13/10/2016
The Mixed Economy
What’s in it for Catholics?
Diocese of Sheffield
1st October 2016
Fr Damian Feeney
Quick Background
‘Fresh Expressions’ – a term derived from the Induction
Service ‘which faith the church is called to proclaim afresh in
each generation.’
Definition: An ecclesial gathering which exists primarily for
the benefit of non-church attenders
Vast majority of FX’s evangelical in origin; sacramentality
often sublimated to sidebar status ‘Let’s form community
first’.
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The coming - of “Going”
?
With the ending of Christendom, and onset of secularisation, the
culture no longer brings people to the door of the Church.
Few churches
• have experience of this profoundly different shape to mission
• know how to travel out from Church in “go” or apostolic mode
• can envisage a future which may well feel utterly and
uncomfortably different
Problems (or Opportunities?)
• FX have emerged from a
different and rather alien
ecclesial model
• Less sacramental emphasis,
more word based evangelism,
less liturgical – all things which
are central to Catholic
understandings of the Church.
• Tendency to ‘bolt-on’
sacramental experience to
existing model, which renders
sacraments as an accessory or
subset of vocation
• A prevailing tide in the C of E,
pushing us to accept models
which are not conducive to
Catholic church growth
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In Catholic Theology
• Christ, Church and Sacrament are so intimately related
as to be indistinguishable
• (Dulles, de Lubac, von Balthasar, Ratzinger)
• Principle of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
‘…the Eucharist
is not ‘a special
part of our
religion’, it just is
our religion,
sacramentally
enacted’
Austin Farrer
‘The Church is the
celebration of the
Eucharist; the
Eucharist is the
Church; they do not
simply stand side by
side; they are one and
the same’
Pope Benedict XVI
Ideas which lead to
Incorporation
Eucharistic
Adoration:
encounters with
Jesus which convert
and ‘send out’ – the
two-way apostolic
dynamic
Also completely
inclusive…
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Fresh Expressions…
Can do two things:
1. Lead to the sacramental
(i.e become a means of
attraction/catechesis)
2. Be (or become)
sacramental themselves.
Objections 1: Reception
• Non-inclusivity: but the linking of reception to
Confirmation is flexible (‘desirous of being confirmed’)
• NB Orthodox practice of Communion after Baptism?
• In an FX context unlikely to be appropriate to ask
questions: ‘err on the side of generosity’
• Importance of enquiry, catechesis, to underpin initial
relationship
‘The liturgy works in the depths of our minds
and hearts a very gradual, barely perceptible
transformation of who we are, so quietly that we
might easily that nothing is happening at all.
The Eucharist is an emotional experience, but
usually a discreet one’
Timothy Radcliffe OP
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Objections 2: Grace
In a specifically evangelistic context, is grace effective
for non-participants/non-believers? Does the action of
grace exclude?
When the Church is present,
celebrating the Eucharist, she is the
unique sacrament of Christ, who is in
turn the Sacrament of God. The grace
which emanates from this encounter
can be received both by those who are
fully incorporated into the life of the
church and those who are not.
Avery, Cardinal Dulles
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