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by Michael Deeb OP.
from Becoming a Creative Local Church: Theological
Reflections on the Pastoral Plan,
Cluster Publications,
Pietermaritzburg, 1991.
Published on our website with the Author's
permission.
Introduction
Since
the Second Vatican Council promoted the image of the Church as the ‘People
of God’, the understanding of the Church as ‘community’ has
grown, and has probably become the main aspiration of most people in the Church
today. After centuries of lay passivity, with all the focus and responsibility
for the church falling on the clergy, the stark division between clergy
and,laity has been removed, and a new emphasis is now placed on the common
priesthood of all believers, who together have the task of carrying out the
Church’s mission in the world. To achieve this, new forms of community are
being explored all over the world to enable all Church members to feel part of
- to be one with - the rest of the Church community. Everyone is talking about
community! And this is reflected in the Catholic Church in Southern Africa
which has made this a main thrust of its Pastoral Plan -'Community Serving
Humanity’. A reason for this emphasis is the realization that without
community, our faith, hope and charity gradually die. Only through community
are we enabled to persevere and face difficulties, and then enable others to
live more fully (Connor 1988:23-24). Within this theme, there is a stress on
the oneness (the unity) of the community, and the necessity to overcome
unnecessary distinctions between clergy and the people as a prerequisite for a
real experience of community (SACBC 1989:22-23). This raises the question: What
does unity mean in the context of a hierarchical Church?
Unity
is usually an issue in a context of conflict or division. In this case, there
is not real conflict (the distinctions rather create apathy); and it is not the
intention to remove all distinctions (only unnecessary ones). So unity here is
rather referring to the maximum participation and coresponsibility of all the
members in pursuit of the common task of the Church (SACBC 1990:3). As the
Vatican II states:
Each
part contributes its own gifts to other parts and to the whole Church, so that
the whole and each of the parts are strengthened by the common sharing of all
things, and by the common effort to attain to fullness in unity (LG,13)
How is
such a unity to become a reality? The issue at stake here is the role of
ministry in the Church. This is indicated in the Pastoral Plan which suggests
that the initiative in overcoming unnecessary distinctions must come from the
clergy themselves (SACBC 1989:23). How can ministry be approached and exercised
in such a way as to enable the growth of participation of all the people of
God?
To
answer this question in this paper, I will first identify the experiences of
ministry which obstruct unity, as well as the challenges that are posed to
ministry by current social and ecclesial trends. Then I will analyze the
underlying factors maintaining the distortions in ministry before finally
exploring ways in which we might bring about the desired unity between clergy
and the people.
2.
Experiences of Ministry which Obstruct Unity
I
have attended a number of meetings of the Southern African Catholic Laity
Council over the years, and each time a common complaint emerging has
been:’Our priests are the problem!’ When the lay-people wish to
introduce something new, the priest often blocks the way.
Although it is now twenty-five years since Vatican II emphasized lay
responsibility, many priests still reign supreme in their parishes, assuming
all responsibility to themselves. This attitude fails to activate the enormous
resources, talents and energy that exist in every parish, and inevitably leads
to apathy and passivity among the people. This, in turn, prevents the
development of a sense of community, so that many people are abandoning Church,
or leaving to join other smaller (for example, Pentecostal) Churches, where
much more participation is allowed, and they feel at home.
Linked to this, is the experience of priests as superior to the people, not
bothering to consult with them, and thus operating in an undemocratic fashion,
without any sense of accountability to the people. This leads many people, both
within and outside the Church, to scoff at Church calls for democracy in
society, while undemocratic practices within the Church are defended.
All
these experiences are manifestations of clericalism, which draws a clear line
between the ‘sacred’ priest and the people. The Laity Commission of
the SACBC aptly describes this as:
an
attitude of feeling aloof, separate from the people; an attitude of alone
possessing all guidance of the Spirit, all insight and all responsibility; an
attitude of not being brother to the other baptized, of disregarding the equal
dignity of all believers; an attitude of having nothing to learn from people.
(SACBC,1990:7)
With
this emphasis on male, priestly status, inevitably those who experience the gap
most acutely are women. This has led to a growing l resentment amongst more and
more women at their exclusion from central functions and offices in the church,
while they remain the mainstay and backbone of the Church in virtually all
communities. Also there are growing reactions to a number of priests
concelebrating at the altar, as this is seen to be more a negative sign of
male, clerical dominance than anything else positive it is meant to signify.
