Religious Education Teacher Guide

Commitment and Ministry

LEARNING STRAND: HUMAN EXPERIENCE

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMME

FOR CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND 12H TEACHER GUIDE THE LOGO The logo is an attempt to express Faith as an inward and outward journey.

This faith journey takes us into our own hearts, into the heart of the world and into the heart of Christ who is God’s love revealed.

In Christ, God transforms our lives. We can respond to his love for us by reaching out and loving one another.

The circle represents our world. White, the colour of light, represents God. Red is for the suffering of Christ. Red also represents the Holy Spirit. Yellow represents the risen Christ.

The direction of the lines is inwards except for the cross, which stretches outwards.

Our lives are embedded in and dependent upon our environment (green and blue) and our cultures (patterns and textures).

Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, is represented by the blue and white pattern.

The blue also represents the Pacific…

Annette Hanrahan RSCJ

UNDERSTANDING FAITH

YEAR 12

This book is the Teacher Guide to the following topic in the UNDERSTANDING FAITH series

12H Commitment and Ministry

TEACHER GUIDE

No part of this document may be reproduced in any way, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without prior permission of the publishers.

Imprimatur: † Colin D Campbell DD Bishop of Dunedin Conference Deputy for Religious Studies December 2006

Authorised by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Published by: National Centre for Religious Studies Catholic Centre P O Box 1937 Wellington, 6140 New Zealand

Printed by: Printlink 33-43 Jackson Street, Petone Private Bag, 39996 Wellington Mail Centre Lower Hutt 5045

Māori terms are italicised in the text. The first time a

Māori term occurs its English meaning appears in

brackets after it. A Māori glossary at the back of the

book gives a more detailed explanation of these terms

and provides a guide for their pronunciation.

CONTENTS

Introduction to the topic ...... 3

Part One: The Universal Call to Holiness ...... 28

Task One ...... 35 Task Two ...... 37 Task Three ...... 37 Task Four ...... 38

Part Two: Vocation – An Invitation to Holiness ...... 40

Task Five ...... 43 Task Six ...... 46 Task Seven ...... 46

Part Three: The Vocation to the Single Life ...... 48

Task Eight ...... 53 Task Nine ...... 53

Part Four: The Institution of Marriage ...... 56

Task Ten ...... 65 Task Eleven ...... 65 Task Twelve ...... 68

Part Five: Understanding Christian Marriage ...... 70

Task Thirteen ...... 77 Task Fourteen ...... 78

Part Six: Preparing for Marriage ...... 80

Task Fifteen ...... 85

1 Part Seven: The Rite of Marriage ...... 87

Task Sixteen ...... 109 Task Seventeen ...... 111 Task Eighteen ...... 112

Part Eight: The Development of the Priesthood ...... 113

Task Nineteen ...... 119 Task Twenty ...... 120

Part Nine: Holy Orders ...... 121

Task Twenty-One ...... 123

Part Ten: The Pathway to Priesthood ...... 125

Task Twenty-Two ...... 139

Part Eleven: The Story of Religious Life ...... 142

Task Twenty-Three ...... 146 Task Twenty-Four ...... 148 Task Twenty-Five ...... 148

Part Twelve: The Heart of Religious life ...... 150

Task Twenty-Six ...... 153

Task Twenty-Seven ...... 155

Glossary of General Terms ...... 158

Glossary of Māori Terms ...... 170

Acknowledgements ...... 173

2 TOPIC 12H: COMMITMENT AND MINISTRY

LEARNING STRAND: SACRAMENT AND WORSHIP

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC This book contains teacher material and resources for classroom use – including OHT originals and supplementary articles, as well as activities and tasks that can be photocopied – for Topic 12H “Commitment and Ministry” which forms the Sacrament and Worship Strand of the Understanding Faith programme at year twelve.

The study of topics in the Sacrament and Worship Strand is intended to deepen students’ understanding of the way in which the mysterious reality of Te Atua (God) is revealed through signs of ordinary things and people, and especially through the Sacraments of the Church. It is also intended to promote understanding of public and personal modes of worship.

The material in this guide should be read alongside the following:

• The Religious Education Curriculum Statement for Catholic Secondary Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand • The student resource book for Topic 12H “Commitment and Ministry” • The supplementary material and activities on the website

Topic 12H: Commitment and Ministry explores the Christian understanding of vocation – from the Latin, vocare, “to call” – as an invitation to follow Christ and to become signs and witnesses of Te Rangatiratanga (the reign of God) in the world. When Christians show aroha (love)1 for one another and for others God’s love for all people in Hehu Karaiti (Jesus Christ) becomes visible:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

Baptism is the basis of Christian vocation. All who are baptised are called by Te Wairua Tapu (the Holy Spirit) to be members of Christ’s Body – the Church – in the world today. Through Baptism, all Christians share a common vocation to holiness.

. . . all Christians in whatever state or walk in life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity, and this holiness is conducive to a more human way of living even in society here on earth. (Lumen Gentium – Light of the Nations 40)

1 The Glossary of Māori terms gives two meanings of aroha. The second of these encompasses sympathy and compassion towards those who are unhappy or suffering. It is closely linked with reverence, respect, forgiveness, helpfulness, and truthfulness.

3 The term “vocation” also refers to a specific state of life to which all believers understand that Te Atua is calling them – according to their particular talents and gifts. Some people are inclined, by God’s grace, to follow Christ as husbands and wives. Others feel called to the single state without seeking Holy Orders or taking vows as religious women or men. Still others hear God inviting them to become sisters, brothers, priests, or deacons.

No one vocation is superior to another. Each leads to a way of life and specific tasks that are essential for building up the Body of Christ and Te Rangatiratanga (the reign of God). Christians grow in holiness by expressing their love for Te Atua and others through the various ministries and ways of life within the Church. The call to holiness – whatever form it takes – always expresses itself in service for the welfare of the Church and the world.

As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also do the faithful in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12:12). A diversity of members and functions is engaged in the building up of Christ’s Body, too. There is only one Spirit who, out of his richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his various gifts for the welfare of the Church (see 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). (Lumen Gentium – Light of the Nations 7)

The present topic examines different Christian vocations and forms of commitment and service within the Church – the single life, marriage, the ordained ministries, especially priesthood, and consecrated religious life. However, given the limited time available, the treatment of the various Christian vocations and forms of commitment cannot be exhaustive. The aim is to introduce students to the ideals and fundamental principles of vocation and ministry, and to motivate them to reflect on the choices and callings which face them as they approach adult life.

All people are single for at least some time in their adult lives. Many within the Church are single by choice or circumstance for either the whole or a significant part of adulthood. This topic encourages students to recognise the single state as a Christian vocation. It places the single life within the context of the universal call to holiness and service that comes through Baptism.

This topic includes a study of the sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders. The Catholic Church regards marriage as a vocation, a sacrament and a covenant that demands a lifelong commitment. Because marriage is a serious undertaking involving many responsibilities, Catholics contemplating marriage are urged to prepare well for it.

It is essential that teachers present clearly the Church’s teachings and ideals in regard to marriage and family life. At the same time, they must remain sensitive towards those students whose family circumstances differ from these ideals. “Relating to Others” and “Moral Development”, the Senior Personal Development and Social Issues Resources that are part of the Understanding Faith programme include activities that complement what is

4 presented about marriage in the present topic. Teachers are encouraged to make use of this material.

The present topic explores the nature and meaning of the ordained ministries, especially priesthood, in the Catholic Church. Those who are called to be bishops, priests or deacons seek to imitate Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave his life that his ‘sheep’ might be spiritually nourished and have life to the full. (see John 10:10-11).

Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, priests are commissioned to proclaim the Gospel through word and deed, to preside at the worship of the community, especially the Eucharist, and to administer the other sacraments. Priests conduct their ministry as co-workers of the bishop, who has ultimate responsibility for the unity of the believers in his diocese.

Religious life is a charism – not a sacrament. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that enables those who are called to it to respond to Christ’s invitation to a particular form of discipleship in the Church:

‘If you wish to be perfect in love, go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ (Matthew 19:21)

Those who are called to the religious life dedicate themselves to giving witness to the reign of God through vows of obedience, chastity and poverty within community, according to the rules of their particular religious order or congregation.

At Confirmation, Christians are further strengthened by Te Wairua Tapu so that they may remain faithful to their commitment to Christ. Despite their human failings, believers, through their acts of aroha and service, are able to remain true to their vocation in life, co-operating with Te Atua in the transformation of the world.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

LINKS WITH OTHER TOPICS IN UNDERSTANDING FAITH

The present topic builds on material studied and understandings gained in previous topics of the Understanding Faith programme, especially those which form the Sacrament and Worship strand and the Church History strand. For example, students were first introduced to the Sacrament of Baptism in Topic 9H: Sacraments of Initiation and to the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders in Topic 10G: Recognising Signs of God. Topic 11E: Ecumenism and Catholic Identity examined the issues that arise when a baptised Catholic chooses to marry someone from another Church or another faith.

5 The origins and development of religious life has been explored in the following topics dealing with the Church’s story across the centuries:

• Topic 9D: The Church’s Story – The Beginnings • Topic 10D The Church’s Story – The Middle Ages • Topic 11D The Church’s Story – Reformation and Beyond • Topic 12C: The Church’s Story – The Modern Age

ACHIEVEMENT AIMS

In this topic students will gain and apply knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to understand:

1. The nature of Christian commitment and vocation. 2. The meaning and significance of Christian marriage and the ordained ministries of deacon, priest and bishop. 3. The call to consecrated religious life.

ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:

1. Develop an understanding of vocation and ministry as calls to holiness and service within the Church. 2. Recognise ways in which the single life can be a true Christian vocation. 3. Explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be prepared for well. 4. Develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the ordained ministries – especially the priesthood – and of the significance of the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the life of the Church. 5. Develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the consecrated religious life.

CHURCH TEACHINGS AND LINKS WITH CHURCH DOCUMENTS

Underpinning the five achievement objectives for the topic are important teachings of the Church. Where possible, direct links with the Catechism of the Catholic Church have been established and quotations used to highlight the relationship between the various achievement objectives and the Church teachings that they embody. On occasions, other Church documents are referred to and quoted.

In all cases the official translations of Church documents have been used, but where necessary changes have been made so that the language is gender inclusive.

6 Achievement Objective 1

Students will be able to develop an understanding of vocation and ministry as calls to holiness and service within the Church.

Church Teachings

The Call to Love and Holiness

• Love is the fundamental vocation – all people are called to love and to be loved. • All Christians, whatever their state or condition in life, are called to holiness. • Through Baptism, all Christians share in the life and priesthood of Christ whose example they are called to follow in their thoughts, words and actions.

The Role and Mission of Lay People

• Lay people are called by Te Atua to live in the world and to make it more Christ-like. • Lay people grow in holiness by following Christ in all aspects of their lives – personal, family, social and religious.

Lay Ministries within the Church

• The Holy Spirit is at work building up the one Church through its various ministries and charisms. • The Church is an organic blending of legitimate diversities – together with the ordained ministry, other ministries can flourish for the good of the whole community, sustaining it in its many needs. • Using the gifts which have been given them by Te Wairua Tapu, suitable lay men and women can fulfil a variety of ministries – as lectors, altar servers, readers, commentators, choir members, and by distributing Holy Communion and, in some circumstances, conferring Baptism.

Ordained Ministries within the Church

• The ministry conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Orders enables those who are ordained to serve the Christian community in the name and in the person of Christ. • The ministerial priesthood, which serves the People of God, by teaching, worship, and pastoral governance, is different in essence from the priesthood of all the baptised. • The ordained ministry is exercised in three degrees – that of bishops, priests and deacons, who are essential to the Church.

7 Christian Vocation

• Each person receives their own personal form of vocation to holiness and to evangelise the world. • Parents should respect and encourage their children’s vocations and encourage them in their first calling – to follow Jesus. • Genuine development concerns the whole person and requires them to respond to their vocation and God’s call, according to their ability.

Sacraments of Vocation

• Holy Orders and Christian marriage are sacraments of vocation – they lead to personal salvation and serve to build up the People of God.

Catechism and Church Document Links

The Call to Love and Holiness

"Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being." (CCC 2392)

"The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect." In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired: "Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state – though each in their own way – are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect." (CCC 825)

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord. Following Christ and united with him, Christians can strive to be "imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love" by conforming their thoughts, words and actions to the "mind ... which is yours in Christ Jesus," and by following his example. (CCC 1694)

On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among humanity, has made this new people 'a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.' The baptised, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood." (CCC 784)

The Role and Mission of Lay People

"The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world and of secular affairs, lay people are called by God to make of their apostolate, through the vigour of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world". (CCC940)

Lay people share in Christ's priesthood: ever more united with him, they exhibit the grace of Baptism and Confirmation in all dimensions of their

8 personal, family, social and ecclesial lives, and so fulfil the call to holiness addressed to all the baptised. (CCC 941)

By virtue of their prophetic mission, lay people "are called . . . to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of humankind”. (CCC 942)

Lay Ministries within the Church

The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit: . . . in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up . . .” (CCC 688)

The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church." The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity among the faithful: "From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is honoured, all the members together rejoice." Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all human divisions: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (CCC 791)

The unity of the Church is not uniformity, but an organic blending of legitimate diversities. It is the reality of many members joined in a single body, the one Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:12). Therefore the Church of the Third Millennium will need to encourage all the baptized and confirmed to be aware of their active responsibility in the Church's life. Together with the ordained ministry, other ministries, whether formally instituted or simply recognized, can flourish for the good of the whole community, sustaining it in all its many needs: from catechesis to liturgy, from the education of the young to the widest array of charitable works. (At the Beginning of the New Millennium 46)

Lay people who possess the required qualities can be admitted permanently to the ministries of lector and acolyte. When the necessity of the Church warrants it and when ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply for certain of their offices, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer Baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion in accord with the prescriptions of law." (CCC 903)

"The laity can also feel called, or be in fact called, to cooperate with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for the sake of its growth and life. This can be done through the exercise of different kinds of ministries according to the grace and charisms which the Lord has been pleased to bestow on them." (CCC 910)

9 For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful, other particular ministries also exist, not consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders; their functions are determined by the bishops, in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers, readers, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function." (CCC 1143)

Ordained Ministries within the Church

The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the "common priesthood of the faithful." Based on this common priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where the task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ the Head in the midst of the community. (CCC 1591)

The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral governance (munus regendi). (CCC 1592)

Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has been conferred and exercised in three degrees: that of bishops, that of presbyters, and that of deacons. The ministries conferred by ordination are irreplaceable for the organic structure of the Church: without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, one cannot speak of the Church. (CCC 1593)

Christian Vocation

The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. This vocation takes a personal form since each of us is called to enter into the divine beatitude; it also concerns the human community as a whole. (CCC 1877)

Parents should respect and encourage their children's vocations. They should remember and teach that the first calling of the Christian is to follow Jesus. (CCC 2253)

True development concerns the whole person. It is concerned with increasing each person's ability to respond to his vocation and hence to God's call. (CCC 2461)

Sacraments of Vocation

Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God. (CCC 1534)

10 Achievement Objective 2

Students will be able to recognise ways in which the single life can be a true Christian vocation.

Church Teachings

The Single Life

• Single people, because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live, are especially close to Jesus, and therefore deserve the special affection and care of the Church. • Single people who love Christ bring their own gifts to the life of the Church. • Since they do not have obligations to a husband, wife or children, single people often have more opportunities to help both the Church and society in general. • The experience of single life can make people especially aware of those who are often neglected by society.

Catechism and Church Document Links

The Single Life

We must also remember the great number of single persons who, because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live – often not of their choosing – are especially close to Jesus' heart and therefore deserve the special affection and active solicitude of the Church, especially of pastors. Many remain without a human family often due to conditions of poverty. Some live their situation in the spirit of the Beatitudes, serving God and neighbour in exemplary fashion. The doors of homes, the "domestic churches," and of the great family which is the Church must be open to all of them. "No one is without a family in this world: the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially those who 'labour and are heavy laden.'" (CCC 1658)

Single people who love Christ with a chaste and generous heart have their own gifts to bring to parish life. Since they do not have the daily obligations of a husband or wife and children, they often have more opportunities to help both the Church and society in general. Their own experience of single life can make them especially aware of those who are often forgotten and overlooked by society. (Address of Pope John Paul II in the Parish of Saint Leo, Melbourne, Australia, 1986, 5)

Achievement Objective 3

Students will be able to explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be well prepared for.

11 Church Teachings

Christian Marriage

• The vocation of marriage is willed by the Creator and intrinsic to the nature of men and women. • Although the institution of marriage has undergone many changes over the centuries in different cultural, social and religious contexts, it has certain common and permanent characteristics. • The well-being of the individual and of society is closely linked to the health of marriage. • The aroha between wives and husbands must mirror Christ’s love for the Church.

The Church’s Understanding of Marriage

• Marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman form an intimate communion of life and aroha. • Marriage is a sacrament – a sign of Christ’s union with the Church. • Marriage is based on the consent of the two parties who give themselves to each other in faithful and fruitful love. • Christian marriage is a permanent union that is open to life.

Divorce and Annulment

• There are some situations in which for a variety of reasons it becomes impossible for a husband and wife to continue living together – in such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. • For various reasons, the Church can declare the nullity of a marriage – that the marriage never existed. • If the consent of either one or other of the contracting parties is lacking for any reason at the time of a marriage, the marriage is invalid. • The remarriage of divorced persons is contrary to God’s plan and the law of the Church.

Preparation for Marriage

• Because of many changes within modern societies, preparation of people for marriage and family life is more than ever necessary. • The Church promotes intensive programmes of marriage preparation in order to establish and develop successful Christian marriages. • Marriage preparation is a gradual and continuous process that stretches from childhood through to the period immediately preceding the wedding. • The wider Christian family should be involved in the different phases of marriage preparation.

12 • Bishops’ conferences have the responsibility for determining the content, duration and form that marriage preparation courses for engaged couples will take.

The Rite of Marriage

• Christian marriage, because it has a public dimension, is celebrated with a liturgical rite before a priest (or other witness authorised by the Church), the witnesses, and the Christian community. • In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two faithful Catholics normally takes place during the celebration of Mass. • In the Latin Rite the spouses are the ministers of the sacrament of Matrimony, which is conferred by their mutual consent. • In the Eastern Churches, the minister of the sacrament is the ordained minister who “crowns” the spouses after receiving their mutual consent. • The various marriage liturgies contain many karakia (prayers) of blessing on the couple which ask that Te Wairua Tapu come down on them to seal and strengthen their covenant of faithful love.

Catechism and Church Document Links

Christian Marriage

"The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. ... God himself is the author of marriage." The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life." (CCC 1603)

St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . .. This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Ephesians 5:25, 32). (CCC 1659)

The Church’s Understanding of Marriage

The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptised to the dignity of a sacrament. (CCC 1660)

13 The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661)

Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)

Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift," the child. (CCC 1664)

Divorce and Annulment

The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith. (CCC 1665)

Yet there are some situations in which living together becomes practically impossible for a variety of reasons. In such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. The spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are not free to contract a new union. In this difficult situation, the best solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. The Christian community is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian manner and in fidelity to their marriage bond which remains indissoluble. (CCC 1649)

The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear. No human power can substitute for this consent. If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid. (CCC1628)

For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed. In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged. (CCC 1629)

Preparation for Marriage

More than ever necessary in our times is preparation of young people for marriage and family life. In some countries it is still the families themselves that, according to ancient customs, ensure the passing on to young people of the values concerning married and family life, and they do this through a gradual process of education or initiation. But the changes that have taken place within almost all modern societies demand that not only the family but

14 also society and the Church should be involved in the effort of properly preparing young people for their future responsibilities. Many negative phenomena which are today noted with regret in family life derive from the fact that, in the new situations, young people not only lose sight of the correct hierarchy of values but, since they no longer have certain criteria of behaviour, they do not know how to face and deal with the new difficulties. But experience teaches that young people who have been well prepared for family life generally succeed better than others.

This is even more applicable to Christian marriage, which influences the holiness of large numbers of men and women. The Church must therefore promote better and more intensive programmes of marriage preparation, in order to eliminate as far as possible the difficulties that many married couples find themselves in, and even more in order to favour positively the establishing and maturing of successful marriages.

Marriage preparation has to be seen and put into practice as a gradual and continuous process. It includes three main stages: remote, proximate and immediate preparation.

Remote preparation begins in early childhood, in that wise family training which leads children to discover themselves as being endowed with a rich and complex psychology and with a particular personality with its own strengths and weaknesses. It is the period when esteem for all authentic human values is instilled, both in interpersonal and in social relationships, with all that this signifies for the formation of character, for the control and right use of one's inclinations, for the manner of regarding and meeting people of the opposite sex, and so on. Also necessary, especially for Christians, is solid spiritual and catechetical formation that will show that marriage is a true vocation and mission, without excluding the possibility of the total gift of self to God in the vocation to the priestly or religious life.

Upon this basis there will subsequently and gradually be built up the proximate preparation, which – from the suitable age and with adequate catechesis, as in a catechumenal process – involves a more specific preparation for the sacraments, as it were, a rediscovery of them. This renewed catechesis of young people and others preparing for Christian marriage is absolutely necessary in order that the sacrament may be celebrated and lived with the right moral and spiritual dispositions. The religious formation of young people should be integrated, at the right moment and in accordance with the various concrete requirements, with a preparation for life as a couple. This preparation will present marriage as an interpersonal relationship of a man and a woman that has to be continually developed, and it will encourage those concerned to study the nature of conjugal sexuality and responsible parenthood, with the essential medical and biological knowledge connected with it. It will also acquaint those concerned with correct methods for the education of children, and will assist them in gaining the basic requisites for well-ordered family life, such as stable work, sufficient financial resources, sensible administration, notions of housekeeping.

15 Finally, one must not overlook preparation for the family apostolate, for fraternal solidarity and collaboration with other families, for active membership in groups, associations, movements and undertakings set up for the human and Christian benefit of the family.

The immediate preparation for the celebration of the sacrament of Matrimony should take place in the months and weeks immediately preceding the wedding, so as to give a new meaning, content and form to the so-called premarital enquiry required by Canon Law. This preparation is not only necessary in every case, but is also more urgently needed for engaged couples that still manifest shortcomings or difficulties in Christian doctrine and practice.

Among the elements to be instilled in this journey of faith, which is similar to the catechumenate, there must also be a deeper knowledge of the mystery of Christ and the Church, of the meaning of grace and of the responsibility of Christian marriage, as well as preparation for taking an active and conscious part in the rites of the marriage liturgy.

The Christian family and the whole of the ecclesial community should feel involved in the different phases of the preparation for marriage, which have been described only in their broad outlines. It is to be hoped that the Episcopal Conferences, just as they are concerned with appropriate initiatives to help engaged couples to be more aware of the seriousness of their choice and also to help pastors of souls to make sure of the couples' proper dispositions, so they will also take steps to see that there is issued a Directory for the Pastoral Care of the Family. In this they should lay down, in the first place, the minimum content, duration and method of the "Preparation Courses," balancing the different aspects – doctrinal, pedagogical, legal and medical – concerning marriage, and structuring them in such a way that those preparing for marriage will not only receive an intellectual training but will also feel a desire to enter actively into the ecclesial community. (Familiaris Consortio – The Family in the Modern World, 66)

The Rite of Marriage

Since marriage establishes the couple in a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that its celebration be public, in the framework of a liturgical celebration, before the priest (or a witness authorised by the Church), the witnesses, and the assembly of the faithful. (CCC 1663)

In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two Catholic faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass, because of the connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of Christ. In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New Covenant in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beloved bride for whom he gave himself up. It is therefore fitting that the spouses should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that, communicating

16 in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may form but "one body" in Christ. (CCC 1621)

According to the Latin tradition, the spouses as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. In the traditions of the Eastern Churches, the priests (bishops or presbyters) are witnesses to the mutual consent given by the spouses, but for the validity of the sacrament their blessing is also necessary. (CCC 1623)

The various liturgies abound in prayers of blessing and epiclesis asking God's grace and blessing on the new couple, especially the bride. In the epiclesis of this sacrament the spouses receive the Holy Spirit as the communion of love of Christ and the Church. The Holy Spirit is the seal of their covenant, the ever available source of their love and the strength to renew their fidelity. (CCC 1624)

Achievement Objective 4

Students will be able to develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the ordained ministries – especially the priesthood – and of the significance of the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the life of the Church.

Church Teachings

The Origins of Christian Priesthood

• The Christian priesthood is prefigured in the Old Testament priesthood of the tribe of Levi, which God established to pray and offer sacrifice on behalf of the people of Israel. • The Christian priesthood is also prefigured in the priesthood of Aaron and in the seventy elders. • The priesthood of the Old Testament finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and he tangata (humankind). • The Christian tradition recognises the high priest Melchizedek as a prefiguration of Christ, the unique high priest. • Jesus Christ’s saving death on the cross is made present again in the sacrifice of the Mass, which is brought about through the ordained priest who acts on behalf of Christ.

The Ordained Ministries

• While the baptised share in the priesthood of Christ, the Sacrament of Holy Orders ordains men to serve the People of God in the name and in the person of Christ, the Head of the Church. • The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood in that it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. • Ordained ministers serve the People of God by teaching, divine worship, and pastoral care.

17 • Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has existed in three degrees – that of bishops, priests and deacons – which are essential to the life of the Church.

Who Can Be Ordained

• The Church confers ordination only on baptised men whose suitability has been recognised by the Church. • Church authority alone has responsibility for determining who receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders. • In the Latin Church the priesthood is normally only for unmarried men who are able to embrace celibacy.

Bishops

• The bishop receives the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders which makes him a member of the college of bishops and the visible head of the local Church or diocese. • As successors of the apostles, the bishops share in the mission of the whole Church under the authority of the pope.

Priests

• Priests are co-workers with their bishop and accept responsibility with him for the local Church. • Priests generally carry out their ministry by taking responsibility for the care of a parish community.

Deacons

• Deacons do not receive the ministerial priesthood but are ordained to serve the Church by fulfilling important functions in the ministry of the Word, divine worship, pastoral care, and charitable service. • Deacons carry out their ministry under the pastoral authority of their bishop.

The Conferring of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

• The Sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer of consecration invoking the graces of Te Wairua Tapu. • Ordination leaves the mark of an indelible sacramental character. • Bishops are responsible for conferring the sacrament of Holy Orders in all three degrees.

The Formation and Training of Priests

• The priests of the future are formed in the image of the Good Shepherd through their training in seminaries.

18 • Each Bishop is responsible for the formation of the local clergy in the context of the local culture and tradition. • Flexible and creative models of formation and learning should be used in the human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral training of candidates for the priesthood in Oceania. • The real academic and spiritual needs of seminarians must be met and extremes of clericalism and secularism avoided.

Catechism and Church Document Links

The Origins of Christian Priesthood

The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But within the people of Israel, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, and set it apart for liturgical service; God himself is its inheritance. A special rite consecrated the beginnings of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests are "appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." (CCC 1539)

The liturgy of the Church, however, sees in the priesthood of Aaron and the service of the Levites, as in the institution of the seventy elders, a prefiguring of the ordained ministry of the New Covenant. (CCC 1541)

Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfilment in Christ Jesus, the "one mediator between God and humanity." The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of God Most High," as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order of Melchizedek"; "holy, blameless, unstained," "by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified," that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross. (CCC 1544)

The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ's priesthood: "Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.” (CCC 1545)

The Ordained Ministries

19 teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral governance (munus regendi). (CCC 1592)

Who Can Be Ordained

The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men (viri), whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry has been duly recognized. Church authority alone has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. (CCC 1598)

In the Latin Church the sacrament of Holy Orders for the presbyterate is normally conferred only on candidates who are ready to embrace celibacy freely and who publicly manifest their intention of staying celibate for the love of God's kingdom and the service of people. (CCC 1599)

Bishops

The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As successors of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter. (CCC 1594)

Priests

Priests are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity and at the same time depend on them in the exercise of their pastoral functions; they are called to be the bishops' prudent co-workers. They form around their bishop the presbyterium which bears responsibility with him for the particular Church. They receive from the bishop the charge of a parish community or a determinate ecclesial office. (CCC 1595)

Deacons

Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service of the Church; they do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination confers on them important functions in the ministry of the word, divine worship, pastoral governance, and the service of charity, tasks which they must carry out under the pastoral authority of their bishop. (CCC 1596)

20 The Conferring of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

The sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer of consecration asking God to grant the ordinand the graces of the Holy Spirit required for his ministry. Ordination imprints an indelible sacramental character. (CCC 1597)

It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees. (CCC 1600)

The Formation and Training of Priests

In seminaries, the priests of the future are formed in the image of the Good Shepherd, "joining themselves with Christ in the recognition of the Father's will and in the gift of themselves to the flock entrusted to them". Each Bishop is responsible for the formation of the local clergy in the context of the local culture and tradition. In this regard, the Synod Fathers asked that "serious consideration be given to more flexible and creative models of formation and learning" which take into account the essential elements of a well integrated formation of candidates for the priesthood in Oceania: human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral formation. At the same time, the Bishops expressed "caution concerning extremes of clericalism or secularism and the dangers of inadequate competence, sometimes the result of present-day seminary formation that neglects the real academic and spiritual needs of seminarians". (Ecclesia in Oceania – The Church in Oceania 48)

Achievement Objective 5

Students will be able to develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the consecrated religious life.

Church Teachings

Consecrated Religious Life

• The consecrated religious life is characterised by the public profession of the evangelical counsels – the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience – recognised by the Church. • Those who profess the evangelical counsels are not part of the Church’s hierarchy but essential to her life and holiness. • Those who dedicate themselves to the religious life consecrate themselves more closely to God’s service and the good of the whole Church. • Religious life is distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by its emphasis on the Liturgy, the public profession of the evangelical counsels, and life lived in community.

21 The Origins and Development of Religious Life

• From the evangelical counsels have developed a great many forms of the religious life. • From the beginning of the Church, many men and women have been led by Te Wairua Tapu to follow Christ by practising the evangelical counsels and establishing religious families that have been approved by the Church. • Religious life originated in the East during the first Christian centuries.

Hermits

• Hermits devote their life to the praise of Te Atua through a strict separation from the world, through a solitary way of life, and through constant prayer and penance. • Hermits are called to find “the Crucified One” in the desert.

Consecrated Virgins

• The state of Christian virginity has been recognised by the Church since the time of the apostles. • Consecrated virgins follow Christ more closely by making solemn promises to the diocesan bishop. • Consecrated virgins live in the world (or as nuns) dedicating themselves in prayer, penance, and Christian service according to their circumstances and their abilities.

The Evangelical Counsels

• All followers of Christ are called to live lives of Christian poverty, chastity and obedience, but those called to the consecrated religious life profess these evangelical counsels publicly and permanently. • The religious state is a way of experiencing a way of life totally dedicated to Te Atua. • Those called to consecrated religious life follow Christ more closely and serve as signs of God’s reign which is to come.

The Impact of Religious Life

• The various forms of religious life are signs of God’s aroha in our times. • Religious life has been responsible for the missionary “planting” and expansion of the Church. • History witnesses to the important role played by religious families in the spread of the faith from the time of the ancient monasteries to more recent congregations.

22 Catechism and Church Document Links

Consecrated Religious Life

The life consecrated to God is characterised by the public profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church. (CCC 944)

"The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness.” (CCC 914)

Already destined for them through Baptism, persons who surrender themselves to the God they love above all else thereby consecrate themselves more intimately to God's service and to the good of the whole Church. (CCC 945)

Religious life derives from the mystery of the Church. It is a gift she has received from her Lord, a gift she offers as a stable way of life to the faithful called by God to profess the counsels. Thus, the Church can both show forth Christ and acknowledge herself to be the Saviour's bride. Religious life in its various forms is called to signify the very charity of God in the language of our time. (CCC 926)

The Origins and Development of Religious Life

"From the God-given seed of the counsels a wonderful and wide-spreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community. Different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress in holiness of their members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ.” (CCC 917)

From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practising the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in their own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved. (CCC 918)

Religious life was born in the East during the first centuries of Christianity. Lived within institutes canonically erected by the Church, it is distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by its liturgical character, public profession of the evangelical counsels, fraternal life led in common, and witness given to the union of Christ with the Church. (CCC 925)

Hermits

Without always professing the three evangelical counsels publicly, hermits "devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a

23 stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.” (CCC 920)

They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One. (CCC 921)

Consecrated Virgins

From apostolic times Christian virgins and widows, called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart, body, and spirit, have decided with the Church's approval to live in the respective status of virginity or perpetual chastity "for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven." (CCC 922)

"Virgins who, committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church." By this solemn rite (Consecratio virginum), the virgin is "constituted . . . a sacred person, a transcendent sign of the Church's love for Christ, and an eschatological image of this heavenly Bride of Christ and of the life to come.” (CCC 923)

"As with other forms of consecrated life," the order of virgins establishes the woman living in the world (or the nun) in prayer, penance, service of her brethren, and apostolic activity, according to the state of life and spiritual gifts given to her. Consecrated virgins can form themselves into associations to observe their commitment more faithfully. (CCC 924)

The Evangelical Counsels

Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practising chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience . It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God. (CCC 915)

The state of consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come. (CCC 916)

24 The Impact of Religious Life

All religious, whether exempt or not, take their place among the collaborators of the diocesan bishop in his pastoral duty. From the outset of the work of evangelization, the missionary "planting" and expansion of the Church require the presence of the religious life in all its forms. "History witnesses to the outstanding service rendered by religious families in the propagation of the faith and in the formation of new Churches: from the ancient monastic institutions to the medieval orders, all the way to the more recent congregations.” (CCC 927)

Many religious have consecrated their whole lives to prayer. Hermits, monks, and nuns since the time of the desert fathers have devoted their time to praising God and interceding for his people. The consecrated life cannot be sustained or spread without prayer; it is one of the living sources of contemplation and the spiritual life of the Church. (CCC 2687)

ORGANISATION OF THE TOPIC

For teaching purposes the material in this topic is organised into twelve sections each of which is linked to one of the achievement objectives:

Part One: The Universal Call to Holiness Achievement Objective 1

Part Two: Vocation – An Invitation to Holiness Achievement Objective 1

Part Three: The Vocation to the Single Life Achievement Objective 2

Part Four: The Institution of Marriage Achievement Objective 3

Part Five: Understanding Christian Marriage Achievement Objective 3

Part Six: Preparing for Marriage Achievement Objective 3

Part Seven: The Rite of Marriage Achievement Objective 3

Part Eight: The Development of the Priesthood Achievement Objective 4

Part Nine: Holy Orders Achievement Objective 4

Part Ten: The Pathway to Priesthood Achievement Objective 4

Part Eleven: The Story of Religious Life Achievement Objective 5

Part Twelve: The Heart of Religious Life Achievement Objective 5

25 LEARNING OUTCOMES

Each learning outcome for the topic is derived from one of the achievement objectives. The learning outcomes identify what students are expected to learn as they work through each section of the topic.

