Beyond Unity in Diversity

This chapter examines how Vatican II (1962–65) changed the way that the Roman Catholic church conceived of its relationship with “others.” The council re-envisioned the church’s once-fortified internal and external borders as porous, a change manifested vividly at the parish level. There, improvising on the council’s themes, structures, and practices, parishioners experimented with new approaches to inclusion, authority, and public witness. Gaudium et Spes (1965) laid the groundwork for an understanding of the parish as a school of solidarity. Yet as magisterial attention shifted to emphasize communion as the foundation of Vatican II’s ecclesiology, the implications of the council’s vision of solidarity for the church ad intra went—and continue to go—largely overlooked. A critical examination reveals the inadequacy of communion ecclesiology as a theological basis for racially and culturally diverse communities. Communion ecclesiology offers a vision of unity in diversity that takes insufficient account of the borderlines within local ecclesial communities. By ignoring power asymmetries that shape the liturgical, sacramental, and social lives of parishes, the communion paradigm underwrites ecclesial colorblindness and renders unclear the mission of the local church with respect to racial justice.