This historical survey begins with the initial inspiration of Blessed James Alberione for the Pauline Mission and Spirituality. It covers events in the world and church that inspired him as the vocation and the mission of the laity came into focus in the Pauline Family and the Church.
3. Influences – Spiritual Direction
Venerable Canon Chiesa
(1874-1946) Godfather of
the Pauline Family, Father
Francesco Chiesa was the
spiritual director of
Alberione and advised him
to “never work alone.”
4.
5. Alberione believed the Church was called
to use technology to respond to the needs of these times.
6. Influences – Church Documents
Rerum novarum (1891) inspired Alberione to
open his foundations to the laity in a unique
way within the Pauline Family. It remains an
essential document, beginning a
Spirit initiated chain-reactionSpirit initiated chain-reaction
renewing the Church’s self-
awareness as communion.
7. Influences – Church Documents
Leo XIII (1878-1903)
Rerum Novarum set
the stage for our
modern
understanding of
evangelization’s
social dimension and
lay participation.
8. Alberione’s dream…
“That new apostles would restore true meaning
to law, school, literature, the press, public
morality; that the Church would have a new
missionary impulse; that the new means of
apostolate would be better used; that society
would absorb the great teachings of Leo
XIII’s encyclicals, especially those dealing
with social questions and the liberty of the
Church.”
Abundantes Divitiae Gratiae Suae,17-19.
9. Influences – Economist
(1985-1918) Developed theories of Catholic
social teaching which formed a middle path
between the laissez-faire economics taught by
followers of Adam Smith and state-centered
socialism taught by followers of Karl Marx.
Blessed
10. Influences – Economist
“He had fully grasped Toniolo’s calm but profound and
fascinating speech. He had read Leo XIII’s invitation
to pray for the coming century. Both spoke of the
Church’s needs, of the new means of evil, of the duty
to combat the press with the press, organization with
organization, of the need to get the gospel across to
the people, of social issues…. Particular
enlightenment came from the Host.”
Abundantes
11. Influences - Novels
Antoni Fogazzaro(1842 – 1911) was a
lawyer from Turin turned novelist.
His novel Il Santo was banned by
the Holy See.In his works we find a
constant conflict between sense of
duty and passions, faith and reason.
He found new interpretations in
positivist and evolutionist theories.
Later the Society of St. Paul printed this
title which was ahead of its time.
12. Piux X (1835-1914) & Pius XI (1857-1939)
encouraged Catholic Action which inspired
Alberione continue his foundations of “co-
workers for the good press” along side of the
priests and religious.
13. Foundations - The House
“There is a kinship bond among them, because
all of them were born from the Tabernacle.”
Abundantes
The Charismatic image of the building of God
was from Paul, “You are being build together
into God’s dwelling place in the Spirit.” Eph.
2:19-20
14. Foundations - The House
In 1 Corinthians 3:9 the word “cooperator” is
used by St. Paul in connection with
“building” – “We are God’s co-workers. You
are God’s field, God’s building.”
Everyone is included in the mission and called to
transform the world in Christ.
15. Influences - Pastoral
written by the young priest
James Alberione during
the years 1912-1915
He saw the good press and
other new methods as
means to introduce the
Word of God and voice of
the Church in enviroments
not stricly ecclesial.
16. Influences - Pastoral
“Apostles among their
companions they will
know how to suggest
practical things, which
often the priest with all
his knowledge is not
capable of seeing; since
they know the needs
better than we do.”
17. Influences Saints of Turin
In 1876 Bosco founded a movement of laity,
the Association of Salesian Cooperators,
with the same educational mission to the poor.
In 1875 he began to publish the Salesian Bulletin.
18. Influences Saints of Turin
He helped begin the magazine “The
Voice of the Worker” (1876), and
was the initiator and main leader
of the “Association for the good
books and journals” (1883), that
promoted many small popular
libraries that circulated
educational and religious
publications.
St. Leonardo Murialdo
19. Influences Saints of Turin
St. Joseph Cottelengo founded
monasteries, convents,
communities of priests, and
brothers, and organized groups of
lay volunteers. His legacy of
charity stands today at the heart of
Turin city as a sign of what it
means to love and serve others in
an evangelical way.
20. Influences Saints of Turin
One of the ‘Social Saints’ of Turin
included with Giuseppe
Cottolengo, John Bosco, Maria
Domenica Mazzarello, and
Leonardo Murialdo, who
ministered to the dispossessed,
marginalized and often criminal
elements of a city in the throes
of industrialization.
