Laity takes role seriously

What should be the role of the laity in the Catholic Church in 2007? Catholic Review columnist George Weigel recently discussed “Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church” at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, March 14, and gave an excellent presentation. However when answering the question, “what will be the role of the laity under the new pope,” he answered quickly “to evangelize, but not in managing.” How can this be? Laity at the local parish level helps the pastor manage church activities every day. Could he mean that the laity should not be involved at a higher level, such as providing oversight in areas where problems have developed? I hope not. Blind allegience needs to give way to adequate and transparent oversight for the Catholic Church to move ahead in this troubled world. Vatican II opened the door for this laity participation. We, the laity, accept this and take it very seriously and hope that we will be able to “together” help the Catholic Church carry out its mission of combating systemic injustice through applying the principles of Catholic social justice.