The
final experience of ministry which obstructs unity that I will point to is the
shortage of priests. This reality is reaching chronic proportions in many
areas, such as Kroonstad Diocese, where there are twenty-five parishes, and
only fifteen priests. For most parishes, especially so called
‘outstations’, the people effectively do not have a priest. They only
get a’service’ priest who comes to ‘say’ Mass every few
weeks. The consequence of this is that the leader of the community celebration
is a relative stranger to them. This is ridiculous, especially if there are
already a number of pastoral workers in the community, who could play that
primary leadership role if they were allowed to be ordained. However, they are
usually married, and therefore ineligible for ordination. This inevitably
reinforces attitudes of clericalism, since priesthood becomes associated with
being apart and aloof. It therefore raises the whole question of the law of
celibacy as an obstacle to unity.
3.
The Challenge of Current Social and Ecclesial Trends
The
critical reactions to these exercises of ministry have not been inevitable. For
centuries such practices remained unchallenged. An awareness of the distortions
in them has only become possible through the insights of modern social and
ecclesial trends.
3.1 Social Trends
The
move away from monolithic monarchies to political pluralism is something the
Church is still battling to come to grips with, as it poses a serious challenge
to the way hierarchy in the Church is still conceived by many, namely, in very
monolithic terms. Since democracy is now almost universally accepted as the
most desirable and suitable form of government (even by most Church leaders),
the lack of such practice within the Church stares out as a glaring
contradiction. As most Church members get used to practices of democracy and
accountability in their work-places and residential communities, inevitably
they are going to start applying it to their experience of Church. Gone are the
days when blind obedience to authority was the norm. People increasingly are
refusing to be just objects, manipulable by higher authorities. They are
insisting on being subjects of their own destiny, encouraging a critical stance
towards all authority
Along
with this, the world is growing in its consciousness of the equal dignity of
all people. Thus there is vigorous reaction to all forms of discrimination,
whether it be racial, sexual, cultural or whatever. Inevitably these same
reactions will emerge in the Church, and extend also to discrimination against
lay people.
Secularization is another reality that the Church is still struggling to come
to terms with, even though Vatican II went a good distance in attempting to
confront it. Since social institutions have become desacralized, the notion of
‘the sacred’ is no longer taken for granted; and many things which
were once regarded as sacred, are now viewed with suspicion, especially
clerical office. This poses a serious challenge to the Church to rework its
understanding of’the sacred:
3.2 Ecclesial Trends
Turning to the ecclesial trends which evoke critiques of present ministry,
there have been a number of modern theological shifts which challenge
traditional structures and attitudes. There is a greater focus now on seeing
Christ more as a servant than as a king. This projects a clear servant model
for ministry. Also the doctrine of the Trinity has developed to see the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit as a community of love, which has similar implications for
the Church. And the whole understanding of the Church has, of course, been
radically transformed by Vatican II’s focus on the Church as the People of
God. Its emphasis on mutual coresponsibility of the clergy and the laity has
unleashed an enormous amount of energy and participation from the Church
membership, which has inevitably led to increased sensitivity to obstacles to
participation.
At
the moral level, the negative Platonic/Stoic view of the body, and therefore of
sex as always associated with sin, which Augustine brought into the Church, has
given way now to a much more positive appreciation of sex as a’good: It
ís now seen as something involving the whole person (not only something
physical), which has the potential for promoting mutual love and sensitivity in
a relationship. This shift shakes the undergirding rationale for the law of
celibacy, which was introduced in the twelfth century to overcome a slack
attitude to the fourth century law of abstinence, which was required of priests
before approaching the altar, since sex was regarded as impure (Cooke
1976:582). With this new positive appraisal of sex, an assault on the law of
celibacy has inevitably resulted, as well as on the clericalism (priestly
aloofness) it promotes.
Finally, the rapid growth of small independent (indigenous) and Pentecostal
churches, with their provision of a greater sense of warmth, community,
participation, and healing, has inevitably led to insecurity within our
‘mainline’ churches, which battle to compete. There are thus
increasing demands for these needs to be met within our own Church, and
obstacles to this are now much less tolerated.
4.
Factors Maintaining the Distortions in Ministry
From
the discussion above, we can draw out four key perceived obstacles to unity
between the clergy and the people:
(1)
Dominating leadership;
(2)
Undemocratic and unaccountable behaviour,
(3)
The exclusion of women from leadership;
(4)
The law of celibacy.