21. Influences - 3rd
Orders
Lay Dominicans are
men and women,
singles and couples
living a Christian
life with a
Dominican
spirituality in the
secular world.
22. Influences -Pastoral Experience
The parish of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
St. Martin’s in Narzole.
June 1907 he was
ordained a priest. His
time as assistant
pastor in Narzole
(Cuneo) was brief
but decisive from the
perspective of
pastoral experience.
He later served in
two other parishes.
23. Foundations - Organization
His initial idea was for a
Catholic organization
of writers,
technicians,
publishers, and
bookstores to whom
he would give
direction. This
original idea never
left his thoughts.
24. Foundations - Organization
Bishop Joseph Francis Re (1889-
1933) confirmed and ordained
James Alberione. He wrote the
official letter requesting Papal
Recognition of the Society of St.
Paul and the Daughters of St. Paul.
He signed the Decree recognizing
the Association of Pauline
Cooperators as a third order house
of the Pauline Family.
25. Foundations - The House
“The Pious Society of St. Paul is
composed of two branches: one
masculine and one feminine, both
having a common life and the vows;
and a third branch made up of
Cooperators of the good press.”
1921 transmission to the Holy See
by Bishop Giuseppe Re of Alba
26.
27. Foundations – The House
Prophetically before
Vatican II (1954) Alberione
asked consecrated Paulines
to include the laity in their
projects, assist them in
organization, share their
joys and sufferings, and
continue formation with the
Cooperator magazine.
28. Foundations – The House
“The Cooperators are persons who understand
the Pauline Family and are united in spirit and
purpose with it…. For its part, the Pauline
Family desires to promote their Christian
education, to guide them to live an exemplary
life, and to make them sharers in the goods of
the Congregation and in the merits of the
apostolate.” Alberione, 1954
29. Influences – The House
“All together we have a union of persons who
aim to help one another to promote the Glory of
Go and good will among people.”
30. Foundations
“There is the Union of Pauline Cooperators. These are
ordinary Christians who wish to live better lives than
many Christians. they will be in harmony with the
Pauline apostolic life by their prayers, offerings, and
works carried out in the Pauline spirit.”
Alberione,1960
31. Influences – Church Documents
Pope John XXIII (1881-
1963) For the first time
instruction for the laity
is found in an
encyclical, Mater et
Magistra, in 1961. It
emphasised the
responsibility of the
laity to discern and act.
32. Influences – Vatican II
With Vatican II came a
renewed emphasis
on baptism. The
council affirmed that
all people are called
to holiness and that
each member of the
Church has the
vocation to
evangelize.
33. Influences – Vatican II
The council’s Pastoral Constitution on the
Church, Gaudium et spes (1965) invited the
laity to participate actively in the entire life of
the church not only to animate the world with
the spirit of Christianity but also as witnesses
to Christ in all circumstances and at the very
heart of the human community.
34. The Church redesigns her own identity
Lumen gentium changed the Church’s vision from
a society of faithful Christians to a people of
God. Through their baptism and confirmation
all are commissioned to that apostolate by the
Lord Himself.
35. Influences – Vatican II
The renewed ecclesiology of Vatican II (1962-
1965) was the result of decades of grappling
with the emerging theology of the laity.
36. Influences – Vatican II
“Lay people, too, sharing in
the priestly, prophetical
and kingly office of
Christ, play their part in
the mission of the whole.”
Vatican II Decree on
Apostolate of the Laity, 1965
37. Yves Congar, O.P.(1904-
1995) affirmed that the
two-fold decisive elements
are not priesthood and laity
but ministry and
community.
Alberione compared the
Pauline Family to a great
parish with diversity in
unity.
Influences – Vatican II
38. Influences – Church Documents
Pope Paul VI(1897-1978)
“The task of evangelization
is the duty of every
believer, and it is proper to
the laity and not just for
the ordained. In fact ‘the
Church exists in order to
evangelize.”
On Evangelization, 1975
39.
40. New Signs of the Time
The way Alberione
lived the charism
was to seek
wisdom in the era
and the place in
which he lived.
41. New Signs of the Time
Paulines today reclaim this passage for the 21st century:
“The 20th century is ours and it is in this century
that we are to live and act. We must be in this
century, that is, seek to understand its needs and
provide for them. This is easy because God has
given us the temperament and customs relating to
our times and not the times of the past….Today
organization is the thing, so let us organize the
good....”
