When U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets in Washington Nov. 14-17, bishops will vote on a major resource document on lay ecclesial ministry, a phenomenon of growing importance in the church.
The proposed document, "Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: Resource for Guiding Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry," is a "pastoral and theological reflection on the reality of lay ecclesial ministry," an "affirmation of those who serve in this way," and an attempt to pull together the current "best thinking and practice" in that field, according to its introduction.
The proposed document discusses the appropriate human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of those who seek to engage in lay ministerial leadership in the church. It also addresses the role of lay ecclesial ministers in the church community, their relationship to the church's ordained leaders, guidelines and procedures for authorizing lay people to enter such roles and concerns that should be dealt with in the ministerial workplace.
"The term 'lay ecclesial minister' is generic. It is meant to encompass and describe several possible roles," the document says. "In parish life --- to cite only one sphere of involvement --- the pastoral associate, parish catechetical leader, youth ministry leader, school principal and director of liturgy or pastoral music are examples of such roles."
It says the role of a lay parish life coordinator in parishes without a resident pastor "is another example of lay ecclesial ministry, although it differs in kind from the other roles because it exists simply because of the shortage of priests."
While it draws no hard and fast line, the document basically distinguishes between the many U.S. Catholics who exercise some lay ministry on a limited, volunteer basis and those who exercise a leadership role in an area of ministry after appropriate preparation and formation, working with authorization from the pastor or bishop to act in the name of the local church and collaborating closely with the church's ordained ministers.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. Catholics contribute some of their time and talent to church ministry in roles such as lectors, pastoral council members, catechists, extraordinary ministers of Communion, choir members, and those who visit the sick or assist in sacramental preparation, youth ministry or programs of charity and justice. But the bishops' document focuses on those who hold ministerial leadership roles, most of them in part- or full-time paid positions.
The document says that according to the latest national study there are 30,632 lay ecclesial ministers who work at least 20 hours a week in paid positions in U.S. Catholic parishes and 2,163 more who do such work at least 20 hours a week on a volunteer basis.
All Catholics who work to build up God's kingdom, whether in the secular world or in some ministry within the church community, are responding to the baptismal call "to work toward the transformation of the world," the document says.
But it says that the growth in lay ecclesial ministry --- almost unheard of before the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s but now a major part of church life in the United States --- deserves special attention.
"The ministry is lay because it is service done by lay persons. The sacramental basis is the sacraments of initiation, not the sacrament of ordination," the document says.
It adds: "The ministry is ecclesial because it has a place within the community of the church, whose communion and mission it serves, and because it is submitted to the discernment, authorization and supervision of the hierarchy. Finally, it is ministry because it is a participation in the threefold ministry of Christ, who is priest, prophet and king."
Lay ecclesial ministry "entails an explicit relationship of mutual accountability to and collaboration with the church hierarchy," the document says.
"By virtue of their call, lay ecclesial ministers take on a new relationship to the mission of the church and to the other ministers who work to accomplish it," it adds. "Therefore, they must be persons who are known for genuine love of the whole Catholic Church, who exist in full communion of heart and mind with the pope as successor of Peter and whose ecclesial identity is shaped by obedience to the bishop of the diocese and to the universal magisterium (church teaching authority) and is expressed by generous collaboration with ordained and other lay ecclesial ministers alike."
The 83-page document is the result of several national consultations over the past two years. Its adoption requires approval by two-thirds of the USCCB members. ---CNS |