Church and its members are involved in the spiritual wellbeing of those who are already baptized members in the Church, teaching them, guiding them, and nourishing their life of faith.
Shepherding, sanctifying, and administering work of the Church is continued by the pastors along with their collaborators in the name of Christ the Saviour. But, the Church has a mission in the world at large, “to be salt of the earth and light of the world.”
Through various kinds of apostolate, the Church is engaged in fulfilling the mission entrusted to her. Just as Christ the Saviour “went about doing good,” the Church wants to go about “doing good” for the humanity. Be it education, health care, charitable works for the benefit of the poor and needy, socio-economic development of the poor and marginalized or attending to those on the periphery like migrants and the destitute, the Church and various groups in the Church are engaged within the framework of the values of the Kingdom of God.
All of this is carried on in order to be true to her identity and mission in the world. The Second Vatican Council document, Church in the Modern World, says, “(Council) resolutely addresses not only the sons of the Church and all who call upon the name of Christ, but the whole of humanity as well, and it longs to set forth the way it understands the presence and function of the Church in the world today.” (Church in the Modern World, n.2).
With this spirit the Church’s apostolate in different fields has to be carried forward serving the cause of humanity but always founded on the Gospel values and guided by teachings of the Church. But, in today’s world money and profit, consumerism and use-and–throw culture are predominant forces that are prevalent. Church and her apostolate should resist such forces and the values they promote.
How the visible institutional Church can be a community living in unity:
First of all we in the Church have to accept that that Church is both a “community” and an “institution.” We are a community of believers who live within the framework of an institution with some order, some laws and rules, and with hierarchically shared authority looking after the day to day functioning of the Church. This should be the meaning of what we are professing in the Creed, “We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
As individual members and families we have to respect and accept this institutional set up because it is through this institutional set up that the life and mission of the faith community is protected, guided and regulated.
Of course, care has to be taken that the life of the members in the community, spiritual and physical, the top priority, Sabbath is made for man; man is not made for Sabbath! It is also equally important that the internal order and discipline are taken care with prescribed norms and procedures about all the matters related to the life and mission of the People of God: liturgy, sacraments, administrative bodies and structures, vocation to priesthood and consecrated life, etc.
According each one’s state of life, bishops, priests, religious men and women, consecrated singles, members of Secular institutes, and the laity have a legitimate place and role in the Church. Mutual acceptance and respect towards each other and living in communion with one another is necessary.
A neglect of one’s place and responsibility or taking away the rightful place of other members in the community will be detrimental for the life and mission of the Church. Maintaining order, discipline and unity in the given Christian community is a collective responsibility, each member living and functioning according to one’s call and state of life.
The crucial question to be addressed is, how does a member (or section or group) understand oneself, place and role, duties and responsibilities. How does one see oneself in relation to the entire Church, and in the local Church, Diocese, Parish, Village or locality?
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph 4:11-13).