WEEK 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Brief Historical Background of the Church

Brief Historical Background of the Church

 
The Etymology of the word “Church”
 
   Qahal---------------Ekklesia-----------------Ecclesia----------------Church
                                                 (Hebrew)                 (Greek)                       (Latin)                     (English)
  The Word “Church”  is derived from the Latin word “Ecclesia” which was derived from the Greek word “Ekklesia”; and this
“Ekklesia” was derived from the Hebrew word “Qahal” (Hebrew is one of the ancient languages of the Israelites)
 “Qahal” means Calling together or in the context of the Israelites, it means an assembly called by God for a religious purpose
that is to worship. So, this is also the meaning of the words “Ekklesia”, “Ecclesia” and the word “Church”.
  From the very root word which is Qahal, Church is simply defined as an assembly called by God to worship. Since the Church
originated from the Father’s plan of salvation which started from the Israelites until its very foundation by no other than Jesus who also
gave the Holy Spirit to guide her(Church), we will now have its complete definition (below).
 Church: Community (of men and women) centered in Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, moving Towards the Kingdom of the Father,
and the bearers of the Message of Salvation for all men.(G.S.# I)
         The official or complete definition of the word “Church” is very much implied in the illustration above. So, the very cause of the
emergence of the Church is no other than to continue carrying out the Mission of Jesus to spread salvation/Kingdom of God which
ultimately originated from the Father’s plan since people are deviating from His Love.
         From the definition, there are five important elements of the Church. Community, Christ’s-centered, guided by the Holy Spirit, and
carrying out the mission of spreading the Kingdom of God/salvation to all.
     Just to avoid confusion, some authors made a distinction between the Church as referring to people or to
buildings(worshipping place like chapels) by using the small c church as referring to people and the capital C – Church as referring to
the people/community. This is also good, but primarily the meaning of the word “Church” is really the community or people. How do we
know then if it is referring to people or building? Well, the best way is on how the word “Church” is used in a sentence.  Example: The
Church in Piat, Cagayan is very beautiful. This sentence obviously refers to the building. The Church of Piat, Cagayan is very
participative. This one obviously refers to the community.
    With this, we hope that the word “Church” is now very clear to you.
        The translation of the word Hebrew word “Qahal” to Greek word “Ekklesia” to Latin word “Ecclesia” and to the English term
“Church” literally tells the movement of the Church from the Israelites/Hebrew Community to the Greek invasion of the  Israelites who
were later defeated by the Roman Empire which was centered in Rome which used Latin as their language until its spread to the whole
world.  
 The Two Founding Events of the Church: The Public Ministry of Jesus and the Pentecost event

1. Public Ministry of Jesus (working for the Kingdom: preaching, healing, etc.)

           Jesus of Nazareth founded a Renewal Movement within the Old Testament (Israelites)  
           Founder of the Church:  Jesus
           How? – by gathering his disciples (the apostles)
                - The disciples experienced Jesus intimately / personally.  Later they shared in his ministry
                - Jesus assured them of his presence (forever)
   Two things which inspired the apostles to come together and reflect on what was their mission:
                    a. The Resurrection Experience -- which is the “ Ground or Foundation” of Christian Faith.
                    b. The Pentecost Experience
 Pentecost: the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers.
                       :By receiving the Holy Spirit, He (H.S.) empowered them to preach the Kingdom, to act as Community who will continue
the Mission of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Mission and Its very Ground Source

