THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAITY
INTRODUCTION
The
church is a family of God’s children; made up of the Christ’s faithful. Christ
is the Head and we are the members of the one Body, living in deep communion
with one another. Within the Christian faithful are the consecrated persons.
However, the ministry of the church is entrusted to the whole Christian faithful;
this implies that there is a basic necessity for mutual correlation and
collaboration for the work of the church. The church is a communion and the
ministry is collaborative. The ministry of the Church is not carried out in
isolation. However, the Church is a mystery in which communion and mission are
profoundly interconnected.
The
faithful are different parts of Christ body which is the church. Each finds it
fulfillment by being part of the whole. However, the different states of life and vocation within the
church contribute to the strengthening of the communion and mission of the
church as a whole.[1]
Each vocation is given for the good of the church and her mission. However, in
this paper I am going to focus on the relationship between the consecrated
persons and the laity.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
For
a proper approach and understanding of the subject matter of this paper, I
would like to make a conceptual clarification or a definition of term to aid a
better understanding of the paper.
WHO ARE THE CONSECRATED PERSONS?
The
consecrated persons are Christian faithful who have willingly given their
selves in radical response to the mission of the church, through and within a
specific institute of consecrated life, professing, embracing and living out
the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Therefore a
consecrated person is a Christian faithful who has set himself apart through
the profession of the evangelical counsels, to follow Christ more closely under
the action of the Holy Spirit.
WHO ARE THE
LAITY?
The
Laity are members of the Church (the community of the baptized) who belong neither
to the Clergy nor Consecrated Persons. However, this is a negative definition of the laity in the past because it
only said who the laity are not and said nothing about who they are. However
all thanks to the Christifideles Laici,
the Post-Synodal Exhortation of John
Paul II on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in
the World, which provided a positive definition of
the laity. The laity by virtue of their baptism are Sons and daughters of the
Father in Jesus Christ, members of the body of Christ, the Church, holy and
living temples of the Holy Spirit, sharers
in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Jesus Christ, and persons
called to a holiness which they achieve through their involvement and
participation in secular realities. The lay people share in the mission of the Church
because of their baptism. The priests and religious do not own the mission of
the Church.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE
CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAITY
The teaching of the
church as a communion had brought about a growth in the awareness that the
members can and must unite their efforts in cooperation and exchange of gifts,
for an effective participation in the mission of the church. This renders an
effective response to the great challenge of our time. The laity are therefore
invited to share more intensely in the spirituality and mission of the
consecrated persons.[2]
There are different
types of consecrated lives: the active and contemplative. Thus there are
different kinds of consecrated persons. This would imply that the mode of
relationship between contemplative consecrated persons and the lay persons
would be different from the kind of relationship possible between and active
consecrated persons or consecrated persons of apostolic life and the lay
persons. Thus the relationship with the contemplative consecrated person would
be more on the spiritual realm, while the relationship with the active
consecrated person would be more on the apostolic and pastoral realm. However,
irrespective of whatever state, the charism of the consecrated persons can and
should be shared with the lay persons.
Collaboration and
compatibility between the consecrated persons and the laity are essential for
effective evangelization. However to foster an effective collaborative
relationship between the consecrated persons and the laity, the consecrated
persons need to step away from their hierarchical beliefs and see the lay
people as an equal and a collaborative partner in the mission of the church. A
shared sense of mission should be established. This relationship is very
important because the consecrated person and the lay person have a distinct
contribution to the mission of the church which essentially would be realized
through collaboration between the two persons.
