This study sets out to examine the communion ecclesiology of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Walter Kasper and compare them around relations between the Universal Church and the Local Church based on the church as communion understood at the Second Vat...
This study sets out to examine the communion ecclesiology of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Walter Kasper and compare them around relations between the Universal Church and the Local Church based on the church as communion understood at the Second Vatican Council.
This thesis consists of four chapters in total. Chapter One deals with the overall understanding of communion and the way that it is understood at the Second Vatican Council. Chapters Two and Three focuses on two theologians’ opinions about the church as communion. Chapter Two examines the theology of Pope Benedict XVI and sheds light on the church as communion in the way that he understood it. Chapter Three explores Cardinal Walter Kasper's theology and addresses the church as communion in the way that he understood it. And Chapter Four compares the Universal Church and the Local Church in their relations as a major controversy between the two theologians in the understanding of the church as communion.
As it is understood in the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, communion is a concept that can display the essence of the church best. Looking back on today’s church, however, one can realize that the right understanding of communion dealt with at the council is not established yet. Its understanding should be preceded by the overall understanding of communion.
Communion understood at the council has two meanings. One is communion between God and people based on the communion of the Triune God, and the other is communion among people that are in accord based on their communion with God. These two meanings are distinguished, but they are one that is inseparable. The council understood that communion is a concept with real effects in the church domain and that it is revealed through the unity of the Triune God and the unity of people gathering in it. The council expected that all the members of the church would understand communion as the essence of the church and live a life of the Trinitarian communion.
Communion understood at the council became a basis for communion ecclesiology affirmed by Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Walter Kasper. These two theologians understood communion as the essence of the church. Pope Benedict XVI comprehended that the church would become Sacrament as a sign and means of salvation through communion and offered his opinions about relations between the Universal Church and the Local Church. That is, the Universal Church is in and outside the Local Church, but it is not a simple group or sum of the Local Churches. He argues that the Universal Church should come before the Local Church chronologically and ontologically based on the Bible and tradition.
Walter Kasper regards communion itself as a mystery and emphasizes that the role of the church should be Sacrament to show the communion of the Triune God more clearly. As for his opinions about the Universal Church and the Local Church, he maintains that the Universal Church exists within the Local Churches, is comprised of them, and is active and present within them.
These findings show that the two theologians have different opinions about communion that they understood as the essence of the church. Their differences are particularly prominent in preexistence and episcopal ministry in relations between the Universal Church and the Local Church. The specific form that both of them were convinced of and agreed upon was the Eucharist. In other words, communion understood at the council becomes the essence of the church based on the communion of the Triune God, and all members of the church are connected and united within the Eucharist.
As Walter Kasper suggested, there should be a clear understanding and practice of communion in the church so that communion can be accepted right today. This study emphasizes a need for all the members of the church to understand communion clearly first. Based on the clear understanding of communion, all the members of the church will hopefully restore communion as the essence of the church understood at the council and fully live the meanings of communion.