Vocations for the laity

Pope John Paul, in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, says that it is his “most heartfelt wish” that prayers for vocations to the priesthood and religious life be intensified.

In view of the vocation shortage in Western Europe and the United States especially, the pope’s call merits amplification. In regions where the numbers of vocations to the consecrated life remain healthy–such as in Africa and Latin America–the accent in such prayers may be on the quality of those men and women who follow God’s call.

Many Catholic observers see a crisis in the vocation figures in the West. The prospect of fewer Masses and more churches closing down certainly is cheerless. However, a shortage of priests and religious also provides an opportunity for the laity to follow Jesus’ call to work in his vineyards.

Indeed, perhaps the vocations crisis is a sign from the Holy Spirit that the laity now is called to perform many of the functions hitherto left to priests and religious.

Pope John Paul made defined the Church’s demand on the faithful in his 1988 apostolic exhortation Christifidelis laici. The call to an apostolic vocation, he said, is not for those in the consecrated life alone. “Lay people as well are personally called by the Lord, from whom they receive a mission on behalf of the Church and the world.”

The pope singled out areas in modern life where lay ministries can be fruitfully exercised: in confronting growing secularism, atheism and religious indifference, and in acting against the degradation of the human person through poverty, discrimination, violence, war and what Pope John Paul has famously termed “the culture of death”.

Such ministries can be exercised in a variety of ways: these may involve managing a project of care for Aids babies, or simply changing their nappies.

The ministries are many: to the sick, the poor, prisoners, the youth, the aged, families, abused women, pregnant women, refugees, and so on.

Ministries can be exercised in secular world or be confined to the parish. For example, thousands of Catholics are involved in a crucial apostolate as catechists. Others share their talents by serving on the parish pastoral council–not for prestige, but for the good of the Church–or by cleaning the church after Mass. Promoters of Catholic media and literature in the parish and beyond are part of the important social communications apostolate. The opportunities for lay engagement are varied and abundant.

Greater lay involvement in the Church’s ministries should be accompanied by greater lay influence in how the Church is run.

In Christifidelis laici, Pope John Paul said: “It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle,” because “the work that awaits everyone in the vineyard of the Lord is so great, there is no place for idleness.”

So when we pray for vocations to the consecrated life this Sunday, let us pray not only that men and women will join the priestly and religious life in suitable numbers, but also that lay people will hear the call to ministry, to exercise and give thanks for the gifts that God has given them.