The theology of Abp. Joseph Augustine DiNoia, O.P.

by Michael J. Miller

Archbishop Joseph Augustine DiNoia, O.P., is a very fine theologian who taught theology for decades and has written extensively.  Several questions about his teachings are probably on the minds of Traditionalist Catholics since his recent appointment as vice-president of the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei Commission.  A few hours in a seminary library were enough to answer some of them. 

1) What does the new vice-president of the Ecclesia Dei Commission teach about the Eucharist?

Then-Father DiNoia contributed a chapter to a Book of Readings on the Eucharist published in 2006 by the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Although the essay, entitled “Eucharist and Trinity”, is focused on “communio theology”, the author refers to the Mass as a “sacrificial banquet”.  A few excerpts follow: 

The Church is a creation of the triune God:  from the Father, who sends his Son and his Spirit to transform creaturely persons so that they come to share, with the uncreated Persons of the Trinity and with one another, a communion of divine life.  (p. 41)

We have been invited from the highways and byways to be guests at a wedding banquet that we did not prepare and in which our participation is confirmed only by our being suitably clothed in Christ, in robes “washed ... in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14;  see Mt 22:1-14). (p. 41)

The prayer of consecration involves a solemn invocation of the Holy Spirit, by whose power the death and Resurrection of Christ are made present, and the bread and wine are transformed into his Body and Blood.  Then, by worthily consuming the Body and Blood of Christ, the faithful are made divine and brought into union with the Father and with one another, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  (p. 44)

2) What does Archbishop DiNoia think about ecumenism and interreligious dialogue?

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Comments

[Ed Peters]

Good article. One aside, occasioned by some phrasing: I find, INVARIABLY, that those who describe the pre-vc2 manuals as dry and dusty Latin, etc, have never actually read them. There is some terrific stuff in them. Cappello comes to mind.