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| Where Two or Three are Gathered: Christian Families as Domestic Churches |
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 It has often been said that the Church's social teaching is one of it's best kept secrets. It could also be said that the Church's teaching on the significance of family life for the life and mission of the church is one of its least explored teachings. The early Christian idea that family is a representation of the church resurfaced at a gathering of bishops in Rome in the 1960's with the description of family as the domestic church. It was as if the bishops went to the church's attic, took out one its most valuable treasures and dusted it off. Forty years later exploration on the meaning and potential of the teaching remains scant. For this reason Florence Caffrey Bourg's theological exploration of the church of the home in Where Two or Three are Gathered: Christian Families as Domestic Churches is extremely important and highly welcome.Caffrey Bourg tackles the major theological issues associated with the term domestic church not least of which is the fact that some people shy away from the term, suspicious that it might be patronising to families, judgemental of families or will be used by the church to interfere in family matters. She very successfully identifies the barriers that could prevent the rich symbol that is domestic church from being life giving to families and enriching for the wider church and unhinges them. She is to be congratulated on providing an in-depth understanding of the meaning of domestic church based on an extensive reading of the available literature, her experience of family life and insightful theological reflection. Some of the topics explored in the book include: • What sort of term is "domestic church?" • The mission of domestic churches • The characteristics of domestic churches • The significance of ordinary imperfect family life • The nuclear family and other models for domestic churches • The sacramentality of domestic churches • The ecclesial status of domestic churches • How families teach virtue • The role of families in promoting a consistent life ethic. Central to Caffrey Bourg's understanding of domestic church is the idea of sacramentality. Families come to know the God revealed in Jesus through the ordinary events of life. Thus she states, "…it no longer appears ridiculous to claim that Christ's presence can be discovered in family life, or that Christian families are a form of church. Instead, we can assert that an explicitly Christian sense of God's presence, love and mercy are usually cultivated through family life if at all and that, if God is not experienced in the ordinariness and imperfection of our homes, the Good News proclaimed and sacramentally ritualized by the institutional Church will be regarded as foreign and incredible rather than the fulfilment of our most urgent questions and striving" (pg. 101-102). The author's extensive endnotes (I love her very first one) and detailed bibliography are a testimony to the fact that much has been written on topic of family as church but I have read no other work that attempts so fully to flesh out a theology of domestic church. It is required reading for all who reflect on the nature and mission of the church and for all who are interested in family spirituality. Using the book for a Lenten book group (two chapters each week) would be a valuable way to become immersed in the book and in the powerful symbol that is domestic church. The Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry can help in creating a format for group conversation of the book. To express an interest in this This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Andrew McNally Where Two or Three are Gathered: Christian Families as Domestic Churches is published by the University of Notre Dame Press - ISBN 0-268-02179-1 |
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