Cant the parish be a sacrament

[C794]

Today I heard that a parish can be a sacrament. I’m unfamiliar with this idea and I thought it was an interesting statement. Is there any theological truth behind it?

 

[larsont7]

Simple answer - No. There are 7 Sacraments in the Catholic Church, and a parish is not one of them. Sacraments are visible signs instituted by Christ for our santification.

 

[bolinstephen]

Yup. Only seven sacraments are in the Church. But God gives grace to and through parishes all the time. Thank God!

Check this out. The CCC is awesome.

 

[JM3]

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

1. Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature,(1) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. **Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament **or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission. This it intends to do following faithfully the teaching of previous councils. The present-day conditions of the world add greater urgency to this work of the Church so that all men, joined more closely today by various social, technical and cultural ties, might also attain fuller unity in Christ.

9…God gathered together as one all those who in faith look upon Jesus as the author of salvation and the source of unity and peace, and established them as the Church that for each and all it may be the visible sacrament of this saving unity. (1*)

48…Christ, having been lifted up from the earth has drawn all to Himself.(239) Rising from the dead(240) He sent His life-giving Spirit upon His disciples and through Him has established His Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation.

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html

1. While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it, the Church has a single intention: that God’s kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. For every benefit which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage can offer to the human family stems from the fact that the Church is “the universal sacrament of salvation”,(24) simultaneously manifesting and exercising the mystery of God’s love.

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html

1. Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them “a universal sacrament of salvation,”(1) the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men.

1. From the very beginning, the Lord Jesus "called to Himself those whom He wished; and He caused twelve of them to be with Him, and to be sent out preaching (Mark 3:13; cf. Matt. 10:1-42). Thus the Apostles were the first budding - forth of the New Israel, and at the same time the beginning of the sacred hierarchy. Then, when He had by His death and His resurrection completed once for all in Himself the mysteries of our salvation and the renewal of all things, the Lord, having now received all power in heaven and on earth (cf. Matt. 28 18), before He was taken up into heaven (cf. Acts 1:11), founded His Church as the sacrament of salvation and sent His Apostles into all the world just as He Himself had been sent by His Father (cf. John 20:21), commanding them: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of a nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19 ff.)…

 

[bolinstephen]

Yes, the whole Church can be considered sacramental, because out of her and Christ flow the sacraments. But be careful when you separate the Church body and call one parish a sacrament. Just as there is one baptism, one sacrifice for the mass, one holy orders(yes, with three degrees) and one marriage, there is only one Church. And also be careful just using the word Sacrament because it usually has a very distinct meaning. It usually means one of the seven Sacraments defined at the council of Trent and established by Jesus for the continual use of the Church. Jesus Christ founded the Church as a sacrament to be a sacrament, and the Church is perpetually a Sacrament, but it is not a practice that is continually used by the Church in the same way as the other sacraments to give God’s grace to the people.

 

[JM3]

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The universal Sacrament of Salvation

774 The Greek word mysterion was translated into Latin by two terms: mystenum and sacramentum. In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by the term mystenum. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of salvation: "For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ."196 The saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church’s sacraments (which the Eastern Churches also call “the holy mysteries”). the seven sacraments are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body. the Church, then, both contains and communicates the invisible grace she signifies. It is in this analogical sense, that the Church is called a “sacrament.”

775 "The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men."197 The Church’s first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men’s communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues”;198 at the same time, the Church is the “sign and instrument” of the full realization of the unity yet to come.

776 As sacrament, the Church is Christ’s instrument. “She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all,” “the universal sacrament of salvation,” by which Christ is "at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men."199 The Church “is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity,” because God desires "that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit."200

 

[JM3]

But be careful when you separate the Church body and call one parish a sacrament.

The Church is “The universal Sacrament of Salvation”. The Church consists of dioceses and in those dioceses there are parishes. It would seem logical, then, that all parishes are a ‘universal Sacrament of Salvation’. I don’t see anyone separating the Church body and calling only one parish a sacrament. The OP states “Cant the parish be a sacrament”. It not only can be, it is.

 

[Evan]

The Church is “The universal Sacrament of Salvation”. The Church consists of dioceses and in those dioceses there are parishes. It would seem logical, then, that all parishes are a ‘universal Sacrament of Salvation’. I don’t see anyone separating the Church body and calling only one parish a sacrament. The OP states “Cant the parish be a sacrament”. It not only can be, it is.

If we look at the definition of Sacrament in the Baltimore Catechism it was

An outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.

The Church meets that definition. So it is a sacrament, but not one of the 7 Sacraments.