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Plausibility of Decentralized Ecclesial Structures for a Post-Institutional American Catholic Church Jayne L

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Plausibility of Decentralized Ecclesial Structures for a Post-Institutional American Catholic Church Jayne L La Salle University La Salle University Digital Commons Th.D. Dissertations Religion, Department of Spring 2016 Plausibility of Decentralized Ecclesial Structures for a Post-Institutional American Catholic Church Jayne L. Wilcox La Salle University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd Part of the Catholic Studies Commons Recommended Citation Wilcox, Jayne L., "Plausibility of Decentralized Ecclesial Structures for a Post-Institutional American Catholic Church" (2016). Th.D. Dissertations. 1. http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd/1 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion, Department of at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Th.D. Dissertations by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LA SALLE UNIVERSITY PLAUSIBILITY OF DECENTRALIZED ECCLESIAL STRUCTURES FOR A POST-INSTITUTIONAL AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE THEOLOGY AND MINISTRY PROGRAM IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION BY JAYNE L. WILCOX PHILADELPHIA, PA APRIL 2016 APPROVAL PAGE Name: Jayne L. Wilcox Degree: Doctor of Theology Title of Thesis: “Plausibility of Decentralized Ecclesial Structures for a Post-Institutional American Catholic Church” Dissertation Committee: Mentor: Margaret McGuinness, Ph.D. La Salle University 1st Reader: Maureen O’Connell, Ph.D. La Salle University 2nd Reader: Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Ph.D. Manhattan College ii ABSTRACT Structural change is needed if the American Catholic Church is to navigate the changing postmodern landscape forged by the social and cultural forces of the twenty-first century. In a post-institutional context marked by dwindling human and financial resources and a loss of confidence in the hierarchically-shaped church, decentralized ecclesial structures hold a positive and hopeful outlook for the local church. This dissertation argues for the plausibility of a decentralized structural dimension of the church as modeled by the Catholic Worker, Latin American base ecclesial communities, and Women-Church movements. In following an inductive method of ecclesiology, a description of each of the ecclesial movements is given with subsequent identification of the socio-religious contextual factors in which the movements emerged. The works of the founders and key theologians are mined for theological and philosophical principles that inform the decentralized nature of the ecclesial models. Analysis and interpretation, the last step in the inductive method, establishes that the decentralized ecclesial movements are governed by the logic of mission rather than the logic of power as in the institutional model and function to mobilize the people of God for creative and innovative approaches to the church’s missionary imperative. Therefore, as ecclesial structures that animate the church’s mission to continue the ministry and teaching of Jesus in the world, the movements remain anchored in the origins of the early church and are unified with the universal church by a shared mission. Lastly, the role of the centralized dimension of the church is affirmed as a function of preserving the cosmic scope of the Jesus-normed mission across all times and cultures. Implications of the study suggest that the postmodern climate presents the American Catholic Church with a unique opportunity to establish non-hierarchical structures that catalyze iii mission-driven ministry at the sub-parish levels. A tandem model is introduced in which the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the church are envisioned as structurally normative. Rhizomatic and arborescent imagery suggests a novel way the church can envision decentralized structures systemically, in tandem with hierarchical structures, and thereby maintain the tension of centralization and decentralization so vital to Catholic ecclesiology. iv DEDICATION For my boys and their generation. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Church is never built but always in a state of being constructed. The job requires so many types of builders and anyone can find a place in the project. Many plans will be required too before the real restructuring gets underway. James Drane, 1969 I am most grateful to my dissertation committee, Maureen O’Connell and Natalia Imperatori-Lee, and especially Maggie McGuinness who let me be curious and independent, but never unattended as I made my way through Catholic studies. I am equally indebted to Father Frank Berna whose invitation to contribute to the academic and ministerial community at La Salle gave me a place to call home along the way. I must also acknowledge my unsung heroes: Jen Johnson who, without judgment, quietly