“The Church needs us, but often doesn’t want to change or update or involve us in new ways.”
Through baptism, laity, clergy, and religious alike are called to holiness and to ministry with the same baptismal privileges and responsibilities for furthering the mission of the Church and transforming the world.
But Speak Up participants felt that this has been put into practice at a slow pace. They expressed frustration that the gifts of the laity sometimes lie dormant or are unacknowledged or even unappreciated. Others seemed to embrace a limited view of lay involvement, saying that “ministry” is better left to priests.
This, however, cannot be squared with the Church’s demand that the talent and expertise of the laity be recognized, called forth, and cultivated in service to the Gospel.