The Catholic Mission and Its very Ground Source

 Sacrament: means channel, representative, visible sign of an invisible reality

 God ---------------------------- Jesus --------------------------- Church
 The Sacrament of God is Jesus and the Sacrament of Jesus is the Church (John 20:21, Acts 1:8)
 The Church started as a religious renewal “movement”/group in Jerusalem, Israel by no other than Jesus Christ.  Jesus grounded the
Church on the foundation of the Apostles and it spread from Jerusalem to the Roman Empire world until throughout all the earth.
The first “name” of the Church was The Way  (Acts 9:2), The members of the Church were called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11: 26).
The Church was persecuted by the Roman Empire (which was still pagan) until the Conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 313 AD
which paved the way for Christians to infiltrate Rome until Christianity was declared as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380
AD by Emperor Theodosius.        
Way back in 45 AD, the first apostle who went to Rome and started the Church there was no other than Peter. Later, reflecting on the
mission of Jesus which He passed on to the Church, the Church’s official “name” or title evolved into:  One (John
17:21), Holy (Ephesians 1:4, 5:27, I Peter 2:9), Catholic (Matthew 28: 18-20, Acts 1:8, Gen 12: 3, John 3: 16-17) and
Apostolic (Ephesians  2:20 )           
 From the Church developed the Hierarchy (Bishops, priests, and deacons – with the Pope as the overall head for the sake of division
of work and maintaining the unity of the Church while it spreads the Kingdom of God on earth. 
 From the Church comes the different “kinds” of priests according to spirituality or mission area.
      a. Diocesan is a term use for priests serving their local places.
      b. Monks: started in the 3rd century AD in Egypt and in Syria with a life of simplicity or asceticism.
        Monks who are composed of sisters (not priests) only came out later. Example of few monks in Cagayan who are sisters are those
at the St. Claire monastery in Iguig.
     c. Missionaries are group/community of priests who really want to go to serve remote places not yet evangelize.
           Examples of missionaries are the following:
                  c.1. The Dominicans who was founded by St. Dominic in Prouille, France in 1216. (Dominic was a Spanish priest).
                  c.2. The Augustinians which started in 1244 in Italy (group or no specific founder).
                  c.3. The Jesuits or called Society of Jesus who was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, formerly a Spanish soldier who
became priest.
                  c.4. The CICM and other missionary groups only came out later. 
                         The CICM was founded by a diocesan priest Theophile Verbist in 1862 in Scheut, Anderlecht,
Brussels,  Belgium.
       
So what is a CICM? It is just one of the missionary groups which is an arm of the Church for evangelization.
 One of the strategies for missionaries to evangelize people especially the youth to prepare them to become also evangelizers in the
future is to establish schools. With this, the missionary schools and even in the schools established by the local Church, the core of the
curriculum is the Christian Faith Education of the young (children to college). In a wider sense, the Christian formation of the
Community who are in the school. The CICM established schools for such purpose. Here at the University of Saint Louis, our motto for
us to always remember this is “Mission and Excellence” and among the core values of our University’s Vision-Mission, the first
is Christian Living.

CICM – Philippines School Network: Vision-Mission

CICM – Philippines School Network:

 Vision-Mission

At the initiative of the Father,

Sent by the Son,

Guided by the Spirit,
 
Inspired by Theophile Verbist our founder,
Who heard the call of the Lord
And left his country
To proclaim the Good News in China,
 
Enlightened by those who preceded us
And who - like our founder-
Left their familiar surroundings
To follow Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word
By integrating themselves into a foreign culture,
And by living in solidarity with another people,
 
Enriched by those we serve,
Especially the poor who reveals to us
The sin of the world
And who help us discover the true meaning
Of God’s plan of love,
 
We CICM missionaries
Of different races and cultures
Live and work together as brothers
In order to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ
Wherever it is most needed.
 
We achieve our mission
When we facilitate
The encounter between Jesus Christ and the ‘nations’.
 
Our mission includes
Enabling people
To experience the coming of the Kingdom
-proclaimed by Jesus Christ-
In their own God-given context.
 
USL’s VISION, MISSION, AND COREVALUES

VISION

      USL is a global learning community recognized for science and technology across all disciplines, strong research, and responsive
community engagement grounded on the CICM mission and identity for a distinctive student experience.

MISSION
      USL sustains a Catholic academic community that nurtures persons for community, church and society anchored on CICM’s Missio
et Excellentia.

 EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND CORE VALUES

      The University of Saint Louis upholds the philosophy that education is for building of self and persons for the Church and the
Society. Wisdom builds. To these ends, the following are University of Saint Louis’s core values integral in the formation of every
member of the Louisian community.

1. Christian Living. We are witnesses to the Gospel values as taught and lived by Christ thus making God’s love known
and experienced by all.

2. Excellence. We seek and maintain uncompromising standard of quality in teaching, learning, service, and stewardship
of school resources.

3. Professional Responsibility.  We are committed to efficiently and responsibly apply the learned principles, values and
skills in the chosen field of discipline, taking initiative and command responsibility in one’s professional advancement.

4. Social Awareness and Involvement. We engage ourselves with society by listening to the prevailing issues and
concerns in the society, thereby initiating and participating in constructive and relevant social activities for the promotion of
justice, peace and integrity of creation and for people’s wellness and development consistent with the CICM charism.

5. Innovation, Creativity and Agility.  We keep ourselves relevant and responsive to the changing needs of our
stakeholders by being flexible, solution oriented, and having cutting-edge decisions and practices.