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Woodstock Symposium explores "Collegiality in the Church"
(from Woodstock Report No. 78, June 2004)
On April 17, the Woodstock Theological Center joined with Georgetown University Law Center in sponsoring a daylong symposium titled “Collegiality in the Church: Theology and Canon Law.”
The forum highlighted presentations by members of the Peter and Paul Seminar, a ten-member international group of theologians, canon lawyers, and other scholars. The purpose of the gathering was to seek a deeper understanding of the Second Vatican Council’s theological vision of collegiality. Participants also discussed the canonical norms and structures needed to put that vision into practice.
Ladislas Orsy, S.J., a professor of law at Georgetown and central figure in the Peter and Paul Seminar, spoke to the theme of communio, which he described as an “internal invisible reality created by the Spirit through the sacraments,” a reality that demands external and visible structures.
“Communio does not exclude authority, but it demands new manners of exercising it,” Father Orsy said in a prepared paper. “Peremptory orders are alien to it because obedience is perceived as a virtue rooted in intelligence and freedom, a ‘reasonable sacrifice’.”
The mission of the Peter and Paul Seminar is twofold: to promote “faith seeking understanding” and “faith seeking action” in the ongoing renewal of the church. This gathering explored collegiality primarily against three backdrops: the laity, the episcopacy, and the papacy. Approximately 60 Catholic lay leaders, clergy, and religious took part in the discussions.
Woodstock’s director, Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., is discussing with Father Orsy the possibility of continuing collaboration between Woodstock and the Peter and Paul Seminar.