The laity are not left out in the church, they
constitute a central and important part of the church too. In his apostolic
exhortation Christifideles Laici,
John Paul II states clearly the model of the church and the relationship
between the consecrated persons and the laity. Thus In Church
Communion the states of life by being ordered one to the other are thus bound
together among themselves. They all share in a deeply basic meaning: that of
being the manner of living out the
commonly shared Christian dignity and the universal call to holiness in the
perfection of love. They are different
yet complementary, in the sense that each of them has a basic and
unmistakable character which sets each apart, while at the same time each of
them is seen in relation to the other and placed at each other's service[3]
There is a
necessity for a relationship; mutual collaboration between the consecrated
persons and the laity. This is basically to bring more effectiveness to the
mission of the church and to avoid passivity of the laity in ecclesiastical
life. The Vatican II council in its definition of the
church as the people of God justifies the oneness of the church and brought to
light the dignity common to all the members of the Christian faithful and the
vocation of all to perfection and holiness of life. Both the consecrated person
and the lay persons need each other because we all form a single body within
the church and are to be at the service of each other.
In the course of history, alongside different forms of consecrated life
there have always been groups of lay people, men and women who manifested
special interest to share in foundational charisms of the consecrated person
and they have also contributed and supported the consecrated state of life.
This relationship has grown and evolved following the inspirations and
ordinances of the second Vatican council. However historical changes and
evolvements have also affected the activities of the consecrated person; the
consecrated persons need the help and cooperation of lay people in their
mission. This quest for a mutual relationship merits consideration.
The oneness of the church is perfectly exemplified by the love and unity
which binds the Trinitarian God and this same unity is what is expected of the
people of God irrespective of what state of life one lives. The Trinitarian
Model of communion necessitates the relationship between all the faithful, and
thus also the relationship between the consecrated persons and the laity.
BASIS FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONSECRATED
PERSONS AND THE LAITY
There are some foundational reasons that characterize and prepared the
bedrock for the relationship between the consecrated persons and the laity.
This basis can be characterized under the followings:
v
Communal
relationship of the consecrated persons and the laity as a fundamental
perspective: The laity are considered to be
co-responsible for the charismatic inspiration of the Christian mission. Here
the knowledge and commitment to the charism of the consecrated persons are
demanded of the laity. However, when a lay person takes up a vocation of
service in collaboration with the consecrated persons, he or she make a
conscious decision to belong to that particular charismatic family; sharing the
same charism and therefore are co-responsible for the success of the mission. Beyond
the dimensions of the Christian mission, individual charism of the lay person
matters.
v
Free choice of lay people for ecclesiological reasons:
here the faithful takes up a strong commitment to the
ongoing development of apostolates, giving a Christian witness with a
vocational sense, and striking a balance between their lives and their values.
However, here the lay persons need to be better acquainted with the charismatic
inspiration on which the specific apostolate was founded. Sometimes, a
formation in spirituality and charism maybe organized.
v
Involvement and relationship as a result of changing
circumstances: here the faithful are invited to contribute
and cooperate to the apostolic works decided on by the different institutes to
attain specific objectives. However, the lay person here need to acquire the
professional competence required, and are to equally live lives that conform to
the principles of Christian faith.
BASIC REASONS FOR RELIGIOUS AND LAY RELATIONSHIP
v For a
renewed spiritual and apostolic dynamism
v For the
purpose of fostering unity of the different persons in the church
CONCLUSION: John Paul II expressed this well in his
apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata
(1996): Today, often as a result of new
situations, many Institutes have come to the conclusion that their charism can be shared with the laity.
The laity are therefore invited to share more intensely in the spirituality and
mission of these Institutes. We may say that, in the light of certain
historical experiences such as those of the Secular or Third Orders, a new
chapter, rich in hope, has begun in the history of relations between
consecrated persons and the laity.[4]
The participation of the laity often brings unexpected and rich insights into
certain aspects of the charism, leading to a more spiritual interpretation of
it and helping to draw from it directions for new activities in the apostolate.[5]
At times in the recent past, collaboration came about
as a means of supplementing the decline of consecrated persons necessary to
carry out activities, now it is growing out of the need to share responsibility
not only in the carrying out of the Institute's works but especially in the
hope of sharing specific aspects and moments of the spirituality and mission of
the Institute. This calls for an adequate formation of both consecrated persons
and laity to ensure a collaboration which is mutually enriching. When the
understanding of the charism deepens, new possibilities of living it are
discovered.
No comments:
Post a Comment