When
we dig deeper to uncover the root causes of these obstacles, two factors or
mentalities emerge, which seem to underpin so many of the distortions in
ministry experienced. Consequently, a failure to address them, is likely to
render any action to promote unity ineffective in the long-term. These
are:
(1) - a Christendom mentality and
(2) - a sacral notion of priesthood.
Even though they frequently overlap, I will treat them separately for
the sake of clarity.
4.1 Christendom Mentality
A Christendom mentality refers to the adherence to a model of Church
that developed after Constantine, and especially during the Middle Ages - in
the age of Christendom- yet which has continued to be dominant up to the
present time. This is the model which the Latin American theologian Juan Luis
Segundo, in his challenging book The Hidden Motives of Pastoral Action (1978),
sees based on the relationship of the Church to the dominant political power
that ensures its place,privilege and protection in civil society. Thus there is
an emphasis on self-preservation, with the Church dispensing security to its
hug, clientele of insecure people, through their participation in certain ,
obligatory Christian practices, especially sacraments, which do not necessarily
require any personal conviction. This ensures a mass membership (a captive
audience), and maximum participation, but with minimum challenge and minimum
requirements of church membership (Segundo 1978:34).
Inevitably, in
this context, the role of the minister becomes largely a maintenance function,
which accords him a great deal of power and status. With the emphasis on
sacraments as ‘the private dispensing of spiritual goods; without regard
for the community dimension, virtually all ministry is concentrated in the
person of the priest. Consequently, with this spiritual monopoly, attitudes of
clericalism are virtually unavoidable.
Although in
intention, and in much of its practice, the Church in South Africa is moving
away from this Christendom model towards a new community model, which
emphasizes much more challenge, committed participation, and diversity of
ministry as service, nevertheless, on the whole, in pastoral ministry, the
Christendom model still predominates. The focus is still largely geared towards
accumulating and maintaining mass membership which therefore emphasizes
sacraments (in their privatized form), and sees the Church primarily as an
institution for the salvation of souls (Fedosa 1985:9). This gives rise to two
of the perceived obstacles to unity mentioned above.
4.1.1 Dominating versus serving leadership
This
Christendom mentality is very evident amongst many priests who exercise their
leadership in a dominant fashion, assuming all responsibility to themselves, or
who stifle any new initiatives, thus perpetuating a purely maintenance function
for the Church. This practice ïs rooted in a basic insecurity of many
priests, who have not been trained to nurture freedom. Without a clear vision
for the Church and for their ministry, their operation remains static, and for
effectiveness they are forced to rely on their status as priests, rather than
on the power of the gospel. It also indicates a lack of understanding of the
Christian exercise of power and leadership as service, as spelt out in Mark
10:42-045. All this points to the need for a great deal more circumspection in
the recruitment and training of priests.
4.1.2 Hierarchy versus democracy
In
similar fashion this Christendom mentality gives rise to the undemocratic and
unaccountable behaviour experienced of so many priests. It comes from the
medieval era when the Church, following the political thinking and structures
of the time, saw monarchy as the most suitable form of government which it
applied to itself. Thus, today, when the demand is made for more democracy in
the Church, a frequent response is to rule it out because ‘the
Church’ is not a democracy - it is hierarchical!The image of hierarchy
most people are referring to is a top-down structure like a triangle or a
ladder, with the Pope and Bishops at the top, and the laywomen at the bottom.
But
is the Church necessarily hierarchical in such a sense? According to the Dutch
theologian, Schillebeeckxx, in his illuminating book Ministry (1981), in the
early church there was no such thing as a ministry independent of the community
. Candidates could only be ordained if they had been put forward by a
particular community to be their minister. In fact, the Council of Chalcedon
(4,51 AD) explicitly ‘ forbade’absolute ordinations’ i.e.
ordinations without being linked to a specific community (Schillebeeckx 1981:39
So, here, the community had a major say in the selection of ministers, who were
then approved and ordained by the church leaders through the liturgical laying
on of hands. Only later, and especially after the twelfth century, did the
calling of the community cease to be a requirement for ordination, for reasons
that we will go into later.
The
point, then, is that a form of democracy (although they did not call it that)
did exist in the early church. By 150 AD, with the growth of the Church, with
persecution, and with the development of heresies, the Church had closed ranks
around their community leaders, and there was an established’hierarchy' of
Bishop, Elder, and Deacon(O’Meara 1983:99). However, the primary focus of
these ministries was to ensure the continuity of the teaching of the apostolic
tradition, rather than to define specific structures of ministry and the and
the names given to ministers (Schillebeeckx 1981:35).