While teachers must ensure that the learning outcomes for the topic are covered so that all of the achievement objectives for the topic are met, it is not intended that students work through every task or activity, nor that every achievement objective is assessed.

Teachers should select a range of tasks appropriate for their students’ interests and abilities and well matched to their own teaching style.

Learning outcomes for each of the twelve sections of the topic are listed at the beginning of the appropriate part.

MĀORI SPIRITUALITY IN THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CURRICULUM

In Aotearoa New Zealand Māori spirituality is an essential dimension of the Religious Education Curriculum.

Māori students in Catholic schools have a right, supported by Church teaching, to have the faith explained to them in a culturally relevant way, using those traditional Māori concepts, beliefs and values which are still part of the life of Māori today. For example, te ao wairua (the spiritual world), Atua, tapu (holiness), mana (spiritual power and authority), noa (free from tapu restrictions), hohou rongo (the restoring of tapu and mana), whānau (extended family), te wā (time). It is not sufficient to present the faith to them in wholly European terms while ignoring the riches of the Māori religious traditions and their belief system - this would be an alienating experience for Māori. Pope John Paul II himself affirmed the authenticity and integrity of Māori spirituality when speaking to te tangata whenua (the people of the land) during his visit to this country in 1986:

“It is as Māori that the Lord calls you, it is as Māori that you belong to the Church, the one body of Christ.”

Since 1840 we have been a nation with two streams of culture as expressed in our founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of Waitangi. The partnership, communication and mutual respect implied in the Treaty can only exist if there is mutual understanding. For Pakeha, such an understanding is impossible without an appreciation of the Māori culture’s underlying spirituality. There is also great potential for the enrichment of the spirituality of Pakeha young people when they are given the chance to develop an awareness and understanding of the Māori faith vision and belief system. All young people in Catholic schools, therefore, should be given the opportunity to understand key aspects of the culture and spirituality of Māori.

26 THE USE OF MĀORI LANGUAGE IN THIS PROGRAMME

The first time a Māori word or phrase appears in a particular topic, either in the teacher material or the student texts, it is followed by its English equivalent which is placed inside brackets. In most cases the meaning of the Māori terms can be worked out from the context in which they appear.

A glossary which gathers together all the Māori terms used in a particular topic is provided. This glossary often explores the Māori concepts in greater depth than is possible in the brief descriptions that appear in the teacher material and student texts.

27 PART ONE: THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO HOLINESS

Achievement Objective 1

Students will be able to develop an understanding of vocation and ministry as calls to holiness and service within the Church.

Church Teachings

The Call to Love and Holiness

The Role and Mission of Lay People

Lay Ministries within the Church

• Te Wairua Tapu is at work building up the one Church through its various ministries and charisms. • The Church is an organic blending of legitimate diversities – together with the ordained ministry, other ministries can flourish for the good of the whole community, sustaining it in its many needs. • Using the gifts which have been given them by the Holy Spirit, suitable lay men and women can fulfil a variety of ministries – as lectors, altar servers, readers, commentators, choir members, and by distributing Holy Communion and, in some circumstances, conferring Baptism.

Ordained Ministries within the Church

28 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic student will:

• Explain the Christian understanding of love and compare it with the popular view of it. • Identify and reflect on aspects of Christian holiness. • Apply parables of Jesus to the role and mission of lay people in the world. • Communicate ways in which young people can contribute to the mission of the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand. • Recognise the various ministries carried out by lay people within the Church and find out more about them.

Teacher Background

Everyone is Called to Holiness Every man and woman is created in the image and likeness of God. Through Baptism, Christians share in the priesthood of Christ and are called to live holy lives. God's invitation to holiness is universal – it is addressed to all people in every stage, state, and style of life. Holiness is possible in all situations.

The bishops of the Church at the Second Vatican Council, especially in chapter five of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations, emphasised that everyone is called to holiness:

The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection, preached holiness of life, which he both initiates and brings to perfection, to each and every one of his disciples no matter what their condition of life: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:4-8). (Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations 40)

In speaking of this “universal call to holiness”, the Council was powerfully restating a truth with ancient roots. For example, the Epistle to Diognetus, written around AD 200, takes it for granted that lay people spread the faith to pagans by the witness of their lives:

The whole tenor of their way of living stamps it as worthy of admiration. . . . What the soul is in the body, the Christians are in the world.

However, with the exception of the efforts of a few notable figures, for many centuries, the Church gave less attention to holiness in the lives of lay people than it did to emphasising its importance in the lives of those with priestly and religious vocations. In the sixteenth century, Saint Francis de Sales (1567- 1622) wrote his Introduction to the Devout Life to help lay people find holiness. In the nineteenth century, Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-90) spoke up for the laity, and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-97) offered a practical programme of spiritual growth – her “little way”.

29 In these and other ways, the stage was set for a series of remarkable developments in the first half of the twentieth century.

Alongside older forms of lay spirituality – sodalities, confraternities, third orders – these decades witnessed innovations like Catholic Action and the radical Christianity of groups like the Catholic Worker. The liturgical movement held out to lay people a vision of a more participatory form of worship and Christian life. Pope Saint Pius X (1835-1914) stressed an early and frequent reception of Holy Communion. This coupled with public events such as eucharistic congresses, fostered eucharistic devotion. The flourishing of Marian piety was a reminder that the greatest saint of all was a laywoman and mother.

Many people had their faith shaken by the devastation of World War I and World War II. For others, these calamities led to a deeper search for inwardness and the meaning of life. Secular institutes and new movements like Focolare and Opus Dei preached the gospel of holiness in the world.

The Second Vatican Council and the Call to Holiness At the Second Vatican Council, the bishops’ teaching about the universal call to holiness gave expression to new insights:

• Holiness is possible and is willed by Te Atua for lay people as much as for priests and religious • The elements of everyday life – work, marriage and family, friendships, disappointments and successes, sorrows and joys – can be the foundation of an interior life built up by prayer, worship, the sacraments, spiritual guidance and service to others.

Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations makes it clear that the theological basis of the universal call to holiness is a deeper appreciation of the significance of Baptism in the lives of Christians. Having become God’s daughters and sons, the baptised are challenged to “hold on to and perfect in their lives that holiness that they received from God” (Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations 40). The universal call to holiness is an ongoing conversion experience. It keeps opening a person’s eyes to a new awareness of God’s loving presence and inviting them to turn to God by aligning their will with God’s.

A willingness to do God’s will is built on two convictions – the belief that God loves us more than we love ourselves and that God wants our happiness more than we want it. Te Atua knows more than we do about what will make us truly happy. The desire to seek and to do God’s will is our best opportunity to find meaning and satisfaction in life.

Although the Church is hierarchically structured and includes different vocations, different charisms and offices, and different states in life, when it comes to what is most important – love of God and neighbour – all Christians are equally called to seek God.

30 While building a better society, renewing the Church, having a family, fulfilling our potential, helping people in need, or confronting new challenges may be important aspects of our lives as Christians, the primary objective of a husband or wife, of a single layman or laywoman, of a priest or a consecrated religious is to love God.

In Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations, holiness is spoken of in terms of the Holy Trinity. Christians are called to follow Christ, to seek and do the will of the Father, and to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The call to universal holiness extends equally to clergy, religious and laity, wherever they find themselves:

The forms and tasks of life are many but there is one holiness, which is cultivated by all who are led by God's Spirit and, obeying the Father's voice and adoring God the Father in spirit and in truth, follow Christ, poor and humble in carrying his cross, that they may deserve to be sharers in his glory. All however, according to their own gifts and duties must steadfastly advance along the way of a living faith, which arouses hope and works through love. (Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations 41)

Christians hold that Christ is the best example we have of what holiness is and how it is lived. We learn of Christ through prayer, in Scripture, and also through the liturgy – especially the Eucharist – where prayer and preaching are centred on Te Kupu a Te Ariki (the Word of God). Those seeking holiness also find comfort and consolation in knowing that Christ is human as well as divine.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Because Christ is able “to sympathise with our weakness”, his life and message are an unending source of example.

Many Christians today struggle to accept that all people are called to holiness. Some Catholics grew up in a Church environment where the pursuit of holiness seemed possible only for the ordained and consecrated religious. Others felt that holiness was something far removed from ordinary life. The tendency, in these circumstances, was to say: “Holiness doesn’t apply to my life! It’s not for me! I’m too busy”.

The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World makes it clear that holiness is to be found in the ordinary events of life – not apart from them.

One of the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and their day-to-day conduct. (Gaudium et Spes – The Joys and Hopes 43)

31 What makes the pursuit of holiness a particular challenge is that it is a lifelong task. We can never be finished with loving and responding to Te Atua. The effort must be sustained over a lifetime, nurtured, directed, and, when necessary even re-established.

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) commented on the universal call to holiness in many of his writings, especially in the apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici – The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World. Paragraphs 57 to 63 specifically address the purpose of formation for holiness and formation itself in regard to lay people.

In stating the purpose of formation in holiness, Pope John Paul II echoes the documents of the Second Vatican Council:

The fundamental objective of the formation of the lay faithful is an ever- clearer discovery of one's vocation and the ever-greater willingness to live it so as to fulfil one's mission. (Christifideles Laici – The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World 58)

In discovering and living their proper vocation and mission, the lay faithful must be formed according to the union which exists from their being members of the Church and citizens of human society . There cannot be two parallel lives in their existence: on the one hand, the so- called "spiritual" life, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called "secular" life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social relationships, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. (Christifideles Laici – The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World 59)

Lay Ministry within the Church In John’s Gospel, at the Last Supper, after he has washed the feet of his disciples, Jesus tells them:

‘For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.’ (John 13:15).

All ministry in the Church, ordained and non-ordained, has its origins in Christ the Servant and reflects Christ’s threefold office as prophet, priest and king. The purpose of all ministry is to build up the Body of Christ.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has recognised more clearly than before that it is endowed with many gifts which form the basis of all vocations – to marriage, to the single life, to the priesthood, to the diaconate, to religious life, as well as to the many expressions of lay ministry. As Te Wairua Tapu leads the Church towards new horizons, increasing numbers of lay men and women are willing to use their gifts and talents to serve the Church in a great variety of ways.

32 The theology of the laity as expressed at the Second Vatican Council is rooted in an understanding of the Church as the People of God, in the universal call to holiness, and in an appreciation of the diversity of the nature of the Church.

Since the Second Vatican Council, there has been a rediscovery in Catholic theology that Baptism is the foundational sacrament of ministry. There is clearer recognition that service within the Church is not just for the ordained but for all the baptised, who participate in the one priesthood of Christ and share in his one ministry.

Through Baptism all Christians become like Christ. As the new People of God they are incorporated into the Church, participate in Christ's death and resurrection, and assume the name “Christian”. All Christians are called to a life of discipleship and have the obligation of extending his work and presence in the world today, advancing Te Rangatiratanga in our own time and place. All share in the one same vocation – to build up the Body of Christ and make the reign of God present here and now.

Lay people as well as bishops, priests, deacons and religious participate in the threefold office of Christ as prophet, priest and king. While the common priesthood of the faithful and the ordained priesthood are of different kinds, the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of all the baptised are nonetheless interrelated. Lay people share in the Church's saving mission through Baptism, Confirmation and the ongoing celebration of the Eucharist.

Since the Second Vatican Council there has been a growing awareness of the pressing need for greater collaboration and inclusiveness in the way ministry is exercised within the Church. Collaboration is to be a hallmark of Christian ministry whether it is carried out by the ordained (bishops, priests and deacons) or by the non-ordained (consecrated religious, and lay men and women).

There is also a deeper appreciation of the nature of lay ministry within the Church. All ministry, be it the ministry of the baptised or of the ordained, must be understood in relation to the whole Church, the Body of Christ. All ministry is for the service of the Church and the world.

Lay men and women have a special mission to be the “leaven” and the “salt” of the earth, bringing about the transformation of the Christian community and the entire world.

‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ (Matthew 13:33)

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.’ (Matthew 5:13)

33 The Gifts for Ministry Come from the Holy Spirit Scripture reveals that Christian ministry is rooted in the charisms given by the Spirit in Baptism:

Many lay ministries now flourish within the Church for the building up of the Body of Christ and the transformation of the world. Each and every one of these ministries is an expression of Christ’s threefold mission as prophet, priest and king.

The baptised witness to the light and love of Christ in many ways – through all forms of prophetic utterance, through teaching, through the ministry of catechesis, through theological reflection by which they seek to probe the riches of the Word and the Christian tradition. They also witness by participating in the Church's mission of spreading the Gospel, sometimes being sent from home and country as heralds and servants of Te Rongopai (the Good News) in other lands.

The worship of God through full, conscious and active participation in the Eucharist involves lay people in liturgical ministries as lectors, servers, musicians, extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and in other ways of serving the community gathered for worship.

Within the Church lay people serve God through administration, feeding the hungry, caring for the needs of the sick, working for tika (justice), providing for the homeless, safeguarding and protecting the rights of the oppressed, and bringing Holy Communion to those who are sick at home or in the hospital.

In these ways and more, the gifts of the Christian people for witness, worship and service are being shared for the greater glory of God in a community of whakapono (faith), tūmanako (hope) and aroha.

We see in Scripture, in the history of the Church, in the stories of the saints and in the lives of people around us that God selects certain individuals for specific missions or ministries. Cardinal John Henry Newman writes: “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another” (Meditations and Devotions).

How individuals contribute to the Church’s witness, worship and service will always depend on the gifts and ministries given them by Te Wairua Tapu:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)

34 Lay Ecclesial Ministry The term “lay ecclesial ministry” is applied to those professionally trained and qualified women and men, including vowed religious, who are in official positions of service and leadership in the Church. This is a unique vocation in the Church – a call to service in the name of the Church. Lay ecclesial ministry does not describe one particular kind of service or work, but refers to the ministries of committed persons, women and men, married or single, which are carried out in a public, recognised and authorised way.

Lay ecclesial ministry is Church ministry in the strict and formal sense. It emerges from a personal call, requires appropriate formation and is undertaken with both the support and the authorisation of competent Church authority. In many places lay ecclesial ministers serve in such capacities as pastoral assistants in parishes, parish business managers, directors of religious education, catechists, directors of the RCIA programme, youth and young adult workers, and coordinators of liturgy.

N.B. Lay ecclesial ministry is not to be confused with lay ecclesial movements. The latter, also called associations of the faithful, are groups of baptised Catholics organised for the purposes of catechesis, cultural work, mutual support, and / or missionary work. Their members are not all exclusively lay, as some groups include priests as members also. Secular institutes, groups of lay people who follow the evangelical counsels, are also classed with lay ecclesial movements. The Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, includes descriptions of officially approved lay societies. In the twentieth century a resurgence of interest in lay societies culminated in the Second Vatican Council.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Do Here students are asked to find examples from popular movies, television programmes, songs, magazines and other media of how love is often (mis) understood today.

Students should be able to come up with a great many examples of how love is represented in contemporary culture. The teacher may choose to provide magazines or other media for students to select their examples from.

Task One This task asks students, in their own words, to briefly explain the Christian understanding of love.

There are a number of points that students may make, including the following:

• Aroha lies at the heart of Jesus’ message. • Jesus Christ came into the world to show human beings how much they are loved by Te Atua and how they in turn can love others. Through his words and actions, his death and resurrection, Jesus

35 emphasised that love – of God, of neighbour and of self – is the greatest of all the Christian virtues. • Whoever loves knows God and lives in God. • We develop our human potential and experience lasting happiness by receiving and giving aroha. In this way, we become filled with the fullness of God. • Love is the pathway to power and strength and understanding in that it gives people the energy and desire to develop their human potential and to experience deep happiness. Love enables people to develop their talents, and to cope and grow through all the changes and stages of life.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to discuss how the Christian view of love compares with the popular view of it. The following passage from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians identifies many of the characteristics of genuine Christian love – patience, kindness, humility, gentleness, courtesy, truthfulness, hopefulness, endurance etc.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Students could compare Saint Paul’s message about love with the ideas and images presented in the various examples from the media which they found.

Today’s most popular movies, television programmes, songs, magazines and novels often stress the romantic, glamorous, and physical / sexual aspects of love.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to reflect on:

• The signs of holiness that they recognise in people around them • Steps that they need to take to grow in holiness • Things that prevent them from growing in holiness

Answers will vary from student to student, but the teacher may wish to draw students’ attention to the following opportunities to grow in love and holiness which are listed in the student text:

• By serving others, especially the poor and the suffering • By forgiving others and asking forgiveness of them • By practising love in all life’s circumstances • By seeking tika (justice) and peace • By building up whānau (family) and community life • Through personal and communal karakia (prayer)

36 • By living the Beatitudes (see Matthew 5:3-11) • By listening to Te Kupu a Te Ariki (the Word of God) and reflecting on it • By receiving the Eucharist and the other sacraments of the Church

Task Two Here students are asked to read 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. They are then asked to:

a) Identify some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Saint Paul names there. b) Explain what Paul means when he says that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

The gifts of the Spirit spoken of by Saint Paul appear in bold below:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

When Saint Paul says that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7) he is suggesting that these gifts are given not for the benefit of individuals or for selfish purposes but for the good of the whole community. Essentially, they are gifts given for service.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to read four brief parables from Matthew’s Gospel and explain how the images that Jesus uses in them – salt, light, the mustard seed and yeast – might apply to the role / mission of lay men and women in the world.

• The images of the mustard seed and of the yeast are images of growth. The mission of lay men and women is to grow the reign of God in the world. • The image of the light of the world reminds lay people that they are to be obvious examples to others of God’s presence in the world. • The image of the salt tells lay men and women that they are in the world to make a difference. Unless they do so, they are useless, like salt that has lost its flavour.

Task Three Here students are asked to read an extract from a letter by the bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand in which they challenge young New Zealand Catholics

37 to take seriously their responsibility as lay people: YOU are the Catholics of the new generation, and you are in a unique position to understand, help and challenge the young people of New Zealand.

Students are asked to:

a) Find the words in the bishops’ statement that they most agree with. b) Identify the words there that challenge them the most. c) Consider what suggestions made by the bishops they may be able to take up in the coming years. d) Add suggestions of their own to the bishops’ list.

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Do Here students are asked to produce a poster, a PowerPoint or some other form of presentation that combines text and visuals to communicate to young New Zealanders about any of the themes dealt with in the bishops’ letter.

There are many themes, listed after bullet points, for students to choose from.

Task Four This task asks students to read about the various ministries which are identified and on the following table which is also printed in the student text:

Some Christian Ministries Carried Out by Lay People Ministries Descriptions Extra-ordinary Ministers of These assist the priest in the distribution of Holy Communion Holy Communion during Mass as well as take Communion to the homes of the sick and to others unable to attend Mass. Lectors / Readers These read the scripture readings that come before the Gospel at Mass. On Sundays there are two readings but during the week there is usually only one. Ministers of Music These build up the worshipping community by leading the singing and providing instrumental accompaniment. They assist in the choosing and teaching of new songs. Acolytes / Altar Servers These assist at Mass by carrying out a variety of tasks including lighting the altar candles, carrying the cross in procession, holding the book for the priest to read from, and ringing the bells at the appropriate times. Members of the Parish / These are elected or appointed to serve on a council that Pastoral Council advises the bishop about various aspects of diocesan life including finances and the needs of the people. Members of Parish These work together to co-ordinate different aspects of parish Committees and Groups life such as liturgy, social action, and hospitality. Ushers and Collectors These greet people as they enter the church, show them to their seats, and pass around the baskets or plates in which people place their offering of money. Ministers of Hospitality These welcome new members to the church and arrange refreshments after Mass.

38 Catechists These instruct members of the parish, including children and young people, in their faith, helping them to mature in it. Youth Ministers These organise social gatherings and times of spiritual reflection for teenagers and young adults. Ministers of Care These visit the sick and the housebound. Chaplains These provide spiritual care and guidance in schools, prisons, hospitals, and other institutions. Teachers in Catholic These educate young people to develop attitudes and values Schools in line with the Gospel and to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith.

Students are asked:

a) To identify those ministries which they recognise from their parish and / or school. b) To suggest any ministries that they are familiar with that are not mentioned.

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Think About Students are asked to suggest general qualities that people need if they are to perform their Christian ministries well.

Here are some suggestions, but there are other possibilities:

• Commitment • Generosity • A sense of service • Love of God • Compassion for those in need • Faithfulness to the Church • A willingness to learn • Adaptability in changing circumstances • Initiative

There are also skills required for particular ministries. For example, it is helpful if a member of a parish council is able to understand meeting procedures. Similarly, someone one who reads the Scriptures at Mass needs to be able to project their voice so that they can be clearly heard.

Something to Do Here students are asked to interview a layperson who carries out a specific ministry within the Church. In their questions students should focus not only on what the minister does, but also on how they see themselves as building up the reign of God.

39 PART TWO: VOCATION – AN INVITATION TO HOLINESS

Achievement Objective 1

Students will be able to develop an understanding of vocation and ministry as calls to holiness and service within the Church.

Church Teachings

Christian Vocation

• Each person receives their own personal form of vocation to holiness and to evangelise the world. • Parents should respects and encourage their children’s vocations and encourage them in their first calling – to follow Jesus. • Genuine development concerns the whole person and requires them to respond to their vocation and God’s call, according to their ability.

Sacraments of Vocation

• Holy Orders and Christian marriage are sacraments of vocation – they lead to personal salvation and serve to build up the People of God.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic student will:

• Explain the Christian understanding of “vocation”. • Reflect on the theme of vocation in Scripture. • Identify the states of life that the Church has traditionally regarded as special callings from God. • Give reasons why marriage and the ordained ministries are essential to the life and the mission of the Church. • Recognise possible signs of an authentic response to God’s call.

Teacher Background

To Be Called by God The word “vocation” comes from the Latin vocare which means “to call”. The Christian understanding of vocation is based on the belief that God calls and human beings hear and respond. While most people think of a vocation as what they are called to do in life, the first and most important call from Te Atua is the call to be holy – to receive God’s love with gratitude and to share it with others.

To be created is to be called by God. The mystery of vocation or call is a dimension of God's love for each human being. God's creating of the human person is both a gift and a call. The human person responds to God's aroha and God's call by becoming more visibly the image of Te Atua.

40 People know that they are following God’s call to holiness when they become more like Jesus, showing compassion, hohou rongo (forgiveness), love and healing toward others. People in our lives whom we readily call holy may be neighbours who reached out to those in need when it was not convenient or friends who were concerned about suffering people in poor countries. We associate holiness with courage in adversity – a courage that comes from faith. Holiness is manifested in selfless love, forgiveness and service.

For many Catholics the word “vocation” is often understood to mean a call to live as a priest, deacon, or vowed member of a religious community or congregation. In such cases, a person experiences an attraction to live a life of dedicated service to God. While the pathways that lead people to the deaconate, priesthood or religious life are many and various, after a period of training and discernment, the Church officially confirms an individual’s call as authentic. In addition to a close relationship with God and the desire for cultivating an interior life of prayer, a criterion for discerning a religious vocation is whether the person has the gifts and talents required for such a life of service. However, the notion of “vocation” is much wider than priestly or religious vocations, and the specialised call to ordination or the religious life must always be understood within the context of the call to holiness that comes to all Christians through Baptism.

It is also a misconception that a person has a vocation to be a priest or member of a religious community in order to work in a parish, school, hospital, social service organisation or as a missionary. All these ministries can be done by persons who are not members of religious communities.

Discerning a Vocation Although the call to holiness – to become a living response to God's aroha – is given to everyone, each person is invited to respond to God's love in a unique and particular way. Knowing ourselves and being honest about our dreams and capabilities are the first steps in discovering how we are called to live out our own unique vocations to holiness.

There are many paths that lead to union with Te Atua. As people set out to discover whether God is calling them to holiness through marriage or single life, as a priest, deacon or member of a religious community, it is important to remember that a person’s particular “vocation” is not a narrow plan that God is hiding from them. Being relaxed and trusting that God loves us and always gives us what we need for our salvation helps people discern God’s call to them in a healthy way.

Ways to Nurture Vocations Each of us must nurture our own vocation and the vocations of others. The Church asks that we encourage priestly and religious vocations, as well as Christian marriage, whatever our state or condition in life. We do this in the following ways:

41 • Praying: letting others, especially children and young people, see us pray and praying with them in ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. • By being faith-filled people: praying for guidance in decisions, seeking to deepen our relationship with Te Atua, and letting Christian values guide us. • Being generous and of service to others. • Sharing faith: talking with children and young people about how faith affects our lives. • Making and requiring sacrifice: helping children and young people see both by example and by what we expect of them that a holy and happy life involves sacrifice – self-giving. • Staying in touch: getting to know priests, religious and committed married Christians by interacting with them as opportunities arise so that we are comfortable with them and understand their commitment. • Educating: teaching children and young people we know about the option of a call to religious life or priesthood as well as the call to marriage or single life. • Supporting: encouraging a young person or adult who speaks of a desire to be a priest, deacon, brother or sister.

The Healing of Bartimaeus – A Vocation Story The account of the healing of the blind beggar Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) provides a useful model for the discerning of a vocation.

Despite his frailty and his reasons for discouragement, Bartimaeus persevered in seeking out Jesus. He was courageous enough to approach Jesus when Jesus called, and was humble enough to express his deficiency before God, trusting that Jesus had the power and the compassion to heal.

Life was not easy for Bartimaeus, yet his perseverance and humble confidence is his true strength and success. Jesus asked the blind beggar, “What do you want me to do for you?” Humbly, Bartimaeus responded, “My teacher, let me see again.”

The healing of Bartimaeus holds an important lesson for those discerning a vocation – there should be far less emphasis on the individual deciding and more on them seeking God’s mercy and love and allowing God to guide the process.

Seeing people commit themselves to live out a vocation to married life, single life, religious life or the priesthood is to see God’s work at hand. Throughout people’s loves, God continues to guide them to their rightful calling in life.

The virtue of humility is a cornerstone of all vocations, especially the priesthood and religious life. While it is important for priests or religious to confidently use their talents and foresight to help others draw closer to Te Atua, it is even more important for priests and religious to have the humility to allow God to lead them.

42 It is never easy to acknowledge weakness, yet it is necessary to recognise that God proclaims his power and mercy through frail, limited human nature. As Pope Benedict XVI said:

In order to answer the call of God and start on our journey, it is not necessary to be already perfect. We know that the awareness of his own sin allowed the prodigal son to start on his return journey and thus feel the joy of reconciliation with the Father. Weaknesses and human limits do not present obstacles, as long as they help us to make us more aware of the fact that we need the redeeming grace of Christ. (Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 2006)

Links with the Student Text

Task Five This task requires students to use some or all of the following words to help them write their own explanation of the Christian understanding of “vocation”.

holiness call unique God invitation respond dream happiness

Answers will vary.

Something to Think About Students are asked to give reasons why the following passage from Mark’s Gospel is often used by the Church when reflecting on the theme of Christian vocation:

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat, mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20)

The Christian understanding of vocation has its basis in the belief that God calls everyone to grow in holiness and fullness of life.

In the passage from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow him – immediately they leave their nets and go with him.

Christian discipleship is like this. Responding to a vocation – a call from God – sometimes requires a person to leave the security of what is familiar (home, family, friends, work etc.) and to take the risk of giving priority to Christ and walking into the unknown.

43 Crossword Activity Here students are asked to use the information from this section of the topic to complete the crossword on Christian vocations, the photocopy original of which is on the following page of this teacher guide. The answers appear below:

Answers Across 1. Church. 2. married. 5. death. 7. charism 10. pope. 11. nun. 12. active. 13. bishop. 14. three. 16. diocese. 17. sacraments. 18. congregation.

Answers Down 1. contemplative. 3. apostles. 4. deacons. 6. life. 7. celibate. 8. monk. 9. parishes. 15. enclosed.

44 PHOTOCOPY ORIGINAL – Traditional Christian Vocations

Crossword Activity Complete this crossword on traditional Christian vocations using the information from your student text. Traditional Christian Vocations

Clues Across Clues Down 1. Christian marriage is a symbol of Christ’s 1. A name given to religious congregations that devote relationship with the ______. themselves to a life of prayer. 2. In the Catholic Church ______men are able to 3. A bishop is regarded as the successor of this group serves as deacons. of Christ’s close followers. 5. The Christian understanding of marriage is that it 4. These work under the bishops as Ministers of the lasts until this event. Word and providers of pastoral care. 7. A particular way of serving God and neighbour lived 6. A Christian marriage should always be open to new out in a religious congregation. ______. 10. The head of the Church with whom all bishops stay 7. An unmarried lifestyle that avoids sexual in union. relationships. 11. A female religious. 8. A male religious. 12. A term that describes those religious congregations 9. A diocese is that serve others in the world. organised into these areas for the 13. The head of the local Church. purpose of pastoral 14. The number of distinct groupings of ordained care. ministers within the Church. 15. Convents or 16. The name given to the geographical region headed monasteries that are by a bishop. physically separated from the distractions 17. Priests are ordained to celebrate these. of the world. 18. Another name for a religious order. Task Six Here students are asked to give reasons why marriage and the ordained ministries are regarded as essential to the life and mission of the Church.

Christian marriage is essential to the life and mission of the Church:

• It enables the faithful love of a man and woman to grow and mature in the best possible circumstances for bringing new human life into the world and for raising children to be loving, creative and responsible adults. • It provides the ideal conditions for introducing new members into the Church where they can come to know and love Te Atua. • It exists not only for the well-being of couples and their children but also for the good of the Church and society.

The ordained ministries are essential to the life and mission of the Church:

• Those ordained as deacons, priests or bishops serve the Christian community by preaching the Word of God and administering the life- giving sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which are at the heart of the Church’s identity. • Those who are ordained are a sign of Christ’s active presence in the world. • Without the ordained ministries, the Church established by Hehu Karaiti would be lacking in holiness and unable to carry out its mission effectively.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to come up with signs that they would expect to see in persons who respond positively to God’s call that they open themselves to receive the fullness of life that Jesus promises:

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Students will come up with their own suggestions, but it may be useful to draw their attention to the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Church in Galatia.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.(Galatians: 5:22-23)

Task Seven Here students are asked to read the story of “The Golden Eagle” from The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello SJ. They are then invited to comment on the insights it gives into:

a) What happens when people risk responding to God’s call to them. b) What happens when people neglect to respond to God’s particular call.

46 “The Golden Eagle” is a story about a baby eagle that is raised by chickens and believes it is a chicken. He lives and dies not realising who he is and what he is capable of becoming.

This tale contains an important message about human potential. Often people do not achieve their potential because they lack knowledge, imagination or courage. When people take the risk of responding to God’s call for them, they become what God wants them to be. If they neglect to respond to God’s call they do not achieve their potential.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider why the following words of Pope Benedict XVI might be appropriate for people trying to discover their calling or vocation in life:

If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. (from Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at his Mass of Inauguration, 24 April 2005)

Pope Benedict’s words are encouraging. He emphasises that answering the call of Christ and achieving our human potential are not mutually exclusive. Following a call or vocation in life is not primarily about giving up what is free, beautiful or great in life, but in being open to a friendship with Christ – a friendship that releases human potential.

47 PART THREE: THE VOCATION TO THE SINGLE LIFE

Achievement Objective 2

Students will be able to recognise ways in which the single life can be a true Christian vocation.

Church Teachings

The Single Life

• Single people, who because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live, are especially close to Jesus, and therefore deserve the special affection and care of the Church. • Single people who love Christ bring their own gifts to the life of the Church. • Since they do not have obligations to a husband, wife or children, single people often have more opportunities to help both the Church and society in general. • The experience of single life can make people especially aware of those who are often neglected by society.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Identify features of the single life and reasons why people choose it. • Explain when the Christian life is a true Christian vocation. • Suggest ways in which the Church can support single people. • Reflect on insights from Scripture that might be useful for the single person.

Teacher Background

The Singles Explosion Today, in many countries of the world, single people make up a larger proportion of the adult population than ever before. In the United States of America, for example, about one third of the total adult population is single – for every married couple in American society, there is one single adult. Of the population between the ages of eighteen and thirty-nine, one half are single. In Aotearoa New Zealand there is also a marked trend towards more and more single people – the widowed, the separated or divorced, as well as the never married.

While in the past single adulthood was usually a brief transition period between adolescence and marriage, today single life is seen by many as a long-term vocation. Most adults are likely to be without a marriage partner for

48 a substantial period of their adult lives, either by choice or through the loss of a spouse.

The increase in the single population is closely linked to radical changes in the nature of marriage. Today people expect much more from marriage than ever before. As marriage is increasingly perceived as being more demanding, greater numbers of people find it acceptable not to marry.

