Doctoraten aan de faculteit
Project:
Building up Patriarchal Spaces: An Ecclesiological Investigation towards the Reinstitution of the System of Patriarchates
Laput Thaddeus Noel G.
E-mail: lanbaode@hotmail.com
Onderzoekseenheid: Systematische theologie
Omschrijving:
Project DescriptionWhen considering the mounting calls inside and outside the Catholic Church for the reform of church governance through the decentralization of church authority in the light of the teaching of Vatican II on episcopal collegiality and papal primacy, and in the context of the invitation by Pope John Paul II - in Ut unum sint - to all Christians to dialogue with him and rethink the exercise of the petrine ministry in the interest of Christian unity, this study will take up the papal invitation by doing an extended ecclesiological investigation on the system of church governance. Taking note of the developments since Vatican II, this study will take up the case for the revival of the first millennium system of patriarchates as the ideal way to exercise church leadership in the third millennium. Taking a phrase made by the young Joseph Ratzinger as the title, this research will critically survey and evaluate the historical and theological bases and arguments from various significant theological sources and theologians for the creation of continental or regional - and the reunion with and reconstitution of other churches into - patriarchates through a programmed dissolution of the Roman Catholic Church and the enhanced promotion of Christian reunion.
The objective of this research is to come up with a systematic ecclesiology of patriarchates for the third millennium. Aside from that of Ratzinger’s, the writings of Karl Rahner and Yves Congar on the matter will be substantially explored. The deliberations and proceedings of the pertinent Synod of Bishops, the relevant texts of the different ecumenical dialogues, and the related writings of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos of the Ukranian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and of the retired San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn will also be considerably studied.
The discussions of the main concepts of the primacy, collegiality, communion and of the reinstitution of patriarchates will make up the substantial chapters of the project. The introductory chapter will contextualize the trajectory of the study by noting the recent and significant developments in ecclesiology related to patriarchates. The second chapter - which will be a revised and expanded work of the pre-doctorate study made by this researcher - will consider the case of the exercise and essence of papal primacy for the third millennium by way of a historical-theological study of the papacy’s first two millennia. Chapter three will correlate the theory and practice of papal primacy with that of episcopal collegiality especially as this is taught and practiced by Vatican II and in the post-Vatican II era. The fourth chapter will take up the ecclesiology of communion as the theological ground basis for the genuine and reformed exercise of primacy and collegiality, and the mode by which Christian reunion can best be promoted and attained. Communion ecclesiology will likewise be explored here as the framework that can correlate the current theology and practice of primacy and collegiality with the projected reinstitution of the system of patriarchates. Chapter five will critically examine the various proposals for the programmed dissolution of the Latin Church into patriarchates and the reunion with other churches to be likewise constituted as patriarchates. It will evaluate and present proposals on some concrete functions of the envisioned system of patriarchates as opposed to the present Roman centralist tendencies: collegial and autonomous governance of a particular church; power over tradition (theology, liturgy, spirituality) and discipline; and the naming of bishops for the region. The concluding chapter will critically assess the foregoing theological cases forwarded for the revival of the first millennium system of patriarchates for the third millennium and their feasibility given the current state of this ecclesiological question.
Research Method
This ecclesiological investigation will basically proceed by analytically and systematically examining all the available relevant data so as to reach a critical ecclesiological evaluation and proposal.
