Toma de Decisiones: El valor de t = 2,91 en el gráfico se ubica a la derecha de

Ultimately this thesis is concerned with the significance of hospitality for the church. By church, I am referring to both the catholic and ecumenical church and to individual churches or congregations.118 Towards this end I have made an enquiry into contemporary accounts of hospitality to help determine what it actually is and what significance it has for Christian theology.

117 _{Vanier, Befriending the Stranger, 12.}

118 _{Church can also refer to specific denominations or groups of churches. As this thesis is concerned}

with the church in a catholic and ecumenical sense, in the case of specific denominations I will utilize their particular names. Thus, the church refers to either the church universal or a specific congregation. For a more specific definition of catholic church I will depend upon Healy’s definition that reads, “the

In summary, hospitality can be said to be a set of actions that occur between and among persons. It is specifically an interaction that is comprised of the following components: invitation and welcome, the unconditional gifting of home, and reciprocal giving from the guest. It is a fourfold movement that includes the act of extending outward to welcome another into our home, and its resultant complement, that by welcoming another in, our home is opened outward.

While there has been a recent resurgence of theological interest regarding hospitality, I have suggested that current accounts risk the danger of being unable to define what the act of hospitality is, thus confusing the study of it. I have also suggested that there is a demonstrated lack of cohesive and consistent theological understanding supporting a Christian reading of hospitality, particularly by Pohl, a recent authority on the subject.

Jean Vanier continues to be a source for contemporary research into hospitality. Vanier’s life and writing have influenced the development of current pursuits on the subject. Both his work and the communities of L’Arche remain as examples of a particular aspect of the church’s activities. In light of what I have proposed are problems in the field, I have suggested a return to Vanier’s work in order to locate a Christian enquiry into hospitality in a cogent theological framework. Central to Vanier’s thinking is the understanding that Christ himself is present, via his Spirit, in the hospitable interaction, between and among people in relationship.

Vanier and Pohl use their own experiences and the experiences of others as the basis for their research and writing. They both address the concrete activities of the church but from the specific setting of community living. While their contributions to Christian consideration of hospitality are invaluable, what has resulted is a gap

word ‘church’ refers to all those diverse Christian groups who accept what is sometimes cumbersomely called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan creed.” Healy, Church, World and the Christian Life, 6.

wherein hospitable action at the congregational level is potentially overlooked. If hospitality is viewed primarily in terms of being exercised by specific organizations or agencies, it is not difficult to conceive how it could be considered merely an optional extra at the congregational level.

In his article “Church for Others,” ecclesiologist Ottmar Fuchs presents a picture of the need for churches to be engaging in concrete activities of service. While Fuchs refers to the broad category of service, for the purposes of this study we will consider service specifically in terms of hospitality. At the heart of Fuchs’ concerns lies the notion that the church’s identity itself is established through service to others. In support of his thesis, he cites Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The Church is only the Church when it is there for other people”.119 Expanding on Bonhoeffer’s statement, Fuchs asserts,

The Church, that is to say, is only the Church when it helps those who need help, and helps the helpers to help, and when it liberates the oppressed and helps the liberators in their task of liberation; and all this is irrespective of who these ‘others’ are. This is the praxis in which the Church is authentically the Church, because its identity comes into being through service.120

Fuch’s claim that the church’s identity is constituted through its acts of service reflects Healy’s own position regarding the church:

It is thus not unreasonable to describe the concrete church, at least initially, more in terms of agency rather than in terms of being. Its identity is constituted by action. That identity is thoroughly theological, for it is constituted by the activity of the Holy Spirit, without which is cannot exist. But it is also constituted by the activities of its members as they live out their lives of discipleship.121

In these instances, both men are referring to the church as a whole. Essentially, what they are proposing is that the church is not a fixed thing. It has an existence though history, the past, present and future. The church is changeable. It is

continually being constituted in each moment of its existence, or perhaps it is better

119 _{Dietrich Bonhoeffer as quoted in Ottmar Fuchs, “Church for Others,” in Concilium: Diakonia:} Church for Others, eds. Norbert Greinacher and Norbery Mette (Edinburgh: T&T Press, 1988), 41.

120 _{Ibid., 42.}

stated as being re-constituted in every moment through time. Christ instituted the church through his actions in the world. As Christians, we are being the church whenever we do or perform these actions that Christ has instituted. When we celebrate the Eucharist, which Christ instituted, we are being the church. When we visit those in prison, we are being the church. When we minister to the sick, spend time with the lonely, welcome the stranger, we are constituting the church in that moment.

