ON THE FOUR ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHURCH: A STUDY OF YVES CONGARS

PNEUMATOLOGICAL ECCLESIOLOGY
BY
JOHN-MARK IGBOALISI, OP
BEING A SEMINAR PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY,
DOMINICAN INSTITUTE, IBADAN IN AFFILIATION WITH DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY,
PENNSYLVANIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
COURSE:
FOUNDATIONS OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
LECTURER: FR ANTHONY A. AKINWALE, OP
IBADAN
MAY 2013
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.0 THE SPIRIT AS THE CO-INSTITUTING PRINCIPLE OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . 1
2.0 THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 THE ONENESS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 THE APOSTOLICITY OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 THE HOLINESS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, transl by David Smith (New York:
1
The Seabury Press, 1983), p.5.
1
INTRODUCTION
Every organism has attributes or characteristics by which it is distinguished or recognized.
The Church, likened to an organism, has distinguishing marks by which she is recognized. These
attributes portray her uniqueness and reveal her identity. It is made possible by the Holy Spirit, who
animates the Church, giving her these distinguishing attributes by which she is known. Yves Congar,
in part one of his book, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. 2, attempts to demonstrate that the
relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church is inextricable. Our objective is to attempt to
retrieve Yves Congars understanding of the Holy Spirit as the principle of these attributes of the
Church. To accomplish this, we shall proceed by considering the Spirit as co-instituting principle
of the Church before examining the Churchs fourfold attribute of oneness, catholicity, apostolicity
and holiness.
1.0 THE SPIRIT AS THE CO-INSTITUTING PRINCIPLE OF THE CHURCH
Yves Congar begins his attempt of elucidating the relationship between the Holy Spirit and
the Church, by reflecting on patristic understanding of the relationship between the Holy Spirit and
the Church. He notes that if we go far back in the sequence of confessions of faith or creedal
statements, we would find the article on the Church linked to that of the Holy Spirit. Tertullian, in
1
his articulation of the sacrament of Baptism, enunciates the correlation between the Trinity and the
Church. He notes that the Trinity is the assurance of our hope. For after the pledging, both of the
attestation of faith and the promise of salvation under the Trinity, there is added of necessity the
Cf. Tertullian, On Baptism, 6.
2
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.5-6.
3
Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, art. 9.
4
2
Church, inasmuch as wherever the Trinity is, there is the Church which is a body of three. Within
2
this Tertullian understanding, we discover the identification of the Church not only as the Body of
Christ, but as the fruit of the Trinity. Hence Yves Congar explains that it is not surprising that the
First Council of Constantinople (381) added to the Nicene Creed, after the confession of the divinity
of the Holy Spirit, the article on the Church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic
Yves Congar clarifies what it means to confess faith in God and the Church. He elucidates
that in the West, the preposition eis or in is usually omitted before ecclesiam. This has been accorded
a religious or theological significance. In explaining what this means, he notes that it is possible to
believe in God, to accept him as the end of ones life, but it is not possible to believe in the same way
in the Church. He acknowledges the commentary of Scholastic theologians with regard to this fact
that one believes in the Holy Spirit, not only in himself, but as the one who makes the Church one,
holy, catholic and apostolic. Since the Church is undoubtedly an object of faith, we trace her
attributes back to their cause, which is divine and of the order of grace.
3
The Catechism of the Council of Trent, which Yves Congar draws insight from, distinguishes
faith in God and the Church. It explains that we believe in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
in such a way that we place our faith in them, and we profess to believe that there is a Church that
is one, holy and catholic and not in the holy Church. This difference in expression demonstrates
that God, who is the author of all things, is distinguished from all his creatures, and in receiving all
the precious good things that he has given to the Church, we refer them back to him. Hence Congar
4
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.6-7.
5
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.7, 9.
6
Cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Bk III, Ch. 24, 2.
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3
enunciates that there is no real opposition between faith in the Holy Spirit who makes the Church
one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and faith in the fulfilment of Gods promise in the Church. This
does not detract from the Church from being an object of belief since the Church is the sign and the
means of Gods intervention in our world and history.
