Life within the local parish

Ministry and action in the parish

The Catholic Church and other Christian Churches in a local area act individually and together to serve the needs of their own faith communities and the broader needs of society. Often, individuals from within Church communities come together in a designated group in the interests of maximising their effectiveness. Groups that might be set up to serve the internal needs of a local Church include a liturgy/worship group, prayer group, bible study group, education committee, parish council, finance committee, social committee, maintenance committee, youth group, group to visit the sick, ecumenical discussion groups, group to organise sacramental preparation, group to support candidates in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation). Other groups which are oriented more to serving the broader needs of society within or beyond the local area might include the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Justice Group, Support Group for People with Disability, Care and Concern Group, Parent Support Group, Hospital and Aged Care Visitation Groups, Ecumenical Groups to promote the Christian message in the local area e.g. through advertising, through public service of carols before Christmas.

Evangelising mission

Whether Church-related groups serve the needs of their local congregations, or reach out to the wider society or both, they need to be conscious that they are bringing Christ and his Good News to those they serve. Sometimes this will mean an explicit sharing of the Christian Gospel with those within the Churches or beyond them. At other times, the action carried out in a spirit of Christian love and respect for the dignity of each and every person will be left to speak for itself. At any rate, groups engaged in Christian service in the spirit of Christ will want to speak and act in the way Christ did.

The role of the laity

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the term laity is “understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church.” (#897).

By virtue of their baptism, lay people share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly work of Christ. This means they have their own particular role to play within the Church community and in the mission of the Church, to make the reign of God present and effective in the world.

The role of lay people thus has an inward dimension centred on participation in Church communities and in Church life in parish, local, diocesan, national and international contexts. Thus, we find laity involved in various liturgical and non-liturgical roles in parishes. Laity manage administrative and temporal matters within various Church contexts. Lay men and women minister within Church organisations in education, in healing ministries, in justice and peace and in other areas. The outward dimension of the role of lay men and women relates to their engagement in secular matters, in the temporal affairs of society. It is in this secular area that the special vocation of the laity resides. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“By reason of their special vocation, it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will…. It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated, that these may be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the creator and Redeemer.” (#898)

It can be said that lay men and women are in the “front line” of Church life. Lay people need to be conscious that for many, they are the Church, manifested in a particular context. Such contexts are within family life, in schools and educational institutions, in the world of business and commerce, in the trades, in social and recreational groups, in political life and in the diversity of contexts in which life in all its richness and diversity is lived.

Lay men and women participate in Christ’s priestly office when prayer and worship are at the heart of their lives and when the Eucharist is the source and summit of their spirituality and their engagement with the world. Just as the prophets of Israel and Jesus the prophet challenged injustice and oppression in individuals and in the structures of society, so laity participate in Christ’s prophetic office when they speak out against injustice, act to have human dignity respected and work for authentic freedom and mutual respect within family, workplace and in wider society. Laity participate in Christ’s kingly role when they see whatever power and influence they have as an opportunity for Christian service and strive for social structures and processes that respect human dignity and promote authentic freedom.