Comments | novak: Theological Notebook: The New CDF Document on the Doctrine of the Church

novak

Theological Notebook: The New CDF Document on the Doctrine of the Church

Jul 10, 2007 10:12

Oi. I woke up this morning to find that there was a new document that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) had issued regarding the Second Vatican Council's statement that the Church of Christ "subsists in" the Catholic Church. Nicole Winfield, one of the regular AP reporters I read covering the Vatican, has a story out on it that ( Read more... )

mysticism/spirituality, benedict xvi, second vatican council, theological notebook, dissertation, magisterium, cdf, ecclesiology, christianity, francis a. sullivan s.j., vatican, john paul ii, catholicism, fahey

Comments 4

cerulianphoenix July 10 2007, 18:40:07 UTC

I received the document in an email today and glanced over it just a few minutes ago. It really didn't open up any new ideas, more or less it seemed to reiterate things already stated in previous documents. Overall I found some of the things I read interesting but nothing stood out prominently. However, I do want to point out one thing:

This is a different question than whether or not the Roman Catholic Church might preserve a "fullness" of the way of being the Church of Christ that other churches lack...

This would exclude the sui iuris Oriental Catholic Churches such as the Maronite, Byzantine, Syrian, etc., which are "Orthodox" yet Catholic. Unless speaking of the Roman Catholic Church specifically, as in the Latin rite, one should use "Catholic Church" since that covers Catholics of all rites. It's not serious, I just thought I would mention it (Since it is so awfully common to encounter in news articles, conversations, or anywhere else really).

novak July 10 2007, 18:48:11 UTC

Oops! You're totally right: that was really careless of me - it's obviously not just the Latin rite that's meant here. I'll edit that. Thanks!

cerulianphoenix July 11 2007, 12:53:28 UTC

It's okay, pobodies nerfect. :)

seeker101 July 12 2007, 17:32:21 UTC

"subsists in" the Roman Catholic Church - a phrase that was understood after the Council, by the Council Fathers - to indicate that there was a legitimacy to other forms of Christianity. This is a different question than whether or not the Catholic Church might preserve a "fullness" of the way of being the Church of Christ that other churches lack,

Seems to me that the CDF is saying both things. Certainly, they are addressing the "fullness" with this part:

and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. (6) .........This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him" (7).