The One and the Many in the Church

Diversity produces chaos when it is not bound together by unity. Any entity comprised of parts must have a common direction lest it crumble back into its individual components. This is true of families and tribes on a small scale as well as with nations and civilizations on a larger. But it is certainly no less true within the Catholic Church.

Throughout ecclesial history, the shared unity of the ‘universal’ Church has often been threatened to disintegrate by the tension found in its diverse members. However, though battered and beaten through the ages, the Church has successfully held fast to its apostolic unity in the tumultuous waters of this world. Ironically, it could even be said that the unifying nature of the Church is seen in the very diversity of its members- a diversity that comes together to form the one unified Body of Christ (c.f. 1 Cor 12).

In one resurrection account (c.f. Jn 21:1-14), John the Evangelist records how the fisherman of Galilee, at the direction from a Stranger on the shore, pull in a catch of 153 fish. Although the men struggle to pull in such large and heavy quantity of fish, their nets do not tear. According to St. Jerome, in the ancient world there were 153 known types of fish; in effect then, what John is signifying by the highlighting the number ‘153’ is the reality of the newly commissioned Church's universal vocation: She is to be a mother that brings together all people of every time and place- regardless of their differing backgrounds, regardless of their differing personalities, regardless of their strengths and handicaps- into her protective ark. All men are called to union with Jesus the Lord, a union to be had by incorporation into the one mystical Body of Christ, which we call the Church.

But the question to be asked is: What prevents this Body from breaking by the tension wrought by such diversity found in its differing members? How can such a sweeping catch of all the fish not tear the net?

The cohesion of the Church remains intact because it is rooted in the heart of God who desires all to be one (c.f. Jn 17:20-22). Concretely this union is solidified by the foundation of the Church built on the Apostles and their appointed successors (i.e. the bishops) who were given the charge to teach, sanctify, and govern the people of God. To narrow the Church's unity still further, a focal point of leadership is to be found in the person of St. Peter, who, as the visible head of the disciples of Christ, was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven (c.f. Mt 16:19, Is 22:22), alongside the duty to strengthen the brethren (c.f. Lk 22:32), and feed and tend Christ's sheep (c.f. Jn 21:15-17). It is not inconsequential that the evangelist John records that while the apostolic fishermen were “not able to haul [the net] in, for the quantity of fish” in the previously mentioned resurrection account above, at the command of Christ to bring the fish they had just caught, Peter- by himself- “went aboard and hauled the net ashore” (c.f. Jn 21:6,11).   

Yet, the individuality of Peter's unique position (and subsequently a position inherited by the bishop of Rome, the pope) to unite the flock of Christ does not contradict nor oppose the various vocations of each Christian as he goes out of the Church and into the world to sanctify it with his life. In fact, Peter's individual mission and the corporate mission of the congregation itself work together. In order for there to be unity within the Body, the members must take their lead from the head; conversely, the head must appreciate the diverse functions of the members as well. In the words of Pascal: "Plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion; unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny."[1]

The dual essence of the Church with its visible head and multiplicity of members analogously imitates the triune essence of the Trinity as being simultaneously one in nature and many in persons. It is a union that exists through multiplicity. Love can only exist in such a situation as this where the multiplicity distinguishes the ‘I’ from the ‘You’ and the unity brings the multiplicity together to form the ‘We’. A inevitable consequence of this then is that without diversity in the Church, there would be only one way to follow Christ ‘correctly’; but, equally unfortunate, without unity in the Church, there would exist diverse ways to erroneously follow Him.

There also seems to be an element of great beauty we can discern within the Church when a unified diversity exists. St. Therese of Lisieux liked to imagine us Christians as flowers in the garden of Christ.[2] If, the saint pondered, we were all as stunning as roses or as eye-catching as lilies, our brilliance would certainly drown out the distinctiveness of what each provides to the garden as a whole. In reality however the beauty of Christ's garden possesses the inconspicuousness of lush, green ground cover mixed in with the exuberance of other bright and bigger flowers; the sweet and overpowering scent of some plants only serve to enhance the more soft and delicate smell of others. All this is necessary to manifest the diverse creativity found within the mind of God. Does not a good painter work similarly in contrasting the brightness of some colors alongside the subtlety of others? Does not a landscape portrait look more beautiful when colors are not used so frugally as in a stark and dismal glimpse of an urban scene?

Likewise, the Church has many members of varying holiness, yet one is never lost amidst the crowd to the sight of the all-perceiving eye of God; to the contrary, one's splendor is found within the wider view of the masterpiece as a whole. Indeed, as each one grows into being a unique manifestation of the goodness of God in the world, he grows into becoming what God had originally called him to be.

Teilhard de Chardin invites us to reflect:

"What is the work of works for man if not to establish, in and by each one of us, an absolutely original center in which the universe reflects itself in a unique and inimitable way? And those centers are our very selves and personalities...In any domain- whether it be the cells of the body, the members of a society or the elements of a spiritual synthesis- union differentiates. In every organized whole, the parts perfect themselves and fulfill themselves."[3]

What is this "work of works" that drives us forward to becoming an utterly specific encounter with the world around us- while at the same time uniting us with our fellow followers of Christ? What is this paradoxical element that differentiates disciples from each other while simultaneously uniting them together?

Although each has been affected by sin in a different way, one's vocation to rise above sin and partake of the divine nature (c.f. 2 Pt 1:4) is what unites him with the Church as a whole. "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'"(Mt 16:24-26)- this invitation of Christ is what unites Christians with each other; but what it looks like when each person heeds this call will certainly differ. In the words of C.S. Lewis:

"The sacrifice of Christ is repeated, or re-echoed, among His followers in very varying degrees, from the cruelest martyrdom down to a self-submission of intention whose outward signs have nothing to distinguish them from ordinary fruits of temperance."[4]

It is true, great acts of heroism and small acts of virtue have their special place within the Church. Yet, the common goal of achieving holiness- or what might be more distinctively called ‘whole-hearted devotion to God’- is what unites all followers of Jesus Christ, for there is no saint who has not had a sinful past, nor is there a sinner not called to a saintly future. It is this message preached from Rome and realized only by the grace of the Lord in the lives of the individual members of the Church that brings all men together as brothers and sisters.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus"(Gal 3:28). Indeed, far from losing oneself in conformity to the net, a Christian finds himself by being caught up in the abundant catch and hauled ashore.

[1] Pascal, Pensées, 344. [#871].

[2] “Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay. It is just the same in the world of souls- which is the garden of Jesus. He has created the great saints who are like the lilies and the roses, but He has also created much lesser saints and they must be content to be the daisies or the violets which rejoice His eyes whenever He glances down. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be.” Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, trans. John Beevers (New York, NY: Image Books, 1957), 2-3.

[3] Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, trans. Bernard Wall (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1959), 261-262.

[4] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York, NY, Harper Collins, 2007), 611.