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Questioning the Idea of ‘Lay’ Ministries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
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Two words sum up the present situation of the Church, ‘ambivalence’ and ‘confusion’. One the one hand, we have hierarchical structures and inevitably, we are steeped in hierarchical language and assumptions. Beside this we have an increasing vocabulary acknowledging and inviting ‘participation’ and ‘equality’, issuing from the senior hierarchy and directed especially to the ‘laity’.
Take the New Code of Canon Law, for instance. Can 208 reads: Flowing from their rebirth in Christ, there is a genuine equality of dignity and action among all of Christ’s faithful. Because of this equality they all contribute, each according to his or her own condition and office, to the building up of the Body of Christ.
We might be moved, as we read, to examine whether we had been taking our baptismal responsibilities as seriously as we ought. However, should we glance back to Can. 207:
By divine institution among Christ’s faithful there are in the Church sacred ministers, who in law are also called clerics; the others are called lay people, (my italics)
our sense of urgency might dwindle somewhat ... especially when we consider that ‘the others’ form something like 98% of the total. If what we, the ‘laity’, do is not by divine institution and our ministry not sacred, but rather is other, then our sense of participation, our sense of responsibility is diminished. We are diminished. Similar examples abound in all Church documents.
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- Copyright © 1987 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
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