Not quite a chicken-and-egg thing, or should not be, in view of the primacy of the universal church, which is not a collection of locals but that from which the locals have arisen.
Because it is so topical to the debates going on at the moment in the Catholic Church, we have been considering the Truth that the Universal Catholic Church is ontologically prior (see earlier posts for that weirdo expression) to the local Church; and understanding how wrong the Kasperites are in putting the local Church first…
That would be the German cardinal, Walter Kasper, a leader in the movement within the church for loosening bonds with Rome and going one’s own way as regards what counts and what doesn’t.
It’s a German thing but also, historically, a French and Belgian and Dutch thing — oh those Northern Europeans, to whom we owe so much and yet better watch out for, at least the Kasperites among them.
Blithe Spirit 