Autor: Little, Joyce

Buch: The Church and the Culture War

Titel: The Church and the Culture War

Stichwort: Kirchliche Autorität: kein Zwang, Freiwilligkeit, Gehorsam, Sukzession;

Kurzinhalt: Authority of whatever kind is never self-generated. As Arendt observes, its "legitimacy derives from something outside the range of human deeds; it is either not man-made at all, like natural or divine law, or has at least not been made by (Fn)

Textausschnitt: ECCLESIAL AUTHORITY

25c If all of this sounds familiar it should. As Hannah Arendt points out,
Thanks to the fact that the foundation of the city of Rome was repeated in the foundation of the Catholic Church, though, of course, with a radically different content, the Roman trinity of religion, authority, and tradition could be taken over by the Christian era, with the result that the miracle of permanence, too, repeated itself; for within the framework of our history, the durability and continuity of the Church as a public institution can only be compared with the thousand years of Roman history in antiquity.1

25d The structure of religion, tradition and authority is the same, but the content, as Arendt says, is radically different. The founding event of the Catholic faith is the covenantal relationship of Christ and the Church, established by Christ's death and resurrection. The source of authority is therefore Christ himself. Those specially chosen by Christ to witness to and participate in that founding event, the apostles, provided the testimony about it which has been recognized by all subsequent generations as normative for the Catholic faith. Thus, the Catholic tradition is explicitly "apostolic" and Catholic authority is inviolate precisely because it rests upon an unbroken line of succession which links each new generation of bishops with those who witnessed the founding event.2 (Fs) (notabene)

26a Given the nature of ecclesial authority, several consequences flow from it. First, ecclesial authority is not the same thing as force. As Arendt points out, "where force is used, authority itself has failed."3 The Church is a voluntary society and has no civic penalties to invoke. Second, because ecclesial authority is not force or coercion, it seeks to evoke the free obedience of those whom it addresses. For this reason, as previously noted, the Church is a voluntary society and therefore a community from which the individual member is always free to withdraw if he cannot give his consent to her authority. (Fs) (notabene)

26b Third, ecclesial authority is never self-generated.4 It is derived from Christ and is therefore representational or, in theological terms, sacramental. As Cardinal Ratzinger observes, "To receive the 'sacrament of order' means to represent the faith of the whole Church, the 'holy origin', to be a witness of the faith of the Church. It is a form based on faith of being called to be a representative. But because this representation is sacramental it can only represent what is Church and cannot create what in the opinion of this person or that... it ought to be."5 (Fs) (notabene)

27a Fourth, because ecclesial authority is sacramental or representational, it requires that those who exercise it also obey it. In other words, although authority is hierarchical by nature, the hierarchy it establishes is not one of inequality between some who simply command and others who simply obey. Since those in authority derive that authority from Christ himself, they are as much obliged to obey it as is anyone else in the Church. The ultimate authority is Christ himself, and all who would call themselves his followers are obliged to obey him. (Fs) (notabene)
27b Finally, because ecclesial authority is always handed down from one generation of bishops to the next, it looks back to the founding event of the New Covenant for its legitimacy and depends upon an unbroken line of succession from the apostles who witnessed that event to sustain its legitimacy. Church authority is inviolate only as long as continuity with that past event is sustained in the tradition. To cite Ratzinger, "Succession means cleaving to the apostolic word, just as tradition means the continuance of authorized witnesses."6

27c In summary, ecclesial authority is the ability to witness to and augment (interpret) the New Covenant, an ability which derives its legitimacy from the founding event of Christ's death and resurrection and which remains inviolate by virtue of the unbroken tradition which links every generation of bishops with the original eyewitnesses to that event, the apostles. (Fs)