Kościół partykularny i Kościół lokalny a diecezja

Abstract

The article treats, of the understanding of the concept of „Particular Church”, the „Local one”, and of their relation to the diocesan Church. There is a lack of precision concerning these concepts on the level of both official Church terminology and of the theological one. Since the beginning of its existence within Christ's one Church there arose different Church communities, which are today called particular or local Churches. These communities in themselves make present and realize in their given place the whole essence of the Church of Christ. On the basis chiefly of the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council, the factors constituting the concept of the particular Church usually mentioned are the one person of the Bishop, and the Eucharist, celebrated or presided by him. The concept of the local Church is based on the criteria of a more natural and human order, such as the personality of the founder, the past, its intelectual trends, its cultural and social conditions. They impress a distinctive character on the appearance of the given community; and therefore each local Church has its own characteristics, although it makes present in itself the one Church of Christ. The concept of the local Church may be accompanied by centrifugal tendencies. The author draws the following conclusions from the total of his analyses: each particular Church is a diocesan Church and each dieocesan Church is a particular Church. The scope of these two concepts is always identical. Every diocesan Church is also a local Church, but not every local Church is a diocesan one, since the scope of the concept of a local Church may by wider or narrower than that of a diocesan Church.