Vatican II+60: Lay apostolate in a synodal Church: Argument and questions
Rome, 9-15 October 2024
Although earlier references exist, the concept of a specifically “lay apostolate” began to emerge during the first half of the nineteenth century as the industrial and democratic revolutions propagated across Europe. One of the earliest to speak of such a lay apostolate was the French layman, Frédéric Ozanam, who sought to articulate his own Catholic and Christian identity as a family man, academic working in the secular Sorbonne university as well as social activist and reformer.
The philosopher Léon Ollé-Laprune, who directly modelled his life on that of the founder of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, further developed Ozanam’s conception of an integral Christian vocation embracing the whole life of a person. To achieve this, each person needed to become increasingly “capable of seeing clearly, judging and deciding,” Ollé-Laprune argued, drawing on Aristotle.
Initially adopted by Marc Sangnier’s democratic movement, Le Sillon, these insights and methods led to the emergence of the “see, judge, act” or “review of life” method of lay apostolate formation developed by Joseph Cardijn, the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (JOC/YCW) and its “specialised” “milieu”-based movements, including Young Christian Students (JEC/YCS), Young Christian Farmers (JAC/MIJARC), Children’s Movement (MIDADE), and their adult counterparts for workers (WMCW), farmers (FIMARC), families (CFM), and professionals (MIAMSI & Pax Romana)…
From this experience, Cardijn developed his own definition of the lay apostolate as follows:
THE APOSTOLATE OF LAY PEOPLE,
is the lay (secular) life of lay people, the problems of that life, at every level: local, regional, national and international;
is the divine value of this life to implement the work of God and Christ, in order to transform life and the world;
is a transformation that must take place with, by and in Christ and the Church, with the resources of the Church (prayer, sacraments, etc.) but which are incarnated in the affairs of the world, the institutions of the world, in view of the inseparable goals that are the happiness of humanity and the glory of God.
Such was the vision he and the movements promoted in the decades before and at Vatican II.
Vatican II
Influenced by these developments, Pope John XXIII on his own initiative established the Preparatory Commission on Lay Apostolate in 1960. In his 1961 encyclical Mater et Magistra, he endorsed the “see-judge-act” method, opening the way for its adoption by the Council, including as the drafting method for the future Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, Gaudium et Spes.
Soon after, the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium set out in Chapter 4 The Laity a vision of lay apostolate founded on the fact that by baptism lay people “are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.”
In turn, §31 further characterised this as follows:
What specifically characterises the laity is their secular nature… (T)he laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life.. They are called there by God that… they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore… it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer.
Gaudium et Spes §43 further explained this, exhorting “Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.”
(L)let there be no false opposition between professional and social activities on the one part, and religious life on the other… Christians should rather rejoice that, following the example of Christ Who worked as an artisan, they are free to give proper exercise to all their earthly activities and to their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical enterprises by gathering them into one vital synthesis with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are harmonised unto God’s glory.
Secular duties and activities belong properly although not exclusively to laypeople. Therefore acting as citizens in the world, whether individually or socially, they will keep the laws proper to each discipline, and labour to equip themselves with a genuine expertise in their various fields. They will gladly work with people seeking the same goals. Acknowledging the demands of faith and endowed with its force, they will unhesitatingly devise new enterprises, where they are appropriate, and put them into action… (E)nlightened by Christian wisdom and giving close attention to the teaching authority of the Church, let the layperson take on his/her own distinctive role.
For its part, the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem §20, highlighted the need to promote this apostolate. In this sense, it endorsed the work of the movements known in, some countries as “Catholic Action” movements, which collaborated closely with the Church for the promotion of the lay apostolate. In §26, it further insisted on the need to promote the lay apostolate at every level of the Church from parish, diocesan, national and international, partnering with the various lay groups and movements in this work.
To support this, it proposed that “a special secretariat should be established at the Holy See for the service and promotion of the lay apostolate,” a secretariat in which “the various movements and projects of the apostolate of the laity throughout the world should also be represented.” Further endorsing the Cardijn method, in §29, it explained that in view of the “distinctively secular and particular quality of the lay state… from the beginning of their formation the laity should gradually and prudently learn how to view, judge and do all things in the light of faith.”
From Vatican II to a synodal Church: Research questions
How has the Church implemented/promoted this Vatican II vision of lay apostolate over the last 60 years? At parish, diocesan, national, regional (FABC, CELAM, etc), global levels?
How does this conception of lay apostolate fit into Pope Francis’ vision of a synodal Church? What lessons can be drawn from the experience of the lay apostolate movements?
How have lay groups, communities, movements responded to the challenges of the post-conciliar world? Successes, failures, obstacles, challenges.
How can the movements be more effective in the multi-polar, multicultural, multi-religious, eco-challenged, peace-challenged world of today? What relevance for “milieu” based specialisation? How to develop synodal cooperation? How can the Church support movements in their mission?