What is the church? [Updated]

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Update Nov 10, 2020 8:26 am CST: When I drafted this post, it didn't occur to me that the Holy See was on the verge of releasing the report of its investigation into former Cardinal McCarrick, including Vatican complicity in his advancement.  That report now has been released.  National Catholic Reporter's initial take by Joshua McElwee sees the report as citing institutional failure at multiple levels.  John Paul II seems to bear much of the blame for McCarrick escaping responsibility for so many years, but Benedict and even Francis don't come away entirely unscathed.  Some New Jersey bishops (not named in the report) also are implicated, and Archbishop Vigano's nose is bloodied, too.  McElwee's article leaves me with the impression that a few punches are pulled, but the report isn't a whitewash.  

In light of this post's topic, it is hard to describe the church's enablement of this serial abuser's career as anything but a failure of the Institutional Model.  If our only model of the church is the Institutional Model, then surely our faith in the church must be shaken by such a failure.  As indeed, for many of us, it is shaken!  Here we see what a gift Dulles' book is: his alternative models help us understand that the church is much more than its institutional presence.  This realization of what the church actually is, may serve to strengthen our faith in Christianity's corporal presence.

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By the time I hit the Publish button, it will be Tuesday in the Eastern Time Zone, but as I write this here in Illinois, it is still Monday.  Today, Monday November 9, is a feast day for the church.  And when I say "for the church", I don't just mean that the feast is on the church's calendar; I mean that today's feast really is *for the church*.  It's the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, also known as St. John Lateran.  The basilica, technically an archbasilica - the only one in the world - is, quite literally, the seat of the Roman Pontiff: the basilica houses the pope's cathedra, or episcopal chair, symbolizing his role as shepherd for the diocese of Rome.  

Because all of us who post and comment here are members of the church in some respect or other, that means that we're included in this feast, too.  So November 9 each year is our feast.

There is no saint in the canon whose name was "John Lateran".  According to its Wikipedia page, the basilica is dedicated to "the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran".  The Lateran is an area of Rome.  It is outside the contiguous territory of the Vatican City State, but the cathedral is recognized as belonging to the Vatican rather than the City of Rome.  The Lateran is one of the four major papal basilicas in Rome, the others being St. Peter, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls.  

The Lateran is the oldest basilica in Western Christianity.  It goes back to Pope Sylvester I who dedicated the original church in 324.  Over the centuries, it served as Rome's cathedral church, then was abandoned when the popes moved to Avignon, then was damaged by fires, and then eventually restored to Renaissance and Rococo splendor (or so I read; I've never been to Rome so can't vouch for its appearance first-hand).

Today's feast is one of a handful of church-dedication feasts which appear on the Roman Calendar throughout the year.  The liturgical books include a Common of the Dedication of a Church - a group of common prayers which can be used on these occasions.  The dedication memorial dates of the four major papal basilicas appear on the universal calendar: St. Peter and St. Paul Outside the Walls share their day later this month, on November 18, while St. Mary Major's day is on August 5th each year.  But of the four, only today's for the Lateran Basilica holds the rank of feast, which means that it is a more important and solemn day than the other two.  It's also worth noting that each individual parish church throughout the world has its own exalted day each year: the date when the church was dedicated.  This day actually has the rank of solemnity, the highest "degree" on the church calendar, even higher than Monday's feast; but in my experience, this solemnity is much-neglected in practice, which is a shame.  I once asked our pastor (not the current one) when the date was for the dedication of our parish church; he had no idea.

I mention all this because in my view these buildings have a certain importance and resonance for all of us, even though at least some of us will never travel to Rome or see these basilicas in person.   This feast day commemorates a church (building), but also it is meant to celebrate the church itself - the Catholic church - and, I would argue, all the other churches and denominations which are in various degrees of communion with the Catholic church.  The buildings are more than buildings; they symbolize the full reality of the church.  So these feasts embrace all of us.

What does that mean, exactly?  Well its meaning might depend on what you mean when you use the world "church".  

When I was in college, I once took a class entitled "Church of Christ".  I enrolled in it for the not very profound reason that it was convenient for my class schedule that semester, and I needed a certain number of hours of theology to complete my degree (which was not in theology, but rather business administration;  in those days, a business degree at my alma mater required three theology classes, as well as three philosophy classes and various other liberal arts and sciences classes).  "Church of Christ", it turned out, was a course in ecclesiology, which is the systematic study of the church.  Our textbook was a rather thin paperback by Avery Dulles, SJ (many years before he became a cardinal) called "Models of the Church".  I believe it is now considered a classic.  Of the several thousand dollars' worth of undergraduate textbooks I bought in in those days, the only two I have re-opened in my post-college adulthood are my Riverside Shakespeare and Models of the Church.  I have read the latter two or three more times since college, and have it kicking around here somewhere, and just spent a few minutes searching for it but couldn't find it.  I'm ashamed to say my bookcases are not in perfect order.   