Alberione, Women Association with Priestly Zeal
42. New Signs of the Time
Medellin (1968) Church of the Poor; New
Evangelization
Justice in the World (1971) Reading signs of
the times; Ecology; social mission as a
dimension of evangelization
On Evangelization (1975) Church exists to
evangelize; Addresses the role of every
Christian in evangelization
43. New Signs of the Time
Puebla (1979) need a well-founded
ecclesiology
Redeemer of man (1979) emphasized the
dignity of the human person, human rights
and personal freedom
Mission of the Redeemer (1990) “The
commitment of the laity to the work of
evangelization is changing ecclesial life” (RM 2).
44. New Signs of the Time
“The commitment of the
laity to the work of
evangelization is
changing ecclesial life.”
1979 John Paul II
Redemptoris missio, on the
ecclesiology of communion
promoted by Vatican II.
45. New Signs of the Time
“In this vision of Church-
communion each of
the members lives in
relation with the
others, without losing
their uniqueness which
enriches the whole.”
John Paul II
Christefidelis Laici, 1988
46. New Signs of the Time
“The fundamental objective
of the formation of the
lay faithful is an ever-
clearer discovery of ones
vocation and the ever-
greater willingness to live
it so as to fulfill one’s
mission.”
John Paul II
Christifideles laici,1988
47. New Signs of the Time
“The laity should be conscious
of their own standing in the
Church: not as mere
recipients of doctrine and the
grace of the sacraments, but
as active and responsible
agents of the Church’s
mission to evangelize and
sanctify the world.” 1993
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ON THEIR "AD LIMINA" VISIT
48. New Signs of the Time
“Share the riches of your charisms with all those
involved in the one mission of the Church
which is to build up the Kingdom.”
Benedict XVI, 2001
49. New Signs of the Time
“Laypeople share in the responsibility of the
Church’s ministry. There should be a renewed
awareness of our being Church and of the
pastoral co-responsibility that, in the name of
Christ, all of us are called to carry out.”
Pope Benedict XVI, 2009
50. Our journey: laity in mission
“In this vision of communion, the starting point
is found in common sources, a common
mission, a common spirit, so as to then
emphasize diversity, the different ways of
participating in the single mission of the
Church; we start out from unity so as to then
differentiate the various forms of living it.”
Pauline Document Laity in Process of Redesign, 2011
51. Living the Pauline charism
Baptized into communion with God in Christ through the Spirit we
form a communion of believers sent in mission. Every Christian
remains unique and unrepeatable. The call to mission is fulfilled
by each person placing their gifts and talents at the service of the
Church and in turn receiving and making their own the richness
common to the whole Church.
52. Pope Francis, 2013
“It would be
insufficient to
envisage a plan of
evangelization to be
carried out by
professionals while
the rest of the
faithful would
simply be passive
recipients.”
St. Paul with co-workers Aquila and Prisilla.
53. Communion
This is the Church’s symphony, the rich variety of gifts
and charism freely given by the Holy Spirit as he
wills, all working together in harmony (Eph. 4:11).
“What does it take God to stir up Cooperators for the
Pauline Family? With one Fiat God created the
heavens. Alberione, 1924
http://www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk/principles/history/
However, these rich insights and sometimes sophisticated approaches did not become known as ‘Catholic Social Teaching’ until a series of papal Encyclical Letters on ethical issues was published, beginning in 1891. In that year, Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical Letter, Rerum Novarum – “Of New Things” addressing the new issues facing European society as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the social transformation this brought about.On the one hand, he expressed moral outrage at the disparity between “the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses” (paragraph 1), many of whom lived in conditions little better than slavery. On the other hand, Pope Leo upheld the right to private property and rejected Marxist belief in the inevitability of ‘class-struggle’. He upheld the dignity of human work and, despite his desire to avoid violent revolution, laid down the basic principle of the priority of Labour over Capital: in other words, people are more important than property and everyone has a right to the basic necessities of life and a just wage (paragraph 34).
Moreover, he identified the role of the state as the promotion of both ‘public well-being and private prosperity’ (paragraph 26). This aim became known in later Catholic teaching as promoting the Common Good. It is the principle that the rights of one group cannot be set aside for the convenience of the majority. It demands of the state a special concern for the protection of the rights of the poor (paragraph 29), a theme much developed by Liberation Theologians in the last 40 years. Moreover, Leo acknowledged the legitimate role of Trade Unions as defenders of the working class.
