"From the Office of Bishop Raymond J Lahey, Diocese of Antigonish, NS"

The Particular Vocation of the Laity

Among the major writings of John Paul II, among the most important is a 1988 document called “Christifideles Laici” – “On the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful.”

The document is remarkable as being one of the first in the Church’s history to address the specific vocation of lay people. Too often the laity became defined by who they are not rather than by who they are: not ordained; not vowed religious. The Pope saw the lay vocation instead as coming from Baptism and Confirmation, and in that sense being the first vocation. More specific vocations come after Baptism, from further sacraments such as Holy Orders or Matrimony, or from religious vows, but the lay vocation stems from Baptism itself.

The very word “laity” comes from the Greek “laos” or “people,” and is connected with the fundamental teaching of Vatican II that the Church is first and foremost “the people of God,” the assembly of the baptized called by God as his own. We often speak of “belonging to” the Church; but more precisely we “are” the Church, God’s people. This teaching is thoroughly scriptural, richly expressed in 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people.” Ordained ministries, religious life, single life, or marriage are more specific vocations within the Body of Christ, but it is our common vocation as Christ’s faithful, the people of God, that comes before all else, and which is served by the more specific vocations. To underline this, John Paul II quoted Vatican II’s teaching: “Through Baptism the lay faithful are made one body with Christ and are established among the People of God. They are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. They carry out their own part in the mission of the whole Christian people with respect to the Church and the world.”

Every baptized person becomes one with Christ, a member of his body. Thus, as lay persons, men and women truly share in Christ’s priesthood, as well as in his roles of teaching and governing. It is from this that the lay vocation flows, a vocation both sacred and secular. It is sacred, for as the Pope wrote, the Church's mission of salvation in the world is not accomplished only by the clergy, but also by all the lay faithful. He wrote that this mission of salvation is the basis of the various “ministries, offices and roles” of the laity in the Church, rooted in their Baptism and Confirmation. When a lay person, then, fulfils a ministry or other service within the Church, they act in virtue of their baptismal calling and their proper lay vocation. This is especially true of ministries which are proper to the laity, for example, reader, server, or catechist; but it applies also to services like parish council membership.

But the lay vocation is also profoundly secular. Pope Paul VI said that the Church “has an authentic secular dimension, inherent to her inner nature and mission, which is deeply rooted in the mystery of the Word Incarnate and which is realized in different forms through her members.” The Church lives in the world and there continues the redemptive work of Christ. Obviously every Church member, the Pope included, shares this secular dimension, but the laity do this in a unique way which Vatican II called “properly and particularly” theirs. The Council pointed to the world as the place where lay persons receive their divine vocation, and where they live it out “in every one of the secular professions and occupations ... [and] in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very fabric of their existence is woven.”

The world thus becomes the place and the means for the laity to fulfill their particular Christian vocation. The laity’s call to holiness is not a call to withdraw from worldly life, but a call to contribute to the world’s sanctification. This is not just a description of their actual situation, but a theological statement. For the term “secular” sees God as handing over the world to women and men, that they may share the work of creation, free the world from all evil, and there sanctify themselves in their life and work, so bringing the whole world to glorify God in Christ.. Concluding his letter, John Paul II call the lay vocation “an extraordinary dignity.” Perhaps no greater words can describe it.