Hence, the evolution of the hierarchy was not a. question of developing a power
wielding authority structure, but rather to have a point of unity, for the
cohesion and completeness of the community, with the emphasis on service. Each
role represented further degrees of ultimate responsibility.
Thus
the Church’s hierarchical nature is not necessarily in conflict with
democracy. Also, to say that the Church must be democratic is not to deny the
importance of apostolic succession, but rather to insist that the people in
councils, synods, etc., have a deliberative, and not only a consultative power.
Nevertheless,’hierarchy’ is not a useful word to understand the
nature of Church leadership, as it always seems to imply a top-down structure.
If we want to convey our understanding of leadership as service, we need to
develop a new language and to promote the image,of the Church as a circle with
the leaders at the centre (as the Pastoral Plan is suggesting).
4.2 Sacral Notion of Priesthood
A
sacral notion of priesthood is one which lays stress on the ontological
sacramental character which is imbued with ordination, and with that, the
elevation to a new sacred state. This effectively renders the priest, superior
to those non-ordained, and hence more worthy of respect. Through officiating at
the Eucharist, he is seen to be the mediator between the people and God, and
hence, he is one who is holier and worthier.
Now,
today, we are not likely to find many people adhering strictly to this notion
of priesthood. However, we can detect many traces of it in the negative
experiences of ministry we have noted above. It is often this notion that gives
rise to an air of all-knowing or infallibility, or to a refusal to be
accountable to the people: It isat the heart of clericalism, and is fundamental
to the image of the priest as a dispenser of spiritual goods, which is central
to the Christendom model of Church as an institution for the salvation of
souls. How are we to understand and evaluate this notion of priesthood that has
become so ingrained in the consciousness of the Church?
4.2.1 Cult versus Community
This
notion of the priesthood only became entrenched in the Church in the twelfth
century, at the Third and fourth Lateran Councils (1179 and 1215) when the
validity of ordination became independent of the calling and sending by a local
community. This implied a complete change in the nature and function of the
priest. Schillebeeckx (1981:56-57) attributes this change to the fact that:
At a
time when virtually everyone was baptized, the boundary between ‘the
spirit of Christ’ and ‘the spirit of the world’ came to lie with
the clergy. As a result the priesthood was seen more as ‘a personal state
of life’, a’status’; than as a service to the community; it was
personalized and privatised .... Only now did ordinatio in fact become a sacred
rite; a man is a priest quite apart from a particular ecclesia ( ....what
Chalcedon had called an invalid absolute ordination).
Ordination, which was a calling to preside over the church community, now
became the bestowal of a special power to be able to perform the consecration
in the Eucharist, i.e. priesthood became linked to the cult, not the
commuunity. It thus took on more and more of the features of the Old Testament
Levitical priesthood, and hence the priest was seen as one who was set apart
from the people: Priestly celibacy was the only adequate expression of this
essential separation ( Schillebeeckx 198157-59). Hence it was imposed as
obligatory for all priests at this time, and, despite the enormous practical
problems associated with it, it remains as such a law till today, even though
any substantial rationale for it has been eroded.
Furthermore, as ministry became linked to the Eucharist, this effectively
excluded women from any leadership in the Church, as, traditionally, feminine
impurities restricted women’s role in worship. Of course, the
Judeo-Christian religion emerged in cultures with a very strong patriarchal
tradition, where male superiority was always regarded as the norm. Even Thomas
Aquinas regarded women as ‘misbegotten men' (Johnson 1988: 58-59). While
these sexist stereotypes and cultural (community) obstacles are progressively
crumbling (in theory at least) in the face of the challenge of the feminist
movement, the exclusion of women from Church leadership is doggedly maintained
(even in theory), without any plausible theological justification. We must
therefore conclude that the cultic conception of leadership and priesthood
remains dominant.
Thus
Schillebeeckx (1981:98) concludes, and we can concur, that:
‘the hindrances in the case of both priestly celibacy and women in the
ministry ....are to be found especially in the ontological and sacerdotalist
conception of the ministry in the setting of worship in the Western Latin
Church.’
4.2.2 Character of ordination: special power versus unrepeatability
The
problem with the sacral notion of priesthood is that the sacramental character
conferred with ordination is understood primarily to imply the granting of a
special power! However, as Cooke (1976:546) shows, the principal effect of
ordination in the ante-Nicene period was to give a man the right and
responsibility to perform certain functions for the sake of the community such
as preaching, offering the Eucharist, reconciling sinners, and healing.’
