Covenant Community
and Church
.
A Work of the Spirit
– New Forms of Christian Life in
Community
.
edited by Steve Clark
[The
following article is an excerpt from a
booklet entitled, Covenant Community
and Church, which was edited by
Steve Clark and published by Servant
Publications, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA in
1992. It was originally written to provide
a short general summary of what a Covenant
Community in the Catholic Church should
be. Its subject is simply covenant
community life. It includes references to
current Catholic Church documents.
Covenant communities have flourished in
great variety since their beginnings
nearly 50 years ago. While this document
is addressed to Catholics involved in lay
led renewal movements, it can be
beneficial for many other Christian
renewal groups as well. - ed.]
Covenant Community
As throughout the ages the Holy Spirit has been
active among the Christian people to bring about
renewal, groups of Christians have come together
to respond. Many Christians have come together to
perform some special services or foster spiritual
growth with no further bond among themselves than
that necessary for achieving particular goals.
But the human race is naturally social, and it has
pleased God to unite those who believe in Christ
in the people of God (cf. 1Peter 2:5-10), and into
one body (cf. 1Corinthians 12:12, AA 18).
Therefore, the very nature of the Christian people
is to be brothers and sisters in the Lord, one in
the Spirit in the bonds of peace and mutual love
(Ephesians 4:8). Consequently, when the Holy
Spirit renews his people, he often leads groups of
Christians to join themselves to one another to
live more fully the life together of the Christian
people. Such a coming together is not intended as
an alternative to the life of the Church. Rather,
it is a renewed living out of what the life of the
Church should be and so signifies the communion
and unity of the Church of Christ (AA 18).
In our day, desire for such coming together is
felt with greater strength because of the loss of
natural community in society and in Catholic
parishes. With this has come the weakening of
mutual help for the needs of human life and of
mutual support for Christian living. The Catholic
Church has recognized the existence of such a
spiritual impetus among the Christian people and
has sought to encourage it. Consequently, the
formation of new Christian groupings is now
canonically recognized by the Church. It is
protected by the right to freely establish and
direct special associations to foster the
Christian vocation in the world (CIC, c
215).
In recent years the Lord has brought into
existence new forms of Christian life that are
called covenant communities. They are covenantal
because they are based on the voluntary commitment
of members to one another in a serious way that is
not necessarily lifelong and does not necessarily
partake of the nature of a vow. The commitment is
in the form of a personal covenant of brothers and
sisters one to another that supplements and
strengthens the relationship that comes from being
baptized members of the Church. They are
communities because they share together their
spiritual and material goods as a way of
expressing their relationship as brothers and
sisters in the Lord.
.
The relationship together of the members of
covenant communities is personal and family-like,
with a concern that extends to the whole of their
lives. In that it contrasts to the partial and
functional relationships that predominate in our
society and tend to increasingly prevail in
Catholic parishes and organizations. At the same
time, the members' relationship to one another is
not normally the kind of commitment that is found
in religious communities and secular institutes, a
commitment which puts the whole of each person's
life under obedience to the leadership of the
community. In this sense, the commitment together
is a limited commitment. Those in authority in the
community have the role of helping the members to
live an active Christian life and to fulfill the
commitments to one another they make in the
covenant.
There are many types of covenant communities. Some
are together primarily for mutual support in
Christian life and service, while others are
missionary bodies, established to be available to
the work of the Lord for particular services. Some
are together for the renewal of the parochial or
diocesan life of the Catholic Church, while others
engage primarily in an evangelistic or social
apostolate in the wider society. Some are together
to live a special spirituality, while others have
no other spirituality than the common one of
the Church. All these communities are at one in
their desire to live together as brothers and
sisters their Christian way of life.
To the degree that covenant communities arise out
of a desire to live more fully the life of the
Church, they are patterned upon that life. They
look to scripture for instruction in how
Christians live together and how Christian
leadership functions. They likewise look to the
tradition of the Church for models of how to live
Christian life together and how to relate to the
broader Church. They desire to live the life of
the people of God in communion with the hierarchy
of the Church within the limits of what Catholic
teaching, Catholic canon law and special
hierarchical approval allows to them.
