"Guiding Principles of the Lay Apostolate"

It is ironic that some months before we had seen Russell Shaw's manuscript on the Catholic Laity, (by the way we managed to get the book image in the sidebar - courstesy of some technical help from Josh Snyder of Katolik Shinja), I had been gathering material to write an article that would explore both the role of the laity in the Church and attempts to "clericalize" lay apostolates-these attempts being denounced by John Paul II several times. (I am sure this will be discussed eventually on this blog.) I never finished writing the article, but do have some interesting excerpts from papal documents and audiences to share here from time to time.

Here the first. It is an excerpt from an address of Pope Pius XII to the Second World Congress of Lay Apostolate in 1957. (You can get the entire text here.)

Consecration of the World Is Laymen's Job

Furthermore, aside from the small number of priests the relations between the Church and the world require the intervention of lay apostles. The consecratio mundi (consecration of the world) is essentially the work of the laymen themselves, of men who are intimately a part of economic and social life and who participate in the government and in legislative assemblies. In the same way, only the workers themselves can establish the Catholic cells which must be created among workers in every factory and bring back to the Church those who have strayed from her.

....The lay apostolate consists, in this, that laymen undertake tasks deriving from the mission Christ entrusted to His Church. As we have seen, this apostolate always remains a lay apostolate, and does not become a hierarchial apostolate even when it is exercised through the mandate of the Hierarchy.

Much of this talk was directed to Catholic Action which was a lay apostolate directed by the Church hierarchy. However Pope Pius XII also goes on to say:

Catholic Action always bears the stamp of an official apostolate of laymen. Two remarks must be made here: the mandate, especially that of teaching, is not given to Catholic Action as a whole, but to its specially organized members according to the will and the choice of the Hierarchy. Catholic Action must not, moreover, claim a monopoly of the lay apostolate, for along with it there remains the free lay apostolate. Individuals or groups can place themselves at the disposal of the Hierarchy and be entrusted, for a fixed or indeterminate period of time, with certain tasks for which they receive a mandate. It might therefore be asked whether they do not also become members of Catholic Action. The important point is that the hierarchical Church, the bishops and the priests, can choose lay coworkers for themselves when they find persons able and willing to help them.

Pope Pius XII goes on to list areas of lay apostolate needing attention: Formation of youth, in the parish, the press (he includes publishing houses), radio, movies, television, the working world, etc.

What do you think? What are some areas most needing lay apostolate today? Are most lay apostolates simply an outreach of the hierarchy as in the Catholic Action model, or are they truly run by the laity? What are some good examples of lay apostolates?