Lay People are Stewards of the Body of Christ

From Dan Conway’s The Good Steward, July 2009

At the annual convention of the Diocese of Rome, delegates were told by their bishop, Pope Benedict XVI, that lay Catholics have responsibilities that extend beyond helping their pastors with the day-to-day operations of their parishes. Speaking at his cathedral church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the pope acknowledged that full participation in the life of the Church will require “a change of
mentality” on the part of both clergy and laity.

The majority of Catholics are only minimally involved in the Church’s sacramental, educational or social ministries. Those who are involved tend to see themselves as collaborators with the clergy in their parishes. Pope Benedict says that neither view — the passive stance of the majority or the merely collaborative role of those who are active in parish ministry — accurately represents the Second Vatican Council’s vision of a laity that “fully shares in the responsibility for the existence and action of the Church.”

The pope is obviously not minimizing the role of bishops, priests and deacons in preserving, and carrying forward, the Church’s mission. On the contrary, he says we should not see the Church as “simply a collection of people” any more than we should diminish the role of lay people in the life of the Church. His point is that everyone has a role to play in carrying on Christ’s work in the world.

No one is excused from active participation in the work of building up the Church. There are no second-class citizens among us, and no spectators. We are all responsible…

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