The label “single” is attached to a broad range of people – men and women who have for various reasons never married, widows and widowers, and those who are separated or divorced. Few fit the stereotypes of either the “lonely loser” or the “swinging single”.

Single Catholics Many single Catholics are enthusiastic about the advantages of their state in life. Being single encourages them to open up and reach out to other people and to Te Atua. Those who are single can have a tremendous freedom to serve God in many different kinds of people and to influence their lives.

There are some disadvantages to the single life. Many single adults feel tremendous pressure from family and friends to “couple-up”. Being single can make a person an easier target for loneliness, especially in our mobile society. Although most single people create their own web of relationships, loneliness is likely to strike at times such as holidays when they are outside this supportive network.

Yet loneliness is not necessarily a negative experience. Being alone forces a person to face their insecurities and depend on God. Marriage or religious life can sometimes lead a person to develop a false sense of security – this is less likely in the single life.

Single Life as a Christian Vocation The model for all Christians is Jesus Christ. As a single adult male in Nazareth Jesus lived his life outside the mainstream of both marriage and religious life. The Catholic Church, recognising that single adults may have a special understanding of Jesus' life of solitary faithfulness, has always regarded the single life as a valid vocation. However, in recent years, with more and more adults living a single lifestyle, the Church is beginning to articulate how the single life can be a genuine Christian vocation. People who used to talk about the three vocations, of marriage, priesthood and religious life, are now adding a fourth, the “vocation” to the single life.

Singleness gives people an opportunity to turn to God in a profoundly personal way – with no other partner, God becomes partner. The single life can make a person more aware that real fulfilment comes from giving – it can motivate them to move outside themselves and to reach out in aroha to those around us.

Single people bring many gifts to the Church. Because they don’t have many of the obligations of those who are married or in religious life, single people

49 are blessed with great freedom to use their time, energy and resources as they choose. They are often free to develop their own lives and to minister to others, both within parishes and in the world outside the Church.

Single people can put their freedom to use in many ways for many worthwhile purposes. The following ideas are taken from “Single Catholics – Making Them Feel at Home”, an article by Trudelle Thomas which appeared in Catholic Update (2001).

1. For healthy self-development: Singleness can foster the self-knowledge and growth which are foundation blocks for mature Christian life. For many, single life provides an opportunity to establish an adult identity, including a clear sense of self, through having to create a life and home – alone. Marriage, if it comes, will be an enrichment of an already meaningful life, rather than an escape hatch or a cure for life’s problems.

For others, a period or lifetime of single living provides opportunities to develop interests and talents. The single life also provides time for a person to deepen their spirituality. Many single people are able to structure their lives so that they can build in a quiet time for reflection each day – a difficult task for married people with children. Many singles are able to take advantage of their freedom to spend time making retreats, studying Scripture or deepening their prayer lives.

Other singles use their freedom to study psychology or politics or art. Others may focus on improving career skills or on hobbies or on physical fitness. All these activities can contribute to healthy growth for the individual.

2. For community or Church service: Saint Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians writes: “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, . . . .” (1 Corinthians 7:32-33).

Many single people are in a unique position to serve God through their work in the world, as well as within the Church. Single adults are able to take advantage of their single state to serve God in very concrete ways – their work and home lives are not ends in themselves but avenues for ministry.

3. For providing more opportunities to witness to the Gospel: When people take seriously Jesus' command to be “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and “light to the world” (Matthew 5:14-16), their active involvement in the world becomes an important extension of their faith lives.

Because single people tend to move in larger orbits than many married or religious, singles have the freedom to witness their Christian values to a broader range of people. Single people who have a wide circle of friends,

50 family and work colleagues have great potential to be channels of God's love. Such diverse “mixing” can be part of our Christian witness.

Including Single People in the Church While the Church has always regarded the single life as a valid vocation, in practice there's often little positive support for single people, with most parishes centring their ministries around family life and the education of children.

Many single people drift away from the Church. Those who stay usually point to good relationships with fellow Catholics as reasons for their continuing involvement. Yet many single Catholics who are actively and regularly involved in parish life feel frustrated that not more is done to support them in their efforts to live meaningful, spiritually grounded lives.

When the Church does support the single life as a valid path to Te Atua, single people are less likely to enter unwise marriages or to abandon the Church out of a sense of not being valued.

Here are some steps that parishes can take to involve single people:

1. Be energetic in inviting singles into the Church: The first step toward welcoming singles into parish life is to reach out to them personally. Campaigns to invite single people to join parishes have been successful. Parish priests play an important role in welcoming single people into the Church when they recognise single life as a genuine vocation and preach about its value.

2. Watch the language: If parishes truly wish to welcome single adults, they may need to change the language they use to describe parish life. All language in sermons, bulletins and announcements which works to exclude single people needs to be avoided. Priests can make a point of including in their sermons examples drawn from the lives of the widowed, the divorced and separated and their children, and the never-married.

3. Put singles in leadership positions: Parishes need to ensure that single people are actively invited into parish leadership and ministry. Parish councils and other parish groups should seek to include single parents and single non-parents, as well as traditional family members. By placing single people in active, visible roles, parishes are making it clear that single people are a valued part of the parish family.

4. Provide opportunities for single people to “connect” with others in the Church: The parish is a place where a wide variety of individuals – single people, married couples, and children – can “connect” with one another in meaningful ways. In all sorts of creative ways, parishes are able to redefine family life so that it includes single adults.

51 5. Make sure the real needs of singles are addressed: Parishes are able to assist single people to deal with their real needs, including their hunger for a deeper spiritual life and their need for intimacy and a balanced sexuality.

Single people need to know that questions that are important to them – such as, “What does it mean to love?”, “How can I love my own life?”, “Where does my sexuality fit into the picture?” – can be discussed within their parish. Parishes may consider hosting workshops that link aspects of spirituality and sexuality.

6. Encourage single people to see that they have a place in the Church’s tradition: Single people have always played an important part in the life of the Church. Many canonised saints spent their lives not as vowed religious but as single people serving God in the world. Saint Angela Merici (founder of the Ursulines), Catherine McAuley (founder of the Sisters of Mercy) and Saint Francis of Assisi all spent a good part of their adult lives as single people before founding religious orders. Their religious orders sprang up after them, growing organically out of their life’s work.

Dorothy Day, Dag Hammarskjold, Jean Vanier and Flannery O'Connor are more recent examples of single people who have lived outstanding Christian lives.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to work in a pair or small group to:

a) Identify as many reasons as they can why people choose to remain single. b) List advantages and disadvantages of the single lifestyle.

Reasons why people choose to remain single are many. For younger adults these may include:

• Opportunities to meet new friends and become better acquainted with old ones. • Freedom to travel, to make their own decisions and pursue their own interests.

Other reasons why people choose to remain single include:

• To stay at home to care for aging or frail parents. • To dedicate themselves to study or to the demands of a career. • Because of their sexual orientation. • Because their psychological makeup does not draw them to marriage. • Because they are not strongly attracted to anyone as a prospective life partner.

52 Freedom – of choice and from commitment – is often identified as one of the greatest advantages of the single life. Being single enables young people to discover more about themselves and others. Many people opt positively for the single life because the life-style suits them. Either long term or for a certain period in their lives, they see themselves as making a significant contribution to their family or society as single people.

However, the downside of this can be loneliness. Those who live on their own, especially if they have limited contact with other people, are more vulnerable to this emotion. Men and women whose husbands or wives have died may become imprisoned in their own grief unless they are emotionally supported by family, Church and friends. Divorced people, solo parents and the unhappily single can feel socially isolated.

In such circumstances being single may lead to bitterness, insecurity and sadness. Because society, in all sorts of ways, puts pressure on people who are without a partner to find one, those who are unwillingly single may become anxious and resentful.

Task Eight This task asks students to consider when the single life is a true Christian vocation.

The single life is a true vocation, whenever the person concerned accepts the single state as a means of deepening their commitment to the service of God and to the people whom they meet in life.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to identify someone they know who is living the single life in a truly Christian way. They should consider what it is about that person’s life which indicates that they are taking their vocation seriously.

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Read Here students are asked to read seven case studies of single people in preparation for Task Nine.

Task Nine This task asks students to discuss and write down the answers to the following questions based on their reading of the case studies of single people:

a) Why did each of these people remain single? b) What is your opinion of the reasons for their choice? c) Do you think that each of these people recognises their single lifestyle as a vocation? Give reasons for your answer. d) Do you think that the Church gives as much support to single people as to married couples? e) Why are people who choose to remain single so often misunderstood?

53 f) Name at least three problems that are experienced by single people. g) Suggest ways in which single people could be helped and supported by the Church and those around them.

There are no standard answers to the questions and the students’ discussions are the real focus of the activity. Some points which could arise are:

Iosefo losefo remains single because his life-style suits him and, possibly, he is selfish about not wanting to share it. He has no feelings of insecurity about the future, and makes a good point, that marriage doesn’t necessarily remove loneliness.

Anna A rather sad reflection which seems to be a no-choice situation where expectations have been placed on Anna. Anna is possibly atypical of some modern people in her spirit of self-sacrifice.

Helen This appears to be a clear choice, deliberately made by a clever and integrated woman. Helen appears to have a definite Christian vocation to use her talents to help others.

Andrew Andrew has an ideal set of criteria for his married life. Is he realistic? He chooses to remain single until he meets his ideal partner.

Kereana This appears to be a clear choice, involving service of God and neighbour. Possibly such a mature attitude to life is not shared by many people.

Pat Pat raises the point about the Church’s attitude to single people, an attitude which has certainly changed in recent years, but could still be a problem. He points out that it is time it was recognised that it is acceptable to be single.

Jamie There is little choice for Jamie in this situation as far as work is concerned. The father’s expectations create pressure on Jamie: possibly the family could be more helpful and supportive until some work is offering.

Reasons why people who choose to remain single are often misunderstood could include:

• motives for remaining single are sometimes questioned • marriage has traditionally been accepted as the norm • single people may be judged to be homosexual or sexually deviant • many social activities are designed for couples • single people may be questioned as to their reasons for not marrying, eg: personality

54 Problems experienced by single people could include:

• loneliness, which may lead to further problems • insecurity • some difficulty in affording and obtaining suitable accommodation • lack of sexual fulfilment • promiscuity • lack of care if ill or unemployed • unease of others in the presence of those who are single

Ways in which single people could be helped by the church could include:

• offering friendship and affirmation • providing spiritual assistance and direction (arranging special Mass, retreats and prayer opportunities) • facilitating social activities, clubs, discussion groups • encouraging parish involvements and contacts • providing talks, courses, homilies on the place of the single life within the Church

Extension Activity Here students are asked to find the following passages of scripture in their Bible and read them.

Jeremiah 1:4-10 Luke 3:1-20 Luke 6:12 Matthew 26:36-46 Matthew 27:45-50 Matthew 25:31-40

Students should then:

a) Choose one passage that especially appeals to them. b) Explain what insight the passage contains that might be useful for a single person.

Answers will vary from student to student, and depending on which passage they choose.

PART FOUR: THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE

Achievement Objective 3

Students will be able to explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be well prepared for.

Church Teachings

Christian Marriage

• The vocation of marriage is willed by the Creator and intrinsic to the nature of men and women. • Although the institution of marriage has undergone many changes over the centuries in different cultural, social and religious contexts, it has certain common and permanent characteristics. • The well-being of the individual and of society is closely linked to the health of marriage. • The love between wives and husbands must mirror Christ’s aroha for the Church.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Recognise that human society has always valued marriage, although it has taken different forms throughout history. • Identify important revelations about marriage in the Old and New Testaments. • Demonstrate knowledge of important stages in the development of the Church’s teaching and practice regarding marriage. • Reflect on reasons why people marry. • Explain the reasons behind legal requirements relating to marriage in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Teacher Background

A Brief History of Marriage Customarily defined as “a voluntary union of a man and a woman for life”, marriage has existed in all known ages and cultures, and has until recently been unchallenged as a necessary and desirable element of any stable family and social life.

However, marriage has not always had the same form. In Europe and in countries colonised from Europe strict monogamy has been the rule – under the influence first of classical and then of Christian culture. In the ancient

56 Middle East, as in the Hebrew Scriptures, polygamy was countenanced (and practised by those who could afford it), and it is still allowed under Islamic law. In parts of Africa both polygamy and polyandry are practised. In other societies a strict matriarchy is the determinant factor of the family structure.

The interest of the state in the institution of marriage mainly focused on arrangements for divorce. Since marriage is generally assumed to be a lifelong socially desirable relationship, it requires a process of law to be dissolved.

Marriage has always been entered into for a variety of reasons. Today, it may be seen by many as a partnership initiated by romantic love and sustained by mutual devotion, but it has also long been valued as a way of:

• transferring property • securing an inheritance • cementing political or dynastic alliances • giving national rights to a foreigner • giving legitimacy to a child already conceived or born • improving career prospects through social and political liaisons • giving livelihood and security to a vulnerable member of the opposite sex • giving rights under the law • preserving the family name • and lightening the burden of personal taxes

Marriage’s domestic structure has normally been patriarchal, with the wife expected to care for home and children while the husband earns a living. Today, in many countries, new patterns are being devised, which assign a more equal share both of duties and of work opportunities to each partner.

The Old Testament Christians, like Jews and members of other faiths, instinctively believe that marriage is ordained by God. The Church's understanding of the sacredness of marriage has its roots in the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis.

Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18,24)

God blesses the union of a man and woman and says to them:

‘Be fruitful and multiply . . .’ (Genesis 1:28)

However, marriage in the Old Testament is mainly understood as an institution for preserving the husband’s clan. That is why children, especially sons, are regarded as a special blessing from God:

57 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:3)

Childlessness is regarded as a disgrace and a punishment – as is seen in Rachel’s reaction when she is unable to conceive a child for Jacob.

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’ Jacob became very angry with Rachel and said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’ Then she said, ‘Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her.’ So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, ‘God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son’; therefore she named him Dan. (Genesis 30:1-6)

Marriage in the Old Testament is understood as a symbol of the Covenant between God and Israel:

Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. (Isaiah 54:4-5)

The prophet Hosea saw his own marriage to Gomer as a representation of the covenantal union between God and Israel. Gomer left Hosea for other lovers just as Israel had abandoned the true God for other gods. As Hosea waited faithfully for Gomer's return and took her back without conditions, so God waited for Israel and welcomed her back.

Many images of marriage and married love are found in the prophetic books, the Song of Songs, the story of Tobit, the Book of Proverbs, the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, and Qoheleth.

The New Testament Jesus develops the Hebrew concept of marriage, insisting on the oneness that exists between a husband and wife. A wife is not to be cast aside at will by her husband. Jesus denounces divorce in no uncertain terms, stating that the one who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

It was also said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:31-32)

In the light of these words of Jesus, the early Church held that divorce was not permitted except on the ground of porneias (unchastity). While the precise

58 meaning of porneias has been debated by scholars, the clause does not contain a real exception since it does not refer to divorce but to separation without remarriage in the case of an adulterous wife – who in Israelite law would be stoned. Others claim that Matthew’s text does not contain a real exception to the prohibition against divorce because porneia refers to an incestuous union due to marriage within forbidden degrees of kinship. Such a union would not be a true marriage at all and would not require a divorce but a decree of nullity or annulment.

Jesus consistently regards marriage as appropriate to this world – but not to heaven where there will be no marrying:

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Mark 12:25)

In other passages, such as Luke 14:20, Matthew 24:38-39 and Luke 17:27, Jesus suggests that marriage will cease to exist with the Second Coming. With Jesus, everything is to be seen in light of the coming reign of God.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:38-39)

Elsewhere in the New Testament the attitude to marriage is ambivalent. Luke’s Gospel affirms the early Christian missionary ideal that those who carry the Good News to others should leave their wives and families behind for the sake of Jesus and the reign of God:

And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, . . . (Luke 18:29)

However, the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark are “softer” and do not include the reference to leaving a wife behind:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)

Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, . . . (Mark 10:29)

Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians urges the faithful to renounce marriage in favour of virginity. However, it is important to be aware that such advice is given in the context of the belief – widely-held in the Christian community of the time – that Christ’s Second Coming is imminent. Certain that the Lord’s return is at hand, Paul worries about the risk of distraction in the meantime:

59 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord. (1 Corinthians 7:32-35)

In view of the Second Coming, marriage is of secondary importance. Whereas the Genesis creation narrative advises that it is not good for man to be alone, Paul insists that “it is well for a man not to touch a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1). However, he does not condemn marriage.

Several passages in the Gospels describe the long-awaited coming of the Messiah in terms of a wedding feast. Matthew’s parable of the ten bridesmaids is the best known of these:

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13)

Other New Testament writings affirm the importance of marriage and family life. For example, the First Letter to Timothy insists that bishops should be successful in marriage and family life before their election to office:

He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way – for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? (1 Timothy 3:3-5)

In the Letter to the Ephesians marriage is presented as a symbol of Christ's union with his Church:

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

60 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:21-33)

The union of man and woman in marriage is based on the union of Christ with the Church. When husbands love their wives as their own flesh, they are only doing what Christ does with the Church.

Given the charge that Christians were disruptive of the social order, the household codes in the later books of the New Testament were designed to show that Christians were not necessarily opposed to the Roman socio- cultural order.

The Second to the Fifth Centuries The New Testament's ambivalence toward marriage continues beyond the time of the apostles. Marriage is viewed more and more as the justification of the use of sex which has been infected by sin. This tendency is most obvious in Saint Augustine (354-430), who greatly influenced the Church on this subject. For Augustine, the sole purpose of marriage is the begetting of children. Human sexual desires are nothing more than the unfortunate effects of Original Sin. Every child is literally born of their parents' “sin” because procreation is possible only as a consequence of lust. However, it is a tolerable “sin” because God wills that people should be fruitful and multiply, and it provides a legitimate way of keeping perverse desire within its proper bounds.

Elsewhere, Augustine's approach to marriage was more positive. In The Good of Marriage he taught that marriage has three values: faithfulness, offspring, and sacrament. Faithfulness is inherent in the mutual love of the spouses. It is not limited to sexual love but also involves a commitment of love and trust. Offspring are to be accepted in love, nurtured with affection, and educated in the Christian faith. Marriage is also a sacrament, a sign on earth of the future unity of God's people in heaven.

Although there are many passages in the writing of early Christians that can

61 be taken as “anti-body”, the basic value and sanctity of marriage is upheld in texts such as 1 Timothy 4:1-5:

“For everything created by God is good; and nothing is to be rejected . .”

From the Middle Ages to the Second Vatican Council It was during the Middle Ages that the Church affirmed that marriage was a sacrament and defended it against attacks from heretical groups, including Cathari and Albigensians, who regarded the human body and all sexual expression as evil.

In 1208, in the Profession of Faith prescribed by Pope Innocent III, marriage was described as a true sacrament. This teaching was restated in 1274 by the Second Council of Lyons, in the Council of Florence's Decree for the Armenians (1439), and then, most definitively, at the Council of Trent (Doctrine on the Sacrament of Matrimony, Session XXIV, 1563). The Council of Trent required that Catholic marriages take place in the presence of a priest, especially to curb the widespread practice of secret marriages.

The Protestant Reformers upheld the sacredness of marriage but denied that marriage was a sacrament. They also rejected the Church's authority over marriage, and approved the practice of divorce as a lesser of two evils. The Council of Trent affirmed the opposite position in each instance.

The Council of Trent’s tenth canon took the view that the married state was of lesser value than virginity of celibacy:

“If anyone says that the married state surpasses that of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not better and happier to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be united in matrimony, anathema sit.”

This perspective remained normative for Catholic theology, canon law, and pastoral practice until the Second Vatican Council. The Council of Trent's teaching was vigorously reaffirmed by Pope Leo XIII in Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae – The Hidden Design of the Divine Wisdom in 1880 and by Pope Pius XI in Casti Connubii – How Great is the Dignity of Chaste Wedlock in 1930, which set forth as marriage's primary purpose the propagation of life, calling the “mutual faithfulness of husband and wife” the “second blessing” of marriage.

The Second Vatican Council (1962 - 65) The Catholic Church's perspective on marriage was significantly modified by the Second Vatican Council. The Church no longer used the traditional term contract to describe the marriage bond. Instead, the council speaks of the “marriage covenant” which is sealed by an “irrevocable personal consent” (Gaudium et Spes – The Joys and Hopes 48).

The Council abandoned the old distinction between primary and secondary ends in which the procreation of children is always more important than the mutual love of husband and wife.

62 Without intending to underestimate the other ends of marriage, it must be said that true married love and the family life which flows from it have this end in view: that the spouses would cooperate generously with the love of the Creator and Saviour, who through them will in due time increase and enrich his family. (Gaudium et Spes – The Joys and Hopes 50)

The Council emphasised that the sacrament of marriage is not something added to the marriage union established through mutual human love:

Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is directed and enriched by the redemptive power of Christ and the salvific action of the Church . . . . (Gaudium et Spes – The Joys and Hopes 48)

This new emphasis in the theology of marriage is consistent with the claims of contemporary sociology that this is the first period in history in which people marry and remain in marriage because they love each other.

As husband and wife are called to be faithful, generous, and gracious to each other in fulfilment of their marriage covenant, so the whole Church is called to be faithful to its covenant with God in Christ. When Christian marriage is weak, the witness of fidelity in all Christian vocations suffers.

The Council emphasises the necessity of a faith commitment for the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is not just a ceremony by which two people are legally bound together. As a sacrament, it is an act of worship, an expression of faith, a sign of the Church's unity and of Christ’s presence. Marriage is not just a union between baptised Christians – it is a union between faithful Christians.

The consummation of marriage is more than a biological act. According to the Second Vatican Council, the expression of the mutual love which is at the heart of the sacrament consists of more than biological union. It involves the good of the whole person and can enrich the expressions of body and mind with a unique dignity, ennobling these expressions as special ingredients and signs of friendship distinctive of marriage. Consummation without love is without meaning. In the light of the Council's teaching, a purely biological consummation is not enough to give marriage a sacramental character. Rather, the Council speaks of the “intimate partnership of married life” (Gaudium et Spes – The Joys and Hopes 48).

In Christian marriage the husband and wife “signify and share in the mystery of the unity and fruitful love between Christ and the Church . . .” (Lumen Gentium – The Light of Nations 11).

Post - Vatican II Teachings on Marriage In 1968, in his encyclical Humanae Vitae – Of Human Life, Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) reaffirmed the value of marriage as a God-given institution, in which a man and woman “gift” themselves to each other in a permanent union, co-operating with God in the pro-creation of new life:

63 Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man and woman his loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives. (Humanae Vitae – Of Human Life 8)

In this encyclical, Pope Paul VI calls for responsible parenthood but condemns artificial contraception because it disregards the inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings of the sexual act.

Humanae Vitae – Of Human Life created much heated debate within the Church. It is said that Pope Paul VI was so distressed by the negative reception given to his condemnation of artificial contraception that he issued no more encyclicals during the remainder of his pontificate.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) issued the apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortium – The Family in the Modern World. In it he speaks of the family as a community of persons in the service of life, participating in the development of society and in the life and mission of the Church. Focusing on the merits of marriage and the celibate lifestyle of the religious life, Pope John Paul says they are:

. . . two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the covenant of God with [us]. When marriage is not esteemed, neither can consecrated virginity or celibacy exist; when human sexuality is not regarded as a great value given by the creator, the renunciation of it for the sake of the kingdom of heaven loses its meaning. (Familiaris Consortium – The Family in the Modern World 16).

Pope Benedict XVI in his 2005 encyclical, Deus Caritas Est – God is Love, sings the praises of rightly directed erotic love, stating that it is essential to the purpose of marriage:

From the standpoint of creation, eros directs men and women towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose. Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa. God's way of loving becomes the measure of human love. This close connection between eros and marriage in the Bible has practically no equivalent in extra- biblical literature. (Deus Caritas Est – God is Love 11)

64 Links with the Student Text

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to consider why human society has always recognised the value of marriage, although it has taken different forms throughout history.

Marriage has existed throughout human history:

• To provide stable family and social life to people in all ages and places. • To create a secure environment for the raising of children • To provide a system of rules to control property rights and to protect bloodlines.

Task Ten Students are asked to list three important beliefs about marriage that are revealed in the Old Testament.

Possible answers are:

• Marriage is willed by Te Atua • Children are God’s blessing on the union of a man and a woman • Faithfulness in marriage is to be praised • God looks unfavourably on the abandonment of a first wife

Task Eleven a) Students are asked to identify the lines from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians which indicate that within the culture in which he lived a husband was regarded as the head of the household, having authority over his wife.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

b) They are then asked to identify the lines which indicate that Saint Paul had very clear expectations that within a marriage between Christians a husband should treat his wife well.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body.

Teachers need to point out to students that Saint Paul’s essential message in these passages from the Letter to the Ephesians is written within a patriarchal society – our context as readers is very different. Students should be encouraged to reflect on what the essential message of Ephesians 5:21-33 is from their context.

65 Something to Think About Students are asked to consider which of Saint Paul’s ideas about Christian marriage they find easiest / hardest to identify with. They should be able to give a reason for their view.

The following commentary on Ephesians 5:21-33 from The Oxford Bible Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2001) provides useful background for teachers:

Household management was a common concern of political theorists and ethicists in the ancient world. Naturally so, since the household was generally understood to be the basic unit of the state or society. The health of society and stability of the state therefore depended on the basic relationships within the household – husband and wife, father and children, master and slaves. The second and third generation of Christians shared this concern: no doubt partly to demonstrate the good citizenship of small house churches which might otherwise have seemed subversive of traditional social values; but no doubt partly also as a means of bearing good witness to the quality and character of the Christian household.

The structure is particularly close to that of Collossians 3:18-4:1, which probably provided the precedent for those which followed. The core teaching is fairly conventional (good ethics are by no means exclusively Christian). But the conventional is transformed by the Christian sense that all relationships have to be lived ‘in the Lord’ and with the unselfish, sacrificial love of Christ as the pattern and inspiration.

In the first part of the rule (5:21-33) the transformation begins at once. That wives should be subject to their husbands accorded with the moral sensibilities of the time; here we need to recall that in the law and ethos of the time households were patriarchal institutions and that the paterfamilias (father of the family) had absolute power over the other members of the family. But the rule is already softened by prefacing it with a call to be subject to one another (5:21): in a Christian household the power of the paterfamilias was not absolute. And the reminder that wifely submission is to be ‘as to the Lord’ (5:22) sets the whole relationship within the primary context of mutual discipleship (see Mark 10:42-5).

It is true that the placing of the relationship of husband and wife parallel to that of Christ and church (5:23-4) seems to set the wife in an intrinsically inferior status. But that again reflects the ethos of the time (the marital law which treated wives as the property of their husbands was only changed in Britain in the nineteenth century). And the main thrust of what follows is clearly intended to transfuse and transform that given relationship with the love of Christ. The paradigm for the husband is Christ as lover and saviour, not as lord and master.

The beautiful imagery of 5:25-7, so beloved at wedding ceremonies, has in view the purificatory bath which the bride took prior to and in preparation for the wedding ceremony; Christ's self-giving had an analogous cleansing in view. Perhaps there is a side glance at baptism, but the primary thought is of the (corporate) Christian life as equivalent to the time between betrothal and the wedding ceremony, the marriage itself only taking place at the return of Christ. The cleansing is evidently a spiritual cleansing, and it comes 'by the word' (5:26).

5:28-33 develops a different aspect of the imagery, drawn from Genesis 2:24. The idea of ‘the two become one flesh’ invites a twofold corollary: that a healthy love of

66 the other is inseparable from a healthy respect for oneself (5:28-9) – an important psychological insight; and that the love of Christ sustains the mutual love of husband and wife within the corporate context of the church, of their being individually and jointly members of his body the church (5:30).

The final exhortation (5:33) maintains the emphasis on each and every husband's responsibility to love his own wife. The wife is not so counselled, for the love in view is not marital or family love so much as the sacrificial and non-self-serving love of the more powerful for the disadvantaged. In a situation of given inequality between husband and wife the appropriate response of the wife was to respect her husband.

Something to Do Here students are invited to create a timeline showing at least five important stages in the development of the Church’s teaching and / or practice regarding marriage. They should illustrate the timeline with suitable images from the Internet or other sources.

Key dates that should be included on the timeline are:

• In the early centuries the Church recognised that civil ceremonies between two Christians were a valid way of establishing a Christian marriage. • In 866 Pope Nicholas I declared that consent was a requirement for a valid marriage. • In 1139 at the Second Lateran Council marriage was first declared to be a sacrament. • The Council of Trent (1545-1563) decided that marriages must be celebrated in the presence of a priest and at least two witnesses. • The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) recognised that the purpose of marriage was not only the procreation of children but also the companionship and intimacy of the husband and wife.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to add any other reasons for marrying to those listed:

• To enjoy lifelong companionship • To have their sexual needs met • For the purpose of children • For personal fulfilment • To escape family problems • To find mutual support • To escape feelings of emotional insecurity • To prevent loneliness • To gain or secure property • For financial security • Because of pregnancy • For political reasons • Because of pressure from family or friends • Out of fear of being “left on the shelf” • To get residency or citizenship in another country

67 • As a solution to life’s problems • For social advancement

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Discuss Following on from the previous activity, students are asked to consider each of the above reasons that people put forward for getting married and to decide where they would place them on the continuum below:

Students should be able to give reasons for their decisions.

very weak reasons very strong reasons

There are no “right” or “wrong” answers – the point of the activity is to generate thought and discussion.

Task Twelve Couples wishing to marry in New Zealand have to meet certain legal requirements which are outlined in the student text. Students are asked to choose any four of the legal requirements listed and:

a) Explain what the purpose behind them is. b) Suggest what could happen if these requirements were done away with.

Here are some possible answers:

• The bride and groom must be sixteen years of age. If they are under eighteen, then either their parents or their legal guardian(s) must give their signed permission. If this is a problem, an application to seek permission for the marriage to proceed may be made to the District Court.

This requirement helps ensure that those intending to get married have reached some level of maturity. If this requirement was abandoned there would be a risk of children being forced into marriage.

• There are some restrictions as to who can legally marry. For example, close family members are not permitted to marry.

This requirement helps prevent inbreeding. If this requirement was abandoned there would be a risk of incest.

• If a person has been married before, they must provide proof that their marriage has been dissolved when they apply for their marriage licence.

68 This requirement helps prevent bigamy. If this requirement was abandoned there would be a greater risk of people remarrying without going through formal divorce procedures. Apart from issues of loyalty and fidelity within the marriage relationship, legal issues arise about property and inheritance rights.

• A marriage needs to be witnessed by two people.

This requirement helps ensure that those getting married are doing so by their own free will and are old enough to understand what they are doing. If this requirement was abandoned people could be more easily forced into marriages, particularly arranged ones.

• The wedding celebrant is responsible for ensuring the Registrar receives their copy of the marriage certificate signed at the ceremony. The other copy is handed to the bride.

This requirement ensures that there is a permanent official record that a marriage has taken place. Without this requirement the legality and validity of a marriage are open to question.

• The Marriage Act of 1955 requires that the following words – or similar – be included in the marriage ceremony:

Groom: I . . . . take you . . . . to be my wife. Bride: I . . . . take you . . . . to be my husband.

These words ensure that the man and the woman consent to take each other as wife and husband. Without evidence of this formal acceptance there is no basis to believe that a marriage has been contracted.

Something to Debate Here students are invited to organise and take part in a class debate on one or more of the following issues:

It is too easy to get married in Aotearoa New Zealand

Pre-marriage classes should be compulsory in Aotearoa New Zealand

New Zealanders take marriage for granted

The institution of marriage deserves greater protection in Aotearoa New Zealand

69 PART FIVE: UNDERSTANDING CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

Achievement Objective 3

Students will be able to explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be well prepared for.

Church Teachings

The Church’s Understanding of Marriage

Divorce and Annulment

• The remarriage of divorced persons is contrary to God’s plan and the law of the Church. • There are some situations in which for a variety of reasons it becomes impossible for a husband and wife to continue living together – in such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. • For various reasons, the Church can declare the nullity of a marriage – that the marriage never existed. • If the consent of either one or other of the contracting parties is lacking for any reason at the time of a marriage, the marriage is invalid.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Formulate statements about the Catholic Church’s understanding of marriage and reflect on the teachings expressed in them. • Explain the difference between a divorce and an annulment. • Consider ways in which the annulment process might be both painful and healing.

70 Teacher Background

What is Christian Marriage? The Catholic Church – in the light of God’s Word – understands marriage, as a Christian sacrament, a lifelong and faithful union of a man and a woman mutually committed to sharing their life and love together. Modelled after and strengthened by God's own aroha for his people, it's an intimate partnership in which each person gives the other freedom to grow and which is directed toward bearing fruit.

Traditionally people have thought of marriage as a legal contract. On one level, it is that, but there are some essential differences. Unlike other legal contracts, the marriage contract is based on love. Marriage is not a business contract for the purpose of getting a job done.

A legal contract attempts to record in detail all possible conditions which might arise in the given situation. Marriage differs from a legal contract in that it is open-ended – “for better, for worse”.

The woman and man getting married make an unconditional promise, not knowing where the promise will lead or what it will entail. The unconditional promise is the essence of Christian marriage.

Those making this unconditional promise and entering Christian marriage not knowing what the future will bring can do so because they have already committed themselves to Hehu Karaiti in faith, not knowing what this faith will demand or where it will lead. In their relationship with each other, they dare to trust in the power of Christ's aroha shared in and through the Christian community.

Many Catholics view the Sacrament of Marriage as a one-time blessing given at the wedding. While the sacrament has a special significance on the wedding day itself, its power continues throughout the marriage.

The Rite of Marriage which was revised in 1969 in the light of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963), emphasises the lifelong graces of marriage and the couple's response to those graces. Sacramental marriage is not a one-time magic shot to see couples through life. Rather it is a lifelong blessing available to those couples who pledge themselves to fidelity, growth and service. As they continually reaffirm their “yes” to each other, they acknowledge, draw upon and witness to the power and presence of Christ in their lives.

