Vatican II Ecclesiology summary

According to the ecclesiologist and theologian Richard P. McBrien, in his 1980 book Catholicism, the distinctive ecclesiology of Vatican II is based on the following principles: 1. The Church is a mystery, or sacrament, and not primarily a means of salvation; 2. The Church is the whole People of God, not just the hierarchy; 3. The whole People of God participates in the mission of Christ, and not just in the mission of the hierarchy; 4. The mission of the Church includes service to those in need, and not just the preaching of the Gospel or the celebration of the sacraments; 5. The Church is truly present at the local level as well as at the universal level. A diocese or parish is not just an administrative division of the Church universal. 6. The Church includes Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, as well as Catholics; 7. The mission of the Church includes proclamation of the Word, celebration of the sacraments, witnessing to the Gospel individually and institutionally, and providing service to those in need; 8. All authority is for service, not domination; 9. Religious truth is to be found outside the Church as well. No one is to be coerced to embrace the Christian or the Catholic faith; 10. The Church is always for the sake of the Kingdom of God and is not itself the Kingdom.