Folia Canonica 4. (2001)

STUDIES - John D. Faris: A Canonical Examination of the Acquisition, Consequences and Loss of Membership in a Church - A Catholic Perspective

MEMBERSHIP IN A CHURCH

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consequence of Bellarmine’s identification of Church with Roman Catholic Church was that persons bearing the name of Christ and perhaps belonging to communities that had retained the seven sacraments, priesthood and apostolic succession were not recognized as members of the Church, a most unfortunate conclusion, especially when the axiom, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus was mentioned.

In denying ecclesial legitimacy to all non-Catholic communities, a true ecumenical effort was impossible. Instead, the Catholic Church conducted a missionary effort to convert baptized persons and bring back individuals or communities to the Catholic Church.4

The Bellarmine definition, operative in Catholic ecclesiology and canon law until the second half of the twentieth century, was a fundamental thesis of Mystici corporis of Pius XII:

“... the Roman Catholic Church, and it alone is the Mystical body of Christ. Since only Roman Catholics are really members of the Church, only they are really members of the mystical Body.”5

Without the risk of overstatement, it can be asserted that one of the most profound insights articulated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) was its reformulation of the notion of Church. This is an accomplishment if one considers that the Vatican II (1962-65) preparatory document on the Church stated: “Only the Roman Catholic Church has the right to the name of ‘Church.’”6

CHURCH OF CHRIST

Under the inspiration of the Spirit, the Council Fathers sought an ecclesi- ological approach that would recognize the manifestations of ecclesiality, especially the Eucharist and priesthood, that lay beyond the visible parameters of the Catholic Church. With dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium (1965), a more expansive notion of Church was articulated: the Church subsists in the Catholic Church and that there are many gifts of sanctification and truth that lay

militante toto orbe diffusa, liber 3, cap. 2, “De Ecclesia” (Naples: Lauriel, 1872), 75.

4The text of the constitution Magnus Dominus (1595) proclaiming the Union of Brest included the reference that the Ruthenian bishops “had not been members of the Body of Christ which is the Church, because they lacked bonds with the visible head of His Church, the Supreme Roman Pontiff.” (non esse membra corporis Christi, quod est Ecclesia, qui visibili ipsius Ecclesiae capiti Summo Romano Pontifici non chohaerent) in A.G. WELYKU (ed.), Documenta Unionis Berestensis eiusque auctorum (1590-1600) Rome 1970, 218.

5AAS 36 (1943) 193-248. Cited in F. Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, New York 1992, 131.

6Acta Synodalia 1:4, 15.