A concern for the dignity and value of the human person, and for the poor in particular, has proved to be an enduring feature of Catholic Social Teaching since the time of Pope Leo. But the real importance, historically, ofRerum Novarum – “Of New Things” was the new willingness of the Pope to engage with the rapid changes happening in contemporary society, drawing on the riches of Catholic Tradition to identify the moral issues involved. This is the core of all later Catholic Social Teaching.
Alberione recognized that the same media employed by the “many writers and propagandists of socialism and of modernism” [1] could be used to make Leo XIII’s ideas widespread. He prayed to know how to bring about a new way to proclaim the teaching of the Church and diffuse the Gospel:
That new apostles would restore true meaning to law, school, literature, the press, public morality; that the Church would have a new missionary impulse; that the new means of apostolate would be better used; that society would absorb the great teachings of Leo XIII’s encyclicals, especially those dealing with social questions and the liberty of the Church.
[1] Alberione, James. Abundantes Divitiae Gratiae Suae: Charismatic History of the Pauline Family. St.Pauls: Rome.1998. §49.
[2] Alberione, James. Women Associated with Priestly Zeal: For the Clergy and for Women. St. Pauls: Rome. 2000. §292.
[3] Abundantes Divitiae Gratiae Suae, §17-19.
Alberione’s vision continued to grow to encompass everyone together for the apostolate: women, men, lay people, the single, the married, religious, and clergy as the “building of Christ.”
Alberione’s evolution of thought on subsidiarity and the equal dignity of all men and women developed with this first social encyclical.
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.
Catholic Action movements arose in Western Europe during the 1920s and ’30s—typically in response to the plight of the industrial working class, as well as to the rise of atheistic Communism—and spread soon after to the United States.
For example: The Young Christian Workers in Belgium supported free trade unions;
Azione Cattolica was founded in 1867 by Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderni with the name of Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana (Italian Catholic Youth Society), then reformed during the Mussolini regime when the association was structured into 4 sectors and was called Azione Cattolica
The Christian Family Movement started in the United States in the early 1940s and involved Catholics who met in one another’s homes and fanned out to ministries ranging from marriage counseling to drug awareness programs.
There were lay movements before this: Beguins, encouragement in St Francis DeSalle’s writings, Cardinal Newman introduced consulting the laity in matters of significance in the life of the Church.
Still in this era Leo had declared that there are two distinct classes in the Church: pastors and their flocks, the leaders and the people. “The role of the first order,” he wrote, “is to teach, to govern and to lead men in life; to impose rules. The duty of the other is to submit itself to the first, to obey it, to carry out its orders and to honor it.”
[1] Alberione, James. Women Associated with Priestly Zeal: For the Clergy and for Women. St. Pauls: Rome. 2000. §292.
Graves de communion ON CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY
Il fermo proposito ON CATHOLIC ACTION
Even though Pius X said “the church is an unequal society – two categories – the pastors and the flock. With the pastoral body only is …. And the multitude is to be led.”
Catholic Action encouraged by Pius X and Pius XI, was an invitation for Alberione to begin “co-workers for the good press,” who worked alongside the priests and religious as they published and distributed newspapers, books and films.
Joseph V. Sommers. Review for Religious (1946) 15-16. Pius X's contributions are these: he restricted the term Catholic Action to the laity's share in the apostolic mission of the hierarchy; he set the universal aim for Catholic Action--to establish, defend, and fully extend the Kingdom of Christ in individuals, in families, and in the whole of society; he stressed its special necessity in our times: he gave it pre-eminence among the means recommended for the reconstruction of the social order according to a Christian pattern; he based the obligation of Catholic Action on membership in the Mystical Body, on the law of charity, and obedience to the pope; he outlined its subordination to the direction of the hierarchy; and he recalled to priests their obligation to guide and encourage this apostolic organization among the laity.
[1] My Co-Workers in the Gospel: Handbook for Pauline Cooperators, Pauline Editions, Boston, 1986, p. 50 ( Bishop of Alba 0
[2] Carter Alexander, W. A Canadian Bishop’s Memoirs. North Bay, ON: Tomiko Publications,
1994, 50−51.
In his last public audience, Pope Pius XI (d. 1939) was reported to have said,
In 1921 the Bishop of Alba presented a report on the Pious Society of St. Paul that read,
[1] James Alberione, Mi protendo in Avanti. Rome, 1954, p.344
He invited Cooperators to live the same two precepts of charity as the consecrated Paulines “All together we have a union of persons who aim and help one another to promote ‘the glory of God and good will among people’ in accordance with the example of St. Paul.”
