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<\/a>We\u2019re becoming awfully bookish here at YIM Catholic: CS Lewis<\/a>, JD Salinger<\/a>, DF Wallace<\/a>. Let\u2019s come back to reality, people! What\u2019s your calling, and mine? More particularly, what are we called to do as Catholic laypeople? This question was raised this week by EPG, an Anglican brother who has been hanging around with us Catholics at YIMC and bringing lots of good questions and answers with him.<\/a>
Here EPG\u2019s question, in particular, and my preliminary response:<\/p>\n
\u201c . . . the priest must administer the sacraments\u2014no one else can fill that role. So, what I\u2019d like to know is, Are there functions in which laity step in to \u2018fill the gaps?\u2019<\/i><\/b> I think of the men\u2019s group that Webster has described so eloquently\u2014not clergy driven . . . \u201d<\/p>\n
Let me broaden EPG\u2019s kernel of a very good question: What are our particular roles and obligations as Catholic laity?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I gather that in the two decades after Vatican II, Katie did not bar the door, and the lunatics took over the asylum\u2014Catholic lay people thinking (some of them) that they were taking over the Church. My revered and beloved pastor, Father Barnes, pointed out in a homily that, no, we do not have an open invitation to take over for the priesthood, but that yes, we do have an obligation: to evangelize<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n
Is that correct? If so, what does it mean to you? Or do you see a broader role for the laity, male and\/or female? How do you fulfill your role\u2014completely, usefully, happily\u2014as a Catholic lay person?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
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