The Age of the Laity?
Tom Loarie has an interesting article in the Catholic Business Journal "Are We Living in the Age of the Laity?"
Tom knows Fr. Michael Sweeney, who started CSI with me and is now President of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. I've not met Tom yet but have heard of him from Fr. Michael who taught the Called & Gifted workshop that Tom attended.
Tom quotes Russell Shaw's excellent The Christian Laity in the Mission of the Church at great length. (we carry Shaw in our online bookstore). He then makes this startling statement: It is estimated that 33% of all parishes in California will be administered by deacons in ten years.
Really? I'll have to check that figure out. I know that the average parish in California has 10,000 people in it (as opposed to the national average of 3,500). So far haven't found any corroborating info on the internet. Anyone have wisdom to share on this particular statistic?
In any case, Tom sums it up this way:
here are three requirements for the laity to be involved in a fruitful way. The laity must:
1. Be well formed.
2. Use the gifts God has given them (“The Called and Gifted”). And,
3. Understand their purpose and the role they fill within the Church.
Loathe as I am to disagree at all with anyone who has the good taste and smarts to mention the Called & Gifted, I'd have to add a 4th point in first place.
1. Be intentional disciples of Jesus Christ in the midst of the Church.
Everything else follows: formation, discernment, mission.
posted by Sherry W @ 7:40 AM
6 Comments
Links to this post
6 Comments:
May I jump in?
I think the catalyst for the awakening of the laity is the priest shortage, which in my opinion, is highly problematic. It is as if those who have been plugging for the clericization of the laity are finding justification for the laity's empowerment. I can't think of a poorer reason to be turned onto Christ than for the acquiring of power. How fearful Christ's words, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Lord help us.
Fr. Michael
thanks for contributing your knowledge of the situation. Re: the priest shortage = empowerment of laity. You are indeed preaching to the choir.
It's such a intra-ecclesial focus that is really clericalist. Lay apostles are secular apostles in their own right with their own Christ-bestowed mission - and that is true whether or not they work within or outside the church - and as you said, the need to form lay apostles would not cease if the number of priests suddenly jumped 10 fold!
Because our mission is the whole world.
I'm a priest in Northern California and have never heard that so-called statistic before. The only diocese in this province I'm aware of (anecdotally) that may approach that statistic is Santa Rosa. Sacramento and San Jose seem to be in better shape with few parishes going without a priest parish. San Francisco, Stockton, and Oakland being somewhere in between these two extremes.
If true, sounds like that statistic would be driven by the LA province dioceses: I believe LA has more parishes than any 3 NoCal dioceses combined.
FrMichael
BTW, it drives me crazy to seem empowerment of the laity linked to the shortage of priests. They should be completely independent movements: one a curse, the other a blessing. Even if we had tons of priests, fostering intentional disciples would still be a top concern.
Perhaps I'm simply preaching to the choir on this blog about my hangup, however...
FrMichael
The statistic on the priest shortage in California came from the executive director of the California Conference of Bishops.
Thanks Tom for writing in and letting us know where that stat comes from!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home