collected the excessive number of commas I used in the first drafts and threw them out; my husband who read every word, sometimes twice, and made me revise any sentence that exceeded his six-line maximum; and my friend Helen at the American Pub diner who kept my coffee warm and never let me doubt that I would finish “my work.” I am proud to have shared the journey with fellow doctoral students in the program, especially the women of my cohort, Maureen, Miriam, Kathleen, Michelle, and Sue. They made an arduous journey not only possible but also enjoyable because we shared in it together. For my husband Keith, I am eternally grateful for his steady support and for always “staying the course, holding the line, keeping it all together.” For my sons, Seth and Kobe, who grew into young men while I was doing my doctoral work, I pray that my example has been worthy and that they are inspired to find their place in the church, in whatever form it takes. Finally, for fellow builders of the church that I have encountered along the way and that have taught me how to be the church, to love the church, to pastor the church, and to challenge the church, your multitude of voices can be heard woven into my words. Thank you for the voice you have shaped within me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: “Contribution to Ecclesiology and Methodological Approach”…………… 1 The Decline of the Institutional Model of Church The Inductive Approach and Working Assumptions Attentive Listening to the Margins Haight’s Principle of Functionality The Norm of Right Relation for Ecclesial Structures Outline of Chapters CHAPTER 2 THE CATHOLIC WORKER “A Network of Personalist Communities Model” …………………………. 14 Aim and Purpose Day and Maurin Meet Maurin’s Three-Point Program FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF THE CATHOLIC WORKER…………………… 22 First Contextual Factor: Papal Encyclicals and Catholic Social Teaching Second Contextual Factor: The Great Depression Third Contextual Factor: Lay-Initiated Social Program THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION AND PERSONALIST PHILOSOPHY………………. 34 Christian Sources of Anarchist Expressions in the Catholic Worker Christian Scriptures Christian Personalism Principle of Subsidiarity, or Localism as Primacy of Place Organism not Organization: The Non-Structure of the Catholic Worker The Dorothy Factor ANCHORED BY HAIGHT’S THREE CRITERIA.………………………………………. 50 First Norm: Doing the Works of Mercy Second Norm: Community in Houses of Hospitality Third Norm: A Personalist, Decentralist Praxis ANOMALIES: INCONSISTENCIES IN THE CATHOLIC WORKER….......................... 58 Internal Organizational Model Study Dorothy the Anarch? CHAPTER 3 BASE ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES OF LATIN AMERICA “A Decentralized Communitarian Model”……………………………..…... 64 Introduction A New Model: Local Expressions of the Church vii The Success of BECs FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF BECs……………………………………………... 73 First Contextual Factor: A Consciousness of Global Poverty Second Contextual Factor: The Deficiency of Vatican II Third Contextual Factor: Medellín Translates Vatican II THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF BOFF’S BASE ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES…. 83 Boff’s Assessment of the Church’s Distortion of the Exercise of Power Boff's Decentralized Structure An Alternative Pauline Structure ANCHORED BY HAIGHT’S CRITERIA………………………………………………… 90 First Norm: An Alternative Ethic of Power Second Norm: Communitarian and Institutional Tensions Third Norm: Organized by Mission ANOMALIES: INCONSISTENCIES IN THE BECs MODEL…………………………... 102 Diverse Governance and Dependence upon the Institutional Church Pastoral Agent as Initiator Generative Priority Ecclesiastical Control Impact of the Interdependency of BECs and the Institutional Church CHAPTER 4 WOMEN-CHURCH “A Radical Egalitarian Model”.…………………………………………… 108 Introduction The Pioneers of Women-Church An Alternative Form of Church: Birth of the Women-Church Movement The Task of Women-Church FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF WOMEN-CHURCH……………………………. 123 First Contextual Factor: A Feminist Consciousness Second Contextual Factor: The Inclusive Church of Vatican II Third Contextual Factor: Base Ecclesial Communities THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF SCHÜSSLER FIORENZA’S WOMEN-CHURCH…. 129 The Distortion of Structural Exclusion Schüssler Fiorenza’s Assessment: An Egalitarian Ekklēsia Obscured by Kyriarchy Women-Church as Radical Democratic Ecclesial Model A Pauline Alternative: Dismantling Paterfamilias ANCHORED BY HAIGHT’S CRITERIA………………………………………………... 141 First Norm: The Dangerous Memory of an Egalitarian Commonwealth Second Norm: Ekklēsia and Community Third Norm: A “Body” Politic ANOMALIES: INCONSISTENCIES IN THE WOMEN-CHURCH MODEL…………... 149 viii The Ambiguity of Radical Inclusion The “Creative Dialectic” Relationship
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