Lay ecclesial ministry is the term adopted by the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

to identify the relatively new category of pastoral ministers in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who serve the Church but are not

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

Lay ecclesial ministers Lay ecclesial ministry is the term adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to identify the relatively new category of pastoral ministers in the Catholic Church who serve the Church but are not ordained. Lay ecclesial ministe ...

are coworkers with the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

alongside priests and

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

s. In other contexts, these may be known as "lay pastoral workers", "pastoral assistants", etc.

Overview

Prior to and since the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, several ministries that had for a time been retained by the presbyterate (priests) were returned to the laity, and several new forms of ministry emerged. The burgeoning awareness of the vocation of the laity as apostles to the

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

world and stewards of the Church's mission as an evangelizer has given rise to the popular term "lay ministry" to refer to the active vocation of all the baptized. This general ministry of the laity has at times also been called the "lay apostolate" and the "lay vocation".For example, by Pope John Paul II in the apostolic exhortatio
''Christifideles Laici''
/ref> Included in this general lay ministry are several specific ministries designed to support the Church community, such as lector/reader, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, catechist, sponsor/godparent, spouse, parent, etc. In addition to this general lay ministry, there are a number of non-ordained people who have undertaken roles, that immediately prior to Vatican II belonged entirely to the ordained, including

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

pastoral and catechetical staff, hospital and

prison chaplains A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

, campus ministers, and many other diocesan leadership roles. Today, even the Roman Curia includes a small number of lay ecclesial ministers. Lay ecclesial ministry includes a broad category rather than a specific job title. It has been adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to "establish a framework to indicate what is common to many roles and responsibilities undertaken by lay persons, for example, Pastoral Coordinator or Moderator of a Parish, Pastoral Associate, Director of Religious Education, Youth Minister, Campus Minister, Hospital Chaplain." According to the USCCB, this ''ecclesial'' ministry includes: * ''Authorization'' of the hierarchy to serve publicly in the local Church * ''Leadership'' in a particular area of ministry * Close ''mutual collaboration'' with the pastoral ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons * Preparation and ''formation'' appropriate to the level of responsibilities that are assigned to them including; human, spiritual, pastoral, and theological dimensions While many bishops are quick to note that this does not represent a new level of the hierarchy, the Church has observed a clear differentiation between Lay Ecclesial Ministry and the general ministry of the laity. Clearly members of the laity, lay ecclesial ministers serve the Church. An ecclesial ministry is one that is directed ''ad intra'' rather than ''ad extra''. The ecclesial vocations serve the Church, while lay vocations are vocations by which the Church serves the world. Programs for the theological education and pastoral formation of laypersons, for the purpose in engaging in full-time and often lifelong ministry in the Church, have grown exponentially in the last four decades. By 2002 there were 34,000 lay ministers who had graduated from United States Lay Ecclesial Ministry Programs. As of 2008, there are more than ten times as many students preparing in university and diocesan divinity programs for a vocation as a Lay Ecclesial Minister, as there are seminarians preparing for the presbyterate. Since 1986, there has even been a Roman college for future lay ecclesial ministers and theologians studying at Pontifical Universities, the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas. In many dioceses, lay ecclesial ministers already account for the majority of the ecclesial and pastoral ministers alongside deacons and presbyters. According to a study by the National Pastoral Life Center, since at least 2007 the number of Lay Ecclesial Ministers employed in full- or part-time parish ministry (29,000) has exceeded the number of presbyters employed in full- or part-time parish ministry (27,000), and the number of Lay Ecclesial Ministers continues to grow while the number of priests in parish ministry continues to contract. The number of Lay Ecclesial Ministers in parish grew in 2009 to 37,929.p 38. "The Changing Face of U.S. Catholic Parishes" CARA and the Emerging Model Project July 2011 Many more Lay Ecclesial Ministers serve in other Catholic institutions, schools, hospitals, dioceses, etc. The reality of lay ecclesial ministry is experienced in a number of regions. In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the terms "pastoral worker" or "pastoral assistant" are preferred for those engaged in lay ecclesial ministry. In parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, and islands of the South Pacific, lay ecclesial ministers who are religious educators are called "catechists". In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the term catechist more generally refers to volunteer lay Sunday school teachers, but in a broader meaning also includes Catholic school teachers, as well as clergy and lay ecclesial ministers responsible for overseeing faith formation.

References

External links

*USCCB Committee on Lait
Subcommittee on Lay Ministry

National Association of Lay Ministry

Co-Workers in the Vineyard: Online Portal for Lay Ecclesial Ministers
{{catholicism Catholic ecclesiastical titles Catholic laity

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links