The permanent, open-ended unconditional pledge is frequently misunderstood. The promise “for better, for worse” is not made by the Church, but by the bride and groom, who believe in Christ's word and in the kind of love he reveals. The Church witnesses and affirms their promise, and takes it literally – assuming people mean what they say.

71 Mutual Commitment and Growth The total pledge of Christian marriage is a promise of faithfulness in body and spirit. Faithfulness does not mean a complacent “settling in”, a resigned sense that marriage partners are now stuck with each other whatever they become. Rather, faithfulness is commitment to grow as a couple in mutual support and affection.

The following ideas on growth within Christian marriage are from “The Sacrament of Marriage”, an article by Mary and James Kenny which appeared in Catholic Update (January, 2001).

• Mutual growth demands a concentrated effort to develop communication skills. Good communication is neither a matter of luck nor a natural endowment. It is a skill that can be learned. When partners share goodwill, mutual trust and the desire to communicate, they develop these skills by practising them in their life together. When communication is difficult or becomes blocked, they might seek assistance to improve the situation. Partners in a Christian marriage are committed to try throughout life to develop communication.

Openness is an essential part of communication. Many marriage differences are so trivial that partners are ashamed to face their own pettiness. One partner plans a busy weekend when the other would prefer to sleep in and relax. One leaves clothes, towels and newspapers lying around while the other struggles for neatness and order. When faced with such differences, some people flare up in anger, others withdraw into pouting or silence. Neither action promotes understanding. Mutual growth demands the open expression of feelings precisely at the times when openness seems most difficult and withdrawal seems most attractive.

• Mutual growth demands a delicate balance between assertiveness and surrender. Each partner must learn when to assert his / her own needs and wants and when to yield graciously to the wants and needs of the other. In that delicate balance is the secret of living together in lasting love.

• Mutual growth demands a positive outlook. On the wedding day, the bride or groom is seen as the best possible choice for a lifetime partner. No matter how many differences arise, no matter how many negative features appear, people retain good qualities.

For example, a methodical, highly organised man may choose a woman whose spontaneity and impulsiveness charms him. Later, when her impulsive decisions frighten and irritate him, he may want to attack her for what he sees as her bad judgements. If he is wise, he may recognise that he chose this woman and continues to need her precisely because her personality balances his own. In a marriage committed to mutual growth, partners need to keep their sights firmly focused on the positive and lovable qualities in each other.

72 • Mutual growth demands renewal. Marriage enrichment programmes recognise a couple's need to get away together, to examine and renew their love. Special times together renew and deepen the affection which ensures that marriage remains a union based on aroha.

• Mutual growth demands trust in the love a couple shares, even when that love seems to wane. All marriages face difficulties. Outside pressures intrude. One partner becomes preoccupied, the other is away from home a lot. The energy necessary to renew the marriage is just not available. Sometimes the couple can face the problem squarely and begin to plan positive alternatives. Sometimes they have only trust, the simple, quiet conviction that they will weather this dry spell and continue to grow because they took each other “for better, for worse” – and meant it.

Personal Freedom The permanent, unconditional pledge of Christian marriage makes possible a personal freedom unknown in other unions. Christian marriage witnesses publicly to the fact that two people are committed to each other, not merely under certain circumstances, but totally. They are partners and helpmates.

Sometimes people view marriage as the end of personal growth, something to “settle into” after they have developed their personal talents and achieved their personal goals. On the contrary, in a vital marriage each partner continues to develop individual gifts and to discover new abilities.

Total commitment enables Christian marriage partners to expect and accept growth and change. Growth and change are seen, not as things to fear but as part of the adventure that is married life. If change brings differences between the partners, they remain hopeful that they will work them out. They do not have to be afraid to grow. They do not have to fear what growth will do to their marriage. Before all else, they are committed to working out their life together.

Directed Toward Fruitfulness Marriage is a union based on love and directed toward fruitfulness. Lovers about to be married often see only themselves in the marriage commitment – marriage seems to involve just two.

However, over time genuine love expands outwards. Mature lovers look beyond themselves and come to love the world and everything in it as part and parcel of the marriage commitment. Christian married love is necessarily directed outside itself toward others. Married couples live not only for personal and mutual growth, but for something which is greater than themselves.

Raising children is the usual and natural expression of fruitfulness in marriage. Because Christian marriage is directed toward fruitfulness, the Church has a consistently positive attitude to the bearing and the raising of children.

73 However, it is not the number of children people have but a generous attitude toward life and sharing and fruitfulness that marks Christian marriage. It is very Christian to desire children, provided that desire is a generous expression of love made fruitful.

A Larger Fruitfulness Children are not the only expression of fruitfulness in Christian marriage. Couples that do not yet have children, couples that will never have children, and couples whose children have grown up are still called to fruitfulness. For Christians, marriage leads to family and family leads to household. A household involves more than a single set of parents and children – it welcomes and shares with others on a temporary or a permanent basis.

Formerly people turned to family throughout life to meet their basic needs. There they sought food and shelter and love. There they were born, educated, nursed when ill, cared for when old and buried at life's end. For many people today, institutions have taken over these roles formerly carried out by families. However, because institutional care is often inadequate, families need to involve themselves once again in these traditional functions. Our systems of education, welfare, health care, care of the aged, and prisons are not necessarily meeting all personal needs.

Family is the one institution that provides its members with a sense of belonging, of feeling related and having a heritage. Today, many people are separated from their family of origin by distance or family breakdown. They have nowhere to turn for a sense of belonging. Christian couples and families therefore face the tremendous challenge of becoming households: to provide a place where the homeless child, the neglected elderly person, the person looking for a place in the world after a stay in a prison or a mental hospital, the teenager who needs time away from their own family.

For some families fruitfulness will mean permanent commitments to some people over a lifetime. For others fruitfulness will mean making room briefly and occasionally. For still others fruitfulness will mean a home always marked by openness, hospitality and sensitivity to the needs of others.

A commitment to fruitfulness stretches a couple's embrace to many people. Commitment to others makes permanence in marriage not only an ideal but a practical necessity. On the practical level, if marriage involved only two people, and they discovered significant incompatibilities between themselves, their going separate ways might seem sensible. The scars incurred would only disfigure two. But when two people promise themselves to the world beyond their private lives, a network of interdependence is formed. Each needs and is needed by many others. The break-up of a couple is truly regrettable. The break-up of a household, however, is an upheaval which affects the very existence of all the members.

Because their marriage and the household they create are so vital, committed lovers learn to work out individual differences with each other, to weather difficulties, to subordinate their own needs to those of others. They are more

74 than individuals, more than sharers in love. They are partners in an essential common task. In reaching out to others they can create a beautiful oasis and do the job that family does best – establishing a place of belonging, relatedness, stability and love in an unstable, lonely world.

Accepting the Challenge While faithfulness to a shared relationship, freedom to develop as a person, and fruitfulness through giving themselves to others are three areas for growth that exist throughout marriage, their distribution is frequently uneven. Balancing the various aspects may be a problem. A person, occupied with several preschoolers, a seriously sick child, an aged, helpless parent or a challenging teenager may wonder whatever happened to self-development.

At other times personal development seems to crowd out mutual affection and growth in a marriage. While their lives are full, the marriage partners may have no time for each other. The demands of a common task, while satisfying, may stretch both partners and lead more to fatigue and irritation than to deepening love.

Marriage is an open-ended commitment. No one knows where faithfulness to another, freedom for self-development and commitment to the outside world will lead. The one certainty is that both partners will change as time passes. If they accept challenges in all three areas, they may have arguments, they may grow tired and sometimes be overwhelmed, but they will never be bored with marriage or with each other.

Moreover, they will know that the grace of the sacrament, which is the presence of Christ himself, will remain with them and lead their faithful aroha to fullness.

Annulment and the Indissolubility of Marriage The Catholic Church teaches that true marriage is permanent – but Catholics, like other people, often fall short of their potential, and their marriages break down. When this happens an annulment of the marriage is sometimes possible.

An annulment is a very different thing from a divorce. Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage. Because the Church regards the love of the husband and wife to be a sign of God's unending love for us, the Church holds that a true sacramental marriage can never be dissolved. For Catholics, the indissolubility of marriage is a testament to the permanent and faithful love of Te Atua. God's love for us can never end in divorce – God is faithful even if human beings are not. The Church desires that even if one of the partners of a marriage is faithless to the marriage bond, the other, by remaining faithful, gives a powerful witness to the community of the way God loves us.

An annulment (formally known as a Decree of Nullity) is the public declaration by the Church that a valid sacramental marriage never existed. Annulment is no loophole, but a process whereby a marriage tribunal determines that a

75 marriage is invalid because certain essential requirements or conditions were not present at the time the marriage was contracted.

In order for a Christian marriage to take place the man and woman must be capable of entering into such a sacrament. The individuals must have the capacity to give such a gift. This capacity to give of ourselves, which develops gradually, is the necessary preparation for marriage. People who have not journeyed sufficiently on the road to maturity and generosity are not capable of a true marriage, even though they may be quite capable of conceiving a child.

There may be various reasons why two particular people are not capable of joining their lives in marriage. Sometimes it becomes apparent only years after the wedding ceremony that the conditions required for a genuine marriage were not there in the first place – the knowledge and understanding of what marriage entails or the psychological maturity to freely enter a marriage contract.

• When is an annulment declared? An annulment is granted after a civil divorce has happened. Often, participants wait until they are about to remarry before considering an annulment. Most pastors urge individuals to consider seeking an annulment as soon as they feel ready, rather than waiting.

• Where is an annulment processed? An annulment is processed through the Marriage Tribunal of the diocese. Interviews to establish the circumstances of a marriage can take place in an applicant’s home or at the offices of the diocese’s Marriage Tribunal. If an annulment is denied, a person can appeal to a higher jurisdiction. In some special cases, either party may have the right to petition the highest appeal court in Rome (the Roman Rota).

• Who participates? An annulment can be initiated by either spouse, but both may be asked to testify. The annulment itself is processed by the Marriage Tribunal at the diocesan level. Individuals and couples can also seek the counsel of priests and laypeople who are expert in the annulment system

• What is the process? There is no public ceremony to mark annulment. The initiating spouse, and sometimes both spouses, are generally informed of the progress of their application by their priest or the person at the Marriage Tribunal who is processing their application, who can also provide assistance in filling out the required forms.

Annulments are granted on one of a number of official grounds. These focus on the ability of the spouses to agree to specific Catholic views on marriage. If, at the time of a marriage, a person failed to fully understand the Catholic view of the permanency or exclusivity of

76 marriage, or they were pressured into the marriage by family members, they might have grounds for annulment.

An annulment may be easier to obtain if friends or family members who knew the couple at the time of the marriage can testify in support of the application for annulment. Even if the obvious causes for a marriage ending didn't surface until later – for example, one partner having an affair – these can often be tied to earlier flaws that may not have been obvious at the time of marriage.

A person requesting an annulment will need to answer various questions in writing. Just as in a civil court case, the person is asked to provide information about the particulars of their marriage, including information about the courtship and the marriage breakdown. There is usually an interview at the Tribunal's offices, which can take up to several hours, depending on the details involved. The Tribunal takes over from there, calling in various witnesses, including the applicant’s ex-spouse, along with two or three others, and possibly consulting with professionals (such as psychologists or counsellors), if they see fit.

Some people find the annulment process very difficult because they feel that they are dredging out humiliating details of their married life. While any process can be made impersonal by the way that it is applied, in recent years there has been much improvement in the pastoral nature of the annulment process. The Church has helped turn the process into a cathartic one that helps both spouses confront the truths of a failed marriage. Healing can take place as a result of it.

With greater understanding, more divorced Catholics are considering the option of annulment early in their divorced lives, saying it offers affirmation of their original intention to marry within the Church, while freeing them to consider a Church marriage in their future. When a couple divorces, they usually realise that the relationship they had was not what the Church means by marriage. To have that confirmed by the Church brings a sense of relief and comfort to people whose lives have been turned upside down by the failure of a relationship that began with so much hope.

Links with the Student Text

Task Thirteen Here students are asked to match the beginning of each statement in Column A with its correct ending in Column B. The correct answers are as follows:

Column A Column B 1. Women and men are made by God F. physically, psychologically and for each other – spiritually. 2. One purpose of Christian marriage D. is to protect and develop the loving union between a husband and wife. 3. Another purpose of Christian I. is to create the best possible marriage environment for bearing and bringing up children.

77 4. The Sacrament of Matrimony A. unites a man and woman in a sacred bond of love with God and each other. 5. Children born within a Christian G. are regarded as signs of God’s marriage blessing. 6. Because Christian marriage is a C. accept certain obligations towards vocation the couple each other, their children and the Church community. 7. A Christian marriage reflects God’s B. and Christ’s faithful love for his faithful love for his people Church. 8. Those entering Christian marriage J. to be faithful. must promise 9. Those joining in Matrimony H. to be permanent and open to the must intend their marriage possibility of children. 10. In a Catholic marriage the bride and E. the ministers of the sacrament. groom are 11. A Catholic priest witnesses a L. on behalf of the Church. marriage 12. The consent of the couple K. is essential to the Sacrament of Marriage.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider:

• Which of the Church’s teachings about marriage is clearest to them? • Which do they find hardest to understand? • Which would they like to find out more about?

Answers will vary from student to student.

Task Fourteen This task asks students to explain the difference between a divorce and an annulment of a marriage.

A divorce is a formal recognition by a civil court that a legally contracted marriage has come to an end.

A marriage annulment is the formal recognition by the Church that at least one of the conditions required for a valid marriage did not exist at the time of a couple’s wedding – some element essential to marriage is missing. An annulment declares that a marriage was never a valid sacrament in the first place – even if both parties entered into it in good faith and with good intentions.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to consider how going through an annulment process might be both a painful experience and an opportunity for healing and growth.

Some people find the annulment process painful because it is difficult to reveal humiliating details of their married life. For others, the annulment

78 process can be made impersonal by the way that it is applied. However, recent years have seen much improvement in the pastoral nature of the annulment process. The Church has helped turn the process into a cathartic one that helps both spouses confront the truths of a failed marriage.

When a couple divorces, they often realise that the relationship they had was not what the Church means by marriage. To have that confirmed by the Church through an annulment, while painful, can bring a sense of relief and comfort to people whose lives have been turned upside down by the failure of a relationship that began with so much hope.

79 PART SIX: PREPARING FOR MARRIAGE

Achievement Objective 3

Students will be able to explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be well prepared for.

Church Teachings

Preparation for Marriage

• Because of many changes within modern societies, preparation of young people for marriage and family life is more than ever necessary. • The Church promotes intensive programmes of marriage preparation in order to establish and develop successful Christian marriages. • Marriage preparation is a gradual and continuous process that stretches from childhood through to the period immediately preceding the wedding. • The wider Christian family should be involved in the different phases of marriage preparation. • Bishops’ conferences have the responsibility for determining the content, duration and form that marriage preparation courses for engaged couples will take.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Identify and reflect on qualities that are important in a marriage partner. • Recognise the need for couples considering marriage to address certain significant questions. • Investigate the pre-marriage education programmes that are available in their diocese.

Teacher Background

Preparing for Marriage – Tools for the Journey The following material on preparing for marriage has been adapted from “Preparing for Marriage: 10 Tools for the Journey”, an article by William Urbine which appeared in Catholic Update (June, 2006).

When a woman and man marry they bring with them the hopes, dreams, common sense, intelligence, courage, confidence and goodwill that attracted them to each other in the first place. However, they also bring to the marriage any unresolved issues that may be a factor throughout their lives.

Marriage preparation enables couples to successfully deal with some of the big issues they will have to face during their time together.

80 Good marriage preparation challenges couples to examine and explore together the feelings, values and ideas that will shape their lifetime decisions and their characters. Couples can better prepare themselves for married life by looking honestly at a number of key areas. These include:

1. Communication skills Making a real effort to talk about and work through everyday concerns is crucial to the stability and sanity of any married couple. Good communication also builds the trust, courage and skills that enable love to grow.

Being able to talk over everything with a spouse – or future spouse – makes for a vital relationship. Communicating well over less important matters develops the skills and trust essential to tackling more serious issues when they arise.

Often non-verbal cues, including “body language” and voice tone, tell others how we really feel. Learning how to read each other’s “non-verbals”, therefore, is an important skill to develop. On the other hand, it is unreasonable to expect a spouse to guess when we need to talk.

If attempts to communicate with a spouse or future spouse lead to too much conflict or a loss of control it might be appropriate to seek help from a professional.

2. Learn how to fight fair. Most married couples have certain issues that cause ongoing conflict – children, sex (or the lack of it), finances, in-laws and hurt feelings. Every couple’s list might be slightly different, yet there are some similarities as well. The challenge for couples is to work out what they can do differently so that problem issues are dealt with more constructively.

Figuring out the best time of the day to talk is very helpful. Should a heated conflict happen during the day, it is important that it (in principle and in practice) it be resolved before bedtime.

3. Be prepared to accept change. Life in the twenty-first century is changing all the time. People contemplating marriage should expect to be surprised by change. Many changes are beyond our control – the loss of a job with a required relocation to a new town or a child demanding undivided attention because of a disability. People are also overwhelmed by restructuring at work, new careers, or the changes in roles in relationships.

Openness to new things is a very beneficial attitude to develop. Whatever these changes are, coping with them well is important. A person can be helped by seeking feedback from family and friends about how well they are handling change.

81 4. Learn to accept in-laws. Good relationships with members of a spouse’s family are very important. They are the people who have shaped and formed the person with whom you will spend your life. When someone is deeply in love they can easily overlook how strong the influence of their spouse’s family is on their relationship. Patience and understanding, as well as honesty, are important.

5. Discuss goals about children. Often partners entering marriage have different expectations about the number of children they want and when they would like to start a family. It is important that issues regarding children are addressed sooner rather than later. Couples need to decide early, ideally before marriage, how children will be raised in regard to religious faith. This is especially true if partners are of different religious traditions.

6. Exploring life-goals. Marriage and family life takes many twists and turns. The journey of lifetime marriage has no guarantees – the marriage vows include “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health”. Talking about hopes and dreams as a couple is a vital part of any new relationship. More lofty goals form a framework within which the more practical goals must also be worked out.

Finances are a major sticking point for many couples: financial desires are often unstated and a driving force in individual behaviour. Talking frankly and regularly about financial goals is a crucial part of a healthy marriage.

The types of jobs or careers that marriage partners envision for themselves also need to be addressed. Some have dreams of making a lot of money and retiring early, others see themselves working for the sake of work. There are also various approaches to sharing the responsibilities of child- rearing, housekeeping and home maintenance – these will be deeply important in a marriage. Among the many possibilities, it will help to talk about these goals – both lofty and practical – early and often.

7. Prevent questionable values shaping a marriage Many pessimists suggest that marriage, as an institution, won’t be around in the future. Today, maybe more than ever, marriage takes an act of faith. But this is difficult for people who have not experienced healthy role models of marriage, whether in their own families or beyond.

The Catholic Church presents a vision of marriage that is countercultural. The Catholic Tradition challenges Christians to live out a life in a marriage that is permanent, faithful and faith-filled, as well as being open to children and life-giving love.

Openness to new life is essential for a genuinely Catholic marriage. This attitude should be something which both marriage partners agree upon readily. Natural Family Planning – an approach sanctioned by the Church

82 – provides married couples with a way of co-operating with a woman’s natural fertility cycles in order to time pregnancies. It is important for Catholic couples to consider this option as an alternative to the various forms of artificial contraception – the use of which runs contrary to the Church’s teaching – that are so readily available.

8. Make marriage intimate. Today, an increasing number of couples opt to step into a marriage-like relationship – living together before they’re married. Cohabiting couples are asked by the Church to consider whether they are willing to stop being sexually intimate before marriage as a sign of their true love for each other.

There is much more to intimacy than sleeping together. Sharing feelings, conflicts, crises, faith, the beauty of nature, working together, and talking about ideas that matter – as well as sex – are all aspects of being married. Each is a path towards intimacy.

Some couples use sex to resolve conflicts, to bypass the work of developing friendship. Sexual intimacy can be a wonderful form of communication, but it also can leave problems unresolved.

People contemplating marriage need to be able to identify and discuss the various forms of intimacy that they recognise in their relationship now. They should also be able to identify those areas of intimacy that they need to work on further.

9. Learn to deal with land mines. Talking about the past can sometimes be difficult. But ignoring unresolved concerns or issues with former partners or family members only creates further problems that will need to be dealt with at some point.

Unspoken concerns about past relationships, a previous pregnancy, or unresolved debts may need to be aired. It is crucial to get these out on the table in such a way that both partners’ needs are met.

The possibility of unacknowledged addictions must also be faced. If an intended spouse overindulges in alcohol or uses illegal drugs, it is easy to be in denial and not even realise it. Whatever the problem today, it won’t go away with marriage.

Other addictions can also be destructive – too much time on the Internet, too much money spent on gambling, an obsession with pornography. Such behaviours are signs of a problem. More accepted by society, but just as damaging, is an obsession with work.

Avoidance and denial of real questions and real issues kills intimacy, trust and goodwill.

83 10. Place God at the centre. Openness to God working in our lives makes all the difference. Acknowledging that God is at the heart of a marriage, guiding a couple through the big and the small changes, makes a marriage. Feeling God’s presence in our daily lives can be very reassuring. On the other hand, sometimes it is hard to accept that God’s ways are not always our ways. In either case, God’s grace is a key ingredient in finding happiness together.

Couples need to find ways to share faith and beliefs with each other, whether or not they are members of the same Church. The ability to express faith binds people together along the way. These expressions can be as simple as praying together before meals or taking time to stand in wonder before God’s creation on a walk or on holiday. They can be a routine involvement in the worship and activities of the local parish – or as profound as a birth, a sickness and recovery, or even a death.

These are the “good times and bad, the sickness and health” that couples pledge to each other. In all of those moments, Te Atua is with couples along the way, awaiting their invitation and openness. Their openness and commitment to each other are signs of God-with-us, the fullness of the marriage sacrament.

Practical Arrangements Couples getting married will also need to:

• Contact their parish many months in advance. Parishes usually require three to six months' advance notice, or even more depending upon local circumstances. • Participate in a marriage preparation programme. This might include Foccus or other programmes approved by the diocese. • Have copies of baptismal records. If a person is not marrying in their home parish, they will need a recent copy of their baptismal certificate to show that they are free to marry in the Catholic Church. • Arrange an interview with a priest or deacon. During this interview couples will be asked if they are free to marry, and about their understanding of the commitment they are making and their ability to live it out. This is a good opportunity for couples to ask the priest or deacon questions. • Learn about and help plan the wedding liturgy. Local customs vary on who selects music, plans the liturgy and so on. The priest, deacon or other parish staff are able to guide the couple in this regard.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Discuss In a study of married couples, researchers asked them what they most valued in a mate. Ten qualities were identified by both women and men as being most important. These are (in the order in which they were ranked):

1. good companionship

84 2. consideration 3. honesty 4. affection 5. dependability 6. intelligence 7. kindness 8. understanding 9. being interesting to talk to 10. loyalty

People with these qualities are valued as lifelong partners – they are a joy to live with and love.

Here students are asked to discuss each of the above qualities in turn and suggest why each one is such a valued quality in a marriage partner.

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Think About Students are asked to suggest five more qualities that could be added to the above list. Answers will vary, but students should be able to justify their choice.

Task Fifteen Students are provided with the following questions for couples to reflect on:

Do we agree about the roles that men and women play in marriage? Do we have the support of our families? Are we too young? Are both of us capable of genuine intimacy? Can each of us accept change in the other? Can each of us stand psychologically on our own two feet? Do we give each other time and space to be apart – alone or with our own friends? What part would children play in our marriage? What role will sexual expression have for us? Can both of us confront our problems head-on and then let bygones be bygone? Do both of us show personal integrity? Does one of us have to be boss all the time? Do we share similar religious beliefs? Do we have enough in common? Can we express our feelings for each other? What are our expectations about money and our manner of dealing with financial issues? How dependable is each of us in our work or study? Do we like each other’s friends? Do our dreams for creating a life together match?

Students are asked to consider why it is it important for couples who are thinking about marrying to reflect on these and other similar questions?

While answers will vary from student to student, it is important for the teacher to emphasise with them that the qualities that enable a marriage to be

85 successful do not develop automatically and that it is important for couples who are thinking about marrying to communicate openly about issues that will affect their future.

By addressing such questions couples are able to communicate with each other about issues that don't necessarily surface when they are caught up in the excitement of courtship, engagement and planning for a wedding. In doing so, the couple discover more about each other and what the marriage commitment involves.

Something to Research Here students are asked to conduct their own research to find out: a) What pre-marriage education is available in the Diocese where they live?

They can check out their diocesan website by using the following link: www.catholic.org.nz/bishops/bishops.php b) Most dioceses in Aotearoa New Zealand offer the FOCCUS course as part of their pre-marriage programme. Students are asked to go to the following website to find out more about this programme: www.foccusinc.com/index.asp?varSkipIntro=1

Here is a summary obtained from the FOCCUS website:

FOCCUS is an internationally used inventory designed to provide engaged couples and those working with them a personalised profile of what is needed in their marriage preparation process. It is both a starting place for couple discussion and a map of what issues need time and attention, affirmation or problem solving.

FOCCUS was also designed for those professionals or trained laypersons who help prepare couples for marriage. It gives them the unique profile of a couple so that the preparation work can reinforce the strengths in the relationship and concentrate discussion or problem solving on the particular challenges that the couple may face. It also involves the engaged couple actively in the marriage preparation rather than have them as passive recipients of a training or education process.

86 PART SEVEN: THE RITE OF MARRIAGE

Achievement Objective 3

Students will be able to explore the Catholic understanding of the institution of marriage as a vocation, covenant and sacrament that needs to be well prepared for.

Church Teachings

The Rite of Marriage

• Christian marriage, because it has a public dimension, is celebrated with a liturgical rite before a priest (or other witness authorised by the Church), the witnesses, and the Christian community. • In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two faithful Catholics normally takes place during the celebration of Mass. • In the Latin Rite the spouses are the ministers of the sacrament of Matrimony, which is conferred by their mutual consent. • In the Eastern Churches, the minister of the sacrament is the ordained minister who “crowns” the spouses after receiving their mutual consent. • The various marriage liturgies contain many karakia of blessing on the couple which ask that Te Wairua Tapu come down on them to seal and strengthen their covenant of faithful love.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Recognise the different marriage rites that are available within the Catholic Church and the features of them. • Select Scripture readings that are suitable for weddings and explain the messages relating to marriage that these contain. • Explain why mutual consent is at the heart of the marriage rite. • Write prayers of petition that are suitable for a Nuptial Mass. • Identify important Catholic understandings of marriage that are expressed in the nuptial blessing.

Teacher Background

The Catholic Wedding Marriage existed long before Jesus. His parents were married, as were at least some of the apostles. For example, in all three of the Synoptic Gospels we hear of Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38). In the early Church, Christians, like anyone else, got married according to the customs of the cultures in which they lived. Over time, Christians began to see that the loving union of husband and wife spoke to them not only about family values but also about God's values.

87 However, it was not until the twelfth century that marriage took its place among the ritual actions of the Church which we now identify as the seven sacraments. Throughout the Middle Ages there was no common wedding rite for Christians. The Catholic wedding ceremony that exists today dates in large part from about the sixteenth century.

Christian Weddings – Church Events Marriage is a covenant “by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership for the whole of life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601).

Because marriage exists for the good of the spouses and the good of their children, there is a tendency to think that the wedding ceremony which establishes this marriage covenant “belongs” to the bride and groom, as if it were their wedding alone – they can invite whomever they want, sing their favourite songs and arrange the ceremony as they please.

However, the marriage covenant and the wedding ceremony exist also for the good of the Church and the good of society at large. The Second Vatican Council reminds us that sacraments are:

. . . not private functions, but are celebrations belonging to the Church . . . . Therefore, liturgical services have to do with the whole body, the Church. They make it visible and have effects upon it. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 26)

While a wedding has an intimate and personal meaning for the bride and groom, a Christian wedding is also an event of significance for the Church – which is why it is celebrated in the context of Eucharist. Every marriage is important to the entire parish.

In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two Catholic faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass, because of the connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of Christ. In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New Covenant in which Christ has united himself forever to the Church, his beloved bride for whom he gave himself up. It is therefore fitting that the spouses should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that, communicating in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may form but 'one body' in Christ. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1621)

Weddings involve many different cultural rituals – videotaping the bride as she leaves the house, the ceremonies in the Church, the reception, cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet, the first dance. However, for Christians, at the centre of all of these is the sacrament itself, the exchange of consent between the bride and groom. This ritual promise to be faithful to one another just as God is faithful to God’s people is of much greater significance than all the

88 other activities that take place on the wedding day. This ritual is a sacrament. It has effects for the whole Church, especially the assembled parish community.

In parishes where this exchange of consent takes place in the presence of the community gathered for Eucharist, the sacramental dimension of the marriage is more easily seen and appreciated. What the couple says to each other is not for themselves alone. Their promise speaks to all God’s people – it tells us who Te Atua is for us.

The Wedding Rite The rite has basically the same shape as the other sacraments – gathering, reading the Scriptures, the sacramental action and commissioning.

The gathering rites are similar to Sunday Mass, although the entrance procession is more elaborate. The origins of a woman processing into the church with her father before he “gives her away” to her new husband can be traced back to a time when the bride's father brought the bride before the magistrate and exchanged her for a sum of money paid by the groom. When the father no longer “sold” his daughter, he “gave her away”.

Many couples today find this symbol works against the meaning of their wedding ceremony. They want their ceremony to speak of families, couples, mutuality. They arrange the procession so that the attendants enter together as couples. The groom enters with his father and mother and the bride with hers. At the front of the church they symbolically take leave of their parents and come together and speak a word of welcome to the assembly and invite them to pray that God will bless what they are about to do. The community is led in prayer by the priest or deacon and the gathering rites end.

Those gathered then sit and listen to the readings from Scripture. Here again the rite resembles the pattern at Sunday Mass. The couple selects Scripture passages according to the religious meaning they wish their marriage to express. Some couples choose readings that refer to creation, for husband and wife are creating something new – a new life project, a new relationship, a new family. They are sign and sacrament of the great love God showed in creating the world. Because Christian marriage is the sacrament which shows us God's desire to be one with us, other couples select readings that refer to the two becoming one: husband and wife are joined in one flesh.

Before the Christian assembly, the couple then vow that their love will be a sign and sacrament of God's love for us. The community prays for them and with them.

It is the bride and groom who enact the marriage. The priest or deacon, the attendants and the congregation witness what the couple do. The bride and groom come forward and, before the congregation, the priest and the official witnesses pronounce their vows. Couples may choose to say the entire text of their vows to one another or respond with, “I do”, when the priest reads the

89 vows to them. They exchange rings as a sign of their love and fidelity and seal their vows with a kiss.

When two Catholics exchange these vows, they are usually encouraged by the Church to do so in the context of Eucharist. All that marriage expresses about God's love and desire to be one with us, is made present in the Eucharist. Bread and wine are brought to the altar, the priest proclaims the great prayer of praise and thanksgiving – the Eucharistic Prayer – and the faithful approach the altar to receive Holy Communion, the living sign of God's desire to be one with us.

A final blessing sends the bride and groom and the whole Christian community forth to bear witness to God's love for the world.

The New Rite of Marriage The Second Vatican Council’s theology of matrimony is carried over into the new Rite of Marriage. The Introduction to the Rite speaks of:

• The union of Christ and the Church (1) • The covenantal nature of the marriage bond (2) • The essential element of mutual affection in body and mind (3) • The importance of the procreation and education of children without prejudice to the other purposes of marriage (4) • The importance of faith (7) • The significance of the Eucharistic setting for marriage (6)

Three forms of the Rite are available:

• Rite for Celebrating Marriage during Mass • Rite for Celebrating Marriage outside Mass • Rite for Celebrating Marriage between a Catholic and an Unbaptised Person

From the Rite of Marriage The following sections from the Rite of Marriage are printed on the next pages :

90 From the RITE OF MARRIAGE

INTRODUCTION (1-18)

CHAPTER I: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE DURING MASS

I Entrance Rite (19-20)

II Liturgy of the Word (21-22)

III Rite of Marriage (23-24)

A Consent (25-26) B Blessing and Exchange of Rings (27-28)

IV General Intercessions (29)

V Liturgy of the Eucharist (30-32)

A Nuptial Blessing (33-36) B Blessing at the End of Mass (37-38)

CHAPTER II: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE OUTSIDE MASS

I Entrance Rite and Liturgy of the Word (39-42)

II Rite of Marriage (43-44)

A Consent (45-46) B Blessing and Exchange of Rings (47-48) C General Intercessions and Nuptial Blessing (49-50)

III Conclusion of the Celebration (51-54)

CHAPTER III: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE BETWEEN A CATHOLIC AND AN UNBAPTIZED PERSON

I Rite of Welcome and Liturgy of the Word (55-57)

II Rite of Marriage (58-59)

A Consent (60-61) B Blessing and Exchange of Rings (62-63)

Ill General Intercessions and Nuptial Blessings (64-65)

IV Conclusion of the Celebration (66)

91 INTRODUCTION

IMPORTANCE AND DIGNITY OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

1. Married Christians, in virtue of the sacrament of matrimony, signify and share in the mystery of that unity and fruitful love which exists between Christ and his Church;2 they help each other to attain to holiness in their married life and in the rearing and education of their children; and they have their own special gift among the people of God.3

2. Marriage arises in the covenant of marriage, or irrevocable consent, which each partner freely bestows on and accepts from the other. This intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on each of them and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them. Christ the Lord raised this union to the dignity of a sacrament so that it might more dearly recall and more easily reflect his own unbreakable union with his Church.4

3. Christian couples, therefore, nourish and develop their marriage by undivided affection, which wells up from the fountain of divine love, while, in a merging of human and divine love, they remain faithful in body and in mind, in good times as in bad.5

4. By their very nature, the institution of matrimony and wedded love are ordained for the procreation and education of children and find in them their ultimate crown. Therefore, married Christians, while not considering the other purposes of marriage of less account, should be steadfast and ready to cooperate with the love of the Creator and Saviour, who through them will constantly enrich and enlarge his own family.6

5 A priest should bear in mind these principles of faith, both in his instructions to those about to be married and when giving the homily during the marriage ceremony. He should relate his instructions to the texts of the sacred readings.7

The bridal couple should be given a review of the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. This may include instruction on the teachings about marriage and the family, on the rites used in the celebration of the sacrament itself, and on the prayers and readings. In this way the bridegroom and the bride will receive far greater benefit from the celebration.

