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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Welcome to Project Linkup</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to Project Linkup"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> News Archive</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Prayer for Project Linkup"><U><IMG SRC="03ba0aa0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="170" ALT="A Prayer for Project Linkup" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Back to Archive Contents Page</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>A Vision for an RCIA Parish</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Belgrave's Small Church Communities - Birthing New Christians</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Imaging initiation in Small Church Communities</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Connection between SCCs and RCIA in East African Parishes</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Caring for New Catholics</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>RCIA is Booming in Africa</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Easter 2005 for Project Linkup in Dar es Salaam</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Archive"><U><B>Project Linkup - On Safari in East Africa</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>What kind of Church does the Rite want?</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Current News Article"><U><B>Current News Article</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <B>News Archive</B></div> <div> <I>February 2006</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>WHAT KIND OF CHURCH DOES THE RITE WANT?</B></I></div> <div> James Dunning</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>       The Way</B></I><B> </B>- July 1989</div> <div>          Reviewed by Jim Cranswick</div> <bR> <bR> <div> When the Rite speaks about ministries, sponsors, catechists, godparents etc., it first mentions the entire community, the ministry of all the faithful, all the People of God at each stage of the Catechumenate (Sections 9 - 16). What it means to be a Christian, a member of the Christian community, rubs onto the catechumens as they associate with members of the faithful. This is primary. The specific teaching is important, but secondary.</div> <bR> <div> This is the emphasis of Vatican II. In the first draft of the constitution of the Church, <I>Lumen Gentium, </I>the first chapter was the mystery of God, the second was on the hierarchy and the third on the People of God. The Bishops reversed the order, making the People of God as primary. The RCIA sees the Church, the People of God, as a community on a common journey with the catechumens, influencing each other. This is the kind of Church the Rite wants. </div> <bR> <div> Dunning distinguishes three models or images of Church that are implicit in the Rite:-  Church as Body of Christ, Church as Community of Faith, Church as Missionary People of God. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>1. Church as Body of Christ </B></I></div> <bR> <div> In the past there has been the emphasis on the Real Presence of Jesus on the bread and wine in the Eucharist. Dunning sees clearly that today the emphasis is on the Real Presence found in the community of the People of God. To quote, he says, “ We are the basic sacrament of Christ's presence.” This is a huge challenge to us today. He makes it clear that the catechumens are to find/experience the presence and love of Jesus in us, the members of the church. This is the emphasis in the Rite.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>2. Church as Community of Faith</B></I></div> <bR> <div> The Rite calls the catechumens into a personal faith in God's love, rather than in doctrines, law, theologies. Dunning uses the biblical account of the Roman centurion who tells Jesus only to say the word and his servant will be healed. Jesus has not found such faith in Israel, telling the Israelites who know doctrine and law, that faith is more than doctrine and law - it is a personal response of the whole self from the heart.  Dunning makes it clear that the community of the faithful have a real and important ministry to call the catechumens to faith. The Rite expresses this in practical terms in Section 9. “The faithful should show themselves ready to give the candidates evidence of the spirit of the Christian community….”,  “During Lent the faithful should … give the elect the example of their own renewal in the spirit of penance, faith and charity.” etc.  </div> <div> So it is important that the kind of Church the Rite wants is intimacy and community, but this is hard to find in the traditional parish system that we have inherited. </div> <bR> <div> Dunning quotes Bernard Lee, when he notices the present seepage/leakage of men and women , when their catechumenal experience is over and they become adrift and lost in the open parish. He joins Lee in advocating small intentional communities. Ultimately he sees “the entire parish not as a community, but as a network of communities….. where people experience Christ's presence through people in relationships with God.” </div> <bR> <div> This “is the Church which the Rite wants for new members during and after the journey of initiation.”</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>3. The Church as Missionary People of God </B></I> </div> <bR> <div> Here he just says that “mission makes church community …. and that our mission and vocation to build the Reign of God unites Church as community.” </div> <bR> <div> This last section of the article is short and disappointing. However the whole article makes it clear that it is not only the sponsors, catechists etc.,  but the whole Church has an essential part/role in the making of new Christians. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="05829ea0.jpg" border=0 width="297" height="234" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jim Cranswick </B>is pictured here with Ursula reading the dedication in the new SCC anthology <I>"Small Christian Communities Today: Capturing the New Moment"</I>.  He is one of a select group acknowledged by the editors for their tireless efforts in growing the SCC vision world-wide.  The Project Linkup family salute Jim and congratulate him on this richly deserved honour.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>