Co-Responsibility for Mission: Theological foundations and imperatives CHA Governance Conference 30-31 March2015

Mission is.... Vatican II as a turning point The Church does mission An activity by the Church – “one” among others? The Church is mission Mission as nature of the Church The Church on earth is by its very nature missionary, since, according to the plan of the Father, it has its origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit Vatican II: Decree on Mission, 2. A comparison around some basic questions asked of the Church before and after Vatican II What is the Church’s mission for? To whom is the Church’s mission directed? By whom is the Church’s mission to be carried out? With whom does the Church carry out its mission? How does mission happen?

Mission Prior to Vatican II The object of missionary activity, as we all know is to bring the light of the Gospel to new races to form new Christians. However, the ultimate goal of missionary endeavour, which should never be lost sight of, is to establish the Church on sound foundations among non-Christian peoples, and place it under its own native authority.

Goal of Mission, Post-Vatican II evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: ... for the Church it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, humankind's criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation. - Paul VI, Evangelisation in the Modern World, 18/19 This is a new “style” of operation and a new understanding of mission

Mission and the Church “The church’s existence is not for itself; it exists for another reason: to be the sacrament of God’s presence already revealed in Christ and to continue Christ’s mission of preaching, serving, and witnessing to the fullness of that presence in history. The church does not properly, therefore, have a mission. The mission – God’s mission of redeeming, healing, loving the world – has a church to serve it.” Steven Bevens, “Mission as the Nature of the Church.” Australian ejournal of Theology 21 Dec. 2014

Co-responsibility in the Mission Coresponsibility in the Church Léon-Joseph Cardinal Suenens Connection of Church unity with Mission Baptism “We can never meditate enough on the baptismal foundation of the church, the primal mystery of Christian existence, which unites in one decisive act the acceptance of the Lord, the profession of the gospel, the purification of sin, the active presence of the Spirit, the entrance into the community of the faithful.” Suenens, 30.

Imperatives! Mission: Who with and how in our day? Vatican II and ecumenical venture in mission “Baptism is the root of all Christian life, and of all religious life, be it structure or not. It is that point from which all vocations, functions and charisms derive their life. In the church of God, this fundamental equality of all is the primary fact. There is no superbaptism, there are no castes, no privileges (Gal 3:28).” Suenens, 31. Baptism affords the theological ground for cooperation and coresponsibility for the Church’s mission. It opens the field of cooperation both to internal Catholic collaboration, and catholic collaboration.0

Co-responsibility Within the Church Church in the World Papacy, Episcopal College, Bishops in a region, Priests, Deacons, Theologians, Laity Church in the World A focus on the Laity What does co-responsibility in and, of the Church look like today?