But no matter, because there is a wealth of information available on the Internet about Dulles' work.  His point of departure is that the understanding of the church which most of us grew up with is inadequate to fully grasp its depth, breadth and richness.  He dubs that deficient understanding the Institutional Model (or paradigm).  The Institutional Model is the visible manifestation of the church in its institutional reality: the pope, bishops, priests and sisters; the cathedrals, parishes, convents and schools; the hospitals, universities and charitable entities; the Knights of Columbus and other social organizations.  Obviously, this institutional view of the church continues to exert a great deal of influence over all of us.  Certainly it is still the media's dominant paradigm of the church and largely determines its coverage.  When we criticize "the church" - as the church has given us ample reason to do in recent years - it is usually the institutional model that we have in mind.

But Dulles spends most of the book proposing alternative models - alternative ways to think about the church.  These alternatives draw from scripture and theological work, including and especially the theologies which influenced the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.  One of the Council's four major "constitutions" (a species of conciliar document), Lumen Gentium, is a treatise on the nature of the church.  

If you would like to read a very brief overview of Dulles' other paradigms of the church, this summary is short, accurate and readable.   Here is an even briefer description of Dulles' other models:

• The Church as Mystical Communion conceives of the church as being the women and men (whom Lumen Gentium memorably called "The People of God") who are united by the gifts of the Holy Spirit into a communion.  A great advantage of this model over the Institutional model is that the latter viewed the people as secondary and almost irrelevant, whereas in this Mystical Communion model, we are primary.
• The Church as Sacrament conceives of the church as the visible sign of the dimensions of the church which are intangible and invisible but are its core essence: the graces and spiritual gifts which the church offers to the world.  Just as Jesus was made incarnate here in earth, the church makes incarnate the spiritual gifts which God offers humanity.
• The Church as Herald focuses on the church's imperative to proclaim the Good News to the world. This mandate belongs to all members of the church.  This model is congenial to many Protestant denominations which place less of an emphasis on institutional structure and more on proclamation than Catholics are wont to do.
• The Church as Servant emphasizes the church's mission to serve humanity, especially its preferential option for the poor.  This paradigm is very much in the tradition of Pope John XXIII and Pope Francis.  It also is much-loved by deacons, as well as many congregations of religious.

Which of these paradigms is the correct one, or the best one?  Naturally, Dulles' answer is that all of them are valid, even the Institutional model; all of them describe one facet of the multifaceted reality which is the church.  He argues that we need to try to incorporate all of them into our thinking when we think about what the church is.  He also notes that each model has both strengths and shortcomings, and certain models address the limitations of others.  For example, the Institutional Model, by itself, is somewhat "inward looking" in that it focuses on the formal structures of the church; when this navel-gazing is supplemented by the Herald and Servant models, we see that the church is (or should be) outward-focused, for which the institutional structures provide oversight, stability and continuity.  

Today's feast day of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica probably seems at first blush as raising up the Institutional model.  An archbasilica which is the seat of the pope: what could be more Institutional than that?  But my own view, like Dulles' is that we should resist the temptation to reduce the church to its institutional dimension.  In celebrating a feast like today's we should celebrate all of the facets of the church: its spiritual gifts; its proclamation of the Good News; and its help for those in need. 

As a sort of institutional "insider" (in the most modest possible way, and please believe that I am not indulging in false modesty in noting that), I find the church's institution every bit as exasperating as the next person does.  These other, supplemental ways of thinking about the church are freeing for me; they help me to imagine my membership and ministry in ways which are not tied to - not even very dependent on - the institution.  The simple fact is, both laypersons and deacons are called to be outward-facing; it our jobs to bring our faith, animated by the Good News and strengthened by sacramental grace, to a world that needs both Good News and a booster shot of grace.  Many people whom I know sought to do just that last week: they brought their faith to the voting booth.  And we need to do the same when we go into the marketplace, schools, the grocery store and, first of all, our families.  The institution's job is to support us in that sacred vocation.  These alternative and complementary models of the church help us to appreciate the reality that the institution works for us, and not the other way around.  And that is something to celebrate today.