The document of the International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, offers the broadest and best articulated reflection on the implementation of synodality in the different contexts and levels of ecclesial life, but it mentions the theme of the laity in only a few passages.
These passages are nevertheless relevant for understanding the foundational assumptions and the hermeneutics of the conciliar documents, and they specify concretely the contribution required of the laity in a synodal Church.
The horizon of reference is obviously the ecclesiology of Vatican II, especially its notions regarding the “people of God”, the sensus fidei ecclesiae/fidelium, and the laity’s work of evangelising and bearing prophetic witness in the world in service to the kingdom of God.
Charismatic gifts
In discussing synodality, we are asked to take a stand for one of the two theological interpretations present in the vision of Vatican II, namely, the one that recognises the “co-essentiality of hierarchical and charismatic gifts” and places in the foreground the subjectivity of the word that is rooted in baptism and charisms. This interpretation distances us from the more traditional one, which insists on the secular nature of the laity and their apostolate in the world.
The laity are synodoi; that is, they are members co-constituting the collective Church, “the ecclesial We”, and their contribution is recognised as “indispensable” to the life of the Church. They are not to be seen as simply obedient executors of instructions given by clergy nor as mere collaborators in pastoral work for which they are not truly responsible.
Nor should they be considered passive recipients of doctrinal formation that only ordained ministers can offer; rather, they possess a vision of reality and a spiritual experience that must be recognised and welcomed so that the work of evangelisation and the life of the Church can be fulfilled.
Co-operation
In the synodal Church two dynamics are at work, understanding the faith together and deciding together; both require co-operation and unity of purpose. On both planes the laity are to be understood as active members with their own subjectivity of speech, with their own specific contribution to community discernment, and with autonomy around pastoral action.
Only in this way does it become possible to implement what is stipulated in Ad Gentes: The Church has not been really founded, and is not yet fully alive, nor is it a perfect sign of Christ among men and women unless there is a laity worthy of the name working along with the hierarchy. For the Gospel cannot be deeply grounded in the abilities, life, and work of any people without the active presence of lay people.
Therefore, even at the very founding of a Church, great attention is to be paid to establishing a mature, Christian laity.
Understanding the Faith together and deciding together
A synodal Church is generated and regenerated by the Word of the Gospel heard and understood ever more deeply thanks to the word of all the christifideles who constitute the Church.
While the ordained ministers guarantee the apostolicity of the proclamation and of the Church, the laity invite everyone to grasp the coming of God in the history of humanity, thus preserving the extroversion and secularity of the whole Church, its being in the world and for the world (its pro-existence).
Their word of faith is shaped by laypeople’s professional skills, their family experiences, and their active involvement in politics, economics, and culture.
During synodal meetings and in pastoral councils, laypeople read the signs of the times and communicate the gospel proclamation using the language of their time so that its scope and meaning can be understood today.
Mission
Precisely because of their contribution to the hermeneutics of the gospel and the Traditio Ecclesiae, the laity ensure that the commitment to synodality is not reduced to an intra-ecclesial retreat but remains constitutively open to mission.
We understand the gospel with the help of the languages of our time, and we understand the extent and the shape of the ecclesial mission in the light of the promise of the kingdom we serve together, the kingdom of God coming in history.
Thanks to their experience in the civil and political spheres—trade unions, citizens’ associations, voluntary work, and so on – laypeople can make specific contributions to shaping the synodal Church.
Precisely because they are accustomed to democratic and participatory procedures and to cooperative forms of social organisation, they can contribute to rethinking internal relations within the ecclesial body, especially regarding the exercise of authority, the distinction of powers, the greater involvement of women, and the dynamics of communication and information.
Transparency
Such rethinking in the Church will lead to increased transparency, accountability, and representativity and to more effective community action. Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council, there is today no way that lay involvement can be disregarded or stealthily limited.
Before making an authoritative pronouncement, the bishops (and the priests as well) should “listen to, nurture, and receive” what the laity have to contribute from their wisdom, competence, and experience of life, and they should do so without paternalism and in a spirit of real dialogue.
The relevance of the contribution of the laity to the life of the Church is affirmed in canon 212 of the Code of Canon Law, according to which the faithful have not only the right to make their needs known to the pastors, but also the right and the duty to express their opinions on what is good for the Church to the pastors and to the other faithful as well. This latter reference reveals the possibility of thinking about “public opinion” in the Church.
Indispensible
The contribution of the laity is indispensable in community discernment and in deliberative processes, precisely because it introduces “other” languages, categories, questions, and perspectives to the understanding of reality. Moreover, it makes operational alternatives possible, and it allows for the evaluation of pastoral options and their possible repercussions.
“Synodality is not only a group of people walking together toward a common goal; it is a community trying to find a way together through collective discernment.” Despite these important considerations, the contribution of the laity, who constitute the majority of the faithful, is still limited to offering “advice to the pastors” that is at best useful, but not necessary or binding.
The reduced space allowed for the laity to speak, the limited time given to listening to their concerns in the parishes, the concentration of all major decisions in the hands of ordained ministers alone, the little effort put into making participative bodies effective and efficient, the limited resources (in terms of people and financial commitment) invested in the formation of the laity, and the inability to accept the prophetic word of young people who are calling for substantial reforms in today’s Church – all these are signs of a failure to achieve the synodality that is essential for true Church renewal.
