Faithful urged to take more active role in Church

MANILA, Philippines - Catholics are urged to take a more active role in the church in celebration of the Year of the Laity in 2014.

In his pastoral letter to the faithful in Dagupan City on New Year’s Day, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president,   said the laity, by virtue of their baptism, share in common the priesthood of life defining the identity, mission, dignity, vocation and spirituality of all Christians.

“First, we need to bring the laity out of the situation of passivity; at the same time, it is imperative that our priests be more open and willing to share church responsibilities with the laity,” he said. “We need to cultivate in our archdiocese a fresh sense of co-responsibility in the Church and to explore all possibilities for priests and laity to work together with mutual respect and fraternal charity.”

The archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan urged his flock to take heed of what Pope Francis said in “Evangelii Gaudium” regarding the role of the laity.

The pope in his pastoral exhortation noted that many lay persons have not been given proper formation that would facilitate their taking important responsibilities in the Church, and even if they are involved in church ministries, their commitment is just limited to doing church duties, and does not reflect “a greater penetration of Christian values in the social, political and economic sectors.” 

Villegas invited parish communities, chaplaincies and pastoral stations to look for three signs of a healthy Church life in their communities at the end of 2014.

The fruits should be “more catechists and more social action ministers than liturgical lay ministers; the rosary is prayed at home in more families with the parents and children praying together; and every year, there is at least one young man who will enter the seminary and answer the call to be a priest,” he said.

CBCPNews reported that Villegas noted a high interest among lay people to serve as ministers at the altar, but that there is little attraction to teach as catechists or work among the poor as social action ministers.

“There is a bit of glamor and prestige at being seen at the altar,” he said. – Evelyn Macairan, Eva Visperas