The role of the laity

by Editor · August 15, 2007

Evangelisation begins at home, within the family and the parish community. While it is important to bring the Good News to people who have not yet absorbed its momentous consequence, it is crucial that we evangelise also within the Church, among our fellow Catholics � and even ourselves.

This awareness was at the heart of the Pastoral Forum for the Laity, which brought together lay representatives from across the bishops� conference territory, the bishops and representatives of the clergy and religious in Durban this month.

Among lay delegates to the pastoral forum, a commonly stated concern was a need for greater clarity and guidance on the way they see their role in the Church.

The role of the laity was clarified four decades ago in the Second Vatican Council. The Vatican II document Ad Gentes (�Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church”) made it clear that all members of Christ�s mystical body � the Church � by their baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist, are obliged to work towards spreading his Body in order to bring it to fullness. So all God�s children should be actively conscious of their own responsibility for the world, the Ad Gentes said.

Yet there remains an uncertainty about how the laity can cohesively exercise this mandate. Episcopal guidance has not always been effectual, even after the 2000 Pastoral Forum for the Laity, which looked at the notion of establishing a potential Office for the Laity as a structure on bishops� conference level � a notion forcefully reiterated by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale in the opening address to his brother bishops at their winter plenary session in Mariannhill this month.

Nonetheless, a number of commendable developments emerged from the 2000 forum, such as the national establishment of the Catholic Bible Foundation, parish and diocesan leadership training through Johannesburg�s Lumko Institute, the building up of the bishops� Family Life Desk, Youth Desk, and the Education for Life abstinence-promoting HIV/Aids prevention programme.

Yet, many delegates at this month�s forum�who by dint of their participation are lay leaders in their communities�came to Durban uncertain about the nature of their particular engagement. One may hope that this meeting�s deliberations will have clarified such uncertainties, and that the resolutions of the pastoral forum will be fruitfully implemented on the levels of diocese and parish.

On the episcopal level, we may be confident that the momentum will not be lost. In Bishops William Slattery and Edward Adams, the episcopal conference mandated two of its most personable members to work with the lay leaders. It is evident that Fr Barney McAleer, coordinating secretary of the bishops� Department of Evangelisation, is deeply committed to empowering the laity with a more substantive involvement in the Church.

It is encouraging that the forum resolved to have another pastoral forum next year, preceded by regular follow-up meetings. Sustained engagement will assure that the pastoral forum will have been more than a well intended talk-shop.

There are some complicating demographic obstacles in arriving at a cohesive pastoral programme for (and by) the laity. These must and can be overcome with one goal in mind: to bring the Kingdom of God closer to the people, Catholic and not.