Benedict XVI: Church Needs Change of Mentality - Calls on Laity to Recognize Pastoral Responsibility

Laypeople are not merely the clergy's collaborators, but rather share in the responsibility of the Church's ministry, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope called on the laity to become more aware of their role when he inaugurated Tuesday an ecclesial conference for the Diocese of Rome on "Church Membership and Pastoral Co-responsibility." The conference is under way through Friday.

"There should be a renewed becoming aware of our being Church and of the pastoral co-responsibility that, in the name of Christ, all of us are called to carry out,"

Great. The liturgical council in my church will see this as an opportunity for more goofy crap during mass: hand-holding, liturgical dancing, and lay processions up and down the aisles.

I would have liked to see a headline that announced the Pope reasserting his magisterial responsibility, bringing Catholic higher education back in line.

Disappointing. Again.

Instead of blaming the Holy Father for teaching what is in fact correct doctrine, please resolve to help your "liturgical council" (AFAIK, there is no provision for anything called a "liturgical council" in canon law or the rubrics) learn to read and understand!

"He further encouraged that laypeople draw close to sacred Scripture, through means such as lectio divina, and carry out missionary activity, in first place through living out charity."

The task of the Christian laity is to evangelize the world, not to take over the operation of the parish, and still less to meddle with the Mass in ways that (a) encroach on the responsibilities of the ordained; or (b) don't correspond to the way the Church says Mass should be celebrated.

That's a lot tougher and less popular than telling people to hold hands or recruiting 50 EMHC's, which is why people don't do it. Tell your priest to disband the "liturgical council" and send them over to the local abortion mill to pray on the sidewalk. Or, turn them into an "evangelization team," tasked with bringing fallen-away Catholics back to the practice of their faith.

Another aspect of this problem ... our whole culture has this attitude, fostered by 60 years of TV I think, that everything is either work or entertainment, and work ought to go away. That's infected the church in the US, of course, such that many Christians (Catholics sadly included) think that church services ought to be entertainment, and somehow the task of the institutional church is to make that happen.

Nope. Sorry. The premise is wrong: everything is not either work or entertainment. In fact, a Catholic ought to approach things with the idea that everything is worship, which means that Mass is simply the purest and most obvious form of worship. IOW, we shouldn't be turning the Mass into entertainment, we should be turning our entertainment and especially our work into acts of worship.

I think there's actually a lot more to it, when it comes to the laity taking charge of things. For one, there are a number of priests out there who are happy to abdicate responsibility, and there are quite a number of busy-body women around who seem to have an awful lot of time on their hands. Now, that does depend on where you are.

The first thing people think of is Mass. And, yes, this is a problem. Lay participants - how much of this is a play on vanity? Not everyone, obviously, but how much of it is? Vanity has no place in worship. Well, we won't get into certain organ masters and choir directors who actually program good music and get their choirs to sing well.

You do make a good point that education isn't all it could be and that with all this leisure time, reading would be a great idea. Remember, though, not every ministry is for everyone. There are those that go to Planned Parenthood and counsel on the sidewalks - and there are those more inclined to make the hot chocolate and lunch for them than doing to actual witness. Is one really less worthy?

You're right that people don't want to work. Try being a professional singer in an amateur choir sometime. Nobody wants to learn how to count, modulate vowels, warm-up, etc. Are we here to socialize and have fun, or help inspire the flock to greatness?

We'll see how this one plays out, but I agree that without the clergy teaching it correctly, the laity is going to consider it license for all sorts of nonsense.

“The liturgical council in my church will see this as an opportunity for more goofy crap during mass: hand-holding, liturgical dancing, and lay processions up and down the aisles.”

Volunteer for the Council and offer input based on the Teaching Magisterium.

One person, with God’s help, can accomplish wonders! ;-))

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