5
We see this intervention in the two divine missions of which the Church is the fruit both
in its life and origin. This is because the Church is historical and visible and its founder is Jesus,
who is always living and active in it and is its lasting foundation. And the Spirit gives life to the
Church and enables the Church to grow as the Body of Christ. In elucidating the animation of the
Church by the Spirit, he argues that the Spirit did not condescend simply in order to animate an
institution that was already fully determined in all its structures, but he is really the co-instituting
principle. He draws insight from some Church fathers like, Irenaeus and Didymus the Blind.
6
Irenaeus argues that wherever the Church is, there is the Spirit of God. Wherever the Spirit of God
is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace. Hence those who do not partake of the Spirit are
neither nourished into life, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body
of Christ. This underscores that the life, which the Church dispenses to her children, comes from
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the Holy Spirit who animates the Church.
In a bid to explain his position that the Holy Spirit is the co-instituting principle, he examines
the sacramental experience of the Church. He notes that Christ gave to certain actions a signification
of grace, but sacramental rites were determined by history. While, one may find scriptural support
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.9-10.
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4
for the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist and penance, he evinces that the thirteenth century
Franciscan theologians, Alexander of Hales and Bonaventure, attributed the definitive institution of
the sacraments of confirmation, ordination, marriage and anointing of the sick to the active
inspiration of the Spirit in the Church and its councils. He enunciates that neither Trent nor Vatican
II attributed the institution of different degrees of the sacramental ministry to Jesus, for in the actual
meaning and ordination of ministers, it is through the intervention of the Spirit. Just like the
succession of the apostolic ministry began with the initiative of the Holy Spirit.
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2.0 THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHURCH
2.1 THE ONENESS OF THE CHURCH
It is the Spirit that makes the Church one. Yves Congar explicates that when the Holy Spirit
descended on the apostles and early Christians, they were gathered together. He makes recourse to
Augustine and J. A. Mhlers commentary, in his Symbolik, on the expressions: gathered together
and of one mind. Mhler explains that when the Holy Spirit condescended, the apostles and other
Christians were not scattered in different places, but were gathered together in the same place and
were of one heart. They formed a single community of brethren. For Augustine, on the one hand, it
is necessary to be in the Body of Christ in order to have the Spirit of Christ and, on the other, one
has the Spirit of Christ and live in that Spirit when one is in the Church, the Body of Christ. What
this underscores is that the Spirit is received when believers are together and it is not because there
is one body that there is one Spirit, rather it is because there is one Spirit of Christ that there is one
Body. Hence the Spirit acts in order to enable people to enter that one Body through baptism, and
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol II, p.15.
9
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.19-20.
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he is given to the Body and indwells in that Body that people who enter that Body may receive the
gift of the Spirit.
9
This raises some questions. First, is the Church a person in whom the Holy Spirit indwells?
Congar answers in the affirmative. He notes that the person Church cannot be reduced to the mere
total of the individuals who compose the Church. This is because the Church has its own reality to
which specific properties like unity, holiness, catholicity, apostolicity and indefectibility can
appropriately be ascribed. Secondly, how can we understand the personality of the Church? Is it a
created personality or should we rather say that Christ is the I of the Church or that the Spirit is
its supreme personality or transcendent I? And if Christ is the I of the Church, how can the
Church be his bride? And if the Holy Spirit is the I of the Church, how can it be the Body of
Christ?
10
In addressing this series of questions, Congar enunciates that the unity that is peculiar to the
Church has its reality in the Church itself, but its foundation resides in God This means that the
foundation of the unity of the Church is from the unity of the Trinity. He asserts that this is related
to the mystery of the divine will and purpose. This means that the person-Church is the one, total
reality envisaged by this plan and it is at the same time the term of that plan. This reality and the term
are the one mystical Body of Christ, which is also the fruit of the two divine missions. Hence by
appropriation, it is the Holy Spirit that brings about the personality of the Church though he is not
consubstantial with us. In Christ, the Word assumed a humanity that is consubstantial with us. He
united it to himself in a unity that is personal and substantial. Since that time, God has ceased to
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol II, pp.19-20.
