The Church of the People

As I re-emphasise the role and duty of lay people in the Catholic Church, I would like to encourage you to pay a keen attention to my write-up. I also would like to hear from you, what you think about the laity in our Church in these modern times.

The theme that I chose for this is, “The Church of the People.” This theme is relevant to our times but has its root in Greek word laikos, which means ‘of the people’.

Never before in the history of the Church has the absolutely essential role of the layperson been so dramatically emphasised as it is now. Particularly since Vatican II, the Church has called for a renewal in the life and role of the laity. Yet among the faithful, there remains fundamental lack of understanding of the lay vocation and its role in the Church’s mission. For many, there is a notion that the only real vocation in the Church is the ordained or vowed priesthood and religious. They believe “the Church” is the ordained office and only people in habits or collars are called to serve. This is why, many think that since, there is lack of priests in our parishes, laity should take care of the parish. Many think that the role of the laity is to help out around the parish and that they are not called to play an integral part in the mission of the Church.

Lay vocation is not a substitute to vocation to the priesthood: It is obvious from the Catholic Teaching that God calls lay people not because there is lack of priests in the diocese but it is the duty and privilege as the member of the Church to mind the business of the Church. 

“The faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.”

It is not wise to think that lay people have to take care and mind the Church because there are not priests but laypersons must execute their rights and privileges offered to them by baptism. If laypersons do not be integral part of the parish, which means, one is not living the promise of the baptism.

Lay vocation is very real: Lay people have a distinct and very real role in the spreading of the Gospel, which the Church desperately needs them to carry out with the authority, creativity and power that the Holy Spirit has given them in Baptism. This way the role of the laity is essential in accomplishing the mission of the Church. Church must be everyone’s business not only a select few. Lay people are called to engage in the affairs of the world and direct them according to God’s will. This is the real way the lay people live their baptismal commitments of priests, prophets and kings. So let us not merely sit back rather let us rise to our vocation as Christians to help the Church.

Being Church not merely belonging to the Church: Lay people bring Christ’s divine message of salvation to every aspect of life. Lay people take Christ’s message from the Eucharist to their families, work places and hitherto, become witness to the Gospel. This is called being the Church not merely belonging to the Church. Lay people discern every day in their lives, i.e. marital life, student life, professional life etc.

Laity in the mystical body: Bishops, priests and lay people make the mystical body of Christ, the Church who ministry is to teach, sanctify and govern. Precisely, the laity are the majority in the mystical body of Christ and certainly, can do the work of evangelizing, sanctifying and renewing the rest of the world beyond the sanctuary and the Church yard. Lay people need to permeate social, political and economic realities because they have the experience of living those realities. This makes lay people to be on the front line of the Church’s life, and by doing so, laity bring Christ’s message to the whole world in a substantial way.

Discerning laity: In order to fulfil one’s mission as a layperson, discernment is the single greatest discipline or skill necessary. That is, they must ‘read signs of the times’ in order to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is calling them to do. Pope St John Paul II tells us, “to be able to discover the actual will of the Lord in our lives always involves the following: a receptive listening to the Word of God and the Church, fervent and constant prayer, recourse to a wise and loving spiritual guide, and a faithful discernment of the gifts and talents given by God, as well as the diverse social and historic situations in which one lives.” (Christifideles Iaici, 28).

I would like to conclude with Fr. Karl Rahner laymen’s duty; the lay man still has the duty – an old duty, but always needing to be re-emphasised – to educate himself in religious and theological matters up to a decent level, corresponding to his intellectual level in other fields. He must have a deep-rooted knowledge of where the fixed boundaries of his faith lie. Me must know something about Church history, so that he is not always ready to accept the latest thing, his own period’s ‘dernier cri,’ as the end of all wisdom. He must have a really clear understanding of the Church’s official teaching about all those matters, which, because of his position in life and his personal relationships with others, concern him most intimately. Catholics who want to take a real share in the development of a public opinion within the Church must live like true Christians and make the Church’s Mysteries the basis of their personal life. The lay people must do all they can to make their own personal contribution to the development of a public opinion within the Church, and its dissemination outside Her.