Laity and clergy: A mutual concern and commitment

by BROTHER ROBERT MERCER, SA
'The laity today are participating considerably more in Church affairs than in previous times. Yet there is still a great nest{ for them to he even more active in all areas of the Church; there is need for a really more involved, committed and participating laity.
on the other hand, it is sad to say that there are still many priests who consider that any church work is automatically their prerogative, and some even resent the involvement of the laity. For them, church work is their particular domain, and, they feel somewhat 'threatened with laity who are doing such work, and claim that they find it difficult to relate to them.
During the time of the early Church there were certainly differences of tasks and gifts, but there was no distinction between particular groups called "clergy" and "laity." The idea in the early Church of the "priesthood of all believers" was lost during the later centuries of clericalisation, and is only gradually being regained in recent times.
In the course of history, too much emphasis came to be placed upon the ordained ministry. The Church developed into a body that was top-heavy, with an active clergy as opposed to a passive and receptive laity. Due to the clericalism that emerged in the Church, the assumption was that all initiatives and activities must spring from the clergy. The clergy became a privileged class, and there existed a clerical paternalism in a Church which was a tightly structured,. monarchical, hierarchical, and} legalistic society. Happily, however, this situation has now considerably changed.
Since the Second Vatican Council it has again come to be accepted that the Church is the People of God, All believers, in fundamental equality, are the Church, and so are members of the People of God. The whole of the First Epistle of St Peter is concerned with the fact that the Church as a whole is "a royal priesthood".
Everyone, priest and lay person, is part of God's people. The laity arc not distinct from the Church; they are the Church. The Church is the People of God in the midst of all the peoples of the world.
This People of God is made up of men who have answered God's call in Christ by converting themselves to the Gospel. Anyone who is baptised is called to share actively in the life and work of the Church. All are called to preach the Gospel in the sense of their personal Christian witness, and all believers are absorbed into the mediating work of the one and only Mediator — their function is to mediate between God and the world.
The laity share in Christ's mission, Bence, every Christian is a priest of God, by being a witness to God before the world. By baptism and confirmation, the layman is empowered to live a life of apostolic witness.
Kart Rahner said, for example, that "through sacramental consecration and empowerment, every Christian in the Church is constituted and qualified and in duty bound to a position of active coresponsibility and work inside and outside the Church" ("Issues," edited by Urban H. Fleege, Paulist Press).
Regarding the relationship between laity and clergy in the Church, as has already been said, all Christians are the People of God. The clergy are simply those who have the special functions necessary for building up the People of God.
They are the servants of the community, not the masters. The Church cannot dispense with them; their role is essential. On the other hand, they are not a separate caste leading lives isolated from the rest of the people. They are not a powerful elite having the right to make all-important decisions by themselves.
The priest is a man chosen from among the People of God to serve them, and to be the leader of a community. Even in respect of the liturgy, the Eucharist should be seen more as the common meal of the whole People of God, at which the priest is the leader, yet in which the congregation are full participators — instead of a sacrifice offered by the priest for and on behalf of the community, with the laity remaining passive onlookers.
Compared to the priest, the layman is in a peculiarly advantageous position to carry the truth of Christ into many of the more temporal aspects of men's lives. He gives glory to God by continuing the mission of Christ in the world.
Ile is particularly involved with the social, political, academic, and business worlds, and also with all areas of family life. So it is especially the task of the laity to penetrate with the truth of Christ those many areas of human existence which are partially or totally closed to the clergy.
There are, however, still many instances of discrimination against the laity. Rome still refuses to allow equality between priests and brothers in religious communities, as recent decisions in respect of both the Franciscans and the Jesuits have made clear.
The Church has also been one of the worst offenders in discriminating against women, and yet they have much to offer and contribute to both the Church and society. Young people, too, need to be given more opportunities to be heard — they after all are the future Church.
The laity as a whole must be allowed to he full participants at all levels in the Church today. The laity, who together with the clergy, are the Church, should participate to the full in all decision-making and activities of the Church.
Some Catholics welcome any proposals for this idea as a sign of a closer relationship between clergy and laity. Others fear moves towards a more democratic Church, and they consider this to he a threat to the teaching authority of the hierarchy.
But should there not be more democratic, collegial, and general participation in the Church than there is at the moment? In his hook "Bishops and People", Hans Kung says: "People like to talk of the participation of the laity in the life (not the decisions) of the Church. They also like to speak of the participation of the laity in the decisions of the world (but not of the Church).
"They do not at all like to speak, at least in official binding documents, of the participation of the laity in the decisions of the Church. Nevertheless, it is precisely here that the question of the status of the laity in the Church arises in the most practical way.
"For as long as I can contribute advice and work, but am excluded from decision' making, I remain, no matter how many fine things are said about my status, a second-class member of this community. The person who can advise and collaborate but not participate in decision-making in a manner befitting his status, is not really the Church, but only belongs to the Church".
All the People of God are part of the diakonia (service) of the Church. The Church, that is the whole People of God, must, like Christ, be a servant community; a servant of God for the sake of His Kingdom. The Church is more than a wordand-sacrament organisation, for the work of the Kingdom is also to work for the human cornmunity and for the humanisation of the world.
The mission of the Church is to bring Christ to all men, and to fill the world with the spirit of Christ. This must be done primarily by those who live in the world. The real body of the Church is the laity, and this is where the action should be.
The laity today consistg of inpreasingly well-educated and articulate people. And lay virtue of their intelligence, maturity, experience and skills they have much to contribute and offer the Church. The' clergy must treat the laity as co-workers, and the laity should be encouraged to come out of their "shells" and become more involved at every level and in all areas of the Church, The intention of this article is not to adopt a negative approach, but rather a positive one; an encouragement of the laity to a more fuller engagement in all concerns and activities of the Church — and for the clergy to give affirmation to this.
There is need for more collaboration between clergy and laity. They should have a genuine mutual respect for each other, and a recognition that they are equally concerned and committed in respect of Christ's Church and mission.