U.S. Lay Leaders Meet in Rome

"Collaborators in the Lord's Vineyard: Called to Communion, Called to Mission" called for dynamic Catholic lay involvement in the mission of the Church.

ROME (Zenit) - There are great needs in the Church and in society, which laypersons in collaboration with their pastors, can satisfy, said the director of a center in Rome.

Donna Orsuto, director of the Lay Center, affirmed this when she spoke to us about a conference that the center collaborated in organizing.

"Collaborators in the Lord's Vineyard: Called to Communion, Called to Mission," was held in Rome last week, and brought together lay faithful of several dioceses of the United States to address the specific tasks of the laity in the Church.

The U.S. bishops' Secretariat for the Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth collaborated in sponsoring the conference, which focused on a document from that episcopal conference also called "Collaborators in the Lord's Vineyard."

Following a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal John Patrick Foley, the participants heard in the first session how "communion and mission" are the foundations to understand and carry out their lay ecclesial ministry.

Rick McCord, executive director of the secretariat, later told ZENIT about "lay ecclesial ministries," or the participation of lay men and women in the life of the Church.

Ecclesial ministries, which in the United States alone involves 30,000 people, have four characteristics, McCord explained: the individual has a leadership role, for example, catechetical or pastoral work; he or she is authorized by the pastor to exercise the role; the lay minister works in "collaboration with priests, deacons and bishops"; and has the "formation and education to carry out his or her role."

He pointed out that these roles work "in harmony" with the ordained. "There isn't necessarily any opposition between the laity and the ordained to work together; in fact, they must work together, each in his specific place."

For her part, Orsuto pointed out to ZENIT that "everyone is called and sent."

Hence, "it is important to help people recognize where their gifts lie and how they can use them to build the local Church," she said, adding that "there is great need in the Church and in society that the laity, in collaboration with their pastors," can satisfy.

Cardinal Foley, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, addressed the conference. He recalled his parents, who taught him "what the domestic Church is."

He said that the laity "are called to sanctify the world with their work" and to "bring to the latter ethical and moral values, and Christian ideals," in addition to living a "life of prayer" with "closeness to Christ through the sacraments and the reading of Scripture."