Continued evolution of Alberione’s thought on the laity is evidenced in the following text, dated June 11, 1954, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of foundation.
[1] James Alberione, Mi protendo in Avanti. Rome, 1954, p. 341
In the 1950s Alberione’s intuition led him to believe that there was more in store for the laity—a genuine secular holiness, that there could be a mutual exchange of goods and a true friendship between the consecrated religious and the lay faithful. This awareness came from the knowledge that Cooperators desired to imitate the path to holiness found in Pauline religious life.
[1] James Alberione; Ut Perfectus Sit Homo Dei, 1960, n.381 “They are like a Third Order but they cannot be called that since we are not an Order (as are the Benedictines) but a religious Society. They must be started off to practice the virtues (not the vows) of poverty, chastity and obedience, in accordance with their state of life. Thus …”
The word “charism” was not in popular use until after Vatican II. In the 1950s and 1960s, understanding of the role of the laity in the Church was developing. The laity were still dependent on the hierarchy for their apostolate. Religious congregations directed the laity toward a holiness based on the consecrated life. Spiritual practices were articulated through devotion, prayer, and discipline.
Gaudium et spes exhorted “the people of God as a whole…especially pastors and theologians, to listen to the various voices of our day, discerning them and interpreting them, and to evaluate them in the light of the word, so that the revealed truth can be increasingly appropriated, better understood and more suitably expressed” (GS 44; 62). [1] Paul VI, Guadium et Spes, (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1965) 43.
Lumen Gentium n.33
Tenace says about “the beauty of Christianity not being manifested in the first place through works but through a mentality of communion.”[1] Christ broke down the dividing wall that kept us apart from God and each other, bringing about a people called into assembly (ekklesia) and marked by holiness (Eph. 2:3-16). It is through Baptism, we read in Lumen Fidei, that “the life of the believer becomes an ecclesial existence.”[2] [1] Starting Afresh from Baptism, 9.
[2] Lumen Fidei, §22.
Radcliffe states, “It is necessary to grasp why so much hangs on our understanding of this moment of Baptism, when all the faithful are anointed as priests, prophets and kings. The flourishing of all our Churches depends upon getting this right. If we do the energy of the whole Body of Christ will be unlocked.”[1] [1] Take the Plunge, 189.
Yves Congar set the dialogue for this identity when he wrote: “At bottom there can only be one sound and sufficient theology of the laity, and this is a ‘total ecclesiology’”[1] [1] Yves Congar, Lay People in the Church, (London: Geolffrey Chapnan, 1957) xvi.
The Second Vatican Council emphasized the reality that all the faithful share in the responsibility of teaching, guiding and sanctifying. These roles are not restricted to the clergy or religious
Vatican Council, suggested that the discussion on church and ministry can be either entered through the door of the hierarchical priesthood (and consider the bishop or priest’s exclusive call as a paradigm for all ministry) or the door of the community. If we enter the first door the layperson may be seen as a participant in a work properly belonging to the ordained. If we enter the door of community then we may describe the whole church as receiving the mission of Christ and affirm diverse ministries within this community. [1]
[1] CF. Edward P Hahnenberg, Ministries: A Relational Approach, (NY: Herder & Herder, 2003) 9.
The word evangelization, or words with similar meaning, was used over two hundred times in the Second Vatican Council documents. “Ever since the risen Lord sent out his disciples to make disciples of all nations, the Catholic Church has engaged in what we now call “missionary activity”….But the way we speak of this activity has changed over the centuries. In fact for about fifteen centuries the word ‘mission’ was not used to refer to this activity….the noun “evangelization” began to be used by Catholics only about fifty years ago.”
Even though in RN the word “Gospel” is only used eight times and “evangelization” was not at all in use in Church documents until the Second Vatican Council[1]
In their final message the bishops committed themselves to “foster a new evangelization.” The expression New Evangelization was used in Medellin 1968 influencing Pope John Paul’s adoption of the term which he employed at Puebla 1979.
Alberione brought together the Church’s social teachings and mission of Gospel proclamation. In his historical-charismatic survey of the beginnings of the Pauline Family, Father Sgarbossa describes Alberione’s grasp of this era: (see Social Dimension of Evangelization paper 2014).
