Institution vs. charism in the Church?

THANKS to God, this is not yet a hot and explosive issue, but it’s good to have some running concern about this because this is a continuing business in the Church.

The Church is a living organism, not only in the natural sense, but also in the supernatural sense. There is something stable in it, something permanent. But there is also something that changes all the time. And it’s subject to the constant inspirations of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, with the recent rise of ecclesial movements, knowing more about the dynamics between Church as institution and Church as charism cannot anymore be an exclusive affair of Church officials. It should increasingly involve everyone as well, the laity, especially.

Some guidelines are needed. At least the relevant basic principles and doctrine should filter down more widely to all faithful. And foremost among these should that while there is distinction between institution and charism, they should not be made to contradict each other. They need each other.

The time is ripe for it. We have to go past the anal stage, so to speak. It’s capital that we all have a sense of how the visible structural Church vitally corresponds to the Holy Spirit’s invisible promptings and charisms.

We cannot deny that tensions exist between these two dimensions, and we just have to learn how to grapple with them. Our consolation is that problems often contain the seeds for later enlightenment. They occasion growth and maturity in the Church.

The unfortunate split of the Couples for Christ, for example, together with the many irritants accompanying the relations between several charismatic groups and the parishes is a case in point.

And there are many others. How to handle emerging religious groups of men and women, with their respective spiritualities, that sprout in many places requires skills to effectively insert and harmonize these charisms with the institutional Church.

Thus, I was happy to learn that sometime in mid-May, some bishops gathered in Rome to study more about this issue. The seminar was aptly called, “I ask you to go out and meet the movements with much love,” words from Pope Benedict XVI.

It can be immediately gleaned that the Church is very open and welcoming to these new groups. These attest to the continuing vitality of the Church. Hopefully, the lessons learned can be disseminated more widely.

A lot of prudence, an abiding desire for dialogue should mark the relationship between Church officials and the faithful of these new ecclesial communities. There also has to be vigilance and discernment.

It cannot be denied that the initial stages of this relationship, often engaged in testing and probing, can be rocky. Prejudices, misunderstanding and narrow-mindedness can blight the attitudes of those in the parishes.

On the other hand, imprudence, inexperience and exuberance can give problems to the members of these new movements. Besides, charisms themselves seldom come in a pure and perfect state. They need to be developed, and this can create difficulties.

Charisms can also be distorted by the recipients and the followers. Thus, a lot of good discriminating judgment, patience and optimism are needed.

I suppose the whole idea is to see to it that the institutional Church with its structure and procedures get truly animated by the Spirit with his charisms, while the charismatic Church gets faithfully embodied in the institutional Church.

A continuing examination, checking and updating is needed here. We have to make our Church a true Church of the people and children of God. We have to rid it of dark-ages attitudes and practices.

One time, a friend told me this story. He wanted to organize a mass wedding for his farm workers in Mindanao . So after preparing the couple, he went to the parish to finalize it.

He was told the couples had to be members first of the basic ecclesial community. No problem, he said. But the problem came when he was told that membership meant not only some fees, which he was willing to foot, but payment of back dues, which totally turned him off.

I myself was scolded by a parish priest for baptizing a dying old man whose family prepared him for baptism. It was an emergency situation. Same reason. The family was no member of the ecclesial community. I was told I should not have done that. Unbelievable!