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govern his creation at the natural and the supernatural level exclusively on the basis of his divinity,
but he governs it also in and through that man, Jesus Christ, assumed in his glory. Hence the
humanity of Christ, made entirely holy by the Spirit, is the instrumental cause, the voluntary organ,
of the communication of grace. And since that time, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit have together
been the authors of the Church in its unity. But while Christ is the author as the Head of the Body,
homogeneous with its members, in a way that is absolutely his own and strictly personal, the Holy
Spirit is author not as the Head which is homogeneous with its members, but as the principle which
animates the Body. Congar asserts that this is the reason why the Church is the Body, not of the Holy
Spirit and not even of the Word, but of Christ.
11
Is this oneness or unity of the Church concretely manifested or revealed since this explication
appear to be on the realm of the ideal? Congar enunciates that this communion is an authentic reality,
yet it is so sublime. He gives examples of how in the past black and white Catholics communicated
and received communion at the same altar, but they returned to their places without relating with
each other. He acknowledges Jean Sguys answer that then, on the concrete level, there was
communion at the level of faith and liturgical practice, but there was no trace of sociological
communion. Although this same kind of situation might be the case in some places, like people who
say they do not feel the warmth or sense of welcome in the Church, yet there are also instances of
people who have felt this communion of how their fellow Catholics have journeyed with them in
faith. The Church is made up of people of different race and language, yet the Spirit brings all these
different elements to unity. Hence the Christian solidarity is expressed and made visible by the
charity which the Spirit has placed in our hearts. This charity is not only sublime, but also very
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.16-17,21-22.
12
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, p.24.
13
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concrete. This charity forms the basis of the communion of saints, and the principle of this charity
is the Holy Spirit. What this means is that every member of the Church must dispose himself to the
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love of God which has been poured into our hearts and express it in concrete terms, thereby fostering
also, what Jean Sguy calls, sociological communion, under the inspiration of the Spirit.
2.2 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH
To speak of the catholicity of the Church is to speak of unity of many according to the whole.
This is because unity has, by its very vocation, a universal extension. Congar attempts to articulate
this using the mission of Christ. He notes that it is not possible to deprive Christ, despite his
particular mission which was situated in time and space (own country), of his universal value as the
light of the world and Lord of all. This is because the reality of Christ as man-God goes far beyond
any purely philosophical approach. He argues that this can also be applied to the Church although
one would have to keep in mind the difference between Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, the
continuity between Christ and the Church is formed, on the one hand, by what comes to the Church
from him institutionally like words, baptism, Eucharist, apostolic mission and so on, and on the other
hand, the Spirit communicated by him to the Church. It is this same Spirit that makes the Church
catholic both in space, that is, in the world, and in time, that is in history.
13
On Pentecost, the Church was established in the world. This gave it a vocation of universality
which was to be achieved not by means of a uniform extension, but by the fact that everyone
understood and expressed the marvels in his own language. Congar explains that through the mission
and gift of the Holy Spirit, the Church was born universal, being born manifold and particular. He
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.25-26.
14
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 13.
15
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makes the assertion that the Church is catholic because it is particular and it has the fulness of gifts
because each has his own gifts. The catholicity which the Church has as an attribute is not a return
of uniformity like the Babel of old, but she is the new Babel by her proclamation of the Gospel and
faith in varied and diverse cultural soils and human spaces.
14
The Second Vatican Council, which Congar often makes recourse, teaches that all men are
called to belong to the new People of God. This People, while remaining one and only one, is to be
spread throughout the whole world (space) and to all ages (time) in order that the design of Gods
will may be fulfilled. This one People of God is present in all the nations of the earth and all the
faithful scattered throughout the world are in communion with each other in the Holy Spirit. Hence
the character of universality which adorns the Church is a gift from the Lord, whereby the Catholic
ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for return of all humanity and all goods under Christ who is the
Head in the unity of his Spirit.
15
In his explanation of how the Spirit makes the Church catholic in history, Congar elucidates
that the Spirit makes the Word present. It is the Spirit that makes the Easter event of Christ present
with the eschatological destiny of creation in mind. He makes Christs revelation present and thrusts
the Gospel forward into a period of history that has not yet come. For if all the aspects of the Christ-
event happened once then this once should be welcomed and should take root and bear fruit in
humanity. It is the Spirit that links what has been acquired once and for all time and what is always
new. It is through the Spirit that the Church is able to speak the Word to each generation, in every
cultural environment and in all kinds of circumstances. He asserts that the catholicity of the Church
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.27-28, 34-35.
