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acts of the Church, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist, in which we
are joined with the worship of heaven. 28
12. These universal and cosmic marks of the Church catholic always take par-
ticular and local manifestations, as the histories of our two families of churches
show. Regional and local synods are thus part of the greater whole. The Holy
Spirit enables these local manifestations of the catholicity of the Church to-
gether to become greater than the sum of their parts, that is universal, by ex-
hibiting unity of faith through ecumenical conciliar action. At the same time,
the Holy Spirit, empowering the earthly manifestations of the Church, enables
them to become a sign of the heavenly banquet prepared for all peoples, in all
places, in all times. Thus, the Holy Spirit is both source and guarantor of the
temporal speaking of the eternal and the local speaking of the universal, which
we understand to be the catholicity of the Church.
13. In this way the Holy Spirit creates a new humanity in which ‘There is no
longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male
and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’ 29

‘Apostolic’
14. We affirm that as the Father sent the Son for salvation, into the world in the
Incarnation, so in the era that follows the Resurrection and Ascension of the
Lord, the Father sent the Spirit into the world to the goal of sanctification of
30
the created order, until the Lord comes again in glory. Pentecost is God’s gift
of new life to the world in the form of the Church as the body of Christ. The
Holy Spirit takes forward into each new day the invitation and imperative in
the Lord’s Prayer, to do the will of God on earth as it is in heaven, and in this
way connects the witness of the prophets and the disciples with eschatological
hope. The apostolic mission of the Church combines prophetic discipleship in
the energy of divine engagement with the response of personal witness in the
world.
15. The word apostolic describes the origin and beliefs of the Church as rooted
and continuing in the living Tradition of the apostles who proclaimed Jesus
Christ crucified and risen. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Church
faithfully preserves and continues the preaching and teaching of those sent out

28 Cf. Revelation 7.9.
29 Galatians 3.28.
30 Cf. Romans 8.

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