Sometimes while I’m reading a book I will highlight quotes that I want to share on this blog. Recently, I noted three particular passages that just had to be highlighted and I earmarked today as the day I would type them out.
Then, late last week, Paul Davies wrote a post which quoted the exact three passages that I had been planning to use today. So, I’m going to save myself the bother of typing them out and suggest that you go over to his blog to read them and to find out where they come from.
To whet your appetite, here is one of the three passages:
Missionary societies as we know them today, are in no sense a necessary part of the existence of the church; they are simply temporary expedient for the performance of certain functions that could be performed in entirely different ways.
3 replies on “Beaten to the Post”
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I’d love to see someone explore the relationship of origins between Protestant missionary societies and Catholic missionary orders which obviously go back a lot further than the 19th century. Are the same tensions between church and missionary society present on the Catholic side of things? Do they reconcile them somehow differently? Catholic societies don’t exactly work on a faith-based support mechanism… but then that vow of poverty is not always amenable to Protestants…. Has any one done any study?
The Catholic orders are all, in one way or another under Episcopal control so they fit into the Church in a way that non-denominational Protestant agencies don’t.
I wasn’t exactly answering your question, but I recently wrote this for a project I’m working on:
In his overview of Roman Catholic theology, Kasper identifies three broad structures or orders for mission within the Catholic church; monasticism, religious communities and spiritual movements {Kasper:2015 p. 281-287}.
Monastic orders are communal expressions of the life of the church, which through prayer, the celebration of the liturgy and an ordered life witness to the Christian message. By offering hospitality, the monasteries provide other Christians a place for retreat and reflection. The monastic orders seek to influence the outside world, but they do so primarily through their life as a community.
Religious Orders developed, in part, as a response to monastic communities which had grown rich and powerful. The focus of Religious Orders is not so much on their communal life, but on the mission which they are called to carry out. Historic religious orders include the Franciscans and Jesuits while more contemporary examples include the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa.
Spiritual Movements are primarily lay associations who live and witness to being Christian in the midst of the world.
To this list could be added Roman Catholic relief and development agencies such as CAFOD and Caritas (ref needed).
These structures have a degree of independence, which provides the church with a degree of flexibility in the way that she carries out her mission. However, the various orders all operate ultimately under the authority of the Church in one way or another.