition to the
basic rights of person and family, to the demands of the common good
and to the free exercise of her own mission.

  43. This Council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to
strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in
response to the Gospel spirit.  They are mistaken who, knowing that we
have here no abiding city but seek which is to come [13], think that
they may therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities.  For they are
forgetting that by the faith itself they are more obliged than ever to
measure up to these duties, each according to hsi proper vocation
[14].  Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who
think that religion consits in acts of worship alone and in the
discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can
plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that
these are altogether divorced from religious life.  This split between
the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be
counted among the more serious errors of our age.  Long since, the
Prophets of the Old Testament fought vehemently against this scandal
[15] and even more so did Jesus Christ Himself in the New Testament
threaten it with grave phunishments [16].  Therefore, let there be no
false opposition between professional and social activities on the one
part, and religious life on the other.  The Christian who neglects his
temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God,
and jeopardizes his eternal salvation.  Christians should rather
rejoice that, follwoing the example of Christ Who worked as an
artisan, they are free to exercise all their earthly activities by
gathering their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical
enterprises into one vital synthesis with religious values, under
whose supreme direction all things are harmonized unto God's glory.

  Secular duties and activities belong properly although not
exclusively to laymen.  Therefore acting as citizens in the world,
whether individually or socially, they will observe the laws proper to
each discipline, and labor to equip themselves with a genuine
expertise in their fields.  They will gladly work with men seeking the
same goals.  Acknowledging the demands of faith and endowed with its
force, they will unhesitatingly devise new enterprises, where they are
appropriate, and put them into action.  Laymen should also know that
it is generally the function of thei wellformed Christian conscience
to see that the divine law is inscribed in the life of the earthly
city; from priests they may look for spiritual light and nourishment.
Let the layman not imagine that his pastors are always such experts,
that to every problem which arises, however complicated, they can
readily give him a concrete solution, or even that such is their
mission.  Rather, enlightened by Christian wisdom and giving close
attention to the teaching authority of the Church [17], let the layman
take on his own distinctive role.

  Often enough the Christian view of things will itself suggest some
specific solution in certain circumstances.  Yet it happens rather
frequently, and legitimately so, that with equal sincerity some of the
faithful will disagree with others on a given matter.  Even against
the intentions of their proponents, however, solutions proposed on one
side or another may be earily confused by many people with the Gospel
message.  Hence it is necessary for people to remember that no one is
allowed in aforementioned situations to appropriate the Church's
authority for his opinion.  They should always try to enlighten one
another through honest discussion, preserving mutual charity and
caring aboe all for the common good.

  Since they have an active role to play in the whole life of the
Church, laymen are not only bound to penetrate the world with a
Christian spirit, but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all
things in the midst of human society.

  Bishops, to whom is assigned the task of ruling the Church of God,
should, together with their priests, so preach the news of Christ that
all the earthly activities of the faithful will be bathed in the light
of the Gospel.  All pastors should remember too that by their daily
conduct and concern [18] they are revealing the face of teh Church to
the world, and men will judge the power and truth of the Christian
message thereby.  By their lives and speech, in union with Religious
and their faithful, may they demonstrate that even now the Church, by
her presence alone and by all the gifts which she contains, is an
unspent fountain of those virtues which the modern world needs the
most.

  By unremitting study they should fit themselfes to do their part in
establishing dialogue with the world and with men fo all shades of
opinion.  Above all elt them take to heart the words which this
Council has spoken: "Since humanity today increasingly moves toward
civil, economic and social unity, it is more than ever necerrary that
priests, with joint concern and energy, and under the guidance of the
bishops and the supreme pontiff, erase every cause of division, so
that the whole human race may be led to the unity of God's family"
[19].

  Although by the power of the Holy Spirit the CHurch will remain the
faithful spouse of her Lord and will never cease to be the sign of
salvation on earth, still she is very well aware that among her
members [20], both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to the
Spirit of God during the course of many centuries; in the present age,
too, it does not escape the Chruch how great a distance lies between
the message she offers and the human failings of those to whom eth
Gospel is entrusted.  Whatever be the judgement of history on these
defects, we ought to be conscious of them, and struggle against them
energetically, lest they inflict harm on the spread of the Gospel.
The Church also realizes that in working out her relationship with the
world she always has great need of the ripening which comes with the
experience of the centuries.  Led by the Holy Spirit, Mother Church
unceasingly exhorts her sons "to purify and renew themselves so that
the sign of Christ can shine more brightly on the face of the Church"
[21].

  Just as it is in the world's interest to acknowledge the Church as a
historical reality, and to recognize her good influence, so the Church
knows how richly she has profited by the history and development of
humanity.

