Charisms and Ordered Ministries in the New Testament: An Overview

(Excerpt) That charisms and ordered ministries existed in the New Testament period is not a matter of dispute today, but what has been and continues to be controversial is the relationship of charisms and structured ministries to one another, when and how ministries became ordered, whether ordered ministries are a legitimate theological development, and whether a variety of ministries and charisms still has a place in the church of today, precisely because a variety of these existed in the New Testament.1 Blanching at the huge amount of literature which has been produced on these topics, I offer here some personal reflections, based in part on some selective reading and in part on some independent observations

Women and Priestly Ministry: The New Testament Evidence

In August 1976 the Executive Board of the Catholic Biblical Association of America appointed a committee of prominent scholars from its membership to study and report on the Role of Women in Early Christianity. This Committee developed into a Task Force whose members are Madeleine Boucher, Richard J Dillon, John R Donahue, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Eugene H Maly, Sandra M Schneiders, and Richard J Sklba. The statement is a précis of the ongoing discussion of the Task Force. Their conclusion: an examination of the biblical evidence shows that there is positive evidence in the NT that ministries were shared by various groups and that women did in fact exercise roles and functions later associated with priestly ministry; that the arguments against the admission of women to priestly ministry based on the praxis of Jesus and the apostles, disciplinary regulations, and the created order cannot be sustained. The conclusion we draw is that the NT evidence, while not decisive by itself, points toward the admission of women to priestly ministry

Family Life – between Charism and Institution. Signalling Multidimensionality and Complexity of Human Interactions for Business Institutions and Society

This paper analyses the complexity of family life, which includes both its charismatic and institutional aspects. Deepening the understanding of this basic social group can be useful in explaining how human beings in their decisions and actions, as well as organizations, unceasingly transcend different oppositions and dimensions. Undertaking this topic is not only important in the context of understanding the fundamental and complex experience of family life in the process of preparing and introducing new members to society, but also from the organizational perspective. It means that exploring the role of both dimensions – charismatic and institutional – which are somehow complementary, is crucial for understanding and harmonizing the different relationships and interactions within organizations, including business ones. In this way the article shows the connection between the functioning of the family and society (including organizations within it)

“Exploring the Basement of Social Justice Issues”: A Graduate Upon Graduation

Photograph of rides building up, taken J. Stevens' Fair, 20 June 1961 whole general view, looking West. See Leeson's notebook 9, pages 92-95 for notes

Transmission of the Charism - a major challenge for Catholic Educators

How is it possible to maintain the founding charisms of parochial schools in this era of declining numbers of religious faculty? This session will discuss charisms and the impact of predominately lay effective role models in the school. Concluding suggestions, based on research, will focus on the concept of a living tradition

Receptive ecumenism and the charism of a partner church : the example of justification

The notion of ecumenical receptivity is an invitation and a challenge to our churches. It proposes that the ecumenical encounter with another church tradition is an event of the Holy Spirit. In the otherness of the other tradition, the Spirit of God offers us a gift. In this understanding a central dimension of ecumenical action involves a stance of openness to the Spirit and the attempt to discern the Spirit. Paul Murray has pointed out that ‘receptive ecumenical awakening is properly a matter of the heart before it is a matter of the head; a matter of falling in love with the experienced presence of God in the people, practices, even structures of another tradition and being impelled thereby to search for ways in which all impediments to closer relationships will be overcome’. Ecumenical receptivity encourages a stance before the other tradition that expects to find this tradition a place of grace. And the gift of the Spirit is to be found not only in the personal, but also in the structural and institutional dimensions of the other tradition