Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today
Overview
Called to Communion is a book of wisdom and insight that explains how providential the trials are through which the Catholic Church is now passing. Topics covered include:
- The need of the papal primacy to ensure Christian unity
- The true meaning of the priesthood as a sacrament and not a mere ministry
- The necessity of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of the Savior now offering himself on our altars
- The role of the bishops as successors of the apostles, united with the successor of St. Peter, the bishop of Rome
- The value of suffering in union with Christ crucified
- The indispensable service of the laity in the apostolate
All these themes, received from Cardinal Ratzinger, bring new clarity and depth.
With the Logos Bible Software edition of Called to Communion, you have an abundance of resources that offer applicable and insightful material for study. You can easily search the subject of Christian unity and access an assortment of useful resources and perspectives from a variety of pastors and theologians.
- Foreword by the author
- Ratzinger’s address presented at the opening of the Synod of Bishops on the priesthood
- Homily preached by Ratzinger in January 1990
Top Highlights
“In Jesus’ mouth, ‘Kingdom of God’ does not mean some thing or place but the present action of God.” (Page 22)
“the sole meaning of the entire activity of Jesus is the gathering of the eschatological people of God.’8” (Page 22)
“We can call it ‘people of God’ only because it is through communion with Christ that man gains access to a relationship with God that he cannot establish by his own power.” (Page 29)
“The Roman primacy, or, rather, the acknowledgement of Rome as the criterion of the right apostolic faith, is older than the canon of the New Testament, than ‘Scripture’” (Page 70)
“In constituting the circle of Twelve, Jesus presents himself as the patriarch of a new Israel and institutes these twelve men as its origin and foundation.” (Page 25)
Cardinal Ratzinger offers us what he calls a “primer of Catholic ecclesiology.” As a true theologian, he clarifies the nature of church, bishop and priest, basing his remarks on Scripture and tradition. The book offers penetrating insights into the church from a profound thinker. This is Catholic theology at its best and as it should be.
—Fr. Kenneth Baker, editor, Homiletic & Pastoral Review
Cardinal Ratzinger guides us through today’s confusion about the faith back to the core from which the life of the church unfolds: communion. At the end of the journey, we not only have a better grasp of the controverted issues of the day, but also a renewed understanding of the central mystery of the church and a powerful encouragement to the theological and spiritual renewal envisaged by the Second Vatican Council.
—David Schindler, editor, Communio
This is a goldmine of insights which brings out the development of Catholic doctrine in our day without surrendering one iota of the deposit of faith entrusted to the church by her Divine Founder.
—Fr. John Hardon, editor, The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom
- Title: Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today
- Author: Joseph Ratzinger
- Translator: Adrian Walker
- Publisher: Ignatius
- Publication Date: 1996
- Pages: 165
Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, is one of our time’s most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, modern gender roles, marriage, the priesthood, and the future. As a teenager, he studied classical languages and, in 1939, entered the minor seminary in Traunstein. Though he was drafted into the German antiaircraft corps in 1943, he reentered the seminary in 1945, when World War II ended. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He received his doctorate in theology in 1953, from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.
At 35, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed chief theological advisor to the archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joseph Frings, and he maintained that title for four years. After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977 and, in June 1977, was elevated to cardinal. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and president of the International Theological Commission.
On April 19, 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. Since that time, he has continued to receive worldwide respect and has been a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike.
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Dr. Anthony Mazak
3/30/2021
Andre
8/26/2014