April 9, 2011 – Catechism 802-810

Instead of rehashing through my thoughts on the Church and its unity, I thought I would leave it to smarter people. I am in the process of reading Pope Benedict’s new book on Jesus concerning Holy Week. There is a section on Church unity based on his reflections on John 17:11, 21-23. “11: And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me that they may be one, even as we are one. 21: that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22: The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,23: I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.”  He starts by a quote from a book by Rudolf Bultmann, a famous German theologian who developed theology based on the idea that believing in only the bare fact of Christ crucified was necessary for Christian faith, called  demythology. I will start with his quote and then the Pope’s response. I am typing straight from the book, so any typos or errors are my fault.

“It is instructive to hear Rudolf Bultmann once again on this question. He says first of all – as we read in the Gospel – that this unity is grounded in the unity of the Father and Son, and then he continues: “That means it is not founded on natural or purely historical data, nor can it be manufactured by organizations, institutions or dogma; these can at best only bear witness to the real unity, as on the other hand they can also give a false impression of unity. And even if the proclamation of the word in the world requires institutions and dogmas, these cannot guarantee the unity of true proclamation. ON the other hand the actual disunion of the Church, which is, in passing, precisely the result of its institutions and dogmas, does not necessarily frustrated the unity of the proclamation. The word can resound authentically, wherever the tradition is maintained. Because the authenticity of the proclamation cannot be controlled by institutions or dogmas, and because the faith that answers the word is invisible, it is also true that the authentic unity of the community is invisible…it is invisible because it is not a worldly phenomenon at all””. (The Gospel of John, pp 513-14) quoted in (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection by Pope Benedict XVI, pp. 94)

This appears to be what I hear many people arguing, this invisible unity of all the Christians. Not only that, but also the rules and dogmas of the Church actually cause the disunity, which I have also heard. So, in a paragraph, we have the arguments against the One visible Church on Earth. Here is what the Pope writes next.

“These sentences are astonishing. Much of what they say might be called into question, the concept of “institutions” and “dogmas” to begin with, but even more so the concept of “proclamation”, which is said to create unity by itself. Is it true that the Revealer in his unity with the Father is present in the proclamation?  Is he not often astonishingly absent?  Now Bultmann gives us a certain criterion for establishing where the word resounds “authentically”: “wherever the tradition is maintained”. Which tradition one might ask?  Where does it come from; what is its content?  Since not every proclamation is “authentic”, how are we to recognize it?  The “authentic proclamation” is said to create unity by itself. The “actual Disunion” of the Church cannot hinder the unity that comes from the Lord, so Bultmann claims.

Does this mean that ecumenism (practice of promoting or fostering Christian unity throughout the world) is rendered superfluous, since unity is create in proclamation and is not hindered through the schisms of history?  Perhaps it is also significant that Bultmann uses the word “Church” when he speaks of disunion, whereas he uses the word “community” when considering unity. The unity of proclamation is not verifiable, he tells us. Therefore the unity of the community is invisible, just as faith is invisible. Unity is invisible, because “it is not a worldly phenomenon at all.”” (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, pp. 94-95)

Here we see the Pope tackling Bultmann’s theory on unity. What I don’t think makes any sense is how proclamations can provide unity when the proclamations say different things, much like the question as to how do we know what proclamations are authentic.

“Is this the correct exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text) of Jesus’ prayer?  It is certainly true that the unity of the disciples – of the future Church – for which Jesus prays “is not a worldly phenomenon”. This the Lord says quite distinctly. Unity does not come from the world: on the basis of the world’s own efforts, it is impossible. The world’s own efforts lead to disunion, as we can all see. Inasmuch as the world is operative in the Church, in Christianity, it leads to schisms. Unity can only come from the Father through the Son. It has to do with the “glory” that the Son gives: with his presence, granted through the Holy Spirit, which is the fruit of the Cross, the fruit of Jesus’ transformation through death and Resurrection. 

    Yet the power of God reaches into the midst of the world in which the disciples live. It must be of such a kind that the world can “recognize” it and thereby come to faith. While it does not come from the world, it can and must be discernible by the world. The stated objective of Jesus’ prayer for unity is precisely that through the unity of the disciples, the truth of his mission is made visible for men. Unity must be visible; it must be recognizable as something that does not exist elsewhere in the world; as something that is inexplicable on the basis of humankind’s own efforts and the therefore makes visible the working of a higher power. Through the humanly inexplicable unity of Jesus’ disciples down the centuries, Jesus himself is vindicated. It can be seen that he is truly the “Son”. Hence God can be recognized as the creator of a unity that overcomes the world’s inherent tendency toward fragmentation.

For this the Lord Prayed: for a unity that can come into existence only from God and through Christ and yet is so concrete in its appearance that in it we are able to see God’s power at work. That is why the struggle for visible unity of the disciples of Jesus Christ remains an urgent task for Christians of all times and places. The invisible unity of the “community” is not sufficient.”  (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, pp. 95-96)