Christendom College Theology Department Chair Dr. Owen Vyner is featured in two new articles released this past week, contributing his expertise in theology to Adoremus and to the Arlington Catholic Herald.
Vyner, who is an associate professor of theology at the college, wrote on the Eucharistic ecclesiology of Henri de Lubac for Adoremus — his third article for the popular religious journal. In the article, Vyner writes about de Lubac, a participant in the Second Vatican Council, focusing in particular on his statement, “the Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes the Church.”
“It is a maxim that has shaped the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent theology of the Church, having been quoted in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St. John Paul II’s last encyclical, his 2003 Ecclesia de Eucharistia,” writes Vyner. “Indeed, such pithy yet profound sayings among the Church’s thinkers have a tendency to take on a life of their own. Consider St. Augustine’s often quoted exclamation from the opening lines of his Confessions: ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you,’ or Pope St. Leo the Great’s brief on the sacraments: ‘What was visible in Christ has passed over into the sacraments.’ In a similar way, de Lubac’s maxim offers a universe in a grain of sand, so to speak.”
Vyner digs deeper into the meaning of this statement in his article, turning to de Lubac’s major works to show that the “fruit of the Eucharist is the unity of the Church.” By the end of his article, Vyner clearly shows how “it is Calvary more than the table that brings about unity,” with the faithful’s participation in the Cross becoming the source of communion not only with Christ, but with fellow Christians as well.
In addition to this work, Vyner was also interviewed by the Arlington Catholic Herald for a story about blessings. Vyner explained that a blessing asks God to protect or sanctify a person, an object, a place or an undertaking, and that they fall under the category of sacramentals — signs instituted by the Church that prepare the faithful to receive grace or cooperate with it.
“We receive these spiritual benefits through the intercession of the church and insofar as we are open to these graces,” said Vyner in the interview.
Vyner further explained who can perform blessings, where blessings are found in the Bible, why objects are blessed and how they should be treated, and more in the interview, helping illuminate the significance of blessings for Christendom’s home diocese and beyond.
Dr. Owen Vyner earned his B.A. from the University of Western Australia, his Master’s in theology and his Ph.D. from the John Paul II Institute (Melbourne), and finally his STL from the Liturgical Institute (Mundelein). Vyner specializes in liturgical and sacramental theology, especially the sacrament of penance, along with theological anthropology. In addition to papers published in Antiphon, Vyner has also written for Homiletic and Pastoral Review and Anthropotes.
To read Vyner’s full article for Adoremus, click here.
To read Vyner’s full interview in the Arlington Catholic Herald, click here.