6. In the celebration of marriage (which normally should be within the Mass), certain elements should be stressed, especially the liturgy of the word, which shows the importance of Christian marriage in the history of salvation and the duties and responsibility of the couple in caring for the holiness of their children. Also of supreme importance are the consent of the contracting parties, which the priest asks and receives; the special nuptial blessing for the bride and for the marriage covenant; and finally, the reception of holy communion by the groom and the bride, and by all present, by which their love is nourished and all are

2 Ephesians 5:32 3 Corinthians 7:7; Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 11. 4 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 48. 5 Ibid., 48, 49. 6 Ibid., 48, 50. 7 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 52; S.C.R. Instruction Inter Oecumenici, no. 54: AAS 56 (1964) 890.

92 lifted up into communion with our Lord and with one another.8

7. Priests should first of all strengthen and nourish the faith of those about to be married, for the sacrament of matrimony presupposes and demands faith.9

CHOICE OF RITE

8. In a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized person who is not Catholic, the regulations which appear below in the rite of marriage outside Mass (nos. 39-54) shall be observed. If suitable, and if the Ordinary of the place gives permission, the rite for celebrating marriage within Mass (nos. 19-38) may be used, except that, according to the general law, communion is not given to the non-Catholic.

In a marriage between a Catholic and one who is not baptised, the rite which appears in nos. 55-66 is to be followed.

9. Furthermore, priests should show special consideration to those who take part in liturgical celebrations or hear the gospel only on the occasion of a wedding, either because they are not Catholics, or because they are Catholics who rarely, if ever, take part in the Eucharist or seem to have abandoned the practice of their faith. Priests are ministers of Christ's gospel to everyone.

10. In the celebration of matrimony, apart from the liturgical laws providing for due honours to civil authorities, no special honours are to be paid to any private persons or classes of person, whether in the ceremonies or by external display.10

11. Whenever marriage is celebrated during Mass, white vestments are worn and the wedding Mass is used. If the marriage is celebrated on a Sunday or solemnity, the Mass of the day is used with the nuptial blessing and, where appropriate, the special final blessing.

The liturgy of the word is extremely helpful in emphasizing the meaning of the sacrament and the obligations of marriage. When the wedding Mass may not be used, one of the readings in nos. 67-105 should be chosen, except from Holy Thursday to Easter and on the feasts of Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, and other holydays of obligation. On the Sundays of the Christmas season and throughout the year, in Masses which are not parish Masses, the wedding Mass may be used without change.

When a marriage is celebrated during Advent or Lent or other days of penance, the parish priest should advise the couple to take into consideration the special nature of these times.

PREPARATION OF LOCAL RITUALS

12. In addition to the faculty spoken of below in no. 17 for regions where the Roman Ritual for matrimony is used, particular rituals shall be prepared, suitable for the customs and needs of individual areas, according to the principle of art. 63b and 77 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. These are to be reviewed by the Apostolic See.

In making adaptations, the following points must be remembered:

8 Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam actuositatem, 3: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 12. 9 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 59. 10 Ibid., 32.

93 13. The formulas of the Roman Ritual may be adapted or, as the case may be, filled out (including the questions before the consent and the actual words of consent).

When the Roman Ritual has several optional formulas, local rituals may add other formulas of the same type.

14. Within the rite of the sacrament of matrimony, the arrangement of its parts may be varied. If it seems more suitable, even the questions before the consent may be omitted as long as the priest asks and receives the consent of the contracting parties.

15. After the exchange of rings, the crowning or veiling of the bride may take place according to local custom.

In any region where the joining of hands or the blessing or exchange of rings does not fit in with the practice of the people, the conference of bishops may allow these rites to be omitted or other rites substituted.

16. As for the marriage customs of nations that are now receiving the gospel for the first time, whatever is good and is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error should be sympathetically considered and, if possible, preserved intact. Sometimes the Church admits such things into the liturgy itself, as long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.11

RIGHT TO PREPARE A COMPLETELY NEW RITE

17. Each conference of bishops may draw up its own marriage rite suited to the usages of the place and people and approved by the Apostolic See. The rite must always conform to the law that the priest assisting at such marriages must ask for and receive the consent of the contracting parties,12and the nuptial blessing should always be given.13

18. Among peoples where the marriage ceremonies customarily take place in the home, sometimes over a period of several days, these customs should be adapted to the Christian spirit and to the liturgy. In such cases the conference of bishops, according to the pastoral needs of the people, may allow the sacramental rite to be celebrated in the home.

11 lbid., 37. 12 lbid., 77. 13 Ibid., 78.

94 CHAPTER I: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE DURING MASS

ENTRANCE RITE

19. At the appointed time, the priest, vested for Mass, goes with the ministers to the door of the church or, if more suitable, to the altar. There he meets the bride and bridegroom in a friendly manner, showing that the Church shares their joy.

Where it is desirable that the rite of welcome be omitted, the celebration of marriage begins at once with the Mass.

20. If there is a procession to the altar, the ministers go first, followed by the priest, and then the bride and the bridegroom. According to local custom, they may be escorted by at least their parents and the two witnesses. Meanwhile, the entrance song is sung.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

21. The liturgy of the word is celebrated according to the rubrics. There may be three readings, the first of them from the Old Testament.

22. After the gospel, the priest gives a homily drawn from the sacred text. He speaks about the mystery of Christian marriage, the dignity of wedded love, the grace of the sacrament and the responsibilities of married people, keeping in mind the circumstances of this particular marriage.

RITE OF MARRIAGE

23. All stand, including the bride and bridegroom, and the priest addresses them in these or similar words:

My dear friends, you have come together in this church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of the Church's minister and this community. Christ abundantly blesses this love. He has already consecrated you in baptism and now he enriches and strengthens you by a special sacrament so that you may assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity. And so, in the presence of the Church, I ask you to state your intentions.

24. The priest then questions them about their freedom of choice, faithfulness to each other, and the acceptance and upbringing of children:

N. and N., have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?

Will you honour each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?

The following question may be omitted if, for example, the couple is advanced in years.

Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?

Each answers the questions separately.

CONSENT

25. The priest invites the couple to declare their consent:

95 Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

They join hands.

The bridegroom says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

The bride says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

If, however, it seems preferable for pastoral reasons, the priest may obtain consent from the couple through questions.

First he asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N. to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life?

The bridegroom: I do.

Then he asks the bride:

N., do you take N. to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life?

The bride: I do.

Alternative form for the exchange of consent.

First the priest asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful wife, according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bridegroom replies: I do.

Then the priest asks the bride:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful husband, according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bride replies: I do.

After this mutual consent has been exchanged, the priest says:

Now join your right hands and say after me:

Groom:

I, N. N., take you N. N., for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this

96 day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

Bride:

I, N. N., take you, N.N., for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

If pastoral necessity demands it, the conference of bishops may decree, in virtue of the faculty in no. 17 that the priest should always obtain the consent of the couple through questions.

26. Receiving their consent, the priest says:

You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings.

What God has joined, men must not divide.

Amen.

BLESSING AND EXCHANGE OF RINGS*

27. Priest:

May the Lord bless + these rings which you give to each other as the sign of your love and fidelity.

Amen.

* Form of blessing of one ring:

Lord, bless + and consecrate N. and N. in their love for each other. May this ring be a symbol of true faith in each other, and always remind them of their love. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Other forms of the blessing of rings:

OR:

Lord, bless these rings which we bless + in your name. Grant that those who wear them may always have a deep faith in each other. May they do your will and always live together in peace, good will, and love.

(We ask this) through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

OR:

Lord, bless + and consecrate N. and N. in their love for each other. May these rings be a symbol of true faith in each other, and always remind them of their love. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

28. The bridegroom places his wife's ring on her ring finger. He may say:

97 N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The bride places her husband's ring on his ring finger. She may say:

N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

29. The general intercessions (prayer of the faithful) follow, using formulas approved by the conference of bishops. If the rubrics call for it, the profession of faith is said after the general intercessions.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

30. The Order of Mass is followed, with the following changes. During the offertory, the bride and bridegroom may bring the bread and wine to the altar.

31. Proper preface (see nos. 115-117).

1 (115)

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. By this sacrament your grace unites man and woman in an unbreakable bond of love and peace. You have designed the chaste love of husband and wife for the increase both of the human family and of your own family born in baptism.

You are the loving Father of the world of nature; you are the loving Father of the new creation of grace. In Christian marriage you bring together the two orders of creation: nature's gift of children enriches the world and your grace enriches also your Church. Through Christ the choirs of angels and all the saints praise and worship your glory. May our voices blend with theirs as we join in their unending hymn:

2 (116)

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him you entered into a new covenant with your people. You restored man to grace in the saving mystery of redemption. You gave him a share in the divine life through his union with Christ. You made him an heir of Christ's eternal glory. This outpouring of love in the new covenant of grace is symbolized in the marriage covenant that seals the love of husband and wife and reflects your divine plan of love. And so, with the angels and all the saints in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise:

3 (117)

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. You created man in love to share your divine life. We see his high destiny in the love of husband and wife, which bears the imprint of your own divine love. Love is man's origin, love is his constant calling, love is his fulfilment in heaven. The love of man and woman is made holy in the sacrament of marriage, and becomes the mirror of your everlasting love. Through Christ the choirs of angels and all the saints praise and worship your glory. May our voices blend with theirs, as we join in their unending hymn;

98 32. When the Roman canon is used, the special Hanc igitur is said (no. 118).

HANC IGITUR (118)

The words in parentheses may be omitted if desired.

Father, accept this offering from your whole family and from N. and N., for whom we now pray. You have brought them to their wedding day: grant them (the gift and joy of children and) a long and happy life together.

(Through Christ our Lord. Amen.)

NUPTIAL BLESSING

33. After the Lord's Prayer, the prayer “Deliver us” is omitted. The priest faces the bride and bridegroom and, with hands joined, says:

My dear friends, let us turn to the Lord and pray that he will bless with his grace this woman (or N.) now married in Christ to this man (or N.) and that (through the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ,) he will unite in love the couple he has joined in this holy bond.

All pray silently for a short while. Then the priest extends his hands and continues:

Father, by your power you have made everything out of nothing. In the beginning you created the universe and made mankind in your own likeness. You gave man the constant help of woman so that man and woman should no longer be two, but one flesh, and you teach us that what you have united may never be divided.

Father, you have made the union of man and wife so holy a mystery that it symbolises the marriage of Christ and his Church.

Father, by your plan man and woman are united, and married life has been established as the one blessing that was not forfeited by original sin or washed away in the flood.

Look with love upon this woman, your daughter, now joined to her husband in marriage. She asks your blessing. Give her the grace of love and peace. May she always follow the example of the holy women whose praises are sung in the Scriptures.

May her husband put his trust in her and recognise that she is his equal and the heir with him to the life of grace. May he always honour her and love her as Christ loves his bride, the Church.

Father, keep them always true to your commandments. Keep them faithful in marriage and let them be living examples of Christian life. Give them the strength which comes from the gospel so that they may be witnesses of Christ to others. (Bless them with children and help them to be good parents. May they live to see their children's children) And, after a happy old age, grant them fullness of life with the saints in the kingdom of heaven.

(We ask this) through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

99 34. If one or both of the parties will not be receiving communion, the words in the introduction to the nuptial blessing, “through the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ”, may be omitted.

If desired, in the prayer “Father, by your power”, two of the first three paragraphs may be omitted, keeping only the paragraph which corresponds to the reading of the Mass.

In the last paragraph of this prayer, the words in parentheses may be omitted whenever circumstances suggest it, if, for example, the couple is advanced in years.

Other forms of the nuptial blessing may be chosen.

Let us pray to the Lord for N. and N. who come to God's altar at the beginning of their married life so that they may always be united in love for each other (as now they share in the body and blood of Christ).

All pray silently for a short while. Then the priest extends his hands and continues:

Holy Father, you created mankind in your own image, and made man and woman to be joined as husband and wife in union of body and heart and so fulfil their mission in this world. Father, to reveal the plan of your love, you made the union of husband and wife an image of the covenant between you and your people.

In the fulfilment of this sacrament, the marriage of Christian man and woman is a sign of the marriage between Christ and the Church. Father, stretch out your hand, and bless N. an N.

Lord, grant that as they begin to live this sacrament they may share with each other the gifts of your love and become one in heart and mind as witness to your presence in their marriage.

Help them to create a home together (and give them children to be formed by the gospel and to have a place in your family).

Give your blessings to N., your daughter, so that she may be a good wife (and mother), caring for the home, faithful in love for her husband, generous and kind. Give your blessings to N., your son, so that he may be a faithful husband (and a good father).

Father, grant that as they come together to your table on earth, so they may one day have the joy of sharing your feast in heaven.

(We ask this) through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

OR:

My dear friends, let us ask God for his continued blessings upon this bridegroom and his bride (or N. and N.).

All pray silently for a short while. Then the priest extends his hands and continues:

Holy Father, creator of the universe, maker of man and woman in your own

100 likeness, source of blessing for married life, we humbly pray to you for this woman who today is united with her husband in this sacrament of marriage.

May your fullest blessing come upon her and her husband so that they may together rejoice in your gift of married love (and enrich your Church with their children).

Lord, may they both praise you when they are happy and turn to you in their sorrows. May they be glad that you help them in their work, and know that you are with them in their need. May they pray to you in the community of the Church, and be your witnesses in the world. May they reach old age in the company of their friends, and come at last to the kingdom of heaven.

(We ask this) through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

35. At the words “Let us offer each other the sign of peace”, the married couple and all present show their peace and love for one another in an appropriate way.

36. The married couple may receive communion under both kinds.

BLESSING AT THE END OF MASS

37. Before blessing the people at the end of Mass, the priest blesses the bride and bridegroom, using one of the forms below:

God the eternal Father keep you in love with each other, so that the peace of Christ may stay with you and be always in your home.

Amen.

May (your children bless you), your friends console you and all men live in peace with you.

Amen.

May you always bear witness to the love of God in this world so that the afflicted and the needy will find in you generous friends, and welcome you into the joys of heaven.

Amen.

And may almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

OR:

May God, the almighty Father, give you his joy and bless you (in your children).

Amen.

May the only Son of God have mercy on you and help you in good times and in bad.

Amen.

101 May the Holy Spirit of God always fill your hearts with his love.

Amen.

And may almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

May the Lord Jesus, who was a guest at the wedding in Cana, bless you and your families and friends.

Amen.

May Jesus, who loved his Church to the end, always fill your hearts with his love.

Amen.

May he grant that, as you believe in his resurrection, so you may wait for him in joy and hope.

Amen.

And may almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

38. If two or more marriages are celebrated at the same time, the questioning before the consent, the consent itself, and the acceptance of consent shall always be done individually for each couple; the rest, including the nuptial blessing, is said once for all, using the plural form.

CHAPTER II: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE OUTSIDE MASS

ENTRANCE RITE AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

39. At the appointed time, the priest, wearing surplice and white stole (or a white cope, if desired), proceeds with the ministers to the door of the church, or, if more suitable, to the altar. There he greets the bride and bridegroom in a friendly manner, showing that the Church shares their joy.

Where it is desirable that the rite of welcome be omitted, the celebration of matrimony begins at once with the liturgy of the word.

40. If there is a procession to the altar, the ministers go first, followed by the priest, and then the bride and the bridegroom. According to local custom, they may be escorted by at least their parents and the two witnesses. Meanwhile, the entrance song is sung.

41. The liturgy of the word takes place in the usual manner. There may be three readings, the first of them from the Old Testament.

42. After the gospel, the priest gives a homily drawn from the sacred text. He speaks about the mystery of Christian marriage, the dignity of wedded love, the grace of the sacrament, and the responsibilities of married people, keeping in mind the circumstances of this particular marriage.

102 RITE OF MARRIAGE

43. All stand, including the bride and bridegroom, and the priest addresses them in these or similar words:

44. The priest then questions them about their freedom of choice, faithfulness to each other, and the acceptance and upbringing of children:

N. and N., have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? Will you love and honour each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?

The following question may be omitted if, for example, the couple is advanced in years.

Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?

Each answers the questions separately.

CONSENT

45. The priest invites them to declare their consent:

Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

They join hands.

The bridegroom says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

The bride says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

If, however, it seems preferable for pastoral reasons, the priest may obtain consent from the couple through questions. First he asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N. to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life?

The bridegroom: I do.

Then he asks the bride:

103 N., do you take N. to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life?

The bride: I do.

If pastoral necessity demands it, the conference of bishops may decree, in virtue of the faculty in no. 17, that the priest should always obtain the consent of the couple through questions.

OR:

Alternative form for exchange of consent.

First the priest asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful wife according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bridegroom replies: I do.

Then the priest asks the bride:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful husband according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bride replies: I do.

After this mutual consent has been exchanged, the priest says:

Now join your right hands and say after me:

Groom:

I, N.N., take you, N.N., for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

Bride:

I, N.N., take you, N.N., for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

46. Receiving their consent, the priest says:

You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide.

Amen.

BLESSING AND EXCHANGE OF RINGS*

47. Priest:

May the Lord bless + these rings which you give to each other as the sign of your love and fidelity.

Amen.

104 *Form of Blessing of one ring:

Lord, bless + and consecrate N. and N. in their love for each other. May this ring be a symbol of true faith in each other, and always remind them of their love. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

48. The bridegroom places his wife's ring on her ring finger. He may say:

N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The bride places her husband's ring on his ring finger. She may say:

N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

GENERAL INTERCESSIONS AND NUPTIAL BLESSINGS

49. The general intercessions (prayer of the faithful) and the blessing of the couple take place in this order:

a) First the priest uses the invitatory of any blessing of the couple or any other, taken from the approved formulas for the general intercessions. b) Immediately after the invitatory, there can be either a brief silence, or a series of petitions from the prayer of the faithful with responses by the people. All the petitions should be in harmony with the blessing which follows, but should not duplicate it. c) Then, omitting the prayer that concludes the prayer of the faithful, the priest extends his hands and blesses the bride and bridegroom.

50. This blessing may be “Father, by your power”, (no. 33) or another from nos. 120 or 121.

CONCLUSION OF THE CELEBRATION

51. The entire rite can be concluded with the Lord's Prayer and the blessing, whether with the simple form, “May almighty God”, or with one of the forms in nos. 125-127.

52. If two or more marriages are celebrated at the same time, the questioning before the consent, the consent itself and the acceptance of consent shall always be done individually for each couple; the rest, including the nuptial blessing, is said once for all using the plural form.

53. The rite described above should be used by a deacon who, when a priest cannot be present, has been delegated by the bishop or pastor to assist at the celebration of marriage, and to give the Church's blessing.14

54. If Mass cannot be celebrated and communion is to be distributed during the rite, the Lord's Prayer is said first. After communion, a reverent silence may be observed for a while, or a psalm or song of praise may be sung or recited. Then comes the prayer, “Lord, we who have shared” (no. 123, if only the bride and bridegroom receive), or the prayer, “God, who in this wondrous sacrament” or

14 Paul VI, motu proprio, Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem, June 18, 1967, no. 22, 4: AAS 59 (1967) 702.

105 other suitable prayer. The rite ends with a blessing, either the simple formula, “May almighty God bless you”, or one of the forms in nos. 125-127.

CHAPTER III: RITE FOR CELEBRATING MARRIAGE BETWEEN A CATHOLIC AND AN UNBAPTIZED PERSON

If marriage is celebrated between a Catholic and unbaptised person (either a catechumen or a non-Christian), the rite may be performed in the church or some other suitable place and takes the following form.

RITE OF WELCOME AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

55. At the appointed time, the priest, wearing surplice and white stole (or a white cope if desired), proceeds with the ministers to the door of the church or to another appropriate place and greets the bride and the bridegroom.

Where it is desirable that the rite of welcome be omitted, the celebration of marriage begins at once with the liturgy of the word.

56. The liturgy of the word takes place in the usual manner. There may be three readings, the first of them from the Old Testament. If circumstances make it more desirable, there may be a single reading.

57. A homily, drawn from the sacred text, is given and should speak of the obligations of marriage and other appropriate points.

RITE OF MARRIAGE

58. All stand, including the bride and the bridegroom. The priest addresses them in these or similar words:

My dear friends, you have come together in this church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of the Church's minister and this community. In this way you will be strengthened to keep mutual and lasting faith with each other and to carry out the other duties of marriage. And so, in the presence of the Church, I ask you to state your intentions.

59. The priest then questions them about their freedom of choice, faithfulness to each other, and the acceptance and upbringing of children:

N. and N., have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? Will you love and honour each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?

The following question may be omitted if, for example, the couple is advanced in years.

Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?

Each answers the questions separately.

CONSENT

60. The priest invites them to declare their consent:

Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

106 They join hands.

The bridegroom says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

The bride says:

I, N., take you, N., to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

If, however, it seems preferable for pastoral reasons, the priest may obtain consent from the couple through questions. First he asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N. to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life?

The bridegroom: I do.

Then he asks the bride:

N., do you take N. to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life?

The bride: I do.

If pastoral necessity demands it, the conference of bishops may decree, in virtue of the faculty in no. 17, that the priest should always obtain the consent of the couple through questions.

OR:

Alternative form for exchange of consent.

First the priest asks the bridegroom:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful wife according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bridegroom replies: I do.

Then the priest asks the bride:

N., do you take N., here present, for your lawful husband according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?

The bride replies: I do.

After this mutual consent has been exchanged, the priest says:

Now join your right hands and say after me:

Groom:

I, N.N., take you, N.N., for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day

107 forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

Bride:

I, N.N., take you, N.N., for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

61. Receiving their consent, the priest says:

You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide.

Amen.

BLESSING AND EXCHANGE OF RINGS*

62. If circumstances so require, the blessing and exchange of rings can be omitted. If this rite is observed, the priest says:

May the Lord bless + these rings which you give to each other as the sign of your love and fidelity.

Amen.

*Form of Blessing of one ring:

May the Lord bless + this ring which you give to your wife as a sign of your mutual love and fidelity.

Amen.

63. The bridegroom places his wife's ring on her ring finger. He may say:

N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The bride places her husband's ring on his ring finger. She may say:

N., take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

GENERAL INTERCESSIONS AND NUPTIAL BLESSINGS

64. If circumstances so require, the blessing of the bride and bridegroom can be omitted. If used, it is combined with the general intercessions (prayer of the faithful) in this order:

a) First the priest uses the invitatory of any blessing of the couple or any other, taken from any approved formula for the general intercessions. b) Immediately after the invitatory, there can be either a brief period of silence, or a series of petitions from the prayer of the faithful with responses by the people. All the petitions should be in harmony with the blessing which follows, but should not duplicate it. c) Then, omitting the prayer that concludes the prayer of the faithful, the priest blesses the bride and the bridegroom:

65. Facing them, he joins his hands and says:

108

My brothers and sisters, let us ask God for his continued blessings upon this bridegroom and his bride.

All pray silently for a short while. Then the priest extends his hands and continues:

Holy Father, creator of the universe, maker of man and woman in your likeness, source of blessing for married life, we humbly pray to you for this bride who today is united with her husband in the bond of marriage.

May your fullest blessing come upon her and her husband so that they may together rejoice in your gift of married love.

May they be noted for their good lives, (and be parents filled with virtue).

Lord, may they both praise you when they are happy and turn to you in their sorrows. May they be glad that you help them in their work, and know that you are with them in their need. May they reach old age in the company of their friends, and come at last to the kingdom of heaven.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

CONCLUSION OF THE CELEBRATION

66. The rite may be concluded with the Lord's Prayer (or, if the nuptial blessing has been omitted, another prayer by the priest) and a blessing using the customary form, “May almighty God bless you” or another formula.

Links with the Student Text

Task Sixteen This task asks students to look through the following selection of readings from scripture that the Church puts forward as suitable for weddings:

Old Testament Readings Genesis 1:26-28, 31a Male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:18-24 And they will be two in one flesh.

Tobit 7:9-10, 11-15 May God join you together and fill you with his blessings. Tobit 8:5-10 May God bring us to old age together.

Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, For love is as strong as death. 16a; 8:6-7a New Testament Readings Romans 8:31b-35, 37-39 Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, Your body is a temple of the Spirit. 17-20 1 Corinthians 12:3 -13:8a If I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

109 Colossians 3:12-17 Above all have love which is the bond of perfection. 1 John 3:18-24 Our love is to be something real and active.

1 John 4:7-12 God is love.

Revelation 19:1, 5-9a Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb Gospel Readings Matthew 5:1-12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Matthew 7:21, 24-29 He built his house on rock.

Matthew 19:3-6 So then, what God has united, people must not divide. Matthew 22:35-40 This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is similar to it. Mark 10:6-9 They are no longer two, therefore, but one body.

John 2:1-11 This was the first of the signs given by Jesus; it was given at Cana in Galilee. John 15:9-12 Remain in my love.

John 1512-16 This is my commandment: love one another.

John 17:20-26 May they be completely one.

They are asked to:

a) Locate some of the readings in their Bible and read them. b) Choose three readings that especially appeal to them (one Gospel and two others) and explain in their own words the message that each of them contains about marriage.

Answers will vary depending on which readings the students select.

Something to Do Here students are asked to produce a wedding card that is based on one of the readings that is used at weddings. Students should use text from the reading and combine it with appropriate visual elements.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to consider why it is that the couple become husband and wife at the moment they give consent.

The Catholic Church teaches that the husband and the wife are the ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony – the priest is present to witness the marriage on behalf of the Church and to bless it. Through their mutual agreement – the consent – the man and woman become husband and wife.

110 Something to Find Out Here students are asked to find out more about the symbolism of the wedding rings which are described in the Rite of Marriage as signs of love and fidelity.

When worn as part of a pair, the wedding ring symbolises the bond two people share, the solid, enduring, endless bond that connects them even when they're apart.

The oldest recorded exchange of wedding rings comes from ancient Egypt, about 4800 years ago. In early Egypt, the ring was associated with the supernatural, a never-ending band linked with eternal love. Later for the Romans, the ring's acceptance by a young lady was a binding, legal agreement and the girl was no longer free.

Today, it is not only brides who wear rings as a symbol of their lasting affection – the majority of grooms also choose to wear this emblem of fidelity and commitment.

The ring's band does not have to be gold. In early Roman times iron was used for its symbolic strength. But that came to be replaced by silver or gold because of their beauty and the fact that iron rusts.

Most people wear the wedding band on the left hand. However, some European women wear the ring on their right hand. Some Scandinavian women wear three rings, one each for engagement, marriage and motherhood.

Jewish brides have the ring placed on their index finger, since that is the finger with which they point to the Torah as they read.

There are many theories as to why wedding rings are mostly worn on the third finger of the left hand – the particular finger that came to symbolise marriage. Both the ancient Romans and Egyptians believed that a vein – called the vena amoris in Latin – ran directly from that finger to the heart.

In England, a bridegroom sometimes slides the ring part way up his bride's thumb, index and middle finger, saying: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" as he passes each one. He then puts the ring on the next available finger, the third finger of the left hand.

The practice of men wearing wedding rings is relatively new. Up until the middle of the twentieth century, it was mostly women who wore them. When World War II broke out and many young men faced lengthy separations from their wives, men began wearing wedding bands as a symbol of their marriages and a reminder of their wives.

Task Seventeen Here students are asked to write some prayers of petition of their own that would be suitable for the Prayer of the Faithful at a Nuptial Mass.

111 Students should use the petitions that are provided in the student text as models.

Answers will vary.

Task Eighteen A number of important Catholic understandings about marriage are expressed in the words of the nuptial blessing. Students are asked to identify some of these.

Possible answers include:

• Marriage unites a man and a woman in a permanent bond (man and woman should no longer be two, but one flesh, and you teach us that what you have united may never be divided). • Marriage represents the union of Christ and his Church (it symbolises the marriage of Christ and his Church). • Marriage is a blessing (married life has been established as the one blessing that was not forfeited by original sin or washed away in the flood). • Children are God’s blessing on a marriage (bless them with children and help them to be good parents)

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider under what circumstances it is sometimes:

• more appropriate to have a wedding without a Mass. • possible to have a marriage convalidated?

It is generally more appropriate for a couple, where one of the partners is not a Catholic, to have a wedding ceremony without Mass and the reception of Holy Communion. This is because a non-Catholic is not normally able to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic church. A wedding ceremony without a Mass or Holy Communion spares any embarrassment, misunderstanding or hurt feelings or to show a division of the very start of married life.

For various reasons, Catholic couples sometimes get married in a civil ceremony or by a minister from another Christian denomination rather than in the presence of a Catholic priest or deacon. Regardless of why couples wed outside the Church, the Church is always open, at a later point, to validating such marriages if at all possible. The benefits of this process – known as convalidation – are many: peace of heart, oneness with the Church, reception of the Sacrament of Matrimony and God's special blessing upon the marriage.

112 PART EIGHT: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRIESTHOOD

Achievement Objective 4

Church Teachings

The Origins of Christian Priesthood

• The Christian priesthood is prefigured in the Old Testament priesthood of the tribe of Levi, which God established to pray and offer sacrifice on behalf of the people of Israel. • The Christian priesthood is also prefigured in the priesthood of Aaron and in the seventy elders. • The priesthood of the Old Testament finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and humanity. • The Christian tradition recognises the high priest Melchizedek as a prefiguration of Christ, the unique high priest. • Jesus Christ’s saving death on the cross is made present again in the sacrifice of the Mass, which is brought about through the ordained priest who acts on behalf of Christ.

The Ordained Ministries

Who Can Be Ordained

113 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Recall ways in which priests, from the earliest times, have served as mediators between the human and the divine. • Identify features of priesthood in the ancient world and in Old Testament times. • Reflect on the priesthood of Hehu Karaiti. • Describe the beginnings of Christian priesthood. • List reasons why priestly celibacy is regarded by the Church as a priceless gift from God.

Teacher Background

Jesus the One High Priest In Christian theology, Jesus Christ is the one High Priest, building bridges between God and humankind, identifying with human weakness, saving those who approach him “with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). As high priest, Jesus came among us, “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

The Church is a sign and sacrament of Jesus’ continuing presence in the world. The Church's priesthood is modelled on Christ’s priesthood. Through its priesthood, and the sacraments which it administers, the Church continues to bring the life of Christ to its members – the Good News of Te Rangatiratanga is proclaimed, the Eucharist is celebrated, the death and resurrection of Christ are made real and effective in Baptism, sins are forgiven, the sick are ministered to and healed, human love is made holy, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given, and the mediating, priestly work of Christ is continued.

The Old Testament Background to Jesus’ Priesthood As is explained in the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus' priesthood must be understood in light of the Old Testament. In the Book of Genesis we see the heads of families or tribal groups, including Abraham and Jacob, performing priestly functions, such as offering sacrifice.

Eventually, a specific office of priesthood evolved and a priestly professionalism developed, especially in the tribe of Levi. This professionalism involved certain skills and training. It also demanded holiness of its members.

The priest was an intermediary between God and humankind, and priesthood in Old Testament times seems to have had three basic functions:

• The discernment of God's will through the casting of lots • Teaching about the divine

114 • Sacrifice and cultic offering

From the New Testament Period to the Second Century In the New Testament the Greek word for priest, hiereus, refers to someone who holds an office in the Church. Generally the term is applied to Christians collectively. Where it is used for an individual, as in the Letter to the Hebrews, it is applied only to Christ.

Towards the end of the second century, after Christianity's separation from Judaism had become complete, hiereus became a common term for Christian officeholders. This happened as the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist was better recognised and understood among Christians. The person who presided at the Eucharist was seen as exercising a priestly role.

The classic image of the Christian priest is really a fusion of several different roles: disciple, apostle, presbyter, bishop, and presider at the Eucharist. The first formal ministry in the Church was that of the Twelve, who were essentially missionaries. The original Jewish-Christian communities organised themselves according to the synagogue model with elders, prophets, and preachers. As the Church spread to more culturally diverse communities through the missionary efforts of the apostles, different models of ministry, including that of bishops, deacons, and presbyters developed. The precise relationship between bishops and deacons on the one hand and presbyters on the other is not clear. There is evidence of pluralism, diversity, and variety.

Following the death of the Twelve, there was a growing recognition of the need for more structure within the Church. Presbyters (elders) were appointed in each town and were given a supervisory function: monitoring the religious and moral behaviour of the faithful, caring for the needy out of the common goods, and ensuring sound doctrine. Those holding this office were to be people of good judgement, prudent and temperate, able to manage their own households, married no more than once, having well-behaved children, not recent converts, neither greedy nor given to violence. Deacons were also part of this structure, but it is not clear what deacons did that distinguished them from the presbyters.

In time, the older structure of apostles, prophets, and teachers was superseded by the appointment of bishops and deacons. By the 90s wandering prophets and apostles were a source of trouble and their credentials were unverifiable. The need for a more regulated and controllable structure was felt. The writings of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35 – c.102) confirm that elders (presbyteroi), deacons (diakonoi), and overseers (episcopoi) were beginning to be seen as forming a threefold division of the one sacrament of Holy Orders.

