Funkcje urzeczywistniania się Kościoła

Abstract

The author seeks to bring us closer to the current knowledge on pastoral theology about the basic functions of how the Church is made real, that is to say their sources, number and mutual subordination. These problems have not yet been thoroughly worked out in Polish pastoral literature, though the subject-matter is important and critical. The knowledge about the sources of Christian mission, that is about the essence of the Church; it is indispensable not only for theological instruction, but also for further analyses and investigations in making pastoral care more efficient. The Church is not a static, fully completed reality. It is a dynamic fellowship always in the course of construction. Self-implementation of the Church is carried out hic et nunc, and it embraces all the levels of life and the activity of the Church. No Christian can be ruled out of this process. Whoever stays out of this process ceases to be a living member of such organism as the Church. In a healthy organism each organ, and even a small cell, fulfills its function. The Church cannot be a passive viewer and listener, but each has a function to fulfil. Therefore the Church is thought to be a living organism in its dynamic aspect, that is it may be described in its life and action by means of the category of function. And by the function here it is meant a range of activities, forms of action and tasks which particular members of the Church should fulfil to make the self-implementation of the Church in the world come true. It follows that there basic functions own to which the Church lives, develops and builds herself for the future: prophesying, the Liturgy and ministry. These functions have their source in the mission of Christ and are well grounded in the theology of fellowship. In their interrelations they are firmly bound, for its is through them that the Holy Ghost acts. None of the functions may be left out or belittled in pastoral practice, for this would mean to give up or destabilize the process of the Church’s self-construction. To neglect even one of those fundamental dimensions in church practice could give rise to pathological phenomena in the life and development of ecclesial fellowships. Now to have concern about bringing all the basic functions into practice is to guarantee a healthy development of the Church’s organism.