Obviously along with this went the power to do such things effectively.
However, the essential element in the’sacramental character’,
attached to ordination was not the power it conferred, but the unrepeatability
of the ordination (Augustine’s s solution to the reordination controversy)
(Cooke,1976:546 Thus, the granting of power to the priest through ordination is
not meant to imply a new ‘status’or’state of being,’ which
elevates him above the community. In any type of community or organization
leadership is accompanied by increased powers. And as with all Christian
leadership, it is a power only to serve -_to be a minister. The only
thing’ special’, then, in the leadership acknowledged in ordination,
is that it is permanent and unrepeatable - and in that sense, a character!
4.2.3 Sacred: extra- versus intra-historical
A
related problem is the understanding of the word ‘sacred’ that is
implied within this sacral understanding. It is usually used to refer to a
realm outside of this world. This enables the priest to operate on a separate
‘spiritual’ plane, unrelated to history. However, this simply
reinforces the age-old problem of the gap between faith and life, as though we
are all living out two histories - the sacred and the secular.We need to
develop a new understanding of the sacred, which is able to discover God’s
action and glory within the world, and in historical events. The sacramental
role of the priest, then, is to help people to celebrate the transforming
presence of God at all the different stages of their lives.
5.
How to Bring about this Unity?
This
brings us back to our initial question: ‘How can ministry be approached
and exercised in such a way as to enable the growth of participation of all the
People of God’? What must be done to remove the obstacles to the unity of
the clergy and the people?
5.1 Sensitivity to different religious needs
The
first thing we need to do is to, recognize that different tendencies exist
within the Church. Not everyone is wanting to develop the sort of community
envisaged in the Pastoral Plan. There remains a strong tendency among people
who wish that the Church could still function as it did before Vatican II. They
seek a religious awe that has nothing to do with life in community necessarily.
Also, it has been the experience of a number of priests who have tried to break
out of a sacral notion of priesthood, that this made many of their parishioners
very unhappy. Many people like and need the priest to play such a role for
them.
This
demands a deeper understanding of what people’s real religious needs are,
so that we can look for more suitable outlets for their devotion that are not
obstacles to building a coresponsible community. However, this is a delicate
area, which we need to treat very sensitively, because, as Schillebeeckx
(1981:99) says, most Christian communities are not ready for a non-sacral view
of priesthood.
5.2 Biblical, Theological and Spiritual Formation
While
respecting the devotion of the people, we need to be constantly aware of the
need to counter this sacral notion of the priesthood among them, to free them
to relate to the priest as a partner. This is obviously a very long-term
project, requiring a great deal of biblical, theological and spiritual
formation, which should be at the heart of every Church community. Different
forms of Small Christian Community are an indispensable part of this process,
since in such a community there is a space for people to personally reflect on
and confront their faith, and to relate it to their lives. When they are thus
contextually soaked in I Scripture, if they have the right guidance, they will
hopefully. begin to see that the Christian faith, ministry and priesthood are
less about cult, than about community.
5.3 Recruitment and Training of Clergy
The
role of the priest in this process is obviously still pivotal. As long as many
priests still hold to this sacral notion of their priesthood, they will
perpetuate the disunity. A primary stress must be placed on improving the
recruitment and training of clergy, so that they are geared towards a ministry
of community-building. This requires an approach that goes beyond simply
plugging the holes that the shortage of priests has left. Also lay-people need
to be drawn in to play a much greater role in this recruitment and training
process.
5.4 Removal of Obligatory Clerical Celibacy
As
long as the law of Celibacy remains in the context of our modern world, where
it increasingly fails to have . positive sign value (for example, in African
culture), the shortage of priests is likely to continue. Consequently, many
Church.communities will continue to rely on a ‘visiting priest; who can
fulfill little more than a cultic function. This inevitably reinforces the
peoples sacral notion of priesthood. Also , as demonstrated above (4.2.1)
priestly celibacy is a sign of the essential separation of the priest from the
people, which places a permanent obstacle in the way of the quest for
unity.
Furthermore, obligatory celibacy undermines the sign value that voluntary
celibacy in religious life attempts to uphold, since it blurs the distinction
between religious life and diocesan priesthood, constituting part of the
‘package deal’ for anyone who wishes to be a priest. The fact that
some people actually choose celibacy consequently gets lost, since all (even
religious) priests are subject to the’law,’ which is always negative
(Latin-rite Catholic priests are not allowed to get married!).
