III MISSION AND MINISTRIES OF THE CHURCH

A. Mission

Christ founded his Church to continue his saving mission on earth. “The Church,
endowed with the gifts of her founder, receives the mission to proclaim and to
establish among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God” (LG 5). This
‘mission’ is built into her very nature as originating from the Blessed Trinity. The
mission flows from the Church as “ Sacrament of salvation,” the sign and
instrument for achieving intimate union with God (cf. AG 5; LG 1).

Briefly then, the Church has:

• a mission mandate (cf. Mt 228:19f);
• whose origin and goal is the Blessed Trinity (cf. AG 2);
• motivated by God’s love (cf. 2 Cor 5:14); and
• with the Holy Spirit as Principal Agent (cf. R Mi 21; CCC 849-56).

This mission of the “People of God” is a central theme in all four Gospels. Mark
presents mission as “proclaiming” the Gospel to lead others to the faith: “Clearly
this man was the Son of God” (Mk 15:39). Matthew’s mission stresses the teaching
of the Christian community, the Church (cf. Mt 28:19-20;16:18). Luke emphasizes
the Gospel’s transforming power to work conversion to God’s merciful love, and
liberation from the root of all evil, sin. In John’s Gospel Jesus sends forth his
disciples on mission, just as the Father sent him (cf. Jn 20:21).

PCP II describes the Church in the Philippines as a “Community in Mission” (PCP II

102-6). Since mission is at the center of Church’s being, the whole Church is
missionary. This means that “we are missionaries above all because of what we are
as a Church. . . even before we become missionaries in word or deed” (RMi 23).
       
In the past, most Catholics thought of “mission” and “missionary” only in terms of
priests, brothers, and religious who were sent to the “foreign missions.” It
concerned only a few who were specially called. Today, we realize that “each
disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability”
(LG 17). PCP II asserts: “All are called to mission . . . all __ without exception __ are
called to evangelize” (PCP II 402).

PCP II goes further to describe the particular mission of the lay faithful within the
one universal mission of the Church. It grounds the “Lay Apostolate” in Vatican II’s
teaching:
The apostolate of the laity is a sharing in the salvific mission of the Church.
Through Baptism and Confirmation all are appointed to this apostolate by the
Lord himself. . . . The laity have this special vocation: to make the Church
present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only
through them that she can become the salt of the earth (LG 33; cf. CL 14; PCP
II 402-11).
PCP II then develops the mission of the laity in terms of being called to:
1) a community of families;
2) Christian presence in the world;
3) service and evangelization; and
4) social transformation (cf. PCP II 419-38).

The Church’s mission toward non-Christians is based on two firm convictions.

First, Christ is the one Savior of all, the one mediator between God and man.

This holds true . . . for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an
unseen way. For since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one
and the same divine destiny, we must hold that the Holy Spirit, in a way known
only to God, offers to all the possibility of being made partners in Christ’s Paschal
Mystery (GS 22).
 
Second, God established the Church as “the universal sacrament of salvation, sent
on mission to the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth”
(LG, 9). Therefore, “it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the
real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind, and the necessity of the
Church for salvation” (RMi 5, 9).

Church of the Poor. This mission involves a balance between the essential
inculturation of the Faith in Filipino culture and the mission to all peoples, or the
Church’s international outreach. PCP II described at length how in the Philippines
today, the Church must be a “Church of the Poor.” This means a Church that:
• embraces and practices the spirit of evangelical poverty; combines detachment
from possessions with profound trust in the Lord;
• shows special love, a love of preference, for the poor;
• does not discriminate against the poor, but vindicates their rights;
• gives preferential attention and time to the poor;
• has Pastors and leaders who will learn to be with, work with, and learn from,
the poor;
• not only evangelizes the poor, but recognizes that the poor will themselves
become true evangelizers; and
• orients and tilts the center of gravity of the entire community in favor of the
needy (cf. PCP II 125-36).

A further balance must be maintained between the evangelizing mission of

proclaiming the Gospel and the thrust for justice and liberation. Evangelization and
human liberation, while not identical, are clearly intimately connected. PCP II
speaks of a renewed evangelization which does not stop at the building of the
Church. It seeks to transform the whole fabric of society according to the values of
the Kingdom and of Christ. Thus, the Church promotes human development,
integral liberation, justice and peace in society and the integrity of creation. The
need for such evangelization is shown by the fact that while our churches are filled
on Sundays, our society remains a sick society.

This overall view is illustrated in the “Flow Chart” of the National Pastoral Plan
(NPP):
•    from the Call: to be Church of the Poor;
•    through the Response: Renewed Integral Evangelization;
•    to the Vision: to become a Community of Disciples.

B. Ministries in the Church

The mission of the Church has given rise to numerous ministries within the Church
(cf. LG 18; CCC 874). “Ministry” means “service,” and Christian ministry refers to
“serving the people of God in a stable fashion.” This includes any public activity of a
baptized disciple of Christ, animated by the grace [charism] of the Holy Spirit,
performed on behalf of the Christian community, and in the service of the Kingdom
of God.

