The Lay State

I am going to go back to 'Two Towers' by John Meehan (Requiem Press) this morning:

The lay state has a basis and a character of its own; it is one of personal responsibility while living in the temporal order. The lay state has a canonical status in the Church, taking the form of a vocation, apostolate, and spirituality which is distinctly secular. Far from ignoring the things of the earth, the laity are called to enlighten them so that they may be developed in accordance with God the Father's plan and restored fully in Jesus Christ. In other words, the laity are called to impregnate earthly realities with a Catholic spirit in order that "In everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 4:11)

Is this something new? Since the close of the Vatican Council II was 30 years ago, many of us have come of age since that time. We have been hearing about the 'age of the laity' - and sometimes in words similar to those proffered above. But in action, in reality, what have we seen of the this 'age of the laity'? Mostly we have seen the laity take on ministries formerly executed by clergy. And so we don't get excited about these words.

But there are other things going on also, which give more life to these words. In the 70's several Catholic colleges were founded by laymen in this country (Christendom College (VA) and Magdalen College (NH) to name two). We see apostolates like CatholicExchange.com and others, started and run by laymen who want to help us sancitify our lives and the world.

Have we seen in our lives or in the lives of other Catholics we know (even if only a handful) deeper prayer life, spirituality, and committment to the mission of the Church? Maybe there is a long way to go. But the range of apostolates which have been started independently from the hierarchical Church structure (but often with guidance of a spiritual director), all of which are trying to sanctify the world, is totally amazing-and unprecedented.

If you read George Weigel's biography of John Paul II Witness to Hope, you get the idea that young Bishop Karol Wojtyla foresees before Vatican II the coming age when the Church is going to need the laity to take a more active role in carrying out the Church's mission-especially in taking it to the world.