The understanding of church both as a way of being and as constituted via its actions is reflected in the work of noted ecclesiologist John Zizioulas. Zizioulas begins his seminal work, Being as Communion, with the following statement, “The Church is not simply an institution. She is a ‘mode of existence,’ a way of being. The mystery of the Church, even in its institutional dimension, is deeply bound to the being of man, to the being of the world, and to the very being of God”.122 Zizioulas eschews a conception of the church as a group of individuals who share a certain set of beliefs. Rather, the church is the Body of Christ present in the world as realized through the ministry.123

Thus the expression: ‘the ministry of the Church’ is not to be understood in the sense of a possessive genitive. The being of the Church does not precede her actions or ministries. Charismatic life (i.e. concrete ministries) is constitutive of and not derivative from the Church’s being. The question whether ‘essence’ precedes ‘existence’ or not should not be introduced into ecclesiology; it is rather along the lines of simultaneity of the two that we must understand the Church.124 As the church is constituted via the actions Christ has established and instituted, so do the actions of Jesus’ lifetime take on an added significance. It is not uncommon for the stories and experiences of Jesus to be given secondary or lesser consideration after the mysteries of the cross, resurrection and ascension. The accounts of Christ’s

122 _{John D. Zizioulas, Being as Communion (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985),}

15.

123 _{Ibid., 211.} 124 _{Ibid., 217.}

life and actions primarily depict his relationships with those around him. Jesus’ own parables are stories of relationships. For Zizioulas, the church as a way of being is also constituted via relationships.125 As Fuchs advances,

Yet if we look at the Jesus Christ of whom the gospels tell, we have surely to perceive that what he says about the kingdom of God and about God himself is said pre-eminently in the context of encounters in which he has already acted, as healer; or where he has entered into dispute on behalf of the poor and despised.126 Hospitality is not an optional extra for the church. Through stories of Jesus’ actual experiences and the experiences he depicts of others, he establishes hospitality as the manner of relating to others throughout the Gospels. By his own actions he institutes hospitality as the way to relate with the stranger, with one who is different.

Hospitality is the way of relationships.

Chiefly, Fuchs is interested in the church at the congregational level. While he supports the institutions and organizations that engage in the church’s ministry, he is concerned for congregations that participate in little to no direct service. He suggests that there is a need for activities that fall between the professional organizations of the church and the context in which people live. 127 He addresses the consequences of the isolated church that has little contact with the stranger in need:

Because there is so little social contact with the handicapped, the distressed, and those suffering from discrimination, we lose the particular ‘competences’ which these people have to offer and can claim, for a perception of what the Gospel means and for the beginnings of a practical realisation of the kingdom of God.128 Fuchs is not disposed to consider service as a way of expanding church membership and is highly critical of ministry that is conditional upon a recipient’s entering the “institutional and ideological fold of the church”.129 Likewise, he is also sceptical of congregational service that takes only the form of financial donations, questioning the

125 _{Ibid., 15.} 126 _{Fuchs, 50.} 127 _{Ibid., 45.} 128 _{Ibid., 46.} 129 _{Ibid., 43.}

effects on the particular parish. He suggests that congregations can become insular, isolated from the needs of others and the world around them.

Rather, Fuchs is interested in encounter and in the breaking down of barriers that exist between people. He calls for congregations to actively seek out opportunities for ministry.

…Christians and congregations are, in principle and from the outset, ‘the

neighbour’ of people in need; and they have to seek these people out, and discover where they are (Luke 10:36). It is not for the person in need to force himself on the congregation’s attention first of all, proving that he is their neighbour. They have to discover him, since they have made the fundamental existential decision that they will be the neighbours of the suffering.130

Correspondingly, I would suggest that the same injunction applies with regard to hospitality. Churches should actively seek out different ways by which they can welcome the stranger. Hospitality is not optional for the church; it is a necessity. Just as Christ is present as the stranger is welcomed into our homes, so should churches be the location of home where Christ can be found.

The objective of the following chapters will be to explore hospitality from the specific perspective of churches. To this end, I have chosen as the topic for this study one particular form of hospitality that has been historically situated in the life of the church for over fifty years, that of refugee resettlement.131 The crux of my research takes the form of case studies conducted with congregations that have actively provided hospitality to refugees as they are in the process of being permanently resettled in a new country. Each case study is based upon interviews with members of congregations who have helped to resettle specific families. It is my intention that their experiences and stories will contribute to building an account of hospitality from a particularly congregational perspective. From this location, I will reflect upon the

130 _{Ibid., 49.}

131 _{It could reasonably be argued that the church has always been active in refugee resettlement. It has}

certainly always participated in providing aid to refugees, but refugee resettlement can be defined as a specific act making it more amenable to this study.

theological import of hospitality, particularly in light of Vanier, and the significance it has in the congregational setting.

CHAPTER 2