Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 73 No. 2-3, 2003.
Original scientific paper
The Church in Croatia and Internal Pluralism: Reality or Desire?
Nediljko Ante Ančić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5546-832X
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split
Abstract
Beginning with the fact, the pluralisation of modern society, the author inquires how secular pluralism finds its expression in the ecclesial practices of the faithful, especially with respect to reforms of ecclesial structures. Having described the main aspects and particularities of today's pluralism, the second part of this paper presents the assumptions that have initiated and made possible the acceptance of elements of plurality in the Catholic Church. These are foremost the existence of a pluralistic society and a political democracy in whose context the ecclesial community today fulfils its mission. Considering the fact that the Church in its early beginnings accepted positive components of various cultures with which she came into contact, there is no reason that the Church today should not behave in the same way. The remaining theological conditions were identified during the Second Vatican Council: the recognition of religious freedom, the autonomy of secular entities and the new synthesis in the formulation of Church teachings. The third part discusses how the Council's influence for a renewal was actualised in the post-conciliar era. This was achieved at the ecclesial institution level with the introduction of important synodal and democratic structures in the Universal and local Churches. This was a painful and tumultuous process when it was necessary to clearly explain the sociological principles of democracy and the state, and the theological principles of the Church, its ministry and its role for the People of God. This approach allowed for the detecting errors and bypassing any possible crude deviations.
The final part of this article deals with the position of the Church in Croatia. It researches the manner of renewal and democratisation of the ecclesial structures. It is evident that the Council's request for a modernisation to encounter a modern and free culture has not been without problems, which has been evident in tempestuous ecclesiastical turmoil and other numerous incidents of conflict in post-conciliar times. Notwithstanding all of these factors and problems, we have reached in our county a noticeable level of legitimate inner ecclesial pluralism. This should be further encouraged by patient and consistent dialogue as the only instrument of communication in the ecclesial community.
Keywords
pluralism; ecclesial (legitimate) pluralism; hyper-pluralism; democratisation of the Church; reform of structures; synodal structures; inner-ecclesial dialogue; co-responsibility; ecclesial community
Hrčak ID:
27833
URI
Publication date:
12.8.2003.
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