The Lord’s calling — vocation — always presents itself like this: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Yes: a vocation demands self-denial, sacrifice. But how pleasant that sacrifice turns out to be — gaudium cum pace, joy and peace — if that self-giving is complete![i]
In the wake of the horrendous abuse cases that surfaced in the summer of 2018 following an investigation led by the Pennsylvania attorney general, many Catholics were left confused and heartbroken. If you remember the atmosphere in the Church during those days, you’d recall some Catholics contemplated—and not a few proceeded to—leave the Church altogether. But in the midst of the chaos there were also brave bishops and priests, such as Fr. Mike Schmitz, who pleaded with the faithful to stay in the Church and renew it from within. In an Ascension Presents video released in August 2018, Fr. Schmitz gave the advice Catholics needed to hear: “Don’t leave the Church when things get tough, lead the Church…”[ii] It summarized well what a faithful Catholic’s attitude should be when facing scandal within the Church or any other challenge. After all, this wave of scandals was not the first to surface in the Church’s nearly 2,000-year history and, sadly, it’s probably not the last.
The Catholic Church has never guaranteed the moral infallibility of its members at any rank of its hierarchy. What the Church has done instead is always assured the faithful of the infallibility of its teachings on faith and morals. Why? Because the Church is the custodian of the Truth as revealed by Christ and does not possess a compendium of truths of its own. Moreover, the Catholic Church has always asserted that every one of Her members is a sinner in need of repentance. That is why we have the beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation. That is why priests—even the Pope—go to confession on a regular basis. Does any of the above justify the horror of what many of us read in the infamous Pennsylvania report? No. Sexual abuse is a cancer that has no place in society, much less in the Church. In our call to prevent this and other evils from corrupting the Church, the laity must rediscover their mission. In this post COVID-19 world–full of confusion and uncertainty–and in our great need to make society a more fertile ground for the Gospel to take root, we are convinced that lay Catholic leaders are needed today more than ever. They are needed primarily in civil society.
Times have changed. Behind us are the days when the Church had such a political influence in the world that it became the supreme moral authority. It was this way in all spaces of western society, and in many other cultural traditions as well. The Catholic Church today must bring the Gospel to society in new and creative ways. We know this. We’ve been calling it the new evangelization for so long, it doesn’t feel so new anymore. This is why Catholic laity have the special responsibility of inserting themselves into the secular world to infuse it with Truth, Goodness and Beauty—in other words, to infuse it with God. Gone are the days when we could sit back—each taking care of his own soul—while relegating to clergy and religious alone the responsibility to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Though many do not yet see it, Christian civilization has imploded. It no longer exists. So, where do we go from here? There are many challenging answers to that question. One is eminent: the laity must begin to exercise tangible and effective leadership both within and—most importantly and the focus of this book—outside the boundaries of the institutional Church.
The Pope, our bishops, priests, and religious men and women simply cannot carry the weight alone, nor was it ever intended by God that they should. In the post-pandemic era, particularly in the United States, the Catholic Church finds Herself in great need of committed, faithful, lay Catholic professionals to lead in key areas of civil society. We need the laity to lead the confused outside world. It is imperative that lay leaders work on making the world friendlier to the Gospel in all areas of secular life including—and with a high degree of urgency—the legal and political fields, so that our pastors can better proclaim the Good News of Christ without obstacles.
In fact, we are of the opinion that outside the Church, the battlefield is loftier, and so are the opportunities to work for the common good while reminding the world what it seems to have forgotten, that which seems to be at the source of many of our problems today: what it means to be a human being. This is the main front of the cultural spiritual battle.
Imagine what the world would be like if we had more influential doctors, engineers, business owners, accountants, politicians, police officers, entertainers, etc. who were also faithful and committed Catholics. What would the world be if these laity, relying on the grace of their Baptisms and Confirmations, intentionally used their talents and meritocratically-earned positions to influence the world for Christ? Imagine how much good the laity would bring to society if we only made it a priority to use our Catholic Faith as the compass in our professional work and careers.
In the end, what the world needs more of is what the world has always needed: the world needs more saints. As Leon Bloy said, “The only real tragedy in life is to not become a saint.”[iii] That sure puts things into perspective! Let us strive to become saints, reflecting the image of Christ for everyone to see.
