'AN IRONIC PROBLEM'
Garvey, John
'An Ironic Problem' JOHN GARVEY The Chicago Declaration of Christian Concern is certainly right on at least a couple of points. Lay people are largely ignored by the hierarchy, and there is a...
...Certainly the bishops should be more attentive to lay talent...
...But those clergy and religious who worked with anti-war laypeople during that time did so, on the whole, as brothers and sisters, not at all as people imposing agendas...
...The clergy minister so that the laity will exercise their family, neighborly, and occupational roles mindful of their Christian responsibility...
...that is as churchy a question as any...
...Essentially...
...The question should rather be, what should Christians be doing...
...These priests and religious have sought to impose their own agendas for the world upon the laity . . . The Chur<|h . .s^jnay now face the threat of a revived clericalism-—on the left...
...Lay people are largely ignored by the hierarchy, and there is a churchiness which can get in the way of the Christian message...
...Italics mine...
...The signers of the Declaration, according to a report in the National Catholic Reporter, are not at all of one mind about the wording of the Declaration...
...What lay people should do is what, as people baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ, they must do to be faithful, collectively and as individuals...
...Fine...
...And as several have pointed out, this is by no means meant to be a last word, but instead should open a discussion...
...And I am not at all sure that there is a "middle ground between the gospel on one hand and the concrete decisions which Christians make...
...What I am afraid the Declaration is saying is that if only people like the Berrigans had consulted politicians and State Department sorts, they would have learned the error of their ways and would have worked within the system to reform, say, operation Phoenix or the CIA...
...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 people in their secular-religious role...
...It is the ministry of the clergy which is unique, not the ministry of lay people...
...And maybe that last statement, in our clericalized Church, needs some explaining...
...As a result they bypassed the laity to pursue social causes on their own rather than enabling lay Christians to shoulder their own responsibilities...
...The real question is not what lay people, bishops, or priests ought to be doing in terms of their specific roles...
...There is no particular reason why ordination should fit a person for leadership, teaching, catechetical work, counseling and so forth...
...The Declaration reinforces this suspicion when it goes on to deplore the impression "that one can work for justice and peace only by stepping outside of these ordinary roles as a businessman, 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 society and the system...
...Look at a few phrases: "The laity . . . appear to have been deserted...
...And there may be times when one cannot reform a system from within, when Christianity is best served by outsiders and dropouts...
...During the Vietnam war I met a few clerics who acted this way...
...While it is true that the Gospel offers no specific 17 February 1978:114 political or economic program, given the omissions of the Declaration I am not comfortable with the idea that "the Good News calling for peace, justice, and freedom needs to be mediated though the prism of lay experience, political wisdom, and technical expertise...
...The lay experience of Dorothy Day, Jim Forest, Tom Cornell and other Catholic lay people has led to conclusions which favor the outsider's role...
...The problem lies in the language...
...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...
...there may be some occupational situations within which a Christian cannot work, and remain faithful...
...But under Pope John and Pope Paul that has, thank God, begun to change...
...Or at least, I am not sure that there should be one...
...But at the center of the Declaration lies an ironic problem: this Declaration which worries about the place of the laity is essentially clerical in its assumptions...
...No one I know of, clerical or lay, has suggested that anyone has to step out of all of the roles listed above, but recent social encyclicals have pointed out that there are corrupt and corrupting economic and political systems...
...Within the Church some are set aside and ordained to administer the sacraments, by bishops whose work it is to coordinate the activities of the Christian community...
...but this lay experience doesn't seem to be what the Declaration has in mind...
...The business of a good bishop is not to get in their way, but to assist and encourage them...
...Neither galvanization nor leadership is the job of the priest...
...Let me suggest, for openers, that lay people in need of galvanization by priests wouldn't have done us much good anyway, galvanized or not...
...The business of a priest is to celebrate with them...
...All of us are called to complete Christianity by virtue of having been baptized...
...This essential consideration is not addressed by the Declaration...
...They sensed, rightly, that the Church is, on the whole, too clerical and churchy a preserve...
...There is no reason why lay people can't organize themselves...
...It is true that Catholic social thought, concerned as it was with maintaining the status quo, did say things like this for a long time...
...This notion departs, the Declaration says, "from the mainstream of Catholic social thought which regards the advance of social justice as essentially the service performed within one's professional and occupational milieu...
...but I am afraid there is something else behind the language which speaks of the special role of the laity, and it has to do with the social assumptions of the Declaration...
...But what happened during this period of clericalization was that the idea of Christian ministry became constricted...
...These services should fall to