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Both before and after the Second Vatican Council, Karl Rahner promoted the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent order in the Catholic church. His theology of the diaconate has eluded sustained attention. After providing the historical context for his contribution, this reappraisal, in a close reading of Rahner, elaborates on three essential ecclesiological themes: the church's exercise of its divine right to establish a discrete diaconate by dividing office, the graced nature of diaconal office, and the specialized function of deacons in the formation of ecclesial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Catholic theology there exists a rhetoric emphasizing the necessity to re-actualize the image of the Church with the help of socio-humanitarian sciences, which can be viewed as manifesting a change in social logics. This change implies that institutional structures are becoming irrelevant, which causes a crisis within the group, representing the institutional logic in the Church — i.e. priesthood. “Crisis of the priesthood” constitutes a turning point, where new logics and models, influenced by a broader change, appear. The article deals with the problem of the transformation of a religious leader image in Catholic thought, illustrated by E. Drewermann’s conception. As an alternative to the traditional view, the author proposes a model based on psychoanalytic theory, M. Eliade’s phenomenology of religion and, to a degree, on J.-P. Sartre’s existentialism. Psychoanalytic theory is represented by the tripartite model of human psyche; Eliade’s phenomenology contributes the concept of religious experience, and J.-P. Sartre’s “Childhood of a Leader” illustrates the conflict between the “official” and the “personal”. The three components of the author’s model are interconnected: the archetypal images of the unconscious are linked with religious experience, religious experience legitimizes the shaman seen as a normative model of priesthood, and its absence delegitimizes the catholic priest, whose authority in the “catholic form of religiosity”, as E. Drewermann sees it, is derived from his official status. The model of priesthood thus reinterpreted easily fits into the global tendencies, which are demonstrated, in particular, by F. Gauthier: the change from the “institutional” to the “individual”.

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There are many services, tasks and functions in the Church. The ecclesiastical office is a task established permanently from a divine or ecclesiastical provision for the attainment of a spiritual goal. Essential elements of a church office are church tasks, divine or ecclesiastical estab¬lishments, constitution of the office, spiritual purpose and the entity performing the office. The good of the Church’s community and the dignity of ecclesiastical offices demand that their exercise be stable. However, the principle of stability of the office is not absolute. It is worth recalling what a “church office” is and how it can be lost. Can be indicate several possibilities of losing the church office. These are: loss of office by the nature of things, resignation, transfer, removal, deprivation. Analyzes of the legal provisions regarding entrusting to the ecclesiastical office, its requirements and conditions have already been presented. In this article an important issue is the loss of the ecclesiastical office.

The pastoral care for the community of the faithful entrusted to parish--priest is essentially connected with the office of the pastor. This means that the parish priest is called to fulfill his mission because of his participation in the priesthood of Christ and the office entrusted to him by the bishop. Therefore, he performs this office not autonomously and without any dependence, but under the authority of the diocesan bishop, who, by virtue of God's law, is a shepherd of the particular Church. For the sake of the faithful, the church legislator foresees several ways of losing the office of parish priest. The author in this article discusses this very complex issue. Based on general norms, the church office, including the office of a parish priest, is lost after the lapse of time, after reaching the legal age, because of resignation, transfer, removal and deprivation. The natural reason for the loss of every church office is the death of the person holding it. Despite these provisions, the church legislator for the office of the parish priest separately determines the ways of loss, including the removal or transfer made in accordance with the law, waiver for a just cause and the passage of time. Particularly in the event of removal or transfer, it provides for special administrative procedures. The separation of these two procedures is primarily due to the important role that the parish priest has to fulfill in the life of the church community and the fact of the durability of his office. The role of these procedures is elimination of the possible abuses by the priest, which could deprive the parishioners of the spiritual goods to which they are entitled, without omitting the good of the priest. All ways of losing the office of parish priest, apart from the particular effects specified by the legislator, result in the vacancy of the parish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Koszalinsko-Kolobrzeskie is the property of University of Szczecin Press / Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a climate of institutional change and loss of authority, it is urgently needed to rethink the legitimacy of religious authority. This article offers a case study of Paul’s authority claims in Corinth, using French & Raven’s theory of social power, to offer new insights into the construction of religious leadership. Paul negotiated renewed acceptance as Corinth’s founder and apostle by appealing to legitimate power that he was a better leader than Moses, even Christ’s ambassador, and by undermining the legitimate power of his opponents who claimed Jewish descent and apostolic miracles as key leadership markers. Similarly, Paul appealed to referent power by portraying his suffering as a mark of Christ-embodying leadership and undermined the referent power of his opponents by denouncing status, patronage support and rhetoric as legitimation for leadership. Paul did not appeal to other power bases (informational, expert, reward and coercion), because he could not be sure to outrank his opponents on those counts. This analysis suggests that religious authority in the form of Paul’s founding apostleship was difficult to comprehend and embed in the social and cultural structures of Corinth at that time. Paul needed to engage in intense contention and negotiation to construct a socially and culturally viable model of leadership that would do justice to his vision of Christian identity. As a corollary, the evidence of the intensity of this conflict at various levels throughout the epistle can be interpreted as supporting the literary unity of the epistle.

Vatican II envisioned a revived permanent diaconate modeled on Christ the servant. That view, well grounded in subsequent church documents and widely appealed to in theological reflection, is criticized increasingly as lacking theological integrity or practical guidance for ministry. This article examines the metaphor itself and its application to the diaconate, concluding that the office in its functional, relational, and sacramental dimensions is indeed structured to represent Christ the servant. This metaphor also illuminates the distinctive calling of deacons in the ecclesial, secular, and post-Christian contexts where they practice their ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forming of a contemporary understanding of church office: Jesus’ calling to discipleship This article aimed to examine the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika’s (NHKA) understanding of church office, and measure it against ‘office’ or ministries in the New Testament, and more specifically against Jesus’ calling to discipleship in Mark 8:34. The relevance of the historical Jesus for contemporary church theology is indicated by the ‘essential’ (Sache) continuity that exists between the historical Jesus and the church today. The article concludes that Jesus’ calling to discipleship in Mark 8:34 implies a certain understanding of office. The essence of this calling is servitude based on self-denial, the taking up of one’s cross, and the following of Jesus. Subsequently, a few remarks are made on the NHKA’s understanding of church office, as described in the NHKA church ordinance. The aim is for these remarks to serve as a guideline for the NHKA to form a contemporary understanding of church office. The concluding remarks have been derived from the results of the study on Jesus’ calling to discipleship, with the aim of ensuring that the NHKA serves and works in correspondence with the Word of God. This service occurs in a world very different from the one in which Jesus lived and served.