A CHICAGO DECLARATION OF CHRISTIAN CONCERN: A Symposium
A SYMPOSIUM A CHICAGO DECLARATION OF CHRISTIAN CONCERN Issued in mid-December of last year, the Chicago Declaration of Christian Concern was immediately noteworthy in several respects. First,...
...The Church is present to the world in the striving of the laity to transform the world of political, economic and social institutions...
...The Church must constantly be reformed, but we fear that the almost obsessive preoccupation with the Church's structures and processes has diverted attention from the essential question: reform for what purpose...
...It will kill the laity in the Church because it will reinforce the conviction already existing that to work for the Church you must be ordained...
...Fourth, its signers included such representatives of Catholic social and political efforts as Ed Marciniak, Msgr...
...The absence of lay intiative can only take us down the road to clericalism...
...Today they are called by God, that by exercising their proper function, and led by the spirit of the Gospel, they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven...
...As a result they bypassed the laity to pursue social causes on their own rather than enabling lay Christians to shoulder their own responsibility...
...The salvation of the world is no longer to be construed as applying only to individual persons but embraces all the institutions of society...
...Thus lay ministry is seen as the laity's participation in work traditionally assigned to priests or sisters...
...The almost exclusive preoccupation with the role of the "outsider" as the model of social action can only distract the laity from the apostolic potential that lies at the core of their professional and occupational lives...
...and other individuals from an unusually wide range of occupations—Patrick Gorman of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers, George Leighton of the federal judiciary, Faustin A. Pipal, Chairman of the Board, St...
...Christian social thought is a sophisticated body of social wisdom which attempts such a mediation, supplying the middle ground between the Gospel on the one hand and the concrete decisions which Christians make on their own responsibility in their everyday life...
...We invite them to associate themselves with this declaration...
...The Church is as present to the world in the ordinary roles of lay Christians as it is in the ecclesiastical roles of bishops and priest, though the styles of each differ...
...Although we also yearn for a new heaven and a new earth, we insist that the Gospel of Jesus Christ toy itself reveals no political or economic program to bring this about...
...They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of secular professions and occupations...
...George G. Higgins called "too sharp a distinction between the respective roles of the laity and the clergy in the social ministry of the Church...
...We are deeply concerned that so little energy is devoted to encouraging and arousing lay responsibility for the world...
...In* deed, if in the past the Church has suffered from a tendency to clericalism on the right, it may now face the threat of a revived clericalism —on the left...
...Citing Karl Rahner, Higgins suggested that "the problem of clericalism . ,. . is somewhat more complicated than the Declaration makes it out to be...
...Paul Federal Savings & Loan, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, and medical professionals...
...It was Vatican II that broadened our understanding of the Church...
...But the laity, by their special vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God...
...Third, despite these criticisms, it seemed to urge a renewed self-confidence about the Church's social mission, "the grandeur of the Christian vision for man in society," and the "sophisticated body of social wisdom" to be found in Catholic social thought...
...Where are the priests sufficiently self-assured in their own identity and faith that they can devote themselves to energizing lay leaders committed to reforming the structures of society...
...For decades, the Church in Chicago nurtured a compelling vision of lay Christians in society...
...But most commentators raised at least one or two points of criticism...
...In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity...
...They live in the ordinary-circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven...
...As a matter of fact, the disappearance of organizations like the above, and our failure to replace them, may have resulted in the loss of a generation of lay leadership...
...First, unlike other recent "statements" H focused on organizational trends and practices rather than on theology...
...The tendency has been to see lay ministry as involvement in some church related activity, e.g., religious education, pastoral care for the sick and elderly, or readers in church on Sunday...
...We wait impatiently for a new prophecy, a new word that can once again stir the laity to see the grandeur of the Christian vision for man in society and move priests to galvanize lay persons in their secular-religious role...
...Andrew Greeley saw the Declaration as a healthy return from the "romantic revolutionary style of the Berrigan era" to an earlier Catholic social action vision...
...We note that our misgivings are shared by the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, Archbishop Jean Jadot, who commented recently, "I believe in the laity...
...We think that this new prophecy should retrieve, at least in part, the best insights of Vatican II...
...Shall we passively accept that period of history as completely over, and with it the vision that proved to be so creative...
...Without a vision, the people shall perish...
...Reaction to the Chicago Declaration has been overwhelmingly favorable...
...What follows is the text of the statement and reactions from four individuals representing various theological outlooks and social-political experiences, the editors The signers of this Declaration are members of the Catholic Community in Chicago...
...No amount of social action by priests and religious can ever be an adequate substitute for enhancing lay responsibility...
...Vatican II did identify man's hopes for social justice and world peace with the Church's saving mission...
...In conclusion, we address these words of hope and of deep concern to the members of the Church throughout the nation as well as to members of the Church in Chicago...
...A Chicago Declaration 6363 N. Sheridan Rd...
...Chicago, Illinois 60660...
...Without a dynamic laity conscious of its personal ministry to the world, the Church, in effect, does not speak or act...
...While many in the Church exhaust their energies arguing internal issues, albeit important ones, such as the ordination of women and a married clergy, the laity who spend most of their time and energy in the professional and occupational world appear to have been deserted...
...Where are the movements and organizations supporting the young toward a Christian maturity...
