1. HIERACHY AND PEOPLE For the building up of the Christian people, the Lord established ministries in his Church. Among his ministers are some endowed with sacred authority, who are servants of their brethren. They labor so that all who are of the people of God, and therefore enjoy a true Christian dignity, can work towards a common goal freely and in an orderly way, and arrive at salvation (LG 18). Jesus, even before his death, appointed twelve apostles, presided over by Peter. These in turn before their death appointed successors to continue those aspects of their role which were not simply foundational but which were ongoing elements of the life of the Church. This included presiding in love over a people that was to be hierarchically structured (LG 18). To the place of the apostles succeeded the bishops to be teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship and officers of good order. The successors of those bishops, presided over by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, govern the Catholic Church today (LG 20). As teachers, bishops speak in the name of Christ and pass on Christian faith and morals (LG 25). As priests of sacred worship, they regulate and direct the celebration of the sacraments and represent and symbolize the charity and unity of the body of Christ (LG 26). As officers of good order, bishops have the authority to make laws for their subjects, to pass judgment on them and to moderate everything pertaining to the ordering of worship and the apostolate (LG 27). The bishops are not the only members of the Church who teach, sanctify and govern. All full members of the Church, lay, religious or clerical, can take part in the work of teaching, sanctifying and governing with a spiritual authority proper to their position. Moreover, not everything bishops do, even when acting as bishops, is done with the full authority of their episcopal ministry. The submission that is appropriate towards bishops varies according to the nature of their actions. Nonetheless the bishops, in union with the Pope, have an essential role in presiding over the ordering of the life of the people of God. As a result, whatever is not in right relationship with the local bishop and/or the Pope is not in right relationship with the Church of Christ. The members of the Church, the people of God under the governance of the hierarchy, are clergy, religious or laity. In principle there could be covenant communities made up of only clergy or only religious. In practice, covenant communities are made up either of all laity or of laity together with clergy and religious, with the laity numerically predominant. Covenant communities, therefore, tend to have a lay character and are commonly understood to be lay associations, even when their statutes make provision for clerical or religious members. Insofar as the covenant community is a lay association, its life arises from the spiritual mission of the laity. As the name "laity" indicates, they are full members of the people of God (LG 31). They come together in associations to live a more perfect life, a more authentically and consistently Christian life (CIC, Can 298). They often also come together to engage in those apostolic endeavors which allow them as Christians living in the larger society, often among non-Christians or nominal Christians, to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth (AA 2, CIC, Can 298). At times, members of covenant communities and, at times, whole covenant communities aid in the apostolate of the hierarchy (AA 20). However, except for such forms of apostolate, the laity do not build up their own lives spiritually and engage in apostolic activities through the delegation of the hierarchy. Rather they do so in virtue of their own vocation and position as members of Christ's faithful (LG 32, 33, CIC, Can 225).
2. THE STATUS OF COVENANT COMMUNITIES
Covenant communities may have a variety of relationships to the Catholic hierarchy (AA 24). The canonical foundation of their existence depends on the right of association within the Church (AA 19, 24, CIC, Can 214-216). The actual form of the relationships which is most fitting depends on their call as a community and the role they play within the corporate life of the Church. Correspondingly, although all Catholic covenant communities are subject to the normal government of the hierarchy, the kind of regulation and direction that they receive varies. Some covenant communities are established by the hierarchy and are approved as a public association in the life of the Catholic Church. As such, they receive more regulation and direction from the hierarchy in accordance with the canons for public associations (CIC, Can 301, 304-309) and with their own statutes. Some covenant communities desire an official approval and a mutually agreed-upon relationship