Veritas Series

Annual Christ the King Lecture

Believing in a Holy and Sinful Church

In the face of growing awareness of clerical sexual abuse and other systematic forms of malfeasance in the Catholic Church, many Catholics have swung from uncritical belief in the holiness of the Church to disappointed awareness of its deep sinfulness. Flanagan argues both
sin and sanctity condition the nature of the Church until its fulfillment in the Reign of God. In our time and contexts, we need a more robust language of ecclesial sin in order to address our Church's failings, and yet at the same time a sound ecclesiology will take account of a church that is sinful and holy.

DR. BRIAN FLANAGAN
Dr. Brian P. Flanagan is Associate Professor of Theology at Marymount University in Arlington,
VA. He is the author most recently of Stumbling in Holiness: Sin and Sanctity in the Church (Liturgical Press, 2018). In addition to his teaching, he pursues research in ecclesiology, ecumenism, liturgy, and inter-religious dialogue, and is also the author of Communion, Diversity, and Salvation: The Contribution of Jean-Marie Tillard to Systematic Ecclesiology (T&T Clark, 2011).