Ecclesiology of the Laity
The insights of
Vatican II
The Church of Vatican II
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How has your
understanding of the
church changed as
a result of the
insights of Vatican
II?
Discuss at your
table…
The Church according to the
Council
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A new definition
From authority to
communion and mission
Openness to dialogue
New self-understanding
of Church
Documents of Vatican II
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Self-understanding
of Church found in:
– Lumen Gentium
– Dei Verbum
– Sacrosanctum
Concilium
– Gaudium et Spes
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Commitment to
Renewal:
– Decrees
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Dialogue
– Declarations
Origin and Goal of Church
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Ecclesia:
– Community united to
hear the Word of
God
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Koinonia
– Communion
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Martyria
– Witness
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Diakonia
– service
Church:
Sacrament of Communion
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Church as sign of
Communion with God
– Vertical dimension
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Church as sign of
unity with humanity
– Horizontal dimension
Church as Sign of Trinitarian
Communion
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Church is a people
gathered in the unity
of
– the Father
– the Son and
– the Holy Spirit
Mission of the Church
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That all may
become the People
of God
We share in the
Mission of Christ
To Build the
Kingdom of God
To journey beside
and with humanity
Identity of the Lay Person
New self-understanding of Church leads to new understanding of the
Role, Identity and Mission of Laity:
By virtue of Baptism we are all Children of God—Clergy, Religious and
Lay
All share in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly functions of Christ
Laity have a special area of competence which must be respected
Role of Laity especially in the Secular arena to bring together the Church
and the World
Lay People and the Mission of the
Church
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“By their very vocation, the laity seek the
kingdom of God by engaging in temporal
affairs and by ordering them according to the
plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in
each and in all of the secular professions and
occupations. They live in the ordinary
circumstances and social life which the very
web of their existence is woven” (Lumen
Gentium, 31)
Competence of Laity
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Laity are competent in the questions of
ordinary life:
– Marriage, family, culture, politics,
economics, art
– Church must listen to the insights and
respect special skills of Laity
“Their own field of evangelizing activity is the vast and
complicated world of politics, society and economics, but
also the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of
international life, of the mass media. It also includes
other realities which are open to evangelization, such as
human love, the family, the education of children and
adolescents, professional work, suffering. The more
Gospel-inspired lay people there are engaged in these
realities, clearly involved in them, competent to promote
them and conscious that they must exercise to the full
their Christian powers which are often buried and
suffocated, the more these realities will be at the service
of the Kingdom of God and therefore of salvation in Jesus
Christ.” Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI
Laity and Pastors
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Equality in Dignity—Diversity in function
– We all belong to Christ
– Lay people have right to receive “spiritual
goods” of the Church
– Lay people have right/duty to give their
particular knowledge and competence to
Church and must be listened to by
hierarchy
Lay Spirituality
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Not “borrowed” from Religious
Characterized by service
Christ-like—flowing from sharing in priestly,
prophetic and kingly
Charismatic—of the Spirit
Gospel-centered- spirit of Beatitudes
Wisdom—brings together insights of Church
and world
No split between life of faith and daily life