It is not clear whether, in the beginning, anyone in particular was commissioned to preside over the Eucharist. Saint Paul never mentions that he presided, nor is there any written evidence that any of the apostles did so. Those who did preside over the Eucharist clearly did so with the consent of

115 the Christian community. However, it is not known whether any formal ordination took place.

As the Church grew larger and became more complex in its organisation, presiding at Eucharist eventually became the exclusive privilege of bishops and presbyters. Ignatius of Antioch makes it clear that only the bishop or his appointee – a presbyter – is to preside at the Eucharist and to baptise.

Ignatius of Antioch also wrote of the development of the practice of a local Church being presided over by a single bishop – but this was not yet universal.

From the Third to the Fifth Centuries The third century Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (c.170 – c.236) detailed the role of bishops, presbyters and deacons:

• The bishop is the sacerdos (Latin for priest), elected by the people, but he receives the imposition of hands from another bishop. According to the rite of ordination, the bishop’s role is to proclaim God's word, forgive sins, preside over the Eucharist, and supervise the work of the presbyters and deacons.

• The presbyter, or priest, is ordained by the bishop, with other priests joining in with the laying on of hands. According to the rite of ordination, presbyters were compared with the elders whom Moses had chosen (Numbers 11:17-25). They did not preside at the Eucharist, but formed a ring, or crown, around the bishop as he presided. With the bishop's permission a presbyter could replace a bishop as the presiding minister at the Eucharist.

• The deacon is ordained by the bishop alone because the deacon is ordained to the service of the bishop. The deacon did not become a member of the college of presbyters, and the deacon's work was determined entirely by the bishop.

The Edict of Constantine (or Edict of Milan) in the early fourth century granted toleration to all religions and shortly afterwards the Emperor Theodosius I (346–95) established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire and conferred authority and privileges upon the clergy, thereby introducing a sharp division between clergy and laity within the Church. This division would be accentuated in the Middle Ages.

As the local churches grew, parishes were created outside the major Christian centres, and the presbyters were given pastoral care over them.

From the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries In the early Middle Ages, especially in Germanic territories, priests were caught up in the feudal system. They were responsible not only for the celebration of the Eucharist and the administration of the other sacraments, but also for tax-collecting. Their loyalty was to the feudal lords who selected

116 them, not just to the bishop. In Frankish territories (France) new rites of ordination were added. The bishop was anointed with holy chrism, the crosier (staff) and ring were given, and then he was enthroned. The priest was ordained with an anointing of the hands, the giving of bread and wine, and a second laying on of hands in view of the absolution of sins. These developments reflected the Germanic customs which attached great importance to the transmission of the emblems of power, a “princely” power for bishops and a cultic power for priests.

A monastic model of priesthood also emerged in the early Middle Ages which led to mandatory celibacy for all priests of the Latin rite – not just those in religious orders – by the twelfth century. During this period, the priesthood became increasingly a state in life rather than a ministry. A hierarchical view of the Church modelled on an understanding of a divinely ordered structure of the universe also prevailed. Just as there were three orders in the angelic hierarchy, so there were three orders in the clerical hierarchy – bishops, priests, and deacons – and three orders in the lay hierarchy – religious, laity, and catechumens. In this schema, higher orders always influenced lower. Laity were seen as passive recipients of grace from the clergy. The stage was set for the upheavals of the sixteenth century.

The Reformation and the Council of Trent The increasing alienation of the clergy from the rest of the Church provoked a reaction against the ordained ministries.

The Reformers insisted that there exists in the Church no ministerial power received through the sacrament of Holy Orders. There is only a priesthood of all believers. All specialised ministry is delegated by the community. Since the Eucharist is not a sacrifice – Calvary cannot, and need not, be repeated – there is no need for an ordained priesthood in the Church.

The Council of Trent in Doctrine on the Sacrament of Order (1563) rejected these views, declaring that:

• The ordained priesthood is separate from and superior to the priesthood of all believers • Priesthood is conferred through one of the seven sacraments • The Mass is a true sacrifice • There is a true hierarchy in the Church consisting of bishops, priests, and deacons • The ordained ministries do not depend on the call of the community for their authority and powers

The Impact of Trent Under the impact of the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church launched a reform of the clergy. Seminaries for the education and training of future priests were established, and greater emphasis was placed on priestly spirituality. The reform of priestly formation and spirituality was promoted by such figures as Saint Charles Borromeo (1534-1584) and Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), and by the new religious orders. But the spirituality was

117 still individualistic, and the notion of priesthood on which it was based was still cultic and sacramental.

During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, dominated by the spirituality of the Jesuits, priestly ministry becomes inseparable from the great drama of grace which is played out within the soul of the individual priest. Catholic romanticism of the eighteenth century reinforced the tendency to isolate the priest and to emphasise his personal and his private identification with the sacrifice of Christ.

Under the impact of the anticlericalist wave of the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century, the Church launched yet another spiritual renewal, this time sparked by principles enunciated earlier by Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and others. The so-called French school of priestly spirituality insisted that Christ's own priesthood is rooted in his divinity, not his humanity, and that through ordination priests share in a very mysterious, highly mystical power.

This view was consistent with the theology of the post-Reformation period when everything was seen in the Church as coming “from above”. The Church became identified with the hierarchy. Bishops and priests were seen as “churchmen” with special spiritual powers and authority. “Ministry” became identified more and more with Protestantism.

The Second Vatican Council With its emphasis on the Church as the whole People of God, the Second Vatican Council acknowledged that all the baptised share in some way in the one priesthood of Christ and in the mission of the Church. Although the priesthood of ordination and the priesthood of Baptism differ in essence and not only in degree, they are nonetheless related to this one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priesthood of ordination consists of three degrees or orders made up of bishops, priests and deacons. Each order is truly sacramental.

Taken as a body, bishops are the successors to the apostles in teaching authority and pastoral rule. United with their head, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), the bishops constitute a college and are the subjects of supreme and full power over the universal Church. The union of bishops among themselves and with the bishop of Rome symbolises the communion of churches which constitutes the whole Body of Christ. At the same time, bishops enjoy the fullness of the sacrament of orders, whereas priests and deacons are dependent upon them in the exercise of authority.

The presbyterate is a specific participation in the priesthood of bishops. Priests are fellow workers, united with their bishop in priestly dignity. They are collaborators with the bishop and constitute a college with him.

The ordained priesthood of the Church embraces more than sacramental and liturgical responsibilities.

118 The diaconate is also a sacramental degree of Holy Orders. Deacons are ordained for service and ministry to the People of God in communion with the bishop and his priests. The Council recommended the restoration of the permanent diaconate – as distinguished from reception of the diaconate as a transitional step on the way to priesthood.

Contemporary Catholic Theology In recent decades, the Catholic theology of ordained ministry has been affected most profoundly by New Testament studies and the Second Vatican Council. Significant changes in the Church’s understanding especially of the episcopate and the presbyterate have come about owing to the work of biblical scholars, Church historians, and theologians reflecting on the documents of the Second Vatican Council. There is a greater emphasis now on ordained ministry as ministry rather than as a spiritual or canonical state in life, and upon its pastoral functions, especially that of leadership.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Think About From the earliest times, priests have served as mediators or intermediaries between the gods and human beings.

Here students are asked to reflect on what an intermediary or mediator is. They are invited to recall various ways in which priests in ancient times acted as mediators.

A mediator acts as a go-between. For thousands of years, across almost all cultures, priests have served as mediators – standing between the gods and people by:

• speaking to the gods and offering prayers on behalf of people • communicating the gods’ messages to people • performing sacrifices and making offerings so as to obtain the co- operation and blessing of the gods, to have the people’s sins forgiven, or to turn away the gods’ anger

Task Nineteen Here students are asked to identify which of the following statements about priesthood in the ancient world and Old Testament times are true and which are false. If a statement is false students are asked to change it so that it becomes true.

a) Since earliest times human societies have recognised the need for priests. True. b) Priests are intermediaries linking the human and the divine. True. c) In the ancient world priests held great power. True. d) Abraham sacrificed his son, Isaac, in order to please God. False. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in order to please God. e) Melchizedek was appointed high priest by King David. False. Zadok was appointed high priest by King David.

119 f) Levites came from one of the eleven tribes of Israel. False. Levites came from one of the twelve tribes of Israel. g) Members of the tribe of Levi, based at the Temple in Jerusalem, served as professional priests. True. h) Hundreds of animals were slaughtered at the Temple each year – some for thanksgiving, some for sin. False. Thousands of animals were slaughtered at the Temple each year – some for thanksgiving, some for sin. i) On the Day of Atonement the high priest sacrificed a bull to make amends for his own sins. True. j) The sins of the people were symbolically transferred to a goat which was then killed. False. The sins of the people were symbolically transferred to a goat which was then released into the desert.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to work in a pair and read through material in the student text on the Priesthood of Jesus Christ and discuss it.

They should consider:

a) Which ideas they find easiest to understand. b) Which ideas they find more of a challenge. c) Which one idea makes the strongest impression on them.

Answers will vary.

Task Twenty This task asks students to write a paragraph on the beginnings of Christian priesthood. In it they should address as many of the following questions as they can:

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

The information students need to complete this task is in the student text under the heading the Beginnings of Christian Priesthood. Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to think of as many points as they can in support of Pope John Paul II’s statement that celibacy is “a priceless gift of God for the Church”.

Possible answers include:

• Celibacy enables priests to devote themselves completely and totally to Te Atua and to the Church. • Celibacy frees priests from the responsibility of caring for wives and families. • Celibacy enables priests to love the Church with the same faithfulness and commitment that Christ does.

120 PART NINE: HOLY ORDERS

Achievement Objective 4

Church Teachings

Bishops

Priests

Deacons

The Conferring of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

121 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Explain / show the relationship between the ministry of a bishop and that of a priest. • Recognise, explain and give examples of important aspects of priestly ministry. • Research the symbolism behind the various items presented to a bishop, priest, or deacon at his ordination.

Teacher Background

The New Rites of Ordination Catholic teaching holds that in addition to the grace of office, the ordained receives a sacramental “character” which implies that the one who is ordained is permanently united with Christ and the Church. Thus, ordination cannot be repeated. This teaching underscores the Church’s deeply held conviction that despite any possible human infidelity, God is always true to the divine promise celebrated in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Following the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church revised the rites of ordination to reflect the Council’s teachings on the offices of the ordained. Although the rites of vesting, anointing and presentation of symbols remain, they are secondary to the laying on of hands and the prayer over the candidate to be ordained that follows.

The Ordination of Bishops The rite for the ordination of bishops is now modified to include the consecratory prayer from the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome. This emphasises the apostolic succession of bishops and their various duties and functions beyond the purely cultic. The collegial character of the episcopate is also stressed.

The rite, conducted by a principal consecrator and usually two other consecrating bishops, begins with a hymn – usually the Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit) – followed by the presentation of the bishop-elect, the reading of the apostolic letter from the Holy See, the consent of the people, a homily, an examination of the candidate, the litany of the saints, the laying on of hands, the placing of the Book of Gospels on the head of the new bishop, the prayer of consecration, the anointing of the new bishop's head, the presentation of the Book of the Gospels, the investiture with ring, mitre, and pastoral staff, the seating of the bishop in the chair of authority, and the kiss of peace.

The Ordination of Priests In the rite for the ordination of priests the collaborative relationship between the priest and the bishop is more clearly drawn. The Old Testament links are preserved in the consecratory prayer.

122 The rite begins with the calling and presentation of the candidate, the election by the bishop and the consent of the people, a homily, the examination of the candidate, the promise of obedience, the litany of the saints, the laying on of hands, the prayer of consecration, the investiture with stole and chasuble, the anointing of hands, the presentation of the gifts for Mass, and the kiss of peace.

The Ordination of Deacons Only minor changes have been made in the rite for the ordination of deacons. These take into account the decision to make the diaconate a proper and permanent order within the hierarchy in the Latin Church. The ceremony has also been simplified.

The rite begins with the calling and presentation of the candidate, the election by the bishop and the consent of the people, a homily, the commitment to celibacy (if he is unmarried), the examination of the candidate, the promise of obedience, the litany of the saints, the laying on of hands, the prayer of consecration, the investiture with stole and dalmatic, the presentation of the Book of the Gospels, and the kiss of peace.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Do Here students are asked to explain in words or show by way of a diagram the relationship between the ministry of a bishop and that of a priest.

Key ideas that may be expressed visually or verbally include:

• Priests are co-workers with the bishops • Priests carry out their ministries on behalf of the bishop in whose diocese they serve • Most priests assist the bishop by taking responsibility for the care of parishes • Priests work together under the bishop as members of the college of priests

Task Twenty-One Priests share in Christ’s ministry and serve the Church in various ways:

Preaching the Gospel Teaching about Jesus Christ and the Church Living a good and holy life Doing all in their power to help the people in their care grow to be mature Christians Helping people apply the Gospel to their own lives Encouraging missionary outreach Visiting people in their homes, especially the sick and the elderly Building up community and unity within the Church Caring for all parishioners Showing compassion for all people Working for justice for the poor and the oppressed Bringing new members into the Church through Baptism

123 Forgiving sins in the Sacrament of Penance Acting as the Church’s witness in the Sacrament of Matrimony Bringing healing to the sick in the Sacrament of Anointing Conducting funerals Helping people to pray Presiding at the celebration of the Eucharist, the centre of the Church’s life

Working in a pair or small group, students are asked to: a) Choose five aspects of priestly ministry that are listed that they think are most important. b) Explain why they consider each of their five chosen aspects important parts of a priest’s ministry. c) Give examples of how these important aspects of priestly ministry are seen in the lives and work of priests they know.

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Do Here students are asked to find out more about the symbolism behind one of the items presented to a bishop, priest or deacon at his ordination.

The following passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the symbolism behind the various items that are presented at an ordination:

As in all the sacraments additional rites surround the celebration. Varying greatly among the different liturgical traditions, these rites have in common the expression of the multiple aspects of sacramental grace. Thus in the Latin Church, the initial rites – presentation and election of the ordinand, instruction by the bishop, examination of the candidate, litany of the saints – attest that the choice of the candidate is made in keeping with the practice of the Church and prepare for the solemn act of consecration, after which several rites symbolically express and complete the mystery accomplished: for bishop and priest, an anointing with holy chrism, a sign of the special anointing of the Holy Spirit who makes their ministry fruitful; giving the book of the Gospels, the ring, the mitre, and the crosier to the bishop as the sign of his apostolic mission to proclaim the Word of God, of his fidelity to the Church, the bride of Christ, and his office as shepherd of the Lord's flock; presentation to the priest of the paten and chalice, “the offering of the holy people” which he is called to present to God; giving the book of the Gospels to the deacon who has just received the mission to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. (CCC 1574)

124 PART TEN: THE PATHWAY TO PRIESTHOOD

Achievement Objective 4

Church Teaching

The Formation and Training of Priests

• The priests of the future are formed in the image of the Good Shepherd through their training in seminaries. • Each Bishop is responsible for the formation of the local clergy in the context of the local culture and tradition. • Flexible and creative models of formation and learning should be used in the human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral training of candidates for the priesthood in Oceania. • The real academic and spiritual needs of seminarians must be met and extremes of clericalism and secularism avoided.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Name qualities that are desirable in someone called to priesthood and suggest ways in which these qualities might be developed. • Consider possible signs of a priestly vocation in themselves or someone close to them. • Explore challenges faced by priests in Aotearoa New Zealand today. • Give reasons why today fewer Catholic men take time to consider priestly life as a vocation. • List points in response to the argument that New Zealand has too few priests.

Teacher Background

The Formation and Training of Priests The following extracts from the document, Towards Priesthood, issued in 1998 by the bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand, provide useful background on priestly formation, including:

• The role and the mission of the priest • The qualities that the Church looks for in those called to the priesthood • Aspects of priestly training

125 From TOWARDS PRIESTHOOD WHAT IS A PRIEST?

Jesus Christ, Our High Priest The role of the priests in Israel was to act as intermediaries between God and the people, offering formal sacrifices to God. “You (Aaron) and your sons will undertake the priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and all that lies behind the veil. You will perform the liturgy, the duties of which I entrust to your priesthood” (Numbers 18:7). Christ has fulfilled and superseded the mediatorship of the Old Testament priesthood. He alone is our mediator, and his sacrifice has replaced all other sacrifices. Through union with Christ, we are all a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God . . .” (1 Peter 2:9). This priestliness or consecration to holiness is the real meaning of what is usually called the common priesthood of all the baptised.

The Apostolate of the Twelve To carry out his mission to the world, Jesus gathered around him “the twelve” and in this way formed the nucleus of what would become the Church. Through their ministry, Christ would continue his ministry. In other words, the apostles did not stand between Christ and his people as intermediaries. Through their ministry, Christ continued his own presence and his own activity. This is also true of those in whom the apostolic succession continues to be made visible. The Church has always believed and taught that the ministry entrusted by Jesus to his twelve apostles continues in the ordained ministries of bishops, priests (also known as “presbyters” or “elders”) and deacons. The bishop's role is to ensure that in the midst of diversity the communion of the Church is maintained. The priest shares in this role through a ministry of the word that calls people into communion and celebrates this communion in the Eucharist. The deacon also shares in the bishop's role, through a ministry of the word that calls the community to be at the service of the word. It is Christ's word that gathers, nurtures and forms us as his body. Ordained ministry is a sign that we become Christ's priestly people by receiving this word as something given by Christ, not by giving the word to ourselves.

Ministerial priesthood and the universal priesthood “differ from one another in essence, and not only in degree . . . . each in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.” (Lumen Gentium 10). Because they are both a participation in the priesthood of Christ, which cannot differ in kind from itself, it is the manner of participating, the function, that differs. By the sacrament of Holy Orders, some are given a function that is not given to all by their baptism.

The priest is the visible sign of Christ's relationship to his body. References to the priest representing Christ as shepherd, priest, head and bridegroom are images that illuminate the nature of that relationship.

The relationship of the priest to Hehu Karaiti, and in him to his Church, is part of the priest's very being by virtue of his sacramental consecration / anointing, and is expressed in his ministry. He is enabled and empowered to perform specific acts of ministry that bring Christ's redeeming action into people's lives. Jesus Christ acts through him to save his people.

Because of his relationship to Christ, the concerns of the priest echo the concerns and mission of Christ himself. Like Jesus, he is called to witness in his relationships to fraternity, service, the common quest for truth and the promotion of justice and peace. Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, his concern must extend beyond his own

126 flock – to the members of other Christian Churches and denominations – to the followers of other religions – to people of good will – to the poor and the defenceless – to all who hunger, even unknowingly, for the truth and salvation of Christ.

I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:1-14) (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 15).

THE MISSION OF THE PRIEST

The Risen Lord calls ordained priests:

• to lead his holy people in love • to nourish them with his Word • to give them spiritual strength, support and guidance through preaching • to strengthen them through the sacraments • to renew in his name the sacrifice of our Redemption as they set before his family the paschal meal and ... • to “give their lives in the service of the Father” as Christ did (preface of Chrism Mass, Roman Missal).

The Church's mission is to continue the work of Christ. The priest's ministry is entirely on behalf of the Church's mission. The priest is servant to the Church as mystery because he makes present the Church's sacramental signs of the Risen Christ. He is servant to the Church's communion because he is called to build the unity of the Church. He is servant to the Church as mission because he makes the community a herald and witness of the Gospel.

All Share in One Priesthood Ordination makes priests members of the presbyteral order – bringing them into communion with other priests and their diocesan bishop. Through their communion with him, their priestly concern includes the universal Church as well as their own particular Church. All priests, whether diocesan or religious, share in the one priesthood of Christ. All work for the one cause - building up the Body of Christ. The ordained ministry of priests exists to nurture and promote the priesthood of the entire people of God, and so the priest must serve God's people in a positive, helping and humble relationship.

The pastoral situation today calls for a “newness”: a new evangelisation involving the entire people of God; new fervour; new ways of announcing and witnessing to the Gospel. Priests need to be:

• deeply and fully immersed in the mystery of Christ; able to adopt new styles of pastoral life; able to live and work in communion with the Pope, the bishops, other priests, men and women in religious life and the laity.

They need always to respect and foster the different roles, gifts and ministries present within the Church community in New Zealand.

127 WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR IN A PRIEST? A priest should be:

1. In love with God A priest is called to serve the spiritual needs of people today. People have a hunger for God and expect the priest to lead them to God. Therefore, he must be a spiritual, prayerful man who, through his own experience of God and profound communion with the Church, is able to communicate his experience of God to others, and lead them into the heart of the Church. His very identity points to the unseen God, the Holy One.

2. Committed He is to be a priest of his local Church (diocese), who understands and appreciates the role of his bishop, is an integral part of the presbyterate, and is prepared to work together in faith with other priests and the whole ecclesial community.

3. Prayerful A priest needs to be prayerful, able to reflect on the events of life in the light of faith, and therefore grow in holiness. This demands that the priest be at home with solitude and mystery. "Following the example of Christ, the priest must know how to maintain the vivacity and abundance of the moments of silence and prayer in which he cultivates and deepens his own essential relationship with the living figure of Jesus Christ." (Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests 40)

4. Able to express his love for Christ in his love for his flock The path to holiness for the priest lies in carrying out the demands of his ministry, in all its variety and routine, with the deep charity that flows from his union with Christ the Good Shepherd. In order to continue doing the will of his Father in the world, Christ works unceasingly through the Church. He operates through his ministers, and therefore remains always the source and wellspring of the unity of their lives. A priest can achieve this co-ordination and unity of life by joining himself with Christ to acknowledge the will of the Father. This means completely giving himself in pastoral charity to the flock committed to him.

A very special source of this pastoral charity is the Eucharistic sacrifice. The Eucharist stands as the root and centre of the whole life of a priest. The priest must make his own what takes place on the altar of sacrifice. To do this priests, through prayer, must continue to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of Christ. “It is above all in the celebration of the sacraments and the liturgy of the hours that the priest is called to live and witness to the deep unity between the exercise of his ministry and his spiritual life . . . . For the priest as well the truly central place, both in his ministry and in his spiritual life, belongs to the Eucharist.” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 26)

5. A mature human person A priest's human personality acts as the bridge between his mission from Christ and the members of Christ's faithful entrusted to him. Therefore, he needs to be a mature human person with a true knowledge of self; a balanced, integrated person who is appreciative of all Christian and human virtues. He will be open to growth and able to adapt. “Future priests should therefore cultivate a series of human qualities, not only out of proper and due growth and realisation of self, but also with a view to the ministry. These qualities are needed for them to be balanced people, strong and free, capable of bearing the weight of pastoral responsibilities. They need to be educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to

128 respect every person, to have a sense of justice, to be true to their word, to be genuinely compassionate, to be men of integrity and, especially, to be balanced in judgment and behaviour.” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 43)

6. Accepting of his vocation The priest must see his priestly vocation, ratified by the Church, as God's irrevocable gift to him. Because God calls him to be a priest, he freely and without reserve offers himself to God and the Church in his celibate life and in his total dedication to building up the Church.

7. Able to live and proclaim the Gospel The priest, as a servant of the Word of God, must humbly receive this Word from the Church, live by it faithfully, and always proclaim it joyfully and courageously. He needs to be able to read the signs of the times and to evangelise in today's secular society. “It is the first task of priests as co-workers of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all . . . moreover the priest's preaching, often very difficult in present day conditions, if it is to become more effective in moving the minds of his hearers, must expound the Word of God not merely in a general and abstract way but by an application of the eternal truth of the Gospel to the concrete circumstances of life.” (Presbyterorum Ordinis – Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests 4)

8. Good with people The priest must be able to understand the needs of his people and share their hopes and joys, comforting them in times of distress, rejoicing with them in their joys and happiness. The ability to relate to others in a warm and human way is truly fundamental for a person who is called to be responsible for a community.

9. Able to accept and foster the work of others Since the priest needs to be able to work collaboratively with the People of God, fostering their indispensable contribution to Church and society he must learn to “always respect and foster the different roles, charisms and ministries present within the ecclesial community.” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 18)

10. Able to embrace celibacy Priests need to be men who are at home with their own sexuality, emotionally mature, and committed to chaste celibate love. “For an adequate priestly spiritual life, celibacy ought not to be considered and lived as an isolated or purely negative element, but as one aspect of a positive, specific and characteristic approach to being a priest.” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 29, 44)

11. Self-motivated and self-disciplined Priestly maturity demands sufficient self-motivation and self-discipline to enable the priest to allocate sufficient time for his spiritual life, studies and pastoral activities.

12. Able to celebrate life Priests need to be able to celebrate life as a gift from God, and to have the ability to relax and be joyful and enthusiastic witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

129 13. Sensitive to Te Tangata Whenua All priests working in New Zealand must be sensitive to the place of Maori people as the indigenous people of New Zealand. They must have a knowledge of and respect for Maori language and culture.

14. Comfortable with his own culture and accepting of others Priests must be aware of the significance of their own culture and the cultures of their people, and be "inspired by the Catholic principles of inculturation" (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 55). A priest should be knowledgeable about his own primary culture(s) and be capable of evaluating, in Christian terms, both its strengths and its weaknesses. As a seminarian, he should have had close contact with the principal New Zealand cultures other than his own, as well as the opportunity for guided reflection on his personal reactions and ability to relate to those other cultures. A priest can never expect to be a totally effective pastor to people of cultures other than his own, and needs to be able to work collaboratively with leaders of other cultures in any local pastoral ministry.

15. Aware that there are needs he cannot meet The impossibility of being all things for all people also applies to gender differences, whether cultural or biological. When ministering to women, a priest needs to be alert to the possibility that some situations may require him to seek support and collaboration from women, as he would when dealing with any other cultural gulf.

16. Able to empathise with the weak As well as having strength of character, a healthy personality and qualities of leadership, a priest must be able to empathise with those who struggle. This is not a matter of moral weakness, but a matter of knowing what it is like to be human and vulnerable – “subject to the limitations of weakness” (Hebrews 5:2). The priest does not need to be above struggle and vulnerability in order to minister to others. It is precisely his “weakness” that God makes use of for his ministry. For so it was with Christ: “For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test ... For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin ... He can sympathise with those who are ignorant or who have gone astray, because he too is subject to the limitations of weakness” (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15; 5:2). Like Paul, the priest can afford to say: “It is, then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me; and that is why I am glad of weaknesses . . . for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR PRIESTLY FORMATION?

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference, seminary staff, theologate staff, vocation directors and pastoral placement supervisors must have a correct and deep awareness of the nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood, as Pope John Paul II stated:

Knowledge of the nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood is essential . . . for fostering and discerning vocations to the priesthood and training those called to ordained ministry. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 11)

130 All those entrusted with priestly formation (human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral) must be motivated by a genuine love for Christ and his Church, and loyalty and respect for the magisterium and its understanding of priesthood.

The bishops first of all should feel their grave responsibility for the formation of those who have been given the task of educating future priests. For this ministry, priests of exemplary life should be chosen, men with a number of qualities; human and spiritual maturity, pastoral experience, professional competence, stability in their own vocation, a capacity to work with others, serious preparation in those human sciences (psychology especially) which relate to their office, a knowledge of how to work in groups. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 66)

Prior to entry into the seminary, prospective seminarians will have guidance to help discern their vocation and appropriate pre-seminary formation. The seminary programme will then build on this initial formation.

The major seminary should strive to become a community built on deep friendship and charity so that it can be considered a true family living in joy. As a Christian institution, the seminary should become - an "ecclesial community" , a community of the disciples of the Lord in which the one same liturgy (which imbues life with a spirit of prayer) is celebrated; a community moulded daily in the reading and meditation of the Word of God and with the sacrament of the Eucharist, and in the practice of fraternal charity and justice; a community in which, as its life and the life of each of its members progresses, there shine forth the Spirit of Christ and love for the Church. (PDV 60) (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 60)

Before accepting former seminarians or religious who seek to re-enter a seminary, the diocesan bishop must obtain the testimony of the former rector or superior concerning the reason for their departure or dismissal. (Canon 241.3)

Particular attention needs to be paid to emotional, psychological and sexual maturity and doctrinal matters according to any norms of the Bishops' Conference. The diocesan bishop is to have moral certainty of the seminarian's suitability for ordination.

The common life and good of the seminary community and each person in it will be fostered and protected by following the statutes of the seminary drawn up in accordance with Canon 237.

Although priests will always have an irreplaceable role in the training and formation of priests, it is also vital that religious and lay men and women contribute their gifts and charisms. The seminary is a "community of disciples of the Lord", united by love of Jesus and his Church, centred on the daily celebration of the Eucharist, animated by the joy and demands of the Gospel and living by the spiritual practices proposed by the Church to all priests. The seminary community aims to relive "the experience of formation which Our Lord provided for the Twelve." (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 60)

Because the mission of the Church and the priesthood is lived out in New Zealand, the seminary's life and programmes must include natural and vital contacts with a wide variety of persons and communities outside itself.

131 Within the seminary community as a whole, smaller stable groupings should be established. They would always include a First Year Formation Group with its own trained formator and formation programme. Such small groups must foster and enable healthy personal interaction, a spirit of Christian co-operation, responsible conduct, self-mastery, community spirit, proper use of freedom, development of one's gifts and generous response to the demands of charity.

Because the focus of these small groups is on formation for diocesan priesthood, ideally the formator would be a diocesan priest who would live with the students in order to know and accompany them on their journey to diocesan priesthood.

The seminary programme and spiritual direction should teach seminarians to value solitude and personal prayer as a necessary part of priestly spirituality. Occasions for silence and properly directed solitude should be provided, especially in retreats and days of recollection. (Program of Priestly Formation 321) "Students should be led to appreciate the value of silence and recollection appropriate for prayer, study and thoughtful personal growth." (Program of Priestly Formation 146)

The academic programme will comprise the study of philosophy and study of theology required by Church law.

Because the entire training of seminarians is for a pastoral purpose and for developing pastoral charity "the whole training of the students should have as its object to make them true shepherds of souls after the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest and shepherd" (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 57). Therefore, students will spend a whole year in their own diocese, normally in their fifth year, experiencing life in a parish, under the supervision and example of a priest of their own presbyterate.

The experience of this pastoral year offers seminarians a valuable opportunity to test their vocation in a context similar to their future ministry. It also introduces them to the needs and resources of the local Church and to the local presbyterate.

During the summer holidays, seminarians should be encouraged to join the work force in order to have contact with people in their daily lives. This is seen as highly suitable preparation for priesthood and gives them the opportunity to combine the demands of work with their commitment to prayerful preparation for priesthood. Experience of working in parishes is also provided as part of their formation. Seminarians could be placed in parishes or other ministry settings in order to give them broader pastoral experiences.

To make these pastoral experiences (Fifth Year Pastoral placement, summer holidays) truly effective each diocese will need a diocesan pastoral coordinator. This pastoral coordinator will also have responsibility for on-going formation of young priests.

The on-going formation of priests is the natural and absolutely necessary continuation of the process of building priestly personality which began and developed in the seminary with the training programme which aimed at ordination. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 71)

During seminary training, the seminarians will have appropriate supervised pastoral experiences.

132 When it comes to choosing places and services in which candidates can obtain their pastoral experience, the parish should be given particular importance, for it is a living cell of local and specialised pastoral work in which they will find themselves faced with the kind of problems they will meet in their future ministry. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 58)

It is important that, after their seminary training, priests experience ongoing formation.

Ongoing formation should always be a part of the priest's life. It is a duty in the first instance for young priests and they should have frequent and systematic meetings by which they continue the sound and serious formation they have received in the seminary. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 76)

BECOMING A PRIEST

The Apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 42 outlined the different areas of formation as:

• Human • Spiritual • Intellectual • Pastoral

These four areas are discussed more fully below, and need to be reflected on and studied by seminarians and those involved in their formation.

HUMAN FORMATION: THE BASIS OF ALL PRIESTLY FORMATION

Jesus Christ, in his person and in his actions, perfectly embodies what it is to be a human person. Because the priest is to be a "living image" of Jesus Christ, he needs to shape his human personality in such a way that it becomes a bridge to lead others to Jesus Christ, and not an obstacle in their way.

People are attracted to Jesus and the Church when priests are open and kind, courteous, friendly, hospitable, prudent and discreet, sincere in words and heart, affirming and encouraging; when they are cooperative, generous and ready to serve, willing to make meeting and dialogue easy. Equally, people are alienated and turned away from Jesus and the Church when priests are poor listeners, arrogant, quarrelsome, unwilling to share responsibility, cynical or unkind. Therefore, the capacity to relate to others is of special importance for the priest who is called to be a "man of communion" (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 43) in the midst of a community.

The whole work of priestly formation would be deprived of its necessary foundation if it lacked a suitable human formation. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 43)

Human formation helps to cultivate qualities important for ministry so that as future priests they will be:

balanced people, strong and free, capable of bearing the weight of pastoral responsibilities. They need to be educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to

133 respect every human person, to have a sense of justice, to be true to their word, to be genuinely compassionate, to be men of integrity and, especially, to be balanced in judgement and behaviour. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 43)

As a "living image" of Jesus Christ, sensitive to the needs of his people, a priest will be polite, well mannered, patient, appropriately dressed, well spoken, friendly, respectful of others, able to relate to women, men and children in a mature way. Emotional maturity for celibate living requires enlightened and comprehensive preparation.

Emotional maturity for the priest is about offering "with the grace of the Spirit and the free response of one's own will the whole of one's love and care to Jesus Christ and to his Church." This kind of maturity "should bring to human relationships of serene friendship and deep brotherliness a strong, lively and personal love for Jesus Christ” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 44).

Sexuality finds its authentic meaning in relation to affective maturity. Seminarians should understand the connection between mature love and celibacy. In doing so, the insights of modern psychology can be a considerable aid. The goal of psychosexual, social and spiritual development should be to form seminarians into chaste, celibate men who are loving pastors of the people they serve.

