Wise Words on Wednesday: The Laity’s Mission

Today, many Catholics (including some bishops) seem to think that Vatican II was about the role of the laity in the Church – Eucharistic ministers, lectors, and so forth. But it was really about the role of the laity in the world. The true Catholic life is one of personal conversion and evangelization; it does not involve hanging around the sacristy.

Recently, Francis Cardinal George of Chicago said that the biggest failure of the post-Vatican II Church was her failure to get out the council’s message about the laity – who, after all, comprise 99% of the Church.

– George Sim Johnston