16
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.39-40.
17
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is the catholicity of Christ because the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Church is able to
be completely open to accomplish its catholicity which is also the catholicity of Christ in the power
of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
16
2.3 THE APOSTOLICITY OF THE CHURCH
The word apostolic means relating to the apostles or in conformity with the apostles. This
word indicates a reference to or a conformity with the origin of Christianity. However, Congar
considers this description as needing amplification since it reveals only half truth. He considers the
other half of the truth as a reference to eschatology. He identifies Christ as the Alpha and Omega,
and apostolicity, which is a mark of the Church, is both a gift of grace and a task. It makes the
Church fill the space between the Alpha and the Omega by ensuring that there is continuity between
the two and a substantial identity between the Omega and the Alpha. He examines how apostolicity
in reference to eschatology is related to the last judgment and the mission of Christ. Concerning the
former, he notes that the apostles will judge whether what reaches the Omega through which history
has traversed is in conformity with what was given at the Alpha. As regards the latter, apostolicity
is the identity, almost the oneness, of the apostolic mission throughout the centuries until the end,
while people who carry out the mission die one after the other and are succeeded by others. This is
the sharing of the mission of Christ.
17
In his bid to explain how the Holy Spirit brings about and maintains the continuity and
identity between the Alpha and the Omega, Congar makes use of Ragnar Astings view with regard
to witnessing. Asting considered testimony as vorwrtsgerichtet meaning directed forward and not
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.41-42.
18
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.44-46.
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backwards-looking, zurckschauend. He notes that the Christian witness refers to Christs death
and resurrection and to his status as Lord, and it is always directed forward. This is because it looks
beyond the affirmation that these things in fact took place, rather it proclaims their saving value and
their present and effective reality for the world. Congar enunciates that in the messianic and
eschatological era which began with the mission and gift of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit both
values of witness are combined, the value of recollection and attestation of what has already taken
place and the value of a dynamic affirmation of the present effectiveness of those realities and their
fulfilment in the apostolic mission until they are eschatologically consummated.
18
It is the Spirit that makes the Church apostolic. It was to the Church assembled and
unanimous in the company of apostles, who were witnesses, that the Spirit condescended at
Pentecost. Hence the apostolicity of the Church is a communion with the apostles and with and
through them a communion with the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit is the principle of that communion.
He elucidates that the transmission of the Spirit, which enables the Church to be faithful to and
united to her faith, is tied to the function of bishops who succeeded the apostles. Nonetheless,
universal apostolicity of the Church is fundamentally an apostolicity, but it is also an apostolicity of
service, witness, suffering and struggle. For apostolic succession, in the technical sense, has to be
situated within the context of this apostolicity since it is possible to speak of apostolic succession
in the case of all believers with the wider ambience of the faithful transmission of faith. It is the
Spirit that keeps the Church faithful to the faith of the apostles and the structures of the covenant and
also to confess, affirm and define that faith in an infallible way. Richard P. McBrien views
19
Cf. Richard P. McBrien, I Believe in the Holy Spirit: The Role of Pneumatology in
20
Yves Congars Theology in Yves Congar: Theologian of the Church edited by Gabriel Flynn
(Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2005), p.316.
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, p.52.
21
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Congars explication of apostolicity of the Church as walking a fine line between exaggerating the
role of the bishops, on the one hand, and ignoring them entirely, on the other since apostolic
succession also applies to the whole Church. We consider Congars position as an attempt to be
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faithful to the other half of apostolicity which is eschatological: the beginning and the end. This faith
is given to the Church and everyone, including the bishops, is a recipient of this apostolic faith.
Nevertheless, Congar still recognizes the fact of the special heritage of the bishops as successors
of the apostles and custodians or witnesses of this faith, with the task of authentic interpretation of
the Word of God.
2.4 THE HOLINESS OF THE CHURCH
Congar acknowledges that all the attributes are connected and are not to be seen in isolation
because they interpenetrate each other. He argues that the Churchs oneness is holy. It is also
apostolic because it is the continuity of a mission and a communion with God. Lastly, it is catholic
and it is different from multi-national or world-wide expansion. Thomas Aquinas, from whom
21
Yves Congar somewhat built his articulation on pneumatology, argues that the holiness of the
Church rests on the fact that it is the temple of God, and the temple of God is holy because God is
holy. Hence the Church is called Holy Church. He gives four considerations with regard to the
holiness of the faithful. First, just as the Church is cleansed materially when it is consecrated, so also
her members are washed in the blood of Christ. Secondly, just as there is the anointing of the
Church, so also the faithful are anointed with a spiritual unction in order to be sanctified, otherwise
Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Apostles Creed, a.9.