Relations to Others
While there are covenant communities whose members
have a special life together in one location with
common ownership of goods, most covenant
communities are made up of Christians who live
among non-Christians in the ordinary circumstances
of family and social life. They engage in secular
professions and occupations (LG 31). They
are commonly involved with others in a variety of
relationships out side the context of the
covenant community.
Insofar as members of covenant communities live in
secular nations, they should be subject to the
government of the nation they belong to and should
abide by its laws (Romans 13:5, Titus 3:1). They
should be ready for any honest work, including
work to improve the temporal order (AA 7,
5, Titus 3:1). They should seek to do good to all,
including those not of the household of the faith
(Ga1atians6:10). They should be especially zealous
to shoulder the splendid burden of working to make
the divine message of salvation known and accepted
by all men and women throughout the world (AA
3).
Members of covenant communities, as members of the
Christian people and of human society, should see
no necessary conflict in belonging to both at the
same time. Rather they should strive to harmonize
the rights and duties that belong to their
membership in the Church and in human society,
including their responsibilities to the two
authorities (LG 36). At times they may
engage as members of their covenant communities in
special services to society joined with others who
are not Christians. In such cases, it is
preferable to do so in a way that allows joint
supervision to be exercised by responsible
Christians along with others.
Members of covenant communities should also
recognize the great importance of unity among all
Christians, one of the chief concerns of the
Second Vatican Council. They should desire to
cooperate in that movement which was fostered by
the grace of the Holy Spirit for the restoration
of unity among Christians. They do so by prayer,
brotherly love, and concern for renewal in the
Catholic Church, as all members of the Catholic
Church should (UR 4) . They also can do so by
living their Catholic life in a way which, while
preserving the essentials, expresses in the most
effective way possible a Catholicism which is now
accessible to other Christians. It therefore
should appear in as Christ-entered, scriptural,
and patristic a light as possible (UR 11, DV
21).
Sometimes members of covenant communities join
with their brothers and sisters in the Lord who
are not Catholics for joint works of Christian
outreach and service. They especially join in that
evangelistic and missionary outreach that can be
fostered by unity among the followers of Christ.
It is preferable to engage in such works with
joint supervision by Catholic leaders and others.
Such works should follow the ecumenical guidelines
of the Catholic Church and the local dioceses.
Members of covenant communities also at times
enter into brotherly relationships within a
broader ecumenical community, relationships
involving a bond of charity, prayer and witness
with Christians or groups of Christians belonging
to other confessions. When they do so, they
normally form, with the approval of the bishops,
Catholic associations or fellow ships. The
leaders of such associations share with other
leaders in the supervision of the ecumenical body.
Members of covenant communities sometimes make
those in mixed marriages a special concern. They
help the partners to see how there can be a life
together that reaches to all things and a respect
for the authority of the husband as head of the
family without weakening the Christian faith of
the family, compromising the faith of the Catholic
partner, or failing to respect the authority of
the leaders of the churches the partners belong
to. Sometimes they reach out to Catholics involved
in Christian outreaches led by non-Catholics,
teaching them the value of their Catholic faith
and supporting them in living it. In all this they
seek to confess before the whole world with all
Christians their faith in God, one and three, and
in the incarnate Son of God, our Redeemer and Lord
(UR 12).
Finally, members of covenant communities as
members of the wider Catholic Church seek to be a
benefit to the whole Church. Some work in and
contribute to dioceses, parishes and church
organizations that are not sponsored or led by the
covenant community. Some promote renewal or stand
for integral Christian truth in the crisis of
faith in our day. All pray for the Church and live
the life of members of the one Church whether
within the context of the covenant community or
within other contexts.
The covenant communities themselves sometimes
serve corporately within the Church, although more
commonly their contributions come through their
members engaging directly in Church life and
organizations. Even where the community as a whole
does not serve corporately within the Church, they
should always seek to strengthen the Church by the
testimony of a renewed Christian life. The
communitarian spirit of covenant communities
should lead them to seek to contribute to the
unity and common good of the broader people of
which they are a part.
Index to Abbreviations
of Catholic Church Documents
AA The Decree on the Laity
CIC The Code of Canon Law
DV The Constitution on Divine Revelation
LG The Constitution on the Church
UR The Decree on Ecumenism
This excerpt is from Covenant
Community and Church, Chapter One,
edited by Steve Clark,and published by
Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA in 1992.
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