Diverse
The membership of the laity is always diverse; it is never reducible to a singular abstract “lay-person” or to an undifferentiated category such as “laity”. Recognising this membership as essential to a synodal church concretely means welcoming the voices that have remained “unheard” for centuries: young people, women, the poor, and the marginalised – even those “dissonant” voices that are sometimes critical but are necessary for considering the life of the Church from a different perspective and for overcoming the “same old, same old” that forever perpetuates itself.
The authoritative heft of the laity is still limited; their power is evanescent, generic, and irrelevant; it is the result of limited, benevolent concessions from above, but it is not structurally integrated into the processes of ecclesial listening.
Listening to the Word of God through the words of our brothers and sisters in the faith, and listening to each other’s opinions, even contrasting ones, so that together they can produce mature church decisions – these are the essential ways of building a synodal Church. It cannot be achieved unless the laity are recognised as true members.
Toward an “all-ministerial Church”
Laypersons therefore help the synodal Church to mature by working in the diverse contexts and activities of pastoral life. Since Vatican II, all the local churches have, in different ways, witnessed the flourishing of various forms of lay ministry, and these have radically transformed the face of the Christian community. This is one of the most significant changes in the life of the Church.
Laymen and women are actively involved in many forms of significant and ongoing service to the Church; they have been given a specific mandate to respond to the pastoral and other needs of people and the region.
Some who receive special training receive a special mandate from the bishop to be the heads of diocesan pastoral offices; they become pastoral officers, engaged full-time in the life of the parishes and other diocesan organisations.
Other laypeople serve as community coordinators in the absence of a priest, and they provide pastoral care as established by canon 512 §2 of the Code of Canon Law.
Fruitful
In 1972, Paul VI, with the motu proprio Ministeria Quaedam, established what today we call “instituted ministries”. Lectors and acolytes are ancient ministerial figures who today assume a specific task of service on the basis of their baptism and a “specific rite of institution”; they nourish a fruitful relationship between the celebration of the Eucharist and the pastoral life of the faithful.
Weakness Paul VI reserved these ministries to males only, by “venerable tradition”, but Pope Francis has opened them up also to women and has promoted a further instituted ministry, that of the catechist. These measures are not simply ratifying de facto tasks and ministries; they are creating new ministerial figures.
Their existence disrupts the “clergy/laity” duality that has served as a matrix for past thinking about ecclesial relations, and it allows for the consideration of a multiplicity of ministerial figures: ordained, instituted, and de facto.
The forms of ministry exercised by lay people in and for the Church are diverse: on the one hand, there are de facto ministries that are carried out for limited times and contexts; on the other, there are instituted ministries that entail enlivening other laypeople; these are taken on permanently in a local Church after suitable training.
Co-respnsible
All these ministries are an indispensable contribution to the structure and action of the Church, not only because clergy may be scarce, but also because laypeople are recognised as co-responsible members in the Church.
From the 1990s onward, certain suspicions and warnings were voiced about using the term ministry for the laity, but Francis has restored legitimacy to this discourse and has given constituent value to lay contributions.
The Second Vatican Council offered only a partial vision regarding the ministry of “all” in the Church; it did not use the term ministry for laypeople but insisted rather on their apostolate in the world, whether as individuals or in associations. Even when the Council mentions lay pastoral service, it considers it something “extraordinary”.
Weakness
The weakness of the conciliar documents’ reflection on the royal munus is especially evident when it comes to the laity, who are not expressly mentioned in chapter II of Lumen Gentium and who are referred to in chapter IV only as acting ad extra, in accord with their secular nature.
Lumen Gentium 36 makes no direct mention of the laity’s contribution to ecclesial service, nor is there any mention of the laity’s exercise of authority in the Church by virtue of their specific royal munus.
Lumen Gentium 37 describes the relationship between hierarchy and laity, but always with a clear distinction between ad intra and ad extra, between the clergy’s full membership in the Church and the laity’s role as “collaborators”.
Common service
The synodal form of Church entails not only the exercise of the munus regendi ac pascendi of the ordained ministers (the “one”), but also the synergetic contribution of “all” and “some” (pastoral workers, in this case) in that common service that expresses and implements the royal munus of all baptised laypersons.
The Council, however, not only separated the membership of ordained ministers and that of the laity but also referred to the munus of each of them with different foundations and orientations.
According to the Relatio, the term is not used in the second chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church “because it would be difficult to devise a treatment of the governing function that would be compatible with both categories at the same time”.
Lay participation
Since 1983, however, the Code of Canon Law has provided for some forms of lay participation in the exercise of government, with specific tasks in the diocesan and Roman curias, in the area of administration (chancellor, bursar, notary, censor) and in judiciary functions (all roles are possible except those of the judicial vicar and the single judge).
Is it possible to extend the reflection on this matter? For example, is it possible to think about the participation of the laity in the process of appointing bishops and parish priests?
Could the laity take on roles of coordination, administration, and legal representation of parishes? What should be the basis of lay authority, and how should it be conceived? Such questions naturally flow from the reconfiguration of lay ministry in a synodal perspective.
Serena Noceti is an Italian lay theologian, a full professor at the Religious Sciences Institute in Florence, and a teacher at the theological faculty of central Italy. Extract taken with kind permission from her new release: Reforming the Church: A Synodal Way of Proceeding. Available to buy at paulistpress.com.
