The Catholic Lay Congress of 1889

On this day in 1889 began the first lay congress in the history of the Catholic Church. The inspiration for the congress came from Henry Brownson, the son of Catholic intellectual Orestes A. Brownson, who had been impressed with the lay congresses held in Belgium and Germany. On the day before the opening of the congress, Archbishop John Ireland of Minnesota announced that laypeople “have a special vocation.” Among the topics discussed at the congress was that of “lay action in the Church.” The congress concluded on November 12, and Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore declared it a “triumph for the Catholic Church.” A second congress was held in Chicago in September 1893. These congresses foreshadowed Vatican II’s documents on the vocation of the laity.