So, if you, like us, are disappointed with the things you’ve seen happen inside and outside the Church over the past few years or decades; if you are frustrated with the widespread corruption that seems to have only increased during the pandemic and with the continuous succession of crises today...We want to invite you to find in these pages a way to let that holy anger lead you to greater determination and a renewed commitment to the mission of the Church, concretely, through your active participation in civil society as a lay Catholic leader.
We believe that if there ever was a time when the world and the Church were in great need for lay leadership, that time is now. Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the current president of the USCCB, has asserted that this time in history is “the hour of the laity.” Ours are turbulent times, and our contemporary reality cries out for holy lay leadership in all areas of life. Through our personal work for the Church under Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, inspired by his leadership and vision, through much prayer and reflection, we have come to this conclusion: it is imperative that the laity does its part to lead now—in and outside the institutional Catholic Church. The Pope and the bishops carry the Magisterium and the teachings of the Church. Only they can make the sacraments available to us. This, however, is absolutely no reason why we should only expect courageous and magnanimous leadership to come from the ranks of the clergy. Let us accept the challenge and wake-up call from Archbishop Gomez. This is the hour of the laity!
Not long ago in Italy, St. Gianna Molla was a physician, a wife and a mother who defended the dignity of innocent human life. During the Cristero War in Mexico, St. Manuel Morales was a baker, husband and father, who became secretary of the local Catholic Workers Union, and president of the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty. Servant of God, Dorothy Day, born in Brooklyn, who had committed an abortion, repented and became a social leader who started the Catholic Worker Movement. They were all lay people. So was St. Juan Diego, the indigenous man who received the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe leading to the conversion of millions to the Catholic Faith.
What each of these men and women had in common was more than their Catholic Faith; it was an understanding—in some ways ahead of their time—of the Church’s need for lay Catholic participation in leadership in order to advance its mission. Prior to the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), St. Josemaría Escrivá began powerfully preaching about a way of holiness for ordinary people, lay men and women. This “new” way, previously underemphasized, consisted of prayerfully and excellently following their particular lay missions in secular society as leaders. Escrivá called the laity to do this within their professional efforts, while sanctifying their work, and by simply doing so cheerfully, striving for perfection and offering everything they did to God. If we look back at our own Church history this is not a novel concept at all, but only what the early Christians knew well and lived out in their ordinary lives.
While in parts of the world today the Church is blessed with growth, we know that elsewhere She also struggles to advance Her mission. This is at least in part due to the lack of lay leadership in civil society. The laity has for too long neglected to take ownership of their role in the Church. Why? We might need an ordained priest to celebrate Mass or hear confessions, but we don’t need a priest to lead a hospital, a homeless shelter, a charitable fundraising effort, the administrative functions of the Church or even the entrepreneurial aspects of any apostolate. These are often only the needs within Church-founded organizations. There is no reason why virtuous leadership exercised by the laity should be confined to life within Catholic institutions, or apostolates.
If we look at the problems in the world from the lens of our Faith, we realize that a more committed and determined laity could generate the change so desperately needed to bring Christ back to society. It is, in fact, impossible for the Pope, our bishops, priests or consecrated religious to insert themselves into secular society in such a way as to transform it from within its secular institutions and organizational structures. Only we, the laity, can do that. What Gianna Molla, Manuel Morales, Dorothy Day, and Juan Diego did for the Church were prime examples of the type of lay leadership we so desperately need today. It used to be that men and women would become leaders simply because they were Catholic–in other words, their Catholic Faith was the very reason they wanted to lead. That is no longer the case.
We feel nothing but love for and indebtedness to the priests and consecrated religious people in our lives. The clear majority of the clergy are faithful, holy people, committed to serving Christ and His Church. But these ordained and consecrated faithful need us to be who we are as laity! The time has come for the laity to step up and into the leadership role they are called to fulfill. Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen said it well: “Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church.”[iv]
The above chapter comes from the book Catholic Leadership for Civil Society. Listen to the audio version of this chapter, here.
Click here to read part 3 of 4 in our CLCS series.
[i] Josemaría Escrivá. Furrow (London-New York: Scepter, 1987), No. 8.
[ii] Father Mike Schmitz, “The Pennsylvania Sex Abuse Scandal,” YouTube, August 22, 2018, video, 16:33, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdR8eyaDCHg.
[iii] Leon Bloy, La Femme Pauvre (France: Le Livre de Poche, 1964).
[iv] Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, “Address to the Knights of Columbus,” June 1972.
){kind=link}