The primary duty of a priest is to proclaim God's word and to announce the reign of God. He does this by his life, the whole of his pastoral ministry, and especially in the liturgy and the sacraments. By his choice to accept celibacy as an integral part of his ministry, he is staking his whole life on the "kingdom" that he proclaims.

Priests are called to grow in their love for Christ, even to the point of loving in the way he loved. In this way, celibacy becomes part of the priest's personal love for Christ. It also gives him a way of putting people first – in his life and in his concerns – precisely because there is not a wife and family who would have the right to be first.

It is important for priests to appreciate the human and artistic values of their culture, and the cultural heritage of the Church; for example, music, art and literature. When they do so, they grow as persons and are able to communicate and evangelise more successfully.

Most seminarians come to the seminary with significant life experiences. Because of this, the seminary must always be seen as a community of free and responsible adults among whom an atmosphere of trust must prevail. In recognition of this, the seminary must employ adult formation processes. The student for priesthood must be responsible for his own life and the decisions he makes while he actively cooperates with all the facets of his training.

The candidate himself is a necessary and irreplaceable agent in his own formation: All formation, priestly formation included, is ultimately a self- formation. No one can replace us in the responsible freedom that we have as individual persons. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 69)

Priestly life requires physical well-being and health. Therefore, students must learn to be physically fit and clean, and to have a well adjusted diet and healthy sleep patterns. Healthy self-management requires training in signals of stress, the understanding of one's emotions and feelings, possible dependency patterns and how to deal with anger constructively, so that the student becomes comfortable with

134 himself and free to enter into loving relationships. The Kingdom of God announced by the Gospel is lived by people who are deeply bound to a culture, and the construction of this Kingdom has to take account of cultural elements. Therefore, human formation processes should always take account of the cultural inheritance of each student.

SPIRITUAL FORMATION: IN COMMUNION WITH GOD AND IN SEARCH OF CHRIST

Human formation that recognises the essentially religious dimension of the human person naturally leads to and finds its completion in spiritual formation. Since the human heart is restless until it rests in the Lord, the seminary needs to be a prayerful and reflective environment so that the student can continue to grow humanly and spiritually.

Spiritual formation introduces the candidate to a "deep communion with Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, and leads to a total submission of one's life to the Spirit, in a filial attitude toward the Father and a trustful attachment to the Church" (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 45).

The seminarian is being formed to take on the likeness of Christ. He needs to be led to see that his spiritual formation unifies and gives life to his being a priest and his acting as a priest. The Second Vatican Council made a point of highlighting the importance of integrating the spiritual and ministerial aspects of priesthood.

The spiritual life is a life of intimacy with God, but this very meeting with God brings us face to face with a need to meet our neighbour in humble and disinterested service. Therefore "spiritual formation also involves seeking Christ in people” (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 49).

A goal of spiritual formation is to develop pastoral charity. Therefore "preparation for the priesthood must necessarily involve proper training in charity and particularly the preferential love for the poor in whom our faith discovers Jesus, and a merciful love for sinners" (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 49).

The programme of priestly / spiritual formation builds on seminarians' own experiences of God who has led them to the seminary. At the same time it enables them to be open to ongoing conversion as they put on the mind of Christ.

The seminarian needs to learn:

• To live intimately with Christ, and . . . • To search for Jesus, and to come to know Jesus as Lord.

The spiritual practices which the Church proposes to all priests will help him to do this:

• meditation on the Word of God • active participation in the sacred mysteries of the Church, especially the Eucharist and the Divine Office. • service of charity to all • devotion to Mary • personal prayer • regular reception of the Sacrament of Penance

135 • annual retreat • regular meetings with his spiritual director

Seminarians should be encouraged to bring their studies to prayer, so that their devotional and spiritual life is founded on the rich heritage of the scriptures and the Church's tradition, and so that their learning is deepened and nourished by their prayerful reflection. As they bring together their studies and their prayer, students will experience ongoing conversion in their lives. They will acquire the attitudes manifested by Jesus in the Gospels, and more readily embrace the mind of the Church.

Since the priest leads the community in prayer and teaches others to pray, the seminarian needs to experience prayer with others in a community. He needs to learn to be comfortable in leading people in the Church's Liturgy, in other formal prayer and in more informal, spontaneous settings (for example, small group prayer, with families in need, at sickbeds, and so on).

Seminarians need to be taught to reflect on the events of each day, including the mundane and the exciting, the joyful and the challenging in order to discover that the mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection is present in their own lives.

Formation for celibacy demands a spiritual dimension. Celibacy is not just a legal norm but a value profoundly connected with ordination whereby a man takes on the likeness of Christ, the Good Shepherd and Spouse of the Church. Celibacy must be a positive choice of undivided love for Christ and his Church, so that the priest is fully and joyfully available for pastoral ministry.

This formation in celibacy will help the seminarian to understand the Christian and truly human nature and purpose of sexuality in marriage and in celibacy.

INTELLECTUAL FORMATION: UNDERSTANDING THE FAITH

The very situation of the Church today demands increasingly that teachers be truly able to face the complexity of the times and that they be in a position to face competently, with clarity and deep reasoning, the questions about meaning which are put by the people of today, questions which can only receive a full and definitive reply in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 56)

Since people in New Zealand, including Catholics, have a higher level of education, priests more than ever need a thorough theological education. While effective preaching and teaching require good communication skills, they first demand a sound and thoughtful theological foundation. Therefore, "it is necessary to oppose firmly the tendency to play down the seriousness of studies and the commitment to them." (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 56) (USCCB: Program of Priestly Formation 338)

Intellectual formation is integrally related to human and spiritual formation. Through study, the seminarian deepens his appreciation of the Word of God, gives his heart to it, grows in his spiritual life and prepares himself for pastoral ministry.

The academic programme must focus on priesthood and have a pastoral orientation. The goal of intellectual formation is the conversion of mind and heart in order for the seminarian to have a comprehensive grounding in the Catholic faith, a love for it and a passionate desire to share it. "It will enable priests to proclaim the changeless

136 Gospel of Christ and to make it credible to the legitimate demands of human reason." (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 51)

The academic programme will encompass the subjects outlined in the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis.

As seminarians study divine revelation in the light of faith and under the guidance of the Church's magisterium, they should grow personally into ever more committed disciples by virtue of what they learn. Only in this way will they be able to proclaim, expound, and guard the faith persuasively for the welfare of the faithful. Ultimately intellectual formation should teach seminarians to regard themselves as part of the tradition of authorized teachers and living witnesses by which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is handed down from one generation to the next. (Program of Priestly Formation 333).

To be pastorally effective intellectual formation is to be integrated with a spirituality marked by a personal experience of God . . . In this way a purely abstract approach to knowledge is overcome in favour of that intelligence of heart which knows how to look beyond and then is in a position to communicate the mystery of God to the people. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 51)

As well as study of the sacred sciences, it is important that seminarians have a good knowledge of history and the human sciences. These will help them “in reading the signs of the times in relation to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. In this regard a knowledge of history and the human sciences is invaluable.” (Program of Priestly Formation 344) It also helps them to understand the world in which the Gospel is to be preached.

PASTORAL FORMATION: COMMUNION WITH THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD

The goal of pastoral formation is to form seminarians with a comprehensive pastoral outlook in order for them to minister with the charity of Christ the Good Shepherd. Therefore, a pastoral concern "should characterise every feature of the student's training." (Decree on Priestly Training – Second Vatican Council 19) "The whole training of the students should have as its object to make them true shepherds of souls after the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher, Priest, Shepherd." (Decree on Priestly Training – Second Vatican Council 4)

Pastoral formation will prepare students for the ministry of the Word, the ministry of worship and sanctification, and the ministry of the Shepherd.

Pastoral formation certainly cannot be reduced to a mere apprenticeship, aiming to make the candidate familiar with some pastoral techniques. The seminary which educates must seek really and truly to initiate the candidate into the sensitivity of being a shepherd, in the conscious and mature assumption of his responsibilities, in the interior habit of evaluating problems and establishing priorities and looking for solutions on the basis of honest motivations of faith and according to the theological demands inherent in pastoral work. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 58)

Learning by example and identification, an aspect of education often used in other professions, is of great importance in the pastoral formation of seminarians (Program

137 of Priestly Formation 400); for example, the fifth year pastoral placement, and ongoing formation of newly ordained priests.

By learning through experience, seminarians not only learn what they know but what they do not know or understand. Furthermore, pastoral experience can make them more eager to learn and grow spiritually (Program of Priestly Formation 401)

Because peoples' lives are nourished by the Word of God, especially when that Word is proclaimed and expounded in the Liturgy, preaching is an essential and vital aspect of a priest's ministry:

Pastoral formation should present preaching as entailing a high sense of responsibility and dedication on the part of priests: it should never be improvised but should be prepared by study and prayer, expressing the perennial values of Scripture, tradition, liturgy, the Magisterium and the life of the Church. It requires consistency between the priest's preaching and his life. (Pastoral Guide for Diocesan Priests in Churches Dependent on the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples 7)

The celebration of the Liturgy is a crucial aspect of the priest's pastoral care of people. In celebrating the Church's liturgy, he needs to be able to lead people into an experience of the presence of God. An important aspect of pastoral formation is the training of future priests for the celebration of the liturgy:

They should be trained for the ministry of worship and sanctification so that, by prayer and the celebration of the sacred liturgical functions, they may carry on the work of salvation through the eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. (Pastores Dabo Vobis – I Will Give You Shepherds 57)

Authentic pastoral formation is collaborative in nature, ecumenically and multi- culturally sensitive, and alert to questions of social justice. Seminarians must be competent to care for Maori persons, using their own language and cultural practices.

Pastoral formation aims to fill the seminarian with the pastoral spirit that enables him to be an effective priest by knowing his people, personally visiting them in their homes, while fulfilling his special obligation to comfort those who are sick and bereaved and those with special needs or difficulties.

One of the priest's most important tasks is to identify and call forth the charisms of his parishioners. Priests need to be able to encourage and support others in their apostolate and in Christianising the world. The priest fully collaborates with other members of the parish team, the parish pastoral council and all those involved in various aspects of parish life. However, the priest is more than a co-ordinator and director of operations. He is sacramentally ordained to be an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd. He personally “makes present” the Good Shepherd in a way that cannot be transferred to those who assist him in the parish.

He is ordained to be what he must constantly choose to be – a good shepherd – one who knows his people and allows them to know him. His presence is a symbol: it tells people they matter, as people matter to Christ. Like Jesus himself, the priest will have a special concern for the poor and marginalised. Because of the priest, people come to know that Christ is one for whom life-long commitment, personal sacrifice and faithfulness are all worthwhile.

138 It is also through his ministry that he grows in holiness, that his own vocation continues to be nurtured. In ministering to others, he is ministered to. By his life, he encourages other vocations to the priesthood.

Links with the Student Text

Something to Discuss “The priest is Christ’s special instrument in building up the Church to be what it is called to be.”

Here students are asked to consider:

a) What personal qualities are desirable in someone who is called to priesthood. b) How might a person develop these qualities.

Answers will vary from student to student, but some suggestions are:

• Love of Te Atua • Prayerfulness • A love of Scripture • Love of people • A willingness to serve others • Generosity • Empathy • Loyalty to the Church • An ability to listen • An ability to live a celibate lifestyle

During Formation the training at a seminary (usually over a six year period) provides a person who feels called to be a priest with opportunities to develop the above qualities.

Something to Think About Students are asked to consider whether they recognise any of the possible signs of a priestly vocation in themselves or someone close to them.

Task Twenty-Two This task asks students to read four brief testimonies by priests and identify some of the rewarding aspects of priestly life and ministry that they identify.

Some of these are:

• The humility of allowing Jesus to work through them. • The excitement and satisfaction of living and working among God’s people. • The privilege of meeting many people. • The opportunity of serving different races and cultures.

139 • The challenge to believe that they are creating a better Church in a better world. • Discovering that Christ is the answer. • Trying to be Christ to all people. • The freedom to proclaim the Gospel, to pray, to reflect and to celebrate the Eucharist with God’s people in a way that makes Christ real in today’s world.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider:

a) What some of the challenges are that priests face in Aotearoa New Zealand today. b) Why fewer Catholic men take time to consider priestly life as a vocation.

Challenges facing priests in Aotearoa New Zealand today include:

• Ministering to people in a society that is more sceptical about religion and much less obviously Christian than in the past • Preaching Te Rongopai of Jesus Christ in a culture dominated by values that are contrary to the Gospel – consumerism, sexual exploitation, the cult of celebrity etc. • Retaining the confidence and trust of people in the wake of clerical abuse scandals • Their own aging population • Working collaboratively with lay people and religious • Coming to terms with new ways of organising the pastoral care of people (e.g. pastoral areas and pastoral clusters)

Reasons why fewer Catholic men take time to consider priestly life as a vocation include:

• Catholic parents and families are less likely to present the priestly life as a serious vocation to their sons. • There is a much greater range of vocation / career options open to young men today than in the past. • The “bad press” often given to the Church by the media. • The concern by young men that they will lose the esteem and support of their peers if they choose to be priests. • The fear by young men that they will be minority amongst greater numbers of old priests. • The concern by young men that they will have “to give up too much” in order to become priests.

140 Something to Discuss Here students are asked to read a brief article written by Cardinal Thomas Williams in answer to New Zealanders who are concerned that this country has too few priests.

Students are asked to identify the points that Cardinal Williams makes in response to these concerns.

Here are some relevant ideas:

• In Aotearoa New Zealand the average number of Catholics per parish is well below the world average. • In the past the number of priests in New Zealand has been exceptionally high for the number of Catholics – it is still high. • While the number of priests is declining and they are getting older, it is not true that our country has too few priests. Nor is it true that they have impossibly large flocks to look after. • We do not live in a time of crisis, but in a time of grace and opportunity.

141 PART ELEVEN: THE STORY OF RELIGIOUS LIFE

Achievement Objective 5

Students will be able to develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the consecrated religious life.

Church Teachings

Consecrated Religious Life

• The consecrated religious life is characterised by the public profession of the evangelical counsels – the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience – recognised by the Church. • Those who profess the evangelical counsels are not part of the Church’s hierarchy but essential to her life and holiness. • Those who dedicate themselves to the religious life consecrate themselves more closely to God’s service and the good of the whole Church. • Religious life is distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by its emphasis of the Liturgy, the public profession of the evangelical counsels, and life lived in community.

The Origins and Development of Religious Life

• From the evangelical counsels have developed a great many forms of the religious life. • From the beginning of the Church, many men and women have been led by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ by practising the evangelical counsels and establishing religious families that have been approved by the Church. • Religious life originated in the East during the first Christian centuries.

Hermits

• Hermits devote their life to the praise of God through a strict separation from the world, through a solitary way of life, and through constant prayer and penance. • Hermits are called to find “the Crucified One” in the desert.

Consecrated Virgins

142

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Identify characteristics of the consecrated religious life. • Give reasons why the term “consecrated” is used of those who are vowed members of religious orders or congregations. • Explain how the example of Jesus might have inspired others to go into the “desert” to find God. • Distinguish between hermits and monks. • Formulate questions about key figures in the history of consecrated religious life. • Recognise the contribution of active and contemplative religious orders and congregations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Teacher Background

Religious Orders and Congregations Members of religious orders and congregations live under a religious rule and publicly profess the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience or their equivalents. Technically, the terms refer to groups who are recognised by Church authorities, are subject to canon law, and have organised structures of authority. There are also “noncanonical” groups that are grouped under this heading. Equally, the terms are understood to include associations of autonomous monasteries, such as the Benedictines, following a common rule. The outdated distinction between “orders” and “congregations” was based on technical differences concerning the status of their vows.

Religious orders are most fully developed within the Roman Catholic Church. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, a variety of patterns of religious life exist within a single monastic tradition.

Origins of Religious Orders A visibly distinctive, consecrated life has existed from earliest times within the Christian community. Some suggest that celibacy and community are the two defining features of consecrated religious life. However, Celtic monasticism was not exclusively celibate and community life means different things to an enclosed nun and a missionary priest.

Traditionally, the Church has traced the origins of religious life back to the end of the third century when groups of women and men ascetics moved to the Egyptian desert in order to live a more authentic Christian lifestyle. They saw themselves as ordinary Christian lay men and women, living out the full implications of their Baptism. However, there was also an earlier tradition of ascetics in the Palestinian and Syrian wilderness. Consecrated virgins or widows had lived alongside deaconesses within local Christian congregations from a very early stage. By the fourth century, consecrated virgins and widows lived increasingly in communities.

143 Community life under a rule originated in Egypt primarily with Pachomius (c.290 - c.347). The monastic ideal spread to the West through figures such as John Cassian (c.365 - c.435), whose writings, based on the Egyptian tradition, were to influence the Rule of Saint Benedict (c.480 - c.550).

A Complex Phenomenon It is misleading to assume that all religious life is a kind of monastic derivative that developed in a straightforward way from primitive monasticism to modern international missionary congregations.

While the Benedictine model with its emphasis on a strong abbot, a stable residence, and the centrality of the Liturgy of the Hours eventually became dominant, early Western monasticism took many forms. Monastic founders such as Martin of Tours (316 - 397) were not in the Benedictine tradition. Celtic monasticism, such as that of Saint Columba (521 - 597) on Iona, Saint Cuthbert (634 - 687) on Lindisfarne, Saint Hilda (614 - 680) at Whitby, and Saint Columbanus (543 - 615) in Gaul and Italy, had different values and structures from the well-ordered world of a Benedictine abbey.

Another ancient stream of religious life, the so-called canonical life, also existed in the West. By tradition, Saint Augustine (354 - 430) founded the first monastic community at Hippo in North Africa at the end of the fourth century. The rule named after him had considerable influence during the middle ages, particularly from the eleventh century. Its spirit contrasted in significant ways with that of the Rule of Saint Benedict and was adopted by more active communities such as canons and canonesses, friars and nursing sisters.

The issue of whether the solitary life should be considered a form of religious life has at times been the cause of debate within the Church. After the early solitaries and single virgins, the solitary life continued in the Western Church although it was not always formally recognised by Church law. The revision of canon law in 1983 gives it a formal status once more and there has been a striking revival of the solitary life in recent years.

During the Middle Ages, “hermits” or “solitaries” were not necessarily enclosed recluses. The majority had fairly close contact with the local community and some served it as guides to travellers, hostel-keepers, and guardians of bridges or coastal beacons. Others made pilgrimages to the great shrines of Christendom. In contrast, “anchorites” had a more secluded, contemplative vocation. Among these may be included the fourteenth-century English mystic Julian of Norwich (c.1342 - c. 1420).

After the thirteenth-century foundation of the mendicant orders, groups of associated tertiaries (Third Orders) were established for those unable to live the full life of the parent religious order. Some gathered in communities, but others lived in their own homes. The same mixture may be found among the women's movement, the Beguines of Flanders, northern Germany, and northern France, from the end of the twelfth century. These developments offered an alternative to the traditional structures of religious life.

144 Important Reforms and Developments Three periods of development associated with social and cultural change and movements of Church reform are particularly important in the history of religious congregations.

1) From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, the Church underwent greater centralisation and won increased freedom from political control. At the same time, major cultural developments such as the twelfth- century Renaissance and the gradual growth of towns and a new merchant class led to the emergence of a new spiritual movement which emphasised gospel simplicity and radical poverty.

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the reforms were largely within the traditional structures of religious life. Many groups joined the canonical life under the Rule of Saint Augustine and there were various attempts by men and women to return to the original spirit of the Rule of Saint Benedict. This produced reformed monasteries and new orders such as the austere and physically isolated Cistercians and Camaldolese. The latter – and the better-known Carthusians – balanced solitude with community life.

During the early part of the thirteenth century an entirely new form of religious life emerged, the mendicant or “begging” orders with their emphasis on preaching and poverty. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, and Servites had varied origins. These lived in community, mainly in urban centres. Because they were not enclosed, they were able to teach in the newly established universities and preach to the people in the “market place” as well as in churches.

Women were involved in most of these movements but were increasingly subject to restrictive legislation. For many centuries, with varying degrees of success, attempts had been made to impose strict enclosure on women. The participation of women in groups of wandering preachers during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries provoked strong reactions from Church authorities. This coincided with the restriction of all ministerial roles to a celibate priesthood. Mendicant women, in the end, were unable to share the same lifestyle as their male counterparts.

2) In the sixteenth century, a new form of religious life developed in response to social and religious upheavals. Freed from enclosure and lengthy public liturgies, this form of religious life was characterised by mobility and a spirituality that was strongly directed towards service. The best known example of these new orders is the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. From these origins sprang those orders that were later termed apostolic – a description that came to be applied to all orders and congregations whose main focus was active ministry. Women, however, were once again limited in their roles. For example, the Ursulines, established by Saint Angela Merici (1474-1540) in the sixteenth century, and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded by Mary Ward

145 (1586-1645) in the early seventeenth century, were severely hampered in their efforts to live a more creative and mobile form of religious life by an imposed degree of enclosure.

New, mostly active religious congregations of women and men continued to be founded throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

3) During the nineteenth century, there was another great period of growth in religious life. This development is closely associated with the growing distance between the Church and large sections of new industrial city populations and the acute social and educational needs produced by industrialisation. There was an extraordinary proliferation of women's communities involved in catechesis, education, and various forms of social and medical work. European colonial expansion in Africa, Asia, and to an extent in the Pacific, saw the development of many specialised missionary congregations.

Religious Life Today

Within the Roman Catholic Church there are four broad categories of orders and congregations – monastic, canonical, mendicant, and fully active (or “apostolic”). Some of the differences between orders have blurred in recent years with the move toward less institutional life-styles and the breakdown of rigid distinctions between contemplation and action.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the recovery of a theology of one, common baptismal vocation and the rejection of a spirituality of separation from the world as the precondition of holiness have caused much less emphasis to be placed on the distinction between religious life and the laity and clergy. New religious movements and groups are increasingly open to single and married people alike. In this context, the precise future of the traditional structures of religious orders has become much less certain.

Links with the Student Text

Task Twenty-Three This task requires students to list at least four characteristics of the consecrated religious life.

Possible answers are:

• The call to religious life is always marked by a desire to serve Te Atua and God’s people. • Those called to live the consecrated religious life live according to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience • Those called to live the consecrated religious life are members of a particular religious congregation, order or institute. • The vocation of a consecrated religious is to be a sign to others that the whole of creation is a gift from Te Atua.

146 • The religious life when it is well lived challenges people to treat all things, persons and our own selves with reverence and respect because they ultimately belong to God. • Because the love of God takes priority in the life of a consecrated religious, those who have committed themselves to religious life do not marry.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider why the word “consecrated” is used to describe those who become vowed members of religious orders or congregations.

“To consecrate” means to dedicate to a special or sacred purpose. At the heart of the vocation to consecrated religious life is the desire to give oneself completely to God.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to read the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness in Luke 4:1-13. They are then asked to consider how Jesus’ experience might have inspired men and women to go into the “desert” to find God.

The following explanation of Luke 4:1-13 may be useful:

By his baptism, Jesus is commissioned for his life's work. Immediately, he is subjected to fierce temptation by the devil. He spends forty days and nights in the desert working out with prayer and fasting how he shall rightly use his power and status.

The devil tries to undermine Jesus' sense of being God's Son. He tempts him to use his power to turn stones to bread and feed himself. He tempts him to build a world empire - taking all the power of Caesar but using it for God. To do this would entail an endless series of compromises with evil. He tempts him to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, to land dramatically in the court of the Gentiles - always assuming that God's angels will catch him!

Each of these temptations attacks Jesus at one of his strong points – his power to work miracles, his longing to change the world and his need to spread his message. But, in each case, Jesus answers Satan with words of scripture. He draws on the hard-won lessons that the Israelites learned in their wilderness years with Moses.

If Jesus is to fulfil the calling of Israel, he must worship God alone (Deuteronomy 6: 13). He must rely on God's word for his life, just as he relies on bread for his body (Deuteronomy 8:3). There is to be no complaining, no cheating and no turning back (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Jesus wins this first struggle with the devil, but Satan will return.

147 These temptations are crucial for Jesus. In the months that follow, he will feed a multitude, refuse to become king and resist the taunts to escape from the cross. These are the very choices he made in the desert.

Jesus’ experience inspired men and women to go into the “desert” to find God. There, like Jesus:

• They must worship God alone (Deuteronomy 6: 13). • They must rely on God's word for their life, just as Jesus relies on bread for his body (Deuteronomy 8:3). • For them, there must be no complaining, no cheating and no turning back (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Task Twenty-Four Here students are asked to explain in their own words the difference between a hermit and a monk.

The early Christian hermits live alone, with some, such as the followers of Saint Anthony, coming together at certain times for spiritual instruction and prayer.

The early monks lived together in settled communities under the direction of an Abbot, and later, according to a Rule.

Task Twenty-Five This task asks students to write a quiz of ten questions focusing on the history of consecrated religious life. The answer for each question should include the name of one of the following important figures in the history of religious congregations:

Saint Anthony of Egypt Saint Basil Saint Patrick Saint Benedict of Nursia Saint Scholastica Saint Dominic Guzmán Saint Francis of Assisi Saint Clare of Assisi Saint Ignatius of Loyola Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Answers will vary from student to student.

Something to Do Here students are asked to read through a list of religious orders and congregations that have communities in Aotearoa New Zealand:

Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre OSB Assumptionists AA Capuchin Friars OFMCap Cenacle Sisters rc Christian Brothers CFC Cistercians OSCO Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions RNDM Columban Fathers Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy RSM Daughters of Charity DC

148 Daughters of Our Lady of Charity DOLC De La Salle Brothers FSC Discalced Carmelite Nuns OCD (Christchurch) Carmelite Monastery OCD (Auckland) Divine Word Missionaries SVD Dominican Friars OP Dominican Sisters OP Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary SSCC Franciscan Friars OFM Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God OH Little Company of Mary LCM Little Sisters of the Assumption LSA Little Sisters of the Poor LSP Marist Brothers FMS Marist Sisters SM Mill Hill Missionaries MHM Missionaries of Charity MC Missionary Sisters of St Peter Claver SSPC Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary SMSM Redemptorists CSSR Religious of the Sacred Heart RSCJ Rosminians IC Sister Disciples of the Divine Master PDDM Sisters of Nazareth CSN Sisters of Saint Brigid CSB Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny SJC Sisters of Saint Joseph of Nazareth RSJ Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart RSJ Sisters of the Good Shepherd RGS Sisters of the Holy Faith CHF Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary PBVM Society of Christ SCHR Society of Mary SM Workers of Christ the Worker WCW

Students are asked:

a) Which religious congregations on the list they are already familiar with. b) Whether the lifestyle of these religious congregations is active or contemplative – or a mixture of both? c) To choose one religious congregation from the list that they are unfamiliar with and to find out more about it. Students should decide whether their chosen religious congregation is active or contemplative in its emphasis. They should be able to give reasons to support their opinion.

Many religious congregations in Aotearoa New Zealand have websites that can be found through the following link: www.catholic.org.nz/agencies/religiousorders.php

Students should be able to find information there to help them in their research.

149 PART TWELVE: THE HEART OF RELIGIOUS LIFE

Achievement Objective 5

Students will be able to develop an understanding of the nature and purpose of the consecrated religious life.

Church Teachings

The Evangelical Counsels

The Impact of Religious Life

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section of the topic students will:

• Explain the meaning and purpose of the vows for religious who live them today. • Identify ways in which living within a religious community challenges both its members and aspects of our culture. • Consider possible signs of a vocation to religious life in themselves or someone close to them. • Explore challenges faced by religious in Aotearoa New Zealand today. • Give reason why fewer Catholic people take time to consider consecrated religious life as a vocation.

150 Teacher Background

Consecrated Life Consecrated life, which is an extension of Christian baptismal commitment, can be lived in a number of different ways, each distinct from the others but all following the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

While consecrated life can be lived individually, most men and women who have a vocation to the consecrated life are called to live in community as members of a religious congregation. Each form of consecrated life has its own founding charism or spirit, and its own rule and constitutions. In the case of a pontifical order the rule and constitutions are approved by the pope, otherwise by the bishop of the particular diocese where the order is based.

Religious Congregations Men’s Congregations Men’s congregations may have a membership made up of brothers, priests, or both.

Religious Brothers live a fraternal common life. They are lay religious consecrated to Christ and the Church by vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. Although ministry is essential to the life of brothers, it does not define their lives. What characterises the brothers’ life is their lifestyle. To be brother to another requires fraternal friendship and love. As vowed religious, brothers live in community, committed both to prayer and to one another. Religious brothers minister to a variety of needs within the Church – some live a monastic way of life, others are apostolic (or active).

The Brother is a seeker after the Absolute: he opts to live out his baptismal consecration in a radical way by following Jesus Christ celibate, poor and obedient; he nourishes his spiritual life with prayer, the Eucharist, the Word of God, a critical reading of the signs of the times, and his involvement in the world.

Religious priests are full members of their religious community. They take public vows and live in community. Their ordination as priests adds another dimension of service to their congregation and to the wider Church. If a member of a religious order is a priest, his belonging to the congregation is of greater personal importance to him than his priesthood – for living with his spiritual brothers is part of his call.

Women’s Congregations Members of women’s congregations are spiritual sisters to one another. Like all in consecrated life, they live at the heart of the Church and within its prophetic dimension.

A woman religious commits herself to Christ and his Church through vows and a common life. She lives in a religious community patterned on the life and teaching of the founder or foundress of the community. Religious life is characterised by community life, by a simple and celibate lifestyle, public

151 vows, and consecration to the service of Te Atua and God’s people. Prayer and work are part of the tradition of all communities. Depending on the vision of its founder or foundress, the charism of the congregation, and the gifts and talents of its members, each religious community will emphasise prayer and work in different ways. Some communities are primarily contemplative in focus while others are more active.

Contemplative and Apostolic or Active Congregations Many religious communities that emphasise contemplative prayer are cloistered – separated from the outside world through silence, solitude, and strict enclosure. Their ministry is prayer for the Church and for the world. Cloistered communities will usually support themselves by the production and sale of goods such as cheeses, liquors, icons, vestments etc. Some are experts in Information Technology. The best-known cloistered congregations in New Zealand are the Carmelites in Auckland and Christchurch and the Cistercians in Kopua.

Apostolic or “active” communities focus on ministry to the Church and to the world. By living a common life and through their active witness to Gospel values, members of these congregations are “in” the world but not “of” it. Apostolic congregations maintain a balance between the contemplative and active life. Each is committed to the spread of the Gospel in a manner shaped by its own particular charism. Most religious congregations serving in Aotearoa New Zealand are apostolic – for example, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Saint Joseph, the Marist Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, and the Franciscans.

Apostolic work also varies among communities. Education, social work, healthcare, justice and administration are some of the key areas that women’s religious congregations are involved in.

Monastic Communities Monastic communities focus on the common life and common prayer. Each monastery has an autonomous government, a cloistered area of the house, and emphasises the values of silence and solitude. In addition to the three vows taken by all religious, members of monastic communities take a fourth vow, that of stability, which obliges them to remain in the one religious house for their lifetime. The Cistercian monks and the Carmelite nuns live a monastic lifestyle.

Consecrated Virgins and Hermits Two distinct forms of consecrated life are those followed by virgins and hermits.

Consecrated virgins and hermits are distinct from one another as well as from other forms of consecrated life. Each involves an individual commitment to the diocesan bishop and accountability to him for following a specific plan of life. Neither involves life in community.

152 Consecration to a life of virginity for women living in the world is among the oldest types of consecration in the Church. Today, in the Rite revised in 1970, a virgin may, in the presence of the diocesan bishop, consecrate herself to God and to the service of the Church. This is a permanent commitment that reflects a mystical betrothal to Christ. Consecrated virgins pray the Liturgy of the Hours, receive the sacraments regularly, and are faithful to private prayer. They keep the bishop and the needs of the diocese as the focus of their prayer.

The fundamental commitment of a hermit entails separation, solitude, silence, prayer, and penance. Its essential elements are public profession of the evangelical counsels – obedience, poverty, and consecrated celibacy. Hermits are accountable to the diocesan bishop to whom they make their vows. They devote their lives to the praise of Te Atua and the salvation of the world.

Secular Institutes Secular Institutes were officially approved as an original form of consecrated life within the Church in 1947. Their members have the special mission “to work for the sanctification of the world from fully within the world.” Secular Institutes help to form lay people whose vowed consecration to God gives them the inner strength and vitality to witness to Christ in secular surroundings.

Members of Secular Institutes exercise a powerful lay apostolate in the midst of the world – the world of politics, economics, medicine, art, education, technology, family life and work. Members of each Secular Institute get together periodically for spiritual renewal and mutual support but ordinarily do not live together in community.

Members of Secular Institutes who are single lay people and priests profess the evangelical counsels and spread Gospel values according to a specific charism and spirituality. Like religious institutes each has a period of formation for new members. Most members live alone while striving for holiness in the “marketplace”. They provide for their own living expenses, health insurance, and retirement.

Links with the Student Text

Task Twenty-Six Living out the vows of poverty, chastity (consecrated celibacy) and obedience form the basis of life as a religious. This task requires students to explain in their own words the meaning and purpose of each of the three vows for religious who live them today.

Answers will vary from student to student but the following points are important:

Chastity – Consecrated Celibacy

153 • The vow of chastity or consecrated celibacy expresses a desire to follow Hehu Karaiti unconditionally. • When a religious takes this vow, they are stating in a public way that their well-being and happiness will be found in Jesus – their hunger to love and be loved will be satisfied in him. • A characteristic of consecrated celibacy is a desire to love more and more people. • The vow of consecrated celibacy obliges a religious to love and care for all God's daughters and sons, especially those who are most needy. • When a religious lives the vow of consecrated celibacy well they inspire other people to love without measure, even those who have no claim on them as family.

