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Views from the Choir Loft

The Authentic Role of the Laity

Fr. David Friel · January 19, 2014

HIS PAST OCTOBER marked 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Since that time, lay people have become involved in many facets of the life of the Church. They work as sacristans & decorators, they sit on pastoral councils & finance councils, they serve as lectors & cantors & extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. But if we look at those things as though they were the authentic role of the laity, we are very mistaken.

It’s not that all those developments are bad things—although some of them are questionable—but a collective look at them can easily lead to a misunderstanding of what the Council taught about the role of the laity. Just by looking at those things, it might appear that the Council called for a “clericalization” of the laity—turning lay men and women into mini bishops, priests, or deacons. But that would be entirely missing the point. (All this relates to another recent post, in which I consider the authentic notion of ministry.)

The first time I actually read the documents of Vatican II was when I was in the seminary. I discovered that what the Council actually said is rather different from what I had often been told growing up. What the Council actually envisioned is often rather different from what was implemented.

So what is the authentic role of the laity? Let’s let the Council speak for itself:

The laity “exercise the apostolate . . . by their activity directed to the evangelization and sanctification of men and to the penetrating and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel. . . . They are called by God to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardor of the spirit of Christ” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2).

What the Church expects of the laity is significant, not something shallow. There is no mention in Apostolicam Actuositatem of running bake sales or pulling bingo numbers.

Too often, perhaps, we have thought of the layperson in terms of what he or she is not. The laity, for example, are not bishops or priests or deacons or ministers. But the focus of this decree from Vatican II is on who the layperson really is. The layman, as a baptized person, is expected to evangelize & sanctify the world; he is expected to penetrate & perfect the temporal order with the Gospel message. That is the role of the laity.

OWHERE DO WE SEE a finer example of this put into practice than in the example of St. John the Baptist, one of the greatest laymen who ever lived. What did he do? He went out in the streets and proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” He gathered people together and pointed out Christ to them. Notice that he didn’t wait to be prompted by a priest or bishop. Nor did he clericalize himself, pretending to be a priest or bishop. This is especially clear from the fact that he used a “baptism of repentance” that was a precursor to the sacramental Baptism of Jesus. John was not a minister at all, but he didn’t see that as some sort of limitation on his power to spread the Gospel. He was a committed layman who simply went about evangelizing and drawing people towards the Lord.

John the Baptist should be the patron saint of the laity. He knew who he was, and he knew who he was not. He did his job, and he did it with great love. Through his life and work, he brought many followers to Christ. Why did he do it? The Baptizer explains for himself: “The reason why I came baptizing with water was that He might be made known to Israel” (John 1:31). This is our task, too: that Jesus “might be made known” to all the world.

Those involved in the work of sacred music have a special avenue for making the Lord known. Liturgical musicians, though, should realize that they are not exempt from the layman’s vocation in the rest of their lives. In every age, the Church needs lay people—not lay people pretending to be priests, but lay people living out their own unique vocation to evangelize & sanctify the world in & through their daily affairs.

My role as a priest does not make me any more of an evangelizer than a layperson. What is different about my role as a priest is that, in addition to evangelizing & sanctifying the world, I am also charged with nourishing & supporting the laity as they go about the same work, the same apostolate.

Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, how are we doing? Have we really understood and put into practice the specific vocation of the laity? In many places, it seems like the lofty vocation envisioned by the Fathers of the Council has been watered down to encouraging folks to participate in this or that parish committee.

What the Church expects is so much more beautiful! Catholics in commerce & industry should be leading the way in establishing fair business practices. Catholic leaders in government & in the courts & in the military should be leading us closer to a just and lasting peace. Catholic students should be learning their faith and telling their friends about the joy of following God’s will. Ordinary lay people should be speaking freely about their faith and encouraging their families and neighbors to return to the Church.

None of that is just your priest’s job or your bishop’s job or the pope’s job. That is all the awesome work entrusted to every baptized person.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Reform of the Reform Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

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It is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day.

— Pope Francis (13 January 2014)

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