ITC studies relationship between
faith and sacraments
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| The Baptism of Jesus |
A new document produced by the International Theological
Commission (ITC) reflects on the relationship between the Catholic faith and
the sacraments, especially the sacraments of initiation and the sacrament of
Matrimony.
By Christopher Wells
The International Theological Commission (ITC) has issued a new
document studying the relationship between faith and the sacraments.
The sacramental nature of the faith
Entitled “The
Reciprocity between Faith and Sacraments in the Sacramental Economy”,
the new document aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of the
sacramental nature of the faith, and to a revitalization of sacramental
ministry. Specifically, it speaks to the problem of so-called “baptized
non-believers” – those who have received the sacrament of Baptism, but who do
not possess the faith in a meaningful sense.
The ITC seeks to address this issue by providing a doctrinal
reflection on the significance of the faith for the sacraments, as well as
proposing practical pastoral indications for those in ministry.
The new document is divided into five chapters. The first
chapter elaborates the problem, and explains the decision to focus on the
sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist), and the sacrament
of Matrimony.
Faith and sacraments in God's plan of salvation
The second chapter “constitutes the true heart of the
document”, according to Jesuit Father Gabino Uríbarri Bilbao, who chaired the
sub-commission responsible for producing the document. It provides a doctrinal
foundation for the “constitutive reciprocity between the faith and the
sacraments” – that is, a doctrinal explanation for why faith is necessarily
sacramental, and why the sacraments are necessarily bound up with genuine
faith. The chapter explains the sacramental character of the divine plan for
salvation, the “economy of salvation”; and then looks specifically at how faith
and sacraments are related to one another.
In particular, the document emphasizes that the sacramental
economy, because it is incarnational, is dialogical: that is, in His plan for
salvation, God takes the initiative, but human beings must also respond to that
initiative. Here the ITC intends to avoid both an “ethereal” conception of
faith that is detached from the sacraments, and a conception of the sacraments
disconnected from faith.
The third and fourth chapters concern how faith is related
to particular sacraments. In the third chapter, the ITC looks at the sacraments
of Christian initiation, emphasizing the necessity of faith for a fruitful
reception of the sacraments.
Marriages between “baptized non-believers”
The chapter on marriage is the longest section of the
document. On the one hand, it follows a similar plan as the consideration of
the other sacraments, looking at the foundations of the relationship with faith
based on Scripture and Tradition.
But in light of the particular nature of marriage, it also
emphasizes the question of the relationship between faith and ends of marriage;
and attempts to deal with the problem of marriage between “baptized
non-believers”. Recognizing the importance of a correct understanding of the
nature of marriage, and of the anthropological vision on which it is based, it
proposes the thesis that the total absence of personal faith makes the validity
of sacramental marriage doubtful if this understanding is lacking. That is,
such a lack of understanding could compromise the minimal intention of
contracting a natural marriage, in which case a sacrament likewise could not
take place.
With this thesis the ITC intends to avoid the errors of a
“sacramental automatism” that ignores personal faith; and an elitism that makes
excessive demands with regard to the degree of faith necessary for the valid
reception of the sacrament.
A final chapter summarizes the sacramental nature of the
faith, and considers the significance of the sacramental order as a whole.
“The Reciprocity between Faith and Sacraments in the
Sacramental Economy” was authorized for publication by the President of the
International Theological Commission, the Prefect for the Congregation for the
Faith, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, after having received the favourable
opinion of Pope Francis.
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