Not Monolithic

Many Protestants still think of the Catholic church as a monolithic, uniform church. It’s been a long time since Catholics have thought of the church that way.

Aloys Grillmeier sums up the results of Vatican II’s embrace of communio ecclesiology: “catholicity is understood as a union of opposites. The people of God represents one pole, in its unity and unicity, but also in being graced by the Spirit. The other pole is formed by the multiplicity of the peoples of the earth, with their various customs, talents, and energies, which are to be preserved for them insofar as they are genuine values and used to bring into the family of Christ all those who are called to the one people of God. . . . One of the achievements of the Council was the rediscovery of the universal Church as the sum and communion of the local Churches, understood as fully themselves, and the rediscovery of the universal Church in the local Church” ( Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II , 1.167).

Avery Dulles claims that the catholicity of the church is not a substance but a “ferment”: “Vatican II presents catholicity not as a monotonous repetition of identical elements but rather as reconciled diversity. It is a unity among individuals and groups who retain their distinctive characteristics, who enjoy different spiritual gifts, and are by that very diversity better equipped to serve one another and thus advance the common good. Individual Christians and local churches are bound to one another in mutual service and mutual receptivity. This relationship is founded not upon domination but on a free exchange of trust and respect. Thanks to Christ’s faithfulness to his promise to be with his people, catholicity is never lacking to the Church. But it is dynamic and expansive; it continually presses forward to a fullness and inclusiveness not yet attained. It is a ferment at work in the Catholic Church and in every authentic Christian community. Even beyond the borders of explicit Christianity, the grace of Christ, working in the hearts of all who are open to it, brings individuals and groups into a saving relationship with the Church catholic, the God-given sign and sacrament of the ultimate unity to which the entire human race is called” ( The Catholicity of the Church , 24).