That All May Be One: Hierarchy and Participation in the Church

Must hierarchy mean dominance, patriarchy, and oppression? Should it be eliminated? Or is there an alternative view of hierarchy? These questions split the Church during the Reformation and are polarizing it today. This book presents a perspective on hierarchy drawn from church history, the natural sciences, and contemporary social models. It argues that the role of hierarchy in the Church is to preserve apostolic teaching and to foster integration, but that domination deforms hierarchy, which should be participatory, integrative, ecumenical, and universal. It concludes that a balanced understanding of hierarchy is critical for ecumenical progress, for the integrity of Roman Catholicism, and for the catholicity of the whole Christian Church.