V. Convergences And Divergences
86.
Previous paragraphs make it clear that Methodists and Catholics
share a fundamentally important perspective on ministry, affirming
that the ordained ministry is essentially pastoral in nature. Ordained
ministers have the special responsibility of exercising and holding
together the functions of proclaiming the Gospel, calling people
to faith, feeding the flock with word and sacrament and making Christ
known through the ministry of servanthood to the world. The ordained
ministry is a representative one, in the sense expounded in paragraph
71 above.
87.
Within this perspective there remain several unresolved issues related
to ordained ministry which call for further examination.
1.
Sacramentality
88.
For Catholics, ordination is a sacrament. Methodists are accustomed
to reserve the term sacrament for baptism and the Lord's Supper.
They do, however, with Catholics, look upon ordination as an effective
sign by which the grace of God is given to the recipient for the
ministry of word and sacrament.
89.
A way forward may lie in deeper common reflection on the nature
of sacrament. Christ, "the image of the invisible God"
(Col 1:15), may be thought of as the primary sacrament, revealing
God's nature and purpose and enabling us to know and serve him.
We may also discern within his action on our behalf certain gifts
by which our lives are ordered, nourished and sustained. These have
traditionally been classified by Catholics as sacraments in a more
specific use of the word.
90.
Both Methodists and Catholics see the Holy Spirit as the One who
empowers all ministry, both ordained and lay. Further, both Methodists
and Catholics would agree that all the people of God must be a sign
of Christ in a real sense and that all ministry must be exemplary
of Christ and the Gospel. Thus a life clearly in consonance with
Christ is a vocation for all Christians.
91.
At Vatican II the Roman Catholic Church referred to the Church in
terms of a "sacrament of salvation" (Ad gentes, 5; cf.
Lumen gentium, 1). Methodists would prefer the word "sign"
to sacrament, but the meaning in each case is essentially the same,
because the Church obeys the mandate of its Founder to preach to
all nations the Gospel of salvation it has received.
2.
Episcopè
92.
Methodists and Catholics can acknowledge together the reality of
episcopè (oversight) in the New Testament and can agree that
an ordained ministry which exercises episcopè is vital for
the life of the Church. Without the exercise of this gift of oversight,
disorder and therefore disunity are inevitable. Koinonia and episcopè
imply one another. In a Catholic perspective this mutual implication
reaches its culmination when the bishop presides over liturgical
worship, in which the preaching of the Gospel and the celebration
of the Lord's Supper weld together into unity the members of Christ's
Body.
93.
Central to the exercise of episcopè is the task of maintaining
unity in the Truth. Thus teaching is the principal part of the task
of episcopè. In a Catholic understanding the Church is united
through its unity in faith and sacramental communion. The teaching
of a common faith by the college of bishops in union with the successor
of Peter ensures unity in the Truth. The succession of bishops through
the generations serves the continued unity of the Church in the
faith handed on from the apostles. In the Methodist tradition, Wesley
accepted and believed in the reality of episcopè within the
Church of England of which he was a minister. In relation to the
Methodist societies he exercised episcopè over the whole;
all his followers were bound to be in connection with him. He expounded
the main teachings of the Church by means of his Sermons, Notes
on the New Testament and Conference Minutes, and made available
to his people authorized abridgements of doctrinal and spiritual
work. His appointment of Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke to the superintendency
in America was rooted in his belief that the Holy Spirit wished
to bestow the gift of episcopè at that time and in that place
for the sake of maintaining unity of faith with the Church of all
ages. It was part of a fresh and extraordinary outpouring of the
gift of the Spirit who never ceases to enliven and unify the Church.
94. As we continue to consider remaining differences over the sacramental
nature of ordination and the forms of succession and oversight,
we rejoice in the work of the Spirit who has already brought us
this far together, recognizing that the ecumenical movement of which
we are part is itself a grace of the Holy Spirit for the unity of
Christians. When the time comes that Methodists and Catholics declare
their readiness for that "full communion in faith, mission
and sacramental life" toward which they are working (Towards
a Statement on the Church, 20), the mutual recognition of ministry
will be achieved not only by their having reached doctrinal consensus
but it will also depend upon a fresh creative act of reconciliation
which acknowledges the manifold yet unified activity of the Holy
Spirit throughout the ages. It will involve a joint act of obedience
to the sovereign Word of God.
3.
Who may be ordained
95.
In the New Testament record there is strong evidence that the pastoral
ministry was exercised by both married and unmarried people. By
long-standing tradition the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, seeing
a positive congruence between celibacy and the ordained priesthood,
requires that priests remain unmarried, although exceptions to this
practice have been allowed. Methodists, in common with other Protestant
churches, ordain both married and unmarried people, but no ultimate
doctrinal obstacle divides Methodists and Catholics here.
96.
Methodists ordain women because they believe that women also receive
the call, evidenced by inward conviction and outward manifestation
of the gifts and graces and confirmed by the gathering of the faithful.
97.
Catholics do not ordain women, believing that they have no authority
to change a practice that belongs to the sacrament of order as received
in the Tradition of the Church.
98.
Our general reflections on the nature of ordained ministry and our
treatment of this particular question will need to be mutually illuminating.
Further thought will be of benefit to both traditions.
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