Can a document with a Latin name more than forty years old help guide the Church in the 21st century?
Bishop Galante thinks so. So much so that he has traveled to every part of the diocese to share it with the people who have gathered for parish “Speak Up” sessions since they began last Spring.
Now, its themes find expression in the “Vision for the Future of Our Church,” which will be proclaimed in all 125 parishes of the diocese during the weekend of January 7-8. The “Vision” will set the framework for the diocese’s long-term pastoral plan, which will be developed in conjunction with the “Speak Up” sessions. The document is Lumen Gentium (which refers to Christ, the “Light of Nations”), or the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.” It was promulgated on November 21, 1964. Yet, even today, many Catholics have never heard of the document. Even fewer know what it says about the Church, the laity, the clergy, religious and how each is called to carry out the mission of the Church.
When he announced the “Speak Up” sessions last year, Bishop Galante said of Lumen Gentium, “It is more than simply a document. It is a beautifully-inspired vision of a Church that is forever young, constantly renewed, and ready to face the challenges of every age—chief among them, for all of us to know Jesus more intimately, to love Jesus more ardently and to live Jesus more totally.”
Lumen Gentium gives special emphasis to the importance of baptism and what it confers.
“Through baptism, we become Church, we are given rights and responsibilities to carry on the mission of the Church. All the baptized, regardless of one’s vocation in life, share a common mission, share a common dignity and a radical equality,” said Bishop.
The document says that lay people are called to give witness to the faith, to advance the mission of the Church, to sanctify, evangelize and transform the world, to lead people to Jesus, even in—and most especially in—the ordinary circumstances of life .Bishop Galante has said that he hopes that all the people of the diocese will have a strengthened sense of personal responsibility, a renewed enthusiasm and a willingness to together fulfill the mission of the Church in the world.
Likewise, the “Vision for the Future of our Church” puts special focus on the role of baptism in empowering laity, clergy and religious alike to take on the mission of the Church in today’s time and place. The hope is that the brevity of the 135 word “Vision” statement will capture in a memorable and accessible way many of the themes of the 69-paragraph Council document.
“The theology of the vision is not new, since it is deeply rooted in the Gospel and Catholic teaching, particularly Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium. The articulation of the vision, however, is new, fresh and hopeful,”
said Bishop Joseph Galante, who gathered together a diverse group of laity, clergy and religious early last summer to develop the vision statement. The “Vision” statement begins by defining what the Church is, the importance of the sacramental life, including baptism and Eucharist, and identifies seven concrete ways that all Catholics can live out their baptismal call.
Bishop Galante will proclaim the Vision at the 11:00 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral in Camden (2907 Federal Street) on Sunday, January 8, where he will be the principal celebrant and homilist.
Meanwhile, each of the diocese’s 125 parishes will also proclaim the Vision at Masses January 7-8. Each parish is being provided with a proclamation scroll of the Vision, a large framed copy of the Vision for display in parish buildings, as well as letter-sized and card-size copies. Schools, diocesan offices and other institutions in the diocese will also receive copies of the vision.