...Daniel Cantwell, Russell Barta, and Patty Crowley...
...The Good News calling for peace, justice and freedom needs to be mediated through the prism of lay experience, political wisdom and technical expertise...
...Agnes Cunningham, Fathers John Pawlikowski, John Shea, Alcain Coyle and Carroll Stuhmueller...
...We also note with concern the steady depreciation, during the past decade, of the ordinary social roles through which the laity serve and act upon the world...
...These priests and religious have sought to impose their own agendas for the world upon the laity...
...The thrust of Vatican II is unmistakable: "What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature...
...Direct appeals to the Gospel in order to justify specific solutions to social problems, whether domestic or international, are really a betrayal of the Gospel...
...Our own reaction to the Detroit "Call to Action" conference reflects a similar ambivalence...
...In the last analysis, the Church speaks to and acts upon the world through her laity...
...Who now sustains lay persons as they meet the daily challenges of their job and profession —the arena in which questions of justice and peace are really located...
...The impression is often created that one can work for justice and peace only by stepping outside of these ordinary roles as a businessman, as a mayor, as a factory worker, as a professional in the State Department, or as an active union member and thus that one can change the system only as an "outsider" to the society and the system...
...But devoting, as it did, so much of its time to the internal affairs of the Church, the conference did not sufficiently illuminate the broader mission of the Church to the world and the indispensable role of lay Christians in carrying out that mission...
...who served the laity without manipulating them...
...They say it will kill the laity in the Church...
...I was very, very impressed, I must say, by my experiences in Africa and my closeness and friendliness with some African bishops who don't want to hear about a permanent diaconate...
...Many questioned what Msgr...
...Although we do not hold them up as models adequate to presentday needs, we do note with regret the decline and, too often, the demise of those organizations and networks of the recent past whose task it was to inspire and support the laity in their vocation to the world through their professional and occupational lives...
...Others, like the Center of Concern, detected "some note of nostalgia" in the Declaration and wondered whether it had given sufficient attention to the complex "social factors which led to the demise of the pre-conciliar lay organizations...
...The vision they had was eventually accepted and celebrated by the Second Vatican Council...
...Such ideas clearly depart from the mainstream of Catholic social thought which regards the advance of social justice as essentially the Commonweal: 109 service performed within one's professional and occupational milieu...
...But they are, by reason of their particular vocation, especially and professedly ordained to the sacred ministry...
...It would be one of the great ironies of history if the era of Vatican II which opened the windows of the Church to the world were to close with a Church turned in upon herself...
...Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs, it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may be made and grow according to Christ to the praise of the creator and redeemer...
...We recognize the new opportunities opened up to the laity to become deacons, but believe that in the long run such programs will be a disaster if they create the impression that only in such fashion do the laity mainly participate in the mission of the Church...
...It rejected the notion that Church is to be identified exclusively with hier17 February 1978:108 archical roles—such as bishop and priest...
...Second, it offered a tempered criticism of developments like the lay diaconate and the Detroit "Call to Action," suggesting that these were something less than unambiguous steps forward for the laity...
...It attracted priests who saw their ministry as arousing the laity to the pursuit of justice and freedom...
...Although the teaching of Vatican II on the ministry of the laity is forceful and represents one of the Council's most notable achievements, in recent years it seems to have all but vanished from the consciousness and agendas of many sectors within the Church...
...We prayerfully anticipate that our words and theirs will prompt a re-examination of present tendencies in the Church and that out of such a re-examination will emerge a new sense of direction, a new agenda...
...Although concerns for justice and peace are now built into Church bureaucracy more so than when such organizations flourished, there is no evidence that such bureaucratization has led to further involvement of lay Christians...
...Similarly, by their state in life, religious give splendid and striking testimony that the world can not be transformed and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes...
...Constitution on the Church, para...
...Without a doubt, it was historic, precedentsetting in its conception, in its consultative process, in helping all levels of the Church listen to each other and in facing challenges to growth affecting the inner life of the Church...
...Commonweal, too, editorially welcomed the Declaration and urged further discussion of the issues it raised...
...During the last decade especially, many priests have acted as if the primary responsibility in the Church for uprooting injustice, ending wars and defending human rights rested with them as ordained ministers...
...Sources as different as the radical Center of Concern in Washington and Our Sunday Visitor welcomed the Declaration's concern about the devaluation of the laity's secular tasks...
...It is our experience that a wholesome and significant movement within the Church—the involvement of lay people in many Church ministries—has led to a devaluation of the unique ministry of lay men and women...
...We have in mind such organizations as the National Catholic Social Action Conference, the National Conference of Christian Employers and Managers, the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, the National Council of Catholic Nurses, Young Christian Students, Young Christian Workers, and the Catholic Council on Working Life...
...scholars like Sr...
...That same vision produced national movements and networks which generated a dynamic lay leadership...
...The clergy minister so that the laity will exercise their family, neighborly, and occupational roles mindful of their Christian responsibility...
...It is true that those in holy orders can at times be engaged in secular activities, and even have a secular profession...
...And the laity as laity...
...As various secular ideologies, including communism, socialism and liberalism, each in turn, fail to live up to their promise to transform radically the human condition, some Christians seek to convert religion and the Gospel itself into another political ideology...
Vol. 105 • February 1978 • No. 4