Religious Poverty • The person called to religious life feels a desire to live simply. • The vow of poverty challenges a person to reverence all things, and creation itself. • Underlying the vow of poverty is the understanding that all things come from God. • Religious share material goods in common and depend on the religious congregation or community to provide what they need. • The vow of poverty is a reminder that people do not have an absolute right to the goods of this world – the earth’s resources are to be used wisely, for the common good as well as to meet the genuine needs of individuals. • Religious poverty is a reminder that the earth and other people are not to be exploited to satisfy greed. • The vow of poverty expresses dependence on and trust in God's care for us.

Religious Obedience • The vow of religious obedience is an acknowledgment that all of us are called to listen to Te Wairua Tapu speaking through the circumstances of our lives. • The vow of obedience assists religious sisters, brothers and priests to be honest in their search for God's will. • Religious commit themselves to listen to Te Atua speaking through the constitutions and decisions of the community and through those members who are appointed as leaders of the community. • God's call is also heard through the voice of the Church and of sacred scripture, the needs of the world and the mission of the community. • Listening is always done in prayer and with respect for each person. • The vow of obedience is a sign that we are all ultimately dependent on God and that a life of interdependence, as opposed to dependence or the illusion of absolute independence, is the way to holiness.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to discuss how living within a religious community challenges both its members and aspects of our culture.

154 Answers will vary from student to student but the following points are relevant:

• Living within a religious community presents a challenge to our culture where sex, money and power are valued much more highly than chastity, detachment from material goods and interdependence.

• Living within a religious community is a challenge to its members. It is difficult for people to make room in their lives for the idiosyncrasies of others – we are easily annoyed by behaviours that we do not like.

• Community living challenges individuals to become more tolerant and self-giving, to respect those who are different from us. By living within a particular community or by being closely linked to one, members of religious congregations witness to the value of communal life.

Something to Think About Here students are asked to consider whether they recognise any of the following possible signs of a vocation to religious life in themselves or someone close to them:

• A love of God that shows itself in a desire to give one's life as witness to God's great love for all people • A desire to live simply • An ability to relate to a variety of people, to be happy alone or in a group • A joy in serving others in any outreach or parish involvement • Generosity • An ability to listen to others and to accept direction when needed • A desire to love expansively rather than needing an intimate relationship with one person • A desire to grow in union with God through prayer and service of those in need

Task Twenty-Seven This task asks students to read four brief testimonies by members of religious congregations and identify some of the rewarding aspects of religious life that they identify.

Some of these are:

• The opportunity to be who I am called to be. • Responding to a deep call to serve the people of God in a radical way. • Making Jesus’ presence visible in our world. • Witnessing to God’s compassionate, unconditional love. • Being a member of a community of people who share a similar passion. • Going out to meet people’s needs. • Responding to the baptismal call to bring about God’s reign. • The opportunity to use God-given gifts to bring mercy to the world.

155 • Experiencing the love of God through personal and communal prayer. • Experiencing the love of God through people encountered in daily life and in the support of other members of the religious congregation. • Responding to a call to be committed to the spirituality of the religious congregation. • Nourishing a relationship with Jesus and responding in a more human way to others. • Living a life enriched by the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the poor through education. • Daring to believe that the Holy Spirit will heal and use me to bring Jesus to others. • Helping make a better world. • Living the Gospel with a group of others who want to do the same thing in a particular way. • Seeking the attitudes and qualities of Mary in following Jesus. • Living together in groups, supporting one another. • Praying and having a common life together. • Working in many parts of New Zealand and the world. • Appreciating the opportunity to be able to follow Christ in a particular way in the Church.

Something to Discuss Here students are asked to consider:

a) Some of the challenges that consecrated religious face in New Zealand today. b) Why fewer Catholic men and women take time to seriously consider religious life as a vocation.

Challenges facing consecrated religious in Aotearoa New Zealand today include:

• Living in a society that is more sceptical about religion and much less obviously Christian than in the past • Witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ in a culture dominated by values that are contrary to the Gospel – consumerism, sexual exploitation, the cult of celebrity etc. • Their own aging population • Working collaboratively with lay people and priests • Coming to terms with new ways of living as consecrated religious

Reasons why fewer Catholic men and women take time to consider consecrated religious life as a vocation include:

• Catholic parents and families are less likely to present consecrated religious life as a serious vocation to their sons and daughters. • There is a much greater range of vocation / career options open to young people today than in the past.

156 • The “bad press” often given to the Church by the media. • The concern by young men and women that they will lose the esteem and support of their peers if they choose to become religious. • The fear by young men and women that they will be a minority amongst greater numbers of older men and women. • The concern by young men and women that they will have “to give up too much” in order to become consecrated religious.

157 GLOSSARY OF GENERAL TERMS

The entries in this glossary are for words italicised in the text, and other useful definitions.

The references, eg. N. 2766 are to paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is a separate glossary of Maori terms.

Albigensians See entry on the Cathari.

Anointing (N. 695, 1499-1532) To anoint someone is to pour or rub oil on them in a religious ceremony. In the Old Testament anointing is a sign of election by God. Thus priest, prophets, and kings were anointed.

The title Messiah, or Christ, means “the anointed one”. So Christ is the one, above all others, anointed by the Holy Spirit. This is the source of the Catholic understanding of anointing as a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Anointing is used in this way in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.

Holy oil is also used in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to heal or strengthen those ill or dying.

Baptism (N. 1212-1284) Baptism “is the basis of the whole Christian life”. With Confirmation and Eucharist it makes up the Sacraments of Initiation through which a person is fully initiated into the Catholic Church. The term baptism comes from a Greek word meaning to “plunge” or “immerse”. This refers to the ceremony of baptism by which a person is immersed in water or has water poured over them. This immersion is a symbol of the new Christian’s burial (to sin) with Christ and their resurrection with Christ as “new creatures”. This new birth in the Holy Spirit joins the newcomer to the Body of Christ, and makes them sharers in the mission of the Church.

Before the time of Christ Jewish religion used immersion baptism as a purification rite and as a rite of entry for converts to Judaism. John the Baptist practised a baptism of repentance which Jesus, who was ‘without sin’, underwent to emphasise his identity with sinful humankind. The early Church following Jesus’ command (Mark 16:15-16) baptised “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (see Acts 2:37-41). Although immersion seems to have been the common form of baptism in the early church, the practice of baptism through the pouring of water soon arose. Both forms are used by the Catholic Church today.

158 Bishop (N 1594) Bishops, who are usually the pastoral leaders of a diocese, are priests who enjoy “the fullness of the Sacrament of Orders” (Decree on the Bishops’ Pastoral Office in the Church n.15). Diocesan Bishops may be assisted by a Coadjutor Bishop who has the right of succession, or an Auxiliary, who does not. The word bishop comes originally from the Greek ‘episkopos’, meaning overseer or supervisor. A Bishop’s main role is to be the spiritual and pastoral leader and teacher of the faithful of the diocese. By ordination each Bishop becomes a member of the worldwide college of Bishops headed by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. As such, each Bishop is a symbol of unity within his own diocese and within the wider Catholic Church. Acting together with the Pope as their head in an Ecumenical Council (e.g. Vatican II), the Bishops exercise supreme authority in the Church.

Bishops also meet in national or regional Episcopal Conferences to act together for the good of the Church.

Catechist In general terms a catechist is someone who teaches others about the Christian faith so that they may grow towards maturity of faith. In some parts of the world the role of Catechist is officially designated within the local Church.

Cathari From the Greek, katharos, meaning “pure” or “clean”. Also known as the Albigensians, groups of Cathari were widespread from the mid-twelfth to the fourteenth century in what is now south-western France and northern Italy. Believing that the physical world, including the human body, was created by Satan who battled with God for control of the cosmos, the Cathari promoted extreme asceticism, rejecting all sexual activity and practising rigorous fasting, sometimes leading to death. They rejected the Church’s hierarchy and its sacraments. The Church reacted to the Cathari by declaring them heretical. Cistercians and Dominicans preached against them and a crusade was launched to supress them.

Catholic Action This is the title given to a movement of Catholic lay people first suggested by Pope Pius X (1903-1914) and actively encouraged by Pope Pius XI (1922- 1939).

Pius XI sought the participation of the laity in the apostolate of the hierarchy in order to turn society back to its Christian foundations. Throughout the Catholic world many organisations participated in this movement.

Catholic Worker The Catholic Worker Movement was founded by Dorothy Day (1897-1980) and Peter Maurin (1877-1949) in 1933 with the aim to “live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ”. One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on the margin of society. To this end there are over 168 local Catholic Worker communities in the United States and aound the

159 world providing social services. Each house has a different mission, going about the work of social justice in their own ways, suited to their region or country. Each Catholic Worker house is completely independent, and none are officially approved or supervised by the bishops of the Church. The group also campaigns for nonviolence and is active in protesting war, as well as the unequal distribution of wealth globally. Dorothy Day also founded The Catholic Worker newspaper which is still published, and sold at 1 cent per copy.

Celibacy From the Latin caelibatus meaning ‘single life’, celibacy is the state of being unmarried. Since the 3rd Century, following the example of Christ, some Christians have felt called to take a vow (see entry) of celibacy in order to live a life of greater dedication to God. Today, the forgoing of the pleasure of marriage and children is seen not so much in terms of renunciation, as in providing a greater freedom to love and serve God and others.

Charism A charism is a gift given by God to an individual or a group for the good of the community. St Paul lists various charisms in a famous passage about these spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-13. They include; preaching, teaching, administration as well as prophesy, healing and miracles.

Chastity (N. 2337-2359, 1832) From the Latin castus, meaning chaste or pure, chastity is a virtue that all are called to practise. It is related to the virtue of temperance and is concerned with the appropriate expression of sexual desires, according to one’s state in life. Thus for those in religious life the vow of chastity is virtually synonymous with celibacy (see entry). For all, chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person. Chastity, as well as being a virtue, is traditionally listed among the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Chrism A mixture of olive oil and balsam. Chrism is a holy oil. Consecrated by a Bishop, it is used in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders and for some other purposes.

College of Bishops (N. 877, 880-887) The body of bishops throughout the world, in union with and headed by the Pope, who are successors of the college of the apostles in teaching authority and pastoral governance in the Church.

Commitment (N. 1534) Marriage and Ordination are sometimes classified as Sacraments of Commitment because they require of those entering marriage or becoming deacons or priests, a lasting commitment similar to the covenants of the Bible. They are also known as Sacraments of Service.

160 Confraternities These are associations, almost exclusively lay, dedicated to acts of public worship and / or Christian doctrine. Under the present Code of Canon Law they fit into the category of “Associations of the Christian Faithful”. Confraternities can trace their origins back to the Middle Ages and over the centuries have involved themselves in many Christian activities – caring for condemned prisoners, assisting the poor, teaching the catechism and burying the dead.

Consecration (N. 1352-54, N. 1538, 1573, 1597) To consecrate is to make holy or sacred, to sanctify. In the Catholic Church ‘consecration’ is commonly used of:

1) That moment in the Eucharistic Prayer when the presiding priest recites the Lord’s words of institution over the bread and wine. By the action of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. This part of the Eucharistic Prayer is often called the Institution Narrative.

2) The prayer of ordination that the presiding bishop pronounces over the candidates whom he is ordaining as bishop, priest, or deacon. This prayer of consecration invokes the Holy Spirit on the candidates. Together with the laying on of hands, it is an essential element of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The text of the prayer over the candidate varies for ordaining a bishop, a priest, or a deacon.

Covenant (N. 56-67, N 1961-65) A solemn agreement often involving the taking of an oath by the parties concerned. In the Old Testament there are a number of instances of God making a covenant with people, e.g. Noah (Gen. 9) and Abraham (Gen. 17). The most important was the Sinai Covenant. This defined the people of Israel by their relationship with God. Led by Moses the people promised, ’All that the Lord has said we will do‘ (Ex. 19:8). In return God promised, ’I will be your God and you shall be my people‘ (Lev. 26:12). God remained ever faithful to the Covenant even though the Israelites had to be continually called back to it by the Prophets.

The New Covenant, inaugurated by Jesus (see Luke 22:20) does not revoke the Old Covenant, but fulfils it.

Crosier A crosier is a crook-shaped staff carried in procession by archbishops, bishops and some abbots and abbesses. Although its original significance is unknown it is usually taken to represent the pastoral or shepherding role of the bishop.

Deacon One of the three forms (along with those of priest and bishop) of the sacrament of Holy Orders. During the second and third centuries the diaconate flourished. The function of deacons varied in different places but

161 included ministries of charity and liturgy, especially the ministry of the Word. In some areas the deacons were the most important administrative agents of the bishops. Justin Martyr’s description of the Eucharist gives deacons the role of distributing Holy Communion to those Christians who were unable to be present. In the third and fourth centuries the role of deacon began to decline in the West as the role of priests (presbyters) became more dominant.

Diocese (N.833) A diocese is a Catholic community, usually with clear territorial boundaries, established by Church authority and entrusted to the pastoral care of a Bishop. Each diocese is more than an administrative sub-division of the universal church. It is a ‘Particular Church’ possessing all the necessary features or marks of the Catholic Church when it is in communion with other Particular Churches, and especially with the Particular Church of Rome, whose Bishop is the Pope. A diocese is usually subdivided into parishes.

Evangelical Counsels (N. 915, 1973-4) Ideals or advice on living the perfect Christian life through the practice of poverty, chastity and obedience (see entries). The counsels are called evangelical because they are taught and practised by Christ in the Gospels (Greek - Evangelium). They are held as ideals for all Christians according to their situation in life. They are taken as vows (see entry) by those entering religious life.

Focolare Focolare (“fireplace”) was founded in Trent, Italy, when in the midst of the destruction and hopelessness of the Second World War, a group of young women gathered around twenty-three year old Chiara Lubich (born 1920). Binding them together was their faith and their experience that God is love. Unity became their theme, with the words of John 17:21 setting their programme:

May they all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you; may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The general purpose of Focolare is to change the world through the observance of Gospel ideals. At first the spirituality of unity spread within the Catholic Church. From 1958 on Christians of other traditions began to come in contact with the Focolare and to feel that its spirituality was also for them. In 1962, Pope John XXIII formally gave approval to the movement.

Focolare has a number of different branches within a larger movement. As well as celibate communities of men and women who observe the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience) and carry out secular work, there are also married people who identify with the ideals of the movement. A young person’s movement and a fraternity of priests do the same.

162 Holiness/Holy (N. 2807-15, N. 823 - 29, 749, 2030) The quality of being holy, sanctity. It pertains to God. Believers have always realised that God is greater than their imaginings. No words, images or concepts can ever adequately describe God. It is this complete transcendence or ‘otherness’ of God that is captured in the words ‘holy’ and ‘holiness’. Strictly speaking only God is holy. This is recognised in the worship of the Church when the faithful gather to praise the all-holy one. Thus the words of the Sanctus in the Eucharistic prayer which are drawn from the Prophet Isaiah (6:3) “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory”. Traditionally certain people, places and things have also been regarded as holy because of their relationship with God. Saint Irenaeus spoke of the glory of God being people who are fully alive and this is also reflected in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. Thus we speak of chalices as sacred (holy) vessels, churches or shrines as holy places and saints as holy men and women. Similarly we speak of the Church as holy. In all these examples it must be understood that the holiness derives not from the things or people themselves, but from their association with God through the Holy Spirit. God, of course, although utterly transcendent, is also immanent or nearby, a God- with-us, always calling us into closer union. The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church emphasised that this call to holiness is extended to all - “all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in human society” (LG 40). So Christian holiness as modelled to us by the saints involves living in faith, hope and love.

Laity (N. 897-913) From the Greek ‘laos’ meaning people, this is a term for those members of the Church who are not ordained or members of a religious order. So the laity are the vast majority of the People of God. In the singular they are referred to as lay men or women.

Lay Ecclesial Movements As early as his first encyclical The Redeemer of Humankind (1978), Pope John Paul II, reflecting on the heritage received from the Second Vatican Council and from his predecessors, remarked on a “spirit of collaboration and shared responsibility” among the laity, “not only strengthening the already existing organisations for lay apostolate but also creating new ones that often have a different profile and exceptional dynamism” (5).

In The Mission of the Redeemer (1990) Pope John Paul referred to a new development within the Church, which he saw as making a very positive contribution to evangelisation in our own time:

Within the Church, there are various types of services, functions, ministries and ways of promoting the Christian life. I call to mind, as a new development occurring in many Churches in recent times, the rapid growth of ecclesial movements filled with missionary dynamism. When these movements humbly seek to become part of the life of

163 local churches and are welcomed by bishops and priests within diocesan and parish structures, they represent a true gift of God both for new evangelisation and for missionary activity properly so-called. I therefore recommend that they be spread and that they be used to give fresh energy, especially among young people, to the Christian life and to evangelisation, within a pluralistic view of the ways in which Christians can associate and express themselves. (The Mission of the Redeemer 72)

In recent years, the new ecclesial movements have grown in strength. In a world where Catholic identity is often perceived as being weak or confused, and faith tends to be reduced to routine practice, organisations such as Focolare, the Neo-Catchumenate, and Communion and Liberation have attracted hundreds of thousands of members around the world. Evidence of the movements’ rapid spread was seen on Pentecost Sunday, 1998, when Pope John Paul addressed around 300,000 people who had gathered in Rome for the World Congress for Ecclesial Movements.

Levite Levi was the name of one of the 12 sons of Jacob and one of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Levites were members of this tribe which is referred to as a priestly tribe. Moses was a Levite (Ex 2:1).

Ministry / Ministries (N.871-879 ) From the Latin ministerium meaning ‘service’, a ministry is a work of service by a member of the Church. In Catholic usage today ministry in a strict sense refers to the work of those officially appointed by the Church to a particular role, eg ordained ministers or Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.

More broadly the term is often applied to a range of tasks in music, pastoral work, religious education, care of the sick, etc. carried out by lay people in fulfilment of their baptismal calling.

Mission (N.849-856) From the Latin missio meaning ‘a sending’. Those called by Christ are sent by him into the world to extend the Kingdom of God. The mission of the Church, the reason for its existence, is to evangelise, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed.

Mitre The head covering worn by bishops and some abbots during liturgical rites. The mitre is removed whenever its wearer leads the worshipping assembly in spoken or sung prayer.

Nuptial Mass / Blessing The term nuptial comes from the Latin meaning to do with a marriage or wedding. A Nuptial Mass is a celebration of the Eucharist during which a couple are married. A nuptial blessing is the formal blessing given by the priest on behalf of the Catholic Church, to the spouses at a wedding. The priest extends his hands over the couple and prays that they may love and be

164 faithful to each other and witnesses of Christ to others, and that, if it is appropriate, they may be good parents.

Obedience Is the submission of one’s will and conduct to an authority. For Christians obedience to God is unconditional and obedience to humans conditional.

As one of the Evangelical Counsels (see entry) obedience is one of the vows publicly professed by those in religious life. Religious practise obedience in imitation of Christ who was obedient to the will of his Father.

Opus Dei The most controversial of all the new religious movements within the Church has been Opus Dei (“the work of God”), founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-75) in Spain in 1928.

Beginning as a pious association of laypeople (and clergy) dedicated to cultivating personal holiness and that of society, the movement has gone through various phases. Declared a Pious Union in 1941, Opus Dei became a secular institute in 1947. Despite considerable opposition, Pope John Paul II established Opus Dei as a personal prelature in 1982 – this means Opus Dei has its own bishop who has authority over it and ensures that its members are answerable to him rather than to the bishops of the dioceses in which they live. Opus Dei is the only new ecclesial movement to have this status.

The current structure of Opus Dei has various levels of commitment:

• Numeraries, who are celibate, live in the organisation’s centres and work full-time at the apostolate. Female numeraries carry out administrative and domestic duties for the houses. • Oblates live a celibate life but live outside the centers. • Supernumeraries are married members who live independently and have professional careers. • Co-operators support the work of the organization but do not have formal ties to it.

Escrivá’s The Way, a series of 999 spiritual maxims that was first published in 1935, shapes the spirituality of Opus Dei. Criticised for alleged secrecy, theological conservatism, and their rigorous spirituality, Opus Dei members have often been embroiled in disputes, especially with the local Churches. The organisation sponsors university facilities in Spain, Rome, and Latin America and student residents throughout the world. Escrivá was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992 and canonised ten years later.

Ordain, Ordination (N. 1555-1600) The liturgical rite of the Church in which the Sacrament of Holy Orders is celebrated is known as ordination. When this rite is celebrated, the Spirit of God is invoked on the candidates for the office of bishop, or priest, or deacon as they are initiated into the ministry of the Church. The rite of ordination is

165 presided over by a bishop, who is said to ‘ordain’ those candidates who are presented for a particular office or order. Ordination takes place during the celebration of the Eucharist. Emphasis is placed on the laying on of hands by the presiding bishop and any other bishops who are present (for the ordination of a bishop) or priests (for the ordination of a priest), together with the prayer over the candidate. These are the essential elements of the rite of ordination.

Parish Normally a parish is a territorial division of a diocese with its own church and its own pastor. The word parish has its origins in a Greek word meaning neighbour.

Sometimes non-territorial parishes may be formed to meet particular cultural or other needs.

Pastor (N. 1558, 1560, 1564, 1585-6) The word comes from the Latin word for a shepherd. The pope and the bishops are called pastors or shepherds of the members of the Church. A priest responsible for the pastoral care of a parish community may also be called a pastor. He is appointed by the diocesan bishop who shares his own pastoral ministry with such parish priests.

People of God (N. 781-786) A biblical image for the Church (e.g. 1 Pet 2:9-10) popularised by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The image of the People of God emphasises that we are saved, not as individuals, but as a community and that all in the community - laity, religious and clergy - share in the threefold mission of Christ as prophet, priest and king (see the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II).

Poverty One of the Evangelical Counsels (see entry). Those who take a vow of poverty in religious life do so voluntarily in order to show a dependence on God, and in order to provide a more generous service of others in imitation of Jesus who even gave his own life for the sake of others.

Prayer of the Faithful These are the general intercessory prayers at the end of the Liturgy of the Word during Mass. The usual subjects are the Church and its ministers, civil leaders, the world and its peoples, the sick, those who have died and those who mourn.

Presider The one who oversees any act of public worship. The presider’s responsibility is to animate the liturgical texts and inspire the assembly to active participation.

The priest is the presider at the Eucharist where he alone acts in the person of Christ.

166 Psalms (N. 2585 - 2589) The Psalms are a collection of 150 Israelite lyrics, poems and prayers found in the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament. They represent the work of several centuries and some may be the work of King David to whom many are ascribed.

The Book of Psalms (or Psalter) is the ‘masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament’. The Psalms contain many forms of prayer, such as lamentation and thanksgiving, but all in praise of God. The Psalms are part of the liturgy and for centuries have been among the best-loved prayers of Christians.

Religious Orders and Congregations (N. 925-27) These are groups, authorised by Church authority, who are living under a religious rule and publicly professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Apart from these defining characteristics Religious Orders and Congregations may differ markedly. Some for example, follow a contemplative life while others are more ‘active’ following an apostolate such as teaching or nursing.

Rite (N.1203) In general this term refers to the formal procedure, the words and actions laid down, for a religious ceremony, e.g. the Rite of Baptism. It can also refer to the forms of worship of particular churches e.g. the Roman rite, the Byzantine rite, the Armenian rite. Some religious orders also have their own rites.

Ritual The word ritual generally means set ways of doing things. In religious terms therefore one of its meanings is virtually identical to that of rite. Ritual can also mean the whole body of rites in use in the church. Thus there is a text called the Roman Ritual which lays down general principles for worship in the Catholic Church.

Sacrament (N. 774-76) In its broad sense the term sacrament refers to ways in which the invisible saving power of God is made visible through created things. But properly speaking a sacrament is ‘a visible sign of invisible grace’. Thus the Second Vatican Council spoke of Christ as the sacrament of God, and the Church as the sacrament of Christ. In particular it refers to the seven sacraments of the Church which are signs and instruments of Christ’s grace.

Sacrifice (N. 605 – 618, 1365 - 72) In the celebration of the Eucharist the Church remembers and represents Christ’s freely offered self-sacrifice on behalf of all. The sacrifice of Christ embraces his whole attitude throughout his life as well as his surrendering of his life at the end.

At the Passover the sacrifice of a lamb was part of a covenant between God and the Children of Israel by which they were led from slavery to a new life of freedom. So the Church celebrates the new covenant in which the sacrifice of Jesus, ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’, marks another

167 movement from slavery to sin and death, to freedom and new life with God. In the Eucharist the whole Church, the living and the dead, unite the sacrifices of their own lives to that of Christ in an offering to God.

Second Vatican Council This was the 21st ecumenical (world-wide) council of the Catholic Church. It was opened by Pope John XXIII in October 1962. The Council had several sessions and ended in December 1965. Vatican II, as it is usually called, was attended by over 2,800 Bishops. It made significant decisions for the life of the Church which are contained in the sixteen documents issued by the Council. The most important of these are those on Divine Revelation, the Liturgy, the Church and the Church in the Modern World.

Secular Institutes These are groups of persons who live a consecrated life in the world. Their members work for their own growth in Christian charity and for the sanctification of the world. Members usually do not live in community, although some do. Both lay persons and priests, depending on the rules of a particular institute, may be members. A number of the general laws of the Church concerning secular institutes are similar to those of religious communities.

Solidalities These are associations of Catholics formed to promote the spiritual life of their members, apostolic works of evangelisation, and aid to those in need. The first solidality was established in 1563 in Rome by John Leunis, a Jesuit. In the period prior to the Second Vatican Council solidalities, many under the patronage of Mary, were especially strong, offering Catholics in their parishes a well-defined programme of spiritual formation, prayer and Christian service.

Third Orders Third Orders signify in general lay members of religious orders – men and women (and also, sometimes, men diocesan clergy) who wish to participate formally in these different religious communities, sharing in their charism, joining in their prayer, having their lives molded by the teaching and example of their founders, joining in their apostolate, while remaining 'in the world’.

Saint Francis of Assisi was the first religious founder to formally begin a Third Order in his religious community, providing his Third Order with a Rule, a written way of life to follow that incorporated his own special charism. Eventually, more and more religious congregations developed their own Third Orders, for example, the Benedictines, the Carmelites, and the Dominicans.

Since the Second Vatican Council, Third Orders have generally been termed 'secular' orders – ‘secular' in the Gospel sense of having a mission to take the particular graces and charisms of their respective religious communities and share them with others in the world.

168 Tradition (N 80-83) The word comes from the Latin and means to pass on from generation to generation. It can apply either to the content of what is handed on, or to the process of handing on. In the Church, Tradition (with a capital T) refers to the living transmission of the Gospel from the Apostles through their successors to each generation. Tradition is closely bound to Sacred Scripture as they flow from the same divine source. The writing of the New Testament in the early years of the Church demonstrates the process of living tradition. Within the great Tradition are numerous traditions (with a small t). These are the ways of expressing the faith (e.g. styles of worship) which, while they may be important in various times and places, are not essential, and should not be confused with Tradition.

Vocation (N. 825, 915-916, 1546) The word vocation comes from the Latin vocare - to call, and so means a calling from God. In the past this was sometimes rather narrowly understood in terms of a vocation to priestly or religious life. Recently the Church has emphasised the common vocation of all the Baptised. Thus Pope John Paul II wrote, “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity; all of Christ’s followers are invited and bound to pursue holiness and the perfect fulfilment of their own state of life”. (On the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World, 1989.) Within this universal or general vocation each Christian may have a calling to a particular vocation; marriage, the single life or to priestly or religious life. (See holiness above).

Vows Vows are promises made to God. An example would be the promises made by those being married in a Church ceremony. Most often the term refers to ‘religious’ vows. These are the publicly made vows of those entering a Religious Order or Congregation (see entry). These vows usually include the Evangelical Counsels (see entry) of poverty, chastity and obedience. Vows are taken first for a temporary or probationary period before final or perpetual vows are taken.

169 GLOSSARY OF MĀORI TERMS

This glossary gives explanation of Māori terms which are italicised in the text.

Pronunciation – correct pronunciation of Māori comes only with practice in listening to and speaking the language. The English phonetic equivalents provided under each Māori word are intended to give help, for teachers who need it, in providing reasonably accurate examples for students. If in doubt please seek assistance from someone practised in correct pronunciation of Te Reo Māori.

´ indicates stressed syllable

Aroha (úh-raw-huh) In general, means love and/or compassion. Note that the word is used in two senses:

1. A joyful relationship involving the expression of goodwill and the doing of good, empathy.

2. Sympathy, compassion towards those who are unhappy or suffering.

Atua (úh-too-uh) The Māori word Atua has been used to describe God in the Christian sense since missionary times. Before the coming of Christianity, Māori used the word atua to describe many kinds of spiritual beings (in the way we now use the word “spirit”) and also unusual events. Only the priestly and aristocratic classes of Māori society (ariki, rangatira and tohunga) had access to knowledge of the Supreme Being, Io, also known as Io-matua, Io-matua-i-te- kore, Io-te-wananga, etc. It seems that many, but not all, tribes had this belief in Io before missionary times. Māori use several words to refer to God in the Christian sense:

Te Atua – God, the Supreme Being

Ihowa – Jehovah

Te Ariki – Lord, more correctly used of Jesus

Te Matua – the father (literally, parent)

Io – a term used for God in some, but not all Māori circles. (Te Atua is acceptable in all circles).

He Tangata (heh túh-nguh-tuh) Human beings, humankind.

Hehu Karaiti (héh-hoo kuh-rúh-ee-tee) Jesus Christ.

170 Hohou Rongo (háw-haw-oo ráw-ngaw) The restoring of tapu and mana, by a process of reconciliation which involves acknowledging violations, accepting responsibility and giving redress.

When written with initial capital letters, Hohou Rongo, refers to the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation.

Karakia (kúh-ruh-kee-uh) Prayer, ritual.

Mana (múh-nuh) Spiritual power and authority. Its sources are both divine and human, namely, God, one’s ancestors and one’s achievements in life. Mana comes to people in three ways: Mana tangata, from people, mana whenua, from the land, and mana atua, from the spiritual powers.

Noa (náw-uh) Free from tapu restrictions, which have been lifted by ceremony or ritual. This form of noa is positive. It is the freedom to go on with life after being released from restricting factors, e.g after a powhiri; on leaving a cemetery; after a reconciliation; etc. Noa can also be negative: a state of weakness and powerlessness which affects both people who have suffered violation or abuse and also those who have caused violation or abuse.

Rongopai (ráw-ngaw-puh-ee) Gospel or Good News. Ngā Rongopai (plural). Te Rongopai (singular).

Tapu (túh-poo) This word is used in three senses:

1) restrictions or prohibitions which safeguard the dignity and survival of people and things

2) the value, dignity, or worth of someone or something, eg the holiness of God, human dignity, the value of the environment

3) the intrinsic being or essence of someone or something, eg tapu i Te Atua is the intrinsic being of God, the divine nature.

Please note: when tapu refers to the Tapu of God it is written as Tapu.

Te Ao Wairua (teh úh-aw wúh-ee-roo-uh) The spiritual world.

Te Kupu a Te Ariki (teh kόo-poo uh teh úh-ree-kee) The Word of God.

Te Rangatiratanga (teh ruh-nguh-tée-ruh-tuh-nguh) The Kingdom or Reign of God.

171 Te Tangata Whenua (teh túh-nguh-tuh féh-noo-uh) Indigenous people of the land, or their descendants. Local people, home people, people of a marae are usually spoken of as hunga kāinga, iwi kāinga or tangata kāinga, not tangata whenua.

Te Wā (teh wáh) A period in time in which a series of events affecting people and their lives takes place, which enables them to reach goals or moments of achievement.

Te Wairua Tapu (teh wúh-ee-roo-uh túh-poo) The Holy Spirit.

Tika (tée-kuh) Justice.

Tūmanako (tóo-muh-nuh-kaw) Hope.

Whakapono (fúh-kuh-paw-naw) Faith.

Whānau (fáh-nuh-oo) Extended Family.

172 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FIRST EDITION (1992)

This booklet was part of a series prepared by the members of a Writing Party:

Anna Heffernan (Auckland) Lorraine Campbell sm (Auckland) Steve Jorgensen (Hamilton) Mary Lynch (Palmerston North) Gary Finlay (Wellington) Mervyn Duffy sm (Wellington) Sharon Alexander (Wellington) Karaitiana Kingi sm (Christchurch) Richard Walsh cfc (Dunedin)

SYLLABUS CO-ORDINATORS Gary Finlay (NCRS, Wellington) AND EDITORS: Elizabeth M Russell sjc (NCRS, Auckland)

THEOLOGICAL CONSULTORS: † John Mackey DD Paul Williamson sm, S.T.D., M.A. Hons)

PROOF READERS: Margaret R Bearsley (NCRS, Auckland) Ann Hodge (NCRS, Auckland)

TYPESETTER: Mary Wright (NCRS, Auckland)

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR: Catherine Stanaway rndm (NCRS, Auckland)

SECOND EDITION (2006)

CO-ORDINATOR/EDITOR: Charles Shaw

THEOLOGICAL/LITURGICAL CONSULTORS: Mons Vincent Hunt Rev Anthony Harrison

CONTACT FOR MAORI CONSULTATION: Rev Bernard Dennehy

NCRS: Gary Finlay, Director Joan Parker rndm, Editing Nuala Dunne, Text editing

173 Titles of the Topics in Year 12 12A Religions of the World 12B Justice and Peace 12C The Church's Story -- The Modern Age 12D Loss, Death, Grief and Dying 12E Biblical Studies 1 12F Christian Morality and Moral Development 12G Christian Art, Architecture and Music 12H Commitment and Ministry

STRANDS Human Experience 12A, 12G Scripture and Tradition 12E Church History 12C Theology 12F Sacrament and Worship 12D, 12H Social Justice 12B RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMME

FOR CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

Commitment and Ministry

12H

TEACHER GUIDE

CEP1224