with the hierarchy and may be a private association. As such, they receive more limited supervision and care from the hierarchy in accordance with the canons for private associations (CIC, Can 299-300, 304-310, 321-326) and with their own statutes. Some covenant communities do not desire approval, but these too should be in good communication and relationship with the proper member of the hierarchy and acknowledge his responsibility for the common good and preservation of doctrine and good order within the Church. They also should recognize his duty to pass judgment as needed on any activity of theirs as to its accordance with Catholic teaching on faith and morals and with Church law (LG 27, AA 24). No community may claim the name "Catholic" without the consent of the lawful Church authority (CIC, Can 300). Covenant communities may simply be local communities, or they may join in regional or international associations. Those that join in regional or international associations relate to the proper organ of the hierarchy for their life as an association in the broader Church. They also relate to the local ordinary or his delegate for their relationship to the local Church. Covenant communities may also be related to the local Church in a variety of ways in regard to the meeting of the needs of their members. Some covenant communities will be allowed by their statutes or by the approval of the local bishop to be the place where the normal instructional, liturgical and sacramental functions of the Church can be obtained by their members. Some covenant communities will, with the approval of the local bishop, be a place in which some supplementary sacramental and instructional functions are provided for their members as a way of strengthening them further and integrating their life in the community with their life in the broader Church. In these cases what the community provides should not replace the normal life of the parish for its members. Some covenant communities will not be in a position to provide sacramental services for their members. In their community life and instruction they should support their members' participation in parish life and teach them how to integrate it properly with the support they find in the life of the community. Covenant communities may likewise be in a variety of relations to the hierarchy in regard to their outreach. Some covenant communities wish to help the Church with official pastoral duties such as the teaching of Christian doctrine, certain liturgical actions and the care of souls. Such services should be fully subject to ecclesiastical direction (AA 24). Some covenant communities may be asked to work under the hierarchy in services which have an immediately spiritual purpose and receive a special mandate to do so. The authorities who authorize such services assume a special responsibility for them, although without depriving the communities of the possibility of acting on their own accord (AA 24). Some covenant communities establish various outreaches, but do so on their own initiative and under the guidance of the wisdom they have. Such services are subject to the judgment of the hierarchy in regard to whether their activities conform to moral principles and whether supernatural values are properly protected and promoted, but they are not under the direction of the hierarchy (AA 24). Christ's faithful are free to perform such services especially when they judge that they can best serve the cause of Christ or the mission of the Church by working in such a manner. Such services may not claim the name "Catholic" without the consent of lawful Church authority (AA 24). Many covenant communities will undertake no services as a body, but their members will engage in a variety of services, apostolic or otherwise. Moreover, most covenant communities, even when they sponsor corporate services, will have members who serve in other ways. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the members to conduct their service in the light of Catholic teaching and discipline where it may be applicable. In order to find the proper place of the covenant community in the life of the Catholic Church, the cooperation of the leaders and of the appropriate member of the hierarchy is needed. On the one hand, since there is a right of association within the Church, the choice of the type of relationship of the covenant community to the Church belongs to the community itself seeking the form of life that is most appropriate to the call God has given it. On the other hand, since the regulation of the life of the Church belongs to the hierarchy, the approval of the type of relationship of the covenant community to the Church belongs to the proper member of the hierarchy discerning what is for the good of the Christian people as a whole, including the community itself.
3. GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITIES IN COMMUNITY AND CHURCH
Any body of Christians needs governors to build up the body and to promote the common good so that the body can live together in an orderly way (LG 18). Just as the Church as a whole needs ministers to preside over it in love, so does a covenant community. The ministry of the governor of a covenant community is both like and unlike the ministry of the leaders in the Church. It is unlike in that the ministry of the hierarchy and the clergy is instituted and authorized by Christ and has a sacramental nature. It is like in that the functions are similar, since the leaders of a covenant community need to teach some Christian truth to their members, need to work for their sanctification, at least by their prayer, encouragement and example, and need to govern them as a body and in a common way of life. It is, finally, unlike in that covenant communities often have some degree of sharing of life and goods and often have some degree of commonly organized Christian service for all the members. As a result the leaders of covenant communities not only share more closely in the daily life of the members but also may have to more directly oversee daily organizational matters. To the degree that the leaders of covenant communities build up the members as Christians, their service can be described as pastoral. Sometimes the local bishop or the Pope may allow covenant communities to provide the functions of a local parish and so may integrate it into the normal structures of the Church, albeit with a special status. At other times, even when there is a priest present in the governing leadership of the community, the members of covenant communities live as part of two bodies with two sets of governors in a way traditional in the Catholic Church, not only for members of religious communities but also for members of Christian families and of nations that have considered themselves Christian nations. The existence of the community and the relationship between the community and the ordinary structures of the Church is meant to provide greater strength for the whole Church. It can, however, only do so by eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace (Eph 4:3). Although the primary source of unity in the Church is the work of the Holy Spirit, there are certain conditions that need to be met by the leaders of covenant communities to maintain the bond of peace. A first condition for unity is submission to God's truth as interpreted by the Catholic magisterium. When two governing authorities are both working to build people up in the same truth, their efforts reinforce and support one another. A second condition for unity is the respect for the law of the Church and the duties and limitations it imposes. This means, among other things, that the governors of covenant communities cannot perform functions that they are not authorized to do by Church law and that they need to cooperate properly with those who are authorized to perform those functions. It also, however, means that the governing authorities of the Catholic Church respect the right of association and of self-government provided for in Church law. A third condition for unity is the role of the bishop as a source of unity as representative of Christ, whether the local bishop or the Pope. It belongs to the episcopal office to so gather and mold the whole family of the flock that everyone, conscious of his own duties, may live and work in the communion of love (CD 16). It likewise belongs to the episcopal office to pass judgment as needed (LG 27). The granting of statutes or some other agreement as to the functioning of the covenant community within the larger Church is a very helpful means to unity, although even with statutes good communication is an ongoing need. It is a great advantage for a covenant community to have the services of priests. Sometimes, these priests may exercise pastoral care of the members of the community according to the appointment of the bishop or according to the statutes of the community as an association of the faithful. Sometimes these priests may fulfill the function of a spiritual counselor to the community. Sometimes these priests will simply be members and can exercise a pastoral ministry as they are invited to do so. The governors of a covenant community may freely choose priests to serve the community from among the priests who lawfully exercise a ministry in the diocese, but priests require the confirmation of the ordinary (CIC, Can 324). Priests may be governors within the covenant community. Their service in the covenant community as governors, however, is distinct from that of their ministry as priests. Any exercise of their ministry as priests, especially where jurisdiction is involved, is directly subject to the authority of the local ordinary and carried out in accordance with the law of the Catholic Church. On the other hand, any exercise of their service as governors in the covenant community is subject to whatever supervisory authority they may be under in the community and subject to the statutes and/or legislation of the covenant community. Governors of covenant communities have a responsibility for the life together of the communities and for helping their members live a Christian way of life. They, therefore, have an obligation to exercise some discipline in the external forum over the lives of the members, according to the commitment of the members and the covenant and agreement of the community. They do not, however, exercise the canonical or sacramental powers of the Church by virtue of their position in the covenant community. Governors of covenant communities should take care to exercise their disciplinary role in harmony with the teaching of the Church and to avoid impeding the lawful functioning of the sacramental and disciplinary action of the Church. They should be eager to promote fervent Christian living and solid Christian belief among the members of the community, should follow an approach to community discipline which is in harmony with Christian tradition and should respect the limits of their own knowledge and formation in the help they give. The Church of Christ was instituted by Christ. It is governed by those who have succeeded in an orderly manner to the positions of government established by Christ. Their authority is rooted in the sacrament of orders (CL 23). The covenant community is established by the covenant commitment of its members in response to God. It is governed by those who have been chosen according to the constitution of the community. Their authority comes from the charism that gave rise to the community and from the agreement of the members of the community as expressed in the covenant (CL 24). Insofar as it is a Christian and ecclesial authority, it is rooted in the sacrament of baptism (CL 23). The properly chosen governors of the covenant community, when they speak Christian truth and conduct themselves in a Christian manner, especially when they act with the inspiration or anointing of the Holy Spirit, exercise a spiritual authority. Their relationship to the broader Church should be expressed in the respect they show for the preeminent spiritual authority of the Catholic Church and for the positions of its governors who are to be respected and highly esteemed in love because of their work (1 Th 5:12). |