While
celibacy has always been integral to the option for religious life it is a
dispensable part of priesthood (as demonstrated by other Catholic rites and
other Christian denominations). Yet the 1990 Synod of Bishops rejected the
attempts to change the law by many Bishops who were concerned about its
continuing negative pastoral implications. Reading through reports of the
debate at the Synod (The Tablet 6,13,20,27 October; and 3 November 1990), one
is struck by the mood of a crusade to defend priestly celibacy in the face
of’systematic hostile propaganda,’ without any substantial argument
to deal with the pastoral problems posed. It was seen only in terms of
the’identity’ of the priest - an ideal of ‘complete self-giving
to God for the good of souls. ‘In choosing to see priesthood primarily in
terms of this elevated state, without regard for the pastoral implications, the
synod effectively, rubber stamped the sacral notion priesthood. However,
despite this unwillingness in Rome at the moment to question the law of
celibacy, we must not cease to raise it as a priority problem that demands
resolution.
5.5 Removal of Sexism
Since
women constitute more than 50% of the Church, and are always at the bottom of
the’hierarchy; with no access to any official Church leadership position,
drastic changes in attitudes to women are required before any unity between
clergy and people is possible. Women need to be recognized as equal to men in
the sight of God, and repentance for the millennia of oppression of women in
the Church is a prerequisite. Affirmative action needs to be taken to promote
the role of women beyond the domestic, and to affirm their right to exercise
leadership within the Church. It is now almost universally acknowledged that
there are no theological reasons for the exclusion of women from any form of
ministry. Only cultural norms and prejudices, and male vested interests stand
in the way óf their full participation at all levels in the Church.
As
mentioned above (4.2.1), the exclusion of women from ministry is also rooted in
the sacral notion of ministry, so the problem has to be dealt with at that
level too. Nevertheless, education about sexism in behaviour, attitudes,
structures and language, and action to remove it, are, primary preconditions
for achieving unity in the Church.
5.6 Empowerment of the People
Finally, at the heart of any attempts to create unity between the clergy and
the people is the empowerment of the people. Even though it is up to the clergy
to take the initiative ‘in closing, the gap, this is only possible if the
people claim their baptismal right, and have the confidence to be
co-responsible in carrying out the Church’s mission. So a priority is to
provide education and training for the people especially at a theological level
to remove the monopoly that the priest has in this field. It is also vital to
give them responsibility in lay ministries and in all other structures of
leadership. Only when structures of accountability are developed is a
democratic practice in the Church possible.
The
development of Small Christian Communities is a vital component in enabling
empowerment, as they create a space where all Church members can take some
responsibility. Also the concept of Pastoral Teams needs to be promoted to
enable more people to take responsibility for the many different needs within a
community.
6.
Conclusion:
Ongoing Critical Analysis
The
seeds of this new Church are already far-flung, and many sprouts are already to
be found all over Southern Africa. There still remain many unconscious
attitudes and practices which stand in the way of our achieving the noble
vision that we have set ourselves in the Pastoral Plan. Only through an ongoing
critical analysis of our Church practice and theology, and through an openness
to the Spirit will one be able to break through age-old prejudices and
practices, and this new’Community serving Humanity’ will become a
reality.
Works Consulted
Connor, BF 1988. Where are we going as Church? - Reflections on the
Process of Pastoral Planning. Hilton: Cornerstone.
Cooke, B 1976. Ministry to Word and Sacraments - History and Theology.
Philadelphia: Fortress.
Fedosa Justice and Peace Committee 1985. A Guide to Pastoral Planning.
Springs: Fedosa J & P Committee.
Johnson, E 1988. Who do you say that I am? - Introducing Contemporary
Chrístology. Hilton: Cornerstone.
O’Meara, TF 1983. Theology of Ministry. New York: Paulist.
Pastoral Directive 1990. We are the Church - Pastoral Directive on
Coresponsibility in the Church. Pretoria: SACBC.
Pastoral Plan 1989. Community serving Humanity: Pastoral Plan of the
Catholic Church in Southern Africa. Pretoria: SACBC.
Schillebeeekx, E 1981. Ministry -A Case for Change. London: SCM.
Segundo, JL 1978. The Hidden Motives of Pastoral Action. Maryknoll: Orbis.
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