Clergy and Educators

ICJS Scripture Forum, 2001
Session #7

Scripture Forum
Session #7
Chizuk Amuno Congregation
April 12, 2002

The session began with a question intended to probe the notion of what it means to be a priest sanctioned to function in a particular sacramental circumstance, viz., to be authorized to pronounce absolution. The ques-tioner, describing his Presbyterian reaction to the Roman Catholic tradition, said that "the idea of there being a priest who performs that sacramental role is repellent, a betrayal of the gospel." That is, within the Presbyterian tradition there is an anti-hierarchical dynamic that registers a priestly hierarchy as antithetical to the ministry of Jesus Christ. He went on to admit that we have something to learn from our differences, but that sometimes the differences are focused through a lens that is judgmental. Presbyterians have separated the Word from the sacramental side of things and so feel discomfort with the latter.

Discussion:

• Question: Has the role of the priest in granting absolution changed from what it was in the fifteenth century?
• Remark: Orthodox Judaism still has roles in which the kohanim function. For example, during pilgrim-age festivals the kohanim go up to bless the congregation. So God's blessing is conveyed through the mediation of the kohen.
• More questions: Who mediates? By whose authority? Does absolution need to be mediated?
  Roman Catholic response: From the point of view of the Giver, no mediation is necessary. From the point of view of the receiver[s], mediation is necessary so that human beings can hear.
• Ideas about absolution are bound to the christol-ogies of each tradition. The Presbyterian tradition adheres to the notion articulated in the Letter to the Hebrews that Christ's sacrifice puts an end to the priesthood.
• That God pardons and that God's pardon is mediated is not the point of disagreement. The point of disagreement lies in who does the medi-ating. The issue is overlaid, however, with a theology that goes back to the Reformation and the problem of corrupt priests.
• The idea that a priest's performing of the sacra-mental role in absolution in "repellent" and "a betrayal of the gospel" has to do with the way people of one tradition grow up thinking about another -- in this particular case, the way Presbyterians grow up thinking about Roman Catholics. This really isn't any different in principle than the way most Christians grow up thinking about Jews . . . until they learn that Jews are people of enormous faith.
• People of different religions are judgmental because of the lens through which they view reality. We need to work hard to get people to come to a different disposition about the differences among themselves. Presbyterians define themselves over against Roman Catholics, but one must define oneself in one's own terms.



• Question: What does ordination mean in the Presbyterian tradition? (The point was made that "ordination" will have a range of meanings within Protestant Christian communities.)
• Response: A Presbyterian is ordained as a "teach-ing elder." He or she is ordained to perform a function; there is no ontological change in the individual. The congregation acknowledges the ordained person's ability to articulate the tradition.
• For Presbyterians there are only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper. These sacraments involve reenacting a ritual defined by Christ as definitive for the community.
• In regard to how repentance is understood and played out liturgically in the Presbyterian tradition, it is necessary to appropriately and concisely articulate the Confessions.
• An observation: This may be the understanding that the ordained Presbyterian has, but the average person in the pew places all the same holy stuff on the minister that the average Roman Catholic places on the priest, because this is how organized religion functions: People attribute an aura and an authority to those who possess special knowledge.
• In the Episcopal church there is the same range of debate about ordination and ontological change in the individual. The problem between the Episcopal and the Lutheran traditions revolves around the issue of apostolic succession. In the Lutheran church, if an ordained person ceases to participate in the ministry of word and sacrament for a specific number of years, his or her ordination lapses.
• In the Lutheran tradition, the call to be ordained comes from within the community, but the person also feels a call from God. There is a sense in people that there is a [right] way to do these things, a way that is not dependent on who the people involved are.



• There are differences in the understanding of the sacraments and the priest's sacramental role that have emerged in the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II. (The Reformation had a powerful effect on Roman Catholicism. Vatican II has Luther writ-ten all over it.) The question has been asked: What is really going on in a sacrament? The conclusions reached in this discussion are: 1) We absolutely need a priest there; and 2) we do it together, that is, the community celebrates the Eucharist and the priests are called "presiders."
  So there is a difference in how the people see the priest functioning. Each of the sacraments is a focused moment that highlights something that goes on all the time. There may be people in the congregation who know as much as the priest does, but the priest is not there only because of what he knows; there is an ontological reason for his being there. Before Vatican II, [some?] people came to the church for a kind of magic.
• Remark: People invest magic in the clergy no matter what their faith is.



• There was a discussion of the desire to have a rabbi present at an unveiling. The people can do the unveiling themselves, but they've invested a ritual note in the practice and so they want the rabbi to be there. There is an instinct in people to extend holiness/religious reality even to the last moment, which means that there is a need there that has to be met. If people had observed the traditional rituals surrounding death, they wouldn't need to invest a ritual note in the unveiling. They do the unveiling because it's more convenient.



• Summary observations: On the one hand, there is a sense that we should be working to overcome the divisions in the Christian family, but on the other hand why can't we just accept them? The differences won't be negotiated away. But we should learn from each other and challenge each other. We need to reach a point of mutual recognition of one another as members of the Christian family.

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