  The experience of apst ages, the progress of the sciences, and the
treasures hidden in the various forms of human culture, by all of
which the nauter of man himself is more clearly revealed and new roads
to truth are opened, these profit the Church, too.  For fromt eh
beginning of her history she has learned to express the message of
CHrist with the help of the ideas and terminology of various
philosophers, and has tried to clarify it with their wisdom, too.  Her
purpose has been to adapt the Gospel to the grasp of all aw well as to
the needs of the learned, insofar as such was appropriate.  Indeed,
this accomodated preaching of the revealed Word ought to remain the
law of all evangelization.  For thus the ability to express Christ's
message in its won way is developed in each nation, and at the same
time there is fostered a living exchange between the Church and
diverse cultures of people [22].  To promote such and exchange,
especially in our days, the Church requires special help of those who
live in the world, are versed in different institutions and
specialities and grasp the innermost significance in the eyse of both
believers and unbelievers.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, it is
the task of the entire People of God, especially pastors and
theologians, to hear and distinguish the many voices of our age, and
to judge them in the light of the divine Word, so that revealed truth
can be always more deeply penetrated, better understood and set forth
to greater advantage.

  Since the Church has a visible and social structure as a sign of her
unity in Christ, she can and ought to be enriched by the development
of human social life, not that there is any lack in the constitution
given her by Christ, but that she can understnad it more
penetratingly, express it better, and adjust it more successfully to
our times.  Moreover, she gratefully understands that in her community
life no less than in her individual sons, she receives a variety of
helps from men of every rank and condition, for whoever promotes the
human community at the family lever, culturally, in its economic,
social and political dimensions, both nationally and internationally,
such a one, according to God's design, is contributing greatly to the
Church as well, to the extent that she depends on things outside
herself.  Indeed, the Church admits that she has greatly profited and
still profits from the antagonism of those who oppose or persecute her
[23].

  45.  While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it,
the Church has a single intention: that God's Kingdom may come, and
that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass.  For
every benefit which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage
can offer to the human family stems from the fact that the Church is
"the universal sacrament of salvation" [24], simultaneously
manifesting and exercising the mystery of God's love for man.

  For God's Word, by Whom all things were made, was Himself made flesh
so that as perfect man He might save all men and sum up all things in
Himself.  The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal point of
the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human
race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings [25].
He it is Whom the Father raised from the dead, lifted on high and
stationed at His right hand, making Him judge the lifing and the dead.
Enlivedn and united in His Spirit, we journy toward the conummation of
human history, one which fully accords with the counsel of God's love:
"To re-establish all things in Christ, both those in the heavens and
those one earth" (Eph. 11:10).

  The Lord Himself speaks: "Behold I come quickly! And my reward is
with me, to render to each one according to his works.  I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end"
(Apoc. 22:12-13).

---------------------------------------------------------------

 Footnotes:

[1] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter, Ecclesiam suam, III: AAS 56
(1964), pp. 637-659.

[2] Cf. Titum 3:4: "love of mankind."

[3] Cf. Eph. 1:3; 5-6: 13=14, 23.

[4] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Chapter I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965). p. 12.

[5] Ibid., Chapter II, no. 9: AAS 57 (1965), p. 14; Cf. n. 8: AAS loc.
cit. p 11. 

[6] Ibid. Chapter I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 11.

[7] Cf. ibid, Chpater IV, n. 38: AAS 57 (1965), p. 43, with note 120.

[8] Cf. Rom. 8: 14-17.

[9] Cf. Matt. 22:39.

[10] Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 9: AAS 57
(1965), pp. 12-14.

[11] Cf. Pius XII, Address to the International Union of Institutes of
Archeology, History and History of Art, March 9, 1956: AAS 48 (1956),
p. 212: "Its divine Founder, Jesus Christ, has not given it any
mandate or any fixed end of the cultural order.  The goal which Christ
assigns to it is strictly religious... The CHurch must lead men to
God, in order taht they may be given over to him without reserve ....
The Church can never lose sight of the strictly religious supernatural
goal.  The meaninf of all its activities, down to the last canon of
its Code, can only cooperate directly or indirectly in this goal."

[12] Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Cpater I, n. 1: AAS 57
(1965), p. 5.

[13] Cf. Heb. 13:14.

[14] Cf. 2 Thes. 3: 6-13: Eph. 4:28.

[15] Cf. Is. 58:1-12.

[16] Cf.Matt. 23:3-23; Mark 7:10-13.

[17] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra, IV: AAS 53
(1961), pp. 456-457; cf. I: AAS loc. cit. pp. 407, 410-411.

[18] Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter III, n. 28: AAS
57 (1965), p. 35.

[19] Ibid., n. 28: AAS loc. cit. pp. 35-36.

[20] Cf. St. Ambrose, De virginitate, Chatper VIII, n. 48: ML 16, 278.

[21] Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Cpater II, n. 15: AAS 57
(1965), pg. 20.

[22] Ibid., n. 13: AAS 57 (1965), p. 17.

[23] Cf. Justicn, Diologus cum Tryphene, Chapter 110: MG 6, 729 (ed.
Otto), 1897, pp. 391-393: "... but the greater the numbers of
persecutions which are inflicted upon us, so much the greater the
number of other men who become devout believers through the name of
Jesus."  Cf. Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter L, 13: "Every time you
mow us down like grass, we increase in number: the blood of Christians
is a seed!" Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 9:
AAS 57 (1965), p. 14.

[24] Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 15: AAS
57 (1965), p. 20.

[25] Cf. Paul VI, address given on Feb. 3, 1965.

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