You are invited to attend our next monthly meeting to be held on Friday, November 14th from 4:00pm to 5:30pm.
We will be discussing “Being Born into the Body of Christ: Baptism and the Fruitful Form of the Church” by José Granados from the Spring 2025 issue entitled “Baptism” (Volume 52.1).
Here are excerpt from the Introduction to the issue:
In “Being Born into the Body of Christ: Baptism and the Fruitful Form of the Church,” José Granados responds to the claim that the “centrality of baptism requires a new reading of Lumen gentium,” put forth by Christoph Theobald. In Theobald’s assessment, Lumen gentium maintains too great of a distinction between the clergy and the laity, and in so doing, implies that the clergy have a greater degree of sanctity than the laity. Granados responds to Theobald’s concern by turning to the Biblical foundations of the sacrament of baptism. In particular he looks at the accounts of baptism in the eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters of the Book of Acts. Granados argues that the character bestowed in baptism bears within itself the entire hierarchical order of the Church, whether one is a layperson or a member of the clergy. In other words, the relationship between the laity and the clergy is not an addition brought in subsequent to a generic baptism, but is already entailed in and given by each person’s baptism, which makes us members of the Eucharistic Body of Christ. The dignity that it bestows is not neutral, nor does it affect us merely as individuals. Rather, it fits us for life in Christ and the Church. To this end baptism gives us “a new capacity to judge,” which is crucial for correctly understanding what is meant by the “sense of the faithful.”
We will meet in the Kateri Room located at St. Michael’s Church, 240 Hemlock Street, Waterloo, Ontario. Use the east side parking lot and enter by the rear doors. Walk up the stairs. The Kateri Room is on your right before you enter the church proper.
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