Other
Who is the Church: clergy or lay people?
Mato Zovkić
Abstract
In the years after Vatican II some catholic leftists have been overemphasizing the concept of Church as people, probably provoked by catholic rightist identification of Church with its hierarchy. Besides, in Yugoslavia some marxist thinkers like to identify the Church either with its clergy or with its common people when they speak of religious
liberty or equal rights for all citizens.
According to the NT the Church is essentially people of God guided
by its elders. In the documents of Vatican II, especially Lumen gentium,
this biblical concept of the Church as people of God has been revived
in order to make all Christians aware bearers and participants of
Church’s common mission in a changing world. According to LG, CD
and other doctrinal texts of Vatican II local churches and communities,
assembled at liturgical celebrations, make present and reflect the one,
holy, catholic and apostolic Church. From the liturgical prayers for the
Church in the renewed Roman Missal we can see th a t the Church is
essentially people and clergy. When the ministers of Christian community act and speak in the name of community they can be identified with the Church in everyday talk, but they are and should be servants of the Church who act on behalf of the Church.
While we Christians expect others not to separate artificially believing
ministers from equally believing lay persons in the Church, we should
strive to show th a t all baptized believers are the Church: clergy and
lay people. There cannot be a fully organized Church without clergy
nor an active Christian community without its lay people.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
89934
URI
Publication date:
15.6.1982.
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