CONSECRATED PERSONS AND COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY

Abstract

One of the most interesting images of the Church is that of the Church as ‘the body of Christ’. The theologico-Biblical basis of this ecclesiology is 1 Cor 12:1230: “Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it s still one body, even though it is made up f different parts. In the same way, all of us, whether Jew or Gentile, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into one body by the same spirit, and we have all been given the one spirit to drinkâ€. The content of this text was iterated by the Second Vatican Council:
In the building of Christ’s body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one sprit, who, according to his own riches and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the church1.
This notwithstanding, a cursory glance at the reality of the Church, with many kinds of multi-polarizations, reveals that this image of the Church does not always match with concrete circumstances. The clergy are polarized into blocks, the incardinated against the fidei donum, the diocesan priests against the religious priests, parish priests verses assistant priests, diocesan priests against female religious, and male religious against female religious etc. According to John Aniagwu:
Where relations with female religious are concerned, the problem has been mainly one of a servant-master relationship. For some priests, it seems that religious should only be seen and not heard. They should wait on the priest to tell them what to and do only what they have been told2.
With the indices of clericalism, parochialism and individualism making their appearance, it has become important to reflect on collaborative ministry in the church, and this year being the Year of Consecrated Life, this chapter would focus more on collaboration in relation to Consecrated Persons as pastoral agents with a unique and specific role to play.