The Pastoral Mystery of the Church
Church history is persistently a contentious affair, especially when it comes to debates about doctrine. From the Gnostics to the Modernists, these disputes get a lot of coverage in various histories of the Church. While our times have their own doctrinal disputes, we are faced with a pastoral crisis more than a dogmatic one. In the face of modernity, there is uncertainty about how to minister to those in the flock, those wandering from the flock, and those outside the flock. But there is a deeper confusion: we do not understand what it means to be pastoral. I will give a few examples. One is generic. If someone were to say of a bishop that he was taking a “more pastoral approach” most of us would think a few things: he is downplaying doctrine and dogma, taking a looser line on ethics (especially sexual ethics), and minimizing religious differences with others (and so minimizing the importance of being a Catholic). Another example, more concrete: for some “traditionalists,” the Second Vatican Council can be ignored because it was pastoral. Pastoral means not being dogmatic and is thus historically situated and “it is time to talk about something else.” A final example, after a recent interview with Pope Francis in America Magazine, the editor Sam Sawyer, S.J. criticized Pope Francis for failing to be pastoral when he explained why the Church ordains only men.
In each example, the pastoral is separated from doctrine and morals, a way of being loving and tolerant is detached from truth and ethical admonition. The pastoral bishop does not emphasize doctrine, truth, or morals and the pastoral council does not address them either. Explaining doctrine or ethical norms is a failure to be pastoral. Fundamentally, this is a failure to understand what Pope Francis calls pastoralidad or “pastorality.”[1] My aim in this essay will be to understand pastorality (the pastoral dimension of the Church) and the ways pastors should live this out. I will follow Pope Francis’s lead on this. He tells us in his America Magazine interview that we should look to “St. Augustine, in his treatise De Pastoribus,” which is “the best profile of a bishop.” De Pastoribus (On Shepherds), alongside the accompanying sermon De Ovibus (On Sheep), offers us a patristic guide on how to be pastoral that should shape the ministry of those in Holy Orders but also that of all Catholics. Pastorality, in an Augustinian vein, highlights the unity of pastors and their flock without eliminating the unique role of pastors. This unique role, fundamentally, is moral and doctrinal in that the good shepherd gently but persistently guides his flock from error to communion. This communion is the pastoral reality of the Church, which, in eschewing doctrinal indifference, dogmatic separatism, or coercive practices, lives as the Body of Christ in imitation of the Head of the Body who is the Good Shepherd.
We Are All Sheep; Some of Us Are Shepherds.
To understand Augustine’s sermon on pastors requires that we understand why he gave the sermon to his sheep. He did so to give an account of good shepherds to the flock so that they themselves will discern whom they ought to follow. There are bad shepherds. Being able to identify them is part of the wise practice of being wise sheep. Doing so also helps sheep be pastors to their own families, neighbors, and friends. In preaching about pastors, Augustine shows a willingness to give public accounts of ecclesial failings. He gives his sermon on pastors “because there are shepherds who are willing enough to hear themselves called shepherds but not all willing to carry out the duties of shepherds.” Augustine preaches on pastorality because of the failures of pastors, which range from not living according to the Gospel to failures to call out sin when it happens. For Augustine, sheep and shepherds will both give an account of their lives and their leadership to God. This accountability to God does not negate, but rather grounds, our accountability to each other. “Your conscience is open to God; your conduct is open to your brother,” Augustine preaches to pastors. To be a Christian is to be called to give an account for both, for the former to God, for the latter to others. To be a pastor is to owe a double account because of the double duty of the office. “We bishops, apart from being Christians, as which we shall render God an account of the manner of life, are also in charge of you, and as such will render God an account of our stewardship.” Augustine’s willingness to render that account to the faithful is a testimony to his transparent leadership and his commitment to the unity of the commandment of love. Loving God necessitates loving neighbor. Owing God an account means owing each other an account.
