Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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witness and make his mission credible by his life, not
merely by exercising his powers."`'e
In accordance with Roman Catholic practice, the
preacher (priest) is male," celibate,° and
submissive to church authority.""-
Because the priest is the primary local
representative of the church, Rahner's description of the
Ideal church applies equally well to the preacher-priest.
She must be a Church that does not seek
herself, but seeks to serve people, that has
and witnesses to a really living, concrete
faith in the living God; that receives this
faith not merely as a theoretical doctrine, but
bears witness to a genuine personal experience
of God. This Church must at the same t'Lme see&
to serve people in an absolute unity of love of
God and love of neighbor."
The sermon itself? The preacher must present the
truth in a form appropriate to his congregation. He
takes the teaching of the Church and proclaims it so that
his hearers can "grasp it and be grasped by it."-'5=5
This 'translation' process--making truth
contemporary--is neither easy nor ever finished.
Language is always changing. A word will not possess the
same meaning even for two persons in the same
congregation. The preacher always struggles with this
tension. He must seek to speak precisely for his unique
congregation. But when the preacher cannot formulate an
appropriate new statement of the truth, Rahner
recommended continued use of traditional language.
Ideally, though, the multiplicity of peoples requires "a
pluralism of proclamations."