22
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.54-55.
23
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they would not be called Christians, for Christ is the same as Anointed. This anointing is the grace
of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, the faithful are made holy because of the Trinity who dwells in the
Church since wherever God dwells, that place is holy. Fourthly, the faithful are sanctified because
God is invoked in the Church.
22
Yves Congar, in his interpretation of what Thomas Aquinas says about the Church as temple,
explicates that temple and house suggest the idea of dwelling or habitation. The New Testament
speaks of an indwelling not simply of the Father and the Son, but explicitly of the Spirit. He notes
that Scholastic theologians, as well as Thomas Aquinas, acquiesce to this explanation. Nevertheless
certain difficulties are encountered as thomists have attempted to explain this indwelling as
substantial indwelling: how can it be applied to the Church as such? He notes that for Thomas
Aquinas, this difficult does not really exist. First, the Church is the assembly of believers. And if
each soul is the Church then the Church is even more clearly characterized as the house of God in
which believers are present as living stones. Secondly, if it is on the basis of charity that God
dwells fully, then only the Church, as the Body of Christ, is certain always to have a faith that is
fashioned by charity since every individual is able to falter. Hence it was to the Church that the
promises were made and the term Church is not simply the assembled believers or what Henri de
Lubac called ecclesia congregata, but ecclesia congregans, the essential element of the apostolic
institution. For the Church, which is the house of the living God, is the sacrament of salvation for
humankind. It is not simply liturgy offered to God, but a sign of Gods love for everyone and of his
kingdom.
23
Cf. Henri de Lubac, The Splendor of the Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986),
24
pp.104-106.
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, pp.57-58.
25
13
Henri de Lubac makes the distinction between two senses of understanding the Church:
ecclesia convocans et congregans ( the divine calling-together) and ecclesia convocata et congregata
(community of the called-together). He notes that the active sense which is the former is primary,
but this does not mean that the passive sense or the latter is less necessary or less important. He
asserts that to forget it or allow it to blur in the mind would be to enter on the dangerous path. For
we profess belief that the Church is holy (credo sanctam Ecclesiam) and that she is the Church of
the holy (Ecclesia sanctorum). The latter does not mean that there are no sinners in the Church, but
it means that she is both the sanctifying Church and the Church sanctified by the Holy Spirit, the
Church of the sanctified. She is the Church that confers baptism of regeneration and the Church that
receives it. She is a reconciling power and also the family of all the reconciled. This captures what
24
Congar describes as the struggles of the Holy Church of sinners. It is the struggle of her members
for holiness. In history, some of her members have lived outside this holiness to which they have
been called and some have lived exemplary lives of holiness. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit is the
principle of the Churchs holiness.
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CONCLUSION
Our objective was to attempt a retrieval of Yves Congars understanding of the inextricable
relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church. This relationship reveals that the Holy Spirit,
who animates the Church, is the principle of the oneness, the catholicity, the apostolicity and the
Cf. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. II, p.3.
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holiness of the Church. Our starting point was to establish that the Holy Spirit is the co-instituting
principle of the Church. We then examined the attributes of the Church in relation to the Holy Spirit
as the principle of these attributes. John Chrysostom, whom Yves Congar used to set the tone of his
work on the Holy Spirit and the Church, in his Sermons on Pentecost, Hom.1, 4, teaches that if the
Holy Spirit did not exist, we would not be able to pray to God. If he did not exist, the discourses
about wisdom and knowledge would not be in the Church. If the Spirit did not exist, there would not
be pastors or teachers (theologians) in the Church. And if the Spirit did not exist, the Church would
not form a consistent whole. If the Spirit did not exist, there would be no attribute to distinguish
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the Church.
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nd
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Press, 1983.
Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses. Retrieved from New Advent
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103324.htm (22 May 2013).
nd
Lubac, Henri de. The Splendor of the Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986.
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nd