Thus, ministry is characterized by:

a) doing something,
b) for God’s Kingdom,
c) in public,
d) on behalf of the Christian community,
e) empowered by a gift of faith received in baptism, or ordination, and
f) identifiable within the diversity of ministerial activities.

Ministry in its most general sense, therefore, is not the privilege of a selected few,
but the vocation of all baptized Christians . The grace of God’s active presence
among us, is the source, the context, the judge and the goal of all Church ministries.

Ministries in the Church have greatly expanded today, both in the variety of
services and at the levels of ministerial activity. Such expansion has given rise to
various groups of distinctions such as “charism, service, ministry,” or “ministries,
offices, roles” (cf. CL 21). In order to avoid confusion and arbitrary interpretations,
we shall limit the following to only what is essential for our purpose.

What must be insisted upon is both the unity of the Church’s mission in which all
the baptized participate, and the substantial diversity of the ministry of Pastors
and the ministries of the lay faithful, exercised in conformity to their specific lay
vocation which is different from that of the sacred ministry.

Ordained Ministry. There are first of all the ordained ministries that arise from the
Sacrament of Orders. These ministers receive the authority and power to serve the
Church, acting in the person of Christ, the Head. But they are fundamentally
ordered to the service of the entire People of God (cf. CL 22). “The sacramental
ministry in the Church, then, is a service at once collegial and personal, exercised in
the name of Christ” (cf. CCC 875-79). The three degrees of the Sacrament of Orders:
bishop, priest and deacon, are taken up in Chapter 28. Here we focus solely on the
Magisterium, the teaching office of the Bishops.

Infallibility. The most important duty of the Bishop is “preaching the Gospel” (cf.
LG 25). The Bishops are the “authentic teachers,” endowed with the authority of
Christ, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff. Through the Spirit, Christ
bestowed on his Church, in particular on the College of Bishops teaching in
communion with Peter’s successor, the Pope, the gift of infallibility. This gift
preserves the Church from error in teaching what God has revealed in faith and
morals (cf. LG 12, 25; CCC 889-92).

In promising to be with the Church to the end of time, Christ, the divine Redeemer,
willed this charism of infallibility for his Church. This simply means that Christ, the
Way, the Truth and the Life, through his Holy Spirit, will preserve his Church from
error in its solemn, definitive teaching of the deposit of faith (cf. LG 12, 25). This
special charism of infallibility is enjoyed by the Roman Pontiff, in virtue of his
office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful, he proclaims by a
definitive act, a doctrine of faith or morals” (cf. LG 25). This infallibility promised
to the Church is also present in the Bishops when, as a body together with the
successor of Peter, they exercise their supreme teaching office.

To such definitive teaching all Catholics are obliged to adhere “with the loyal and
obedient assent of faith” (LG 25). This “assent of the Church can never be lacking
on account of the activity of the same Holy Spirit, whereby the whole flock of Christ
is preserved and progresses in unity of faith” (LG 25).

Lay Apostolate. Different not simply in degree but in essence are the ministries of
the lay faithful, founded in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and for a
good many of them, in the Sacrament of Matrimony (CJC, Can. 230; CL 23).

PCP II described the laity’s field of evangelizing activity as:

the vast and complex world of education, politics, society, and economics, as
well as the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of international life,
of the mass media.

To fulfill the mission of communicating Christ in these vast areas, the Church
needs:
all the lay faithful, rich and poor, with the special gifts, individual and
collective, of farmers, fishermen, workers, mass media practitioners,
educators and lawyers, civil servants, those in the medical and nursing
services, and professionals in the various strata of society (PCP II 434).

It is clear, then, that the laity’s apostolate cannot be exclusively described in terms
of ministry.
The Religious. Besides the ordained and lay ministries, there are the “Religious
Brothers and Sisters,” those faithful who bind themselves to Christ in a state of life
consecrated to God by the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty,
chastity and obedience (cf. LG 44; CCC 914-33). The Church recognizes various
forms of consecrated life: monastic, eremitic, religious institutes, secular institutes,
etc., and different societies of apostolic life. PCP II offers an extended exposition of
their nature, radical discipleship, witness value, revitalizing their specific religious
charisms, their essential missionary character with a “passion for justice,” within
the local Church. It adds a description of their spiritualities: contemplative and
contemplatives in action (cf. PCP II 448-506).

Basic Ecclesial Communities. Filipino Catholics need to see that the Church’s
Mission and all her Ministries are directly for the service of the Kingdom. Besides
the primary task of evangelization through preaching the Word, this service means
establishing communities, local Churches, and forming Basic Ecclesial
Communities which become centers for Christian formation and missionary
outreach (RMi 51). By incarnating the Gospel in the Filipino culture, these BECs
also become means for effectively spreading Gospel values, and for bringing out
the eschatological dimension of daily life. Finally, dialogue with our Filipino and
Asian brothers and sisters of other religions is an important part of the Filipino
Catholic’s evangelizing mission (PCP II 104-8,137-40).