By Leon Bent –
Laity Sunday celebrates the ministry of all Christians, as their lives are empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit. Laity Sunday is a special time when Lay People of the Church often pause to consider their varied gifts for ministry, inside and outside the walls of the Church building.
The Critical Role of the Laity in the Church Today
Some fifty years ago as the Second Vatican Council deliberated, it became very clear that the role of the laity needed serious attention and prayerful consideration. The hierarchy leadership of Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and a few lay theologians and observers realized that the laity, the largest segment of the faithful was not represented in an active or participatory manner. A beautiful and inspiring document emerged from that realization. “The Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity,” Apostolicam Auctuositatem, highlighted the dignity and role of Lay People in the church and world. The baptized Laity is a constitutive dimension of the Body of Christ, with special responsibility for family life, evangelization, and the “Christianizing” of the secular world as leaven, conscience, outreach and witness.
The Second Vatican Council addressed the role of the laity by teaching that this role is based on Baptism by which the Laity “are made one Body in Christ, and are established among the People of God” (Lumen Gentium, 31). The principal passage on this is LG 31. This teaching is discussed in greater detail in LG 32-37 and also in Gaudium et Spes 43 and in Apostolicam Actuositatem 2-7.
The Laity is Called to be Present and Active in the World
St. John Paul II, particularly in his post-Synodal apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici, (the first comprehensive statement on the calling and mission of Lay People in the Church, bases the lay apostolate on the mystery of the Church. “I am the vine and you are the branches” (Jn. 15:5; CL 20). The Lay People are sharers in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission of Jesus Christ (CL 29). A secular character is peculiar to the Laity. So, this great Pope states: “Thus for the Lay faithful, to be present and active in the world, is not only an anthropological and sociological reality, but in a specific way, a theological and ecclesiological reality as well” (CL 15).
Distinctive about both approaches, is that, both Vatican II and St. John Paul II consider the Lay Faithful primarily as called to evangelize the secular order.
The Laity is expected to strive to embody the teachings of the Church, and to share the gift of the Catholic faith; lay men and women should be active members of their own parishes and the world, at large. They are called to act as everyday ministers of the faith, bringing the principles of Christianity and Catholicism to work, school, market-place, home and family.
Lay people can also take part in some of the sacred rituals of the Church by being altar servers, lectors, and Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist during Mass and take Holy Communion to the aged and the sick.
The Laity Functions Best through Small Christian Communities
St. Pope John Paul II expressed repeated and strong support for the development of Small Christian Communities, over more than twenty years of his pontificate. “One way of renewing parishes, especially urgent for parishes in large cities, might be to consider the parish as a community of communities and movements”.
“The Church as Family cannot reach all her possibilities as Church unless she is divided into communities small enough to foster close human relationships. The characteristics of such neighbourhood groups are:
- They should be places engaged in evangelizing themselves, so that, subsequently, they can proclaim the Good News of Jesus to others;
- They should be communities which pray and listen to God’s Word;
- They must encourage the members themselves to take on varied responsibilities, and to learn to live as Church;
- They reflect on different human problems in light of the Gospel;
- These communities are to be committed to living Christ’s love for everybody, a love which transcends the limits of the natural solidarity of clans, tribes or other interest groups.”
(John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, “Ecclesia in Africa” 1995)
The Unfulfilled Promise
However, the great promise of the Laity since Vatican II has gone woefully unfulfilled, because of two developments that the greatly revered St. Pope John Paul II analyzes at length – the first more so than the second, that is, 1) the “clericalization of the Laity” and 2) a widespread secularization, both, at the level of culture, and within the hearts and minds of many nominal and dissenting Catholics. Regarding the first development, and following John Paul II’s analysis in Christifideles Laici, a majority of the Laity is “so strongly interested in Church services and tasks” that, they ignore “their responsibilities in the professional, cultural, and political world.”
In fact, they are keen on “doing God’s work,” rather than, “working for God,” like Martha and Mary, respectively. Regarding the second case, the author observes that “many Catholics have been assimilated into a secular culture shaped by values like individualism (‘the right to choose’ or more precisely “relativism” (the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute; standards of right and wrong are derived from social norms; since society changes, the norms would change and so would right and wrong), in regard to abortion, sexual behaviour, and much else) and consumerism, which are in conflict with the values of the Gospel.” Relativism has no regard for the Church’s Magisterium and its 2000-Year Tradition!
Four Key Parts of the Document:
1.“The Church was founded for the purpose of spreading the Kingdom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of God the Father, to enable all men to share in His saving redemption, and that through them the whole world might enter into a relationship with Christ. All activity of the Mystical Body directed to the attainment of this goal is called the apostolate, which the Church carries on in various ways through all her members” (#2).
- “The laity derive the right and duty to the apostolate from their union with Christ the head; incorporated into Christ’s Mystical Body through Baptism and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, they are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself”(#3).
- Since Christ, sent by the Father, is the source and origin of the whole apostolate of the Church, the success of the lay apostolate depends upon the Laity’s living union with Christ…”(#4).
- “Strengthened by active participation in the liturgical life of their community, they are eager to do their share of the apostolic work of the community. They bring to the Church people who, perhaps, are far removed from it, earnestly cooperate in presenting the Word of God, especially by means of catechetical instruction, and offer their special skills to make the care of souls and the administration of the temporalities of the Church more efficient and effective…The laity should accustom themselves to working in the parish in union with their priests, bringing to the Church community their own and the world’s problems, as well as questions concerning human salvation, all of which they should examine and resolve by deliberating in common” (#10).
Lay Ministry: Evangelization
The Laity in the Modern World is called by God that, being led by the Spirit to the Gospel, Catholics may contribute to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular routine duties. Thus, especially by the witness of their lives, resplendent in faith, hope and charity they must be the face of Christ to others.
As the laity is found in every sphere of society, they have a special mandate to reach out to those in their own spheres, to take on the responsibility of bringing Christ to these areas. And it does not have to be in grand ways; rather, it is so simple and doable, and, yet, so amazing that the laity can “contribute to the sanctification of the world” by “fulfilling their own particular duties” as mentioned above. You can look at this aspect as a mystery and its mystical propensity!
Today, I thought of a not-so-concise way to articulate a conviction I hold about evangelization: “Getting people into the Catholic Church should be a by-product of proclaiming the kerygma (preaching or proclamation of the Gospel), and parrhesia (candour, frankness; outspokenness or boldness of speech), not a primary goal. Our primary goal should be to lead people into deep, joyful relationships with Jesus Christ.
Now, this gold nugget: “And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and to them he said, ‘You should go into the vineyard too!’” (Mt. 20:3-4).
And, the final flourish! Lay Catholics need to “love the church” and “teach love for the church!”
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received The Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.