The Holy Spirit and the Church: Models of Pneumatological Ecclesiology By Michael Brummond, S.T.D Introduction Pneumatology is closely intertwined with ecclesiology. Put more concretely, there exists an intimate bond between the Holy Spirit and the Church. 1 As St. Irenaeus wrote, “It is to the Church herself that the ‘Gift of God’ has been entrusted…. For where the Church is, there also is God’s Spirit; where God’s Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace.” 2 Any understanding of the nature of the Church therefore implies some notion of the work of the Holy Spirit.3 Pneumatology and ecclesiology mutually inform one another, and an ecclesiology lacking a robust theology of the Holy Spirit remains incomplete, while a pneumatology that fails to account for the work of the Spirit in the Church likewise lacks something essential. 4 Avery Cardinal Dulles famously proposed to explain and explore the nature of the Church using a series of models. 5 The Church, as a mystery in the properly theological sense, cannot be fully objectified and given a clear, univocal definition. The Church lends itself to description by the use of various images, particularly biblical images. Used reflectively and critically, an image 1 In the Church’s creeds, statements about the Church uniformly appear in the article devoted to the Third Person of the Trinity: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church….” The Catechism of the Council of Trent explains this link: “This Article [on the Holy Spirit] hinges upon the preceding one [on the Church]; for, it having been already shown that the Holy Ghost is the source and giver of all holiness, we here profess our belief that the Church has been endowed by Him with sanctity” (Roman Catechism, I, art. 9; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church [hereafter CCC], §749). The Church is relative to the Spirit, and the Spirit’s work of sanctification. Speaking of the fittingness of professing faith in the Church, Thomas Aquinas says that “our faith is directed to the Holy Ghost, Who sanctifies the Church; so that the sense is: ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost sanctifying the Church’” (ST II-II, q. 1, art. 9, ad. 5). Faith in the Holy Spirit is primary, while belief directed to the Church is analogous and referred ultimately to the Spirit who works through the Church. 2 Adv. haeres. 3, 24, 1, quoted in CCC, §797. 3 Indeed, it may be said that the Church finds its origin in the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. Charles Journet has elegantly laid out the parallels between the immanent processions of the Son and the Spirit and their respective manifestations in the economy. The eternal procession of the Word by way of intellect-knowledge has a corresponding temporal, visible mission in the Incarnation which, by a personal and hypostatic union, results in Christ, the Head of the Body. Similarly, the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit by way of will-love is manifest in a temporal, visible mission at Pentecost when, through a union of grace and inhabitation, the Church, the Body of Christ, comes fully into being. Hence, “the Church in the whole of her life…is the consequence in time of the eternal and immutable procession of the Holy Spirit” (Charles Journet, Theology of the Church, trans. Victor Szczurek [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004], 66). 4 Lumen Gentium, §4 makes use of scriptural language to describe the role the Spirit in the Church. The Holy Spirit continually sanctifies the Church, giving access through Christ to the Father. The Spirit of Life is the source of eternal life and resurrection. The Spirit indwells the Church and each of the faithful. The Holy Spirit guides the Church in all truth and unifies the Church in communion and works of ministry. The Spirit provides for both hierarchical and charismatic gifts in the Church. Finally, “by the power of the Gospel He makes the Church keep the freshness of youth. Uninterruptedly He renews it and leads it to perfect union with its Spouse. The Spirit and the Bride both say to Jesus, the Lord, ‘Come!’” (Lumen Gentium [1964], §4, hereafter cited as LG). All conciliar and papal texts are taken from the translations found on the Vatican website unless otherwise noted. 5 See Avery Dulles, Models of the Church (New York: Image Books Doubleday, 2002).
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