Today Pope Francis is asking us to re-examine the culture of and structures of the Church so that they are really at the service of Gospel proclamation to “embark upon a new chapter of evangelization
Gorski, John F. M.M. “From ‘Mission’ to a ‘New Evangelization’ The Origins of a Challenging Concept”
N. 2 Redemptoris Missio
Vatican II ushered in the “age of the laity”
The most immediately significant changes effected by the Council
Church’s understanding of itself and its relation to the modern world. The Council moved away from language of the Church as the perfect society or the kingdom of God onearth and described itself instead as a “sacrament” to the world (Flannery, 350) and as a “pilgrim Church” that is looking forward to its full realization (Flannery, 407-412). The Church also assumed a great deal of world-responsibility, and far from emphasizing its separation from the secular world spoke of its solidarity with the whole of humanity recognized reflections of religious truth outside of the Catholic Church and opened up new opportunities for ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue
2. Reformulation of the liturgy.
3. Laity were encouraged to actively participate in the liturgy
4. Affirmation of human dignity and religious liberty. The Council declared that no one should be coerced into affirming any religious position but that persons should be free to act according to their own free conscience
Flannery
“In Church Communion the states of life by being ordered one to the other are thus bound together among themselves... They are different yet complementary, in the sense that each of them has a basic and unmistakable character which sets each apart, while at the same time each of them is seen in relation to the other and placed at each other's service” (ChL 55).
Enlightened by the ecclesiology of communion, laity have become aware that they are not meant to substitute anyone, but to exercise their own mission in the Church. But they were lacking what men and women religious have: formation. (laity in process of redesign 2011). , 58.
n.3
Friday, 2 July
Professor Clifford, director of the Centre for Vatican II and 21st-century Catholicism at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, shared that we may still have “a notion of ministry whose aim is to bring people back to the parish on Sunday morning.” She explains that this is not really the end of evangelization. “The end is to form the community of baptized disciples to go out and enable them and support them as they go out and live the Gospel every day of the week.”[1] Baptism, the gateway to the ecclesial community where we are empowered for witness and mission, is the key to understanding evangelization as our common, communal response to the gift of new life in Christ. In return, linked to the dawning of a new sacramental sense in the lives of Christians[2] evangelization enables the awakening of faith and the discovery of the Gospel.[3]
[1] Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Study ed. Chicago, Ill.: Liturgy Training Publications, 1988. 229.
[2] Lumen Fidei, §40.
[3] Cabié, Robert. The Sacraments. New ed. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1988, 85.
Address to the Plenary Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, May 7, 2001.
Professor Clifford, director of the Centre for Vatican II and 21st-century Catholicism at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, shared that we may still have “a notion of ministry whose aim is to bring people back to the parish on Sunday morning.” She explains that this is not really the end of evangelization. “The end is to form the community of baptized disciples to go out and enable them and support them as they go out and live the Gospel every day of the week.”[1] [1] Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Study ed. Chicago, Ill.: Liturgy Training Publications, 1988. 229.
To what extent is the pastoral co-responsibility of all, and particularly of the laity, recognized and encouraged? OPENING OF THE PASTORAL CONVENTION
OF THE DIOCESE OF ROME ON THE THEME:
"CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND PASTORAL CO-RESPONSIBILITY"
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Basilica of Saint John Lateran
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Seoul Korea Interchapter Daughers of St. Paul
[1] Richard Gaillardetz quotes John Zizioulas, from Being as Communion: “There is no such thing as a non-ordained person in the church” (35),
Susan K. Wood, ed., Ordering of the Baptized Priesthood, (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2003).
[2] James Alberione, Pauline Calendar 1957, (Rome: Society of St. Paul, 2009).
120 Evangelii Gaudium
In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and
The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Since every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.
Every Christian is dedicated to Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit and remains unique and unrepeatable. The call to mission is fulfilled by each person placing their gifts and talents (stewardship) at the service of the Church and in turn receiving and making their own the richness common to the whole Church.
That is why Pope Francis said in order to evangelize all a person needs is Baptism.[1] The absolute newness of Jesus Christ in history continues in the absolute newness of the baptized person in society. [1] Vatican News Service “Pope Francis: To Evangelize, Baptism is Enough.” http://www.news.va/en/news/ vatican-pope-francis-to-evangelize-baptism-is-enou (accessed January 24, 2014).
Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way.’ I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities.[1]
[1] Evangelii Gaudium, §33.
For Quote See Statutes http://www.paulus.net/doc/statuto/cp/StatutoCP_eng.pdf?phpMyAdmin=za1TqFZSWe%2CFWPJ823H7VCuMsi0
“God is afraid only of our self-love.” at the end of this quote is an example of the predominate spirituality before John XXIII and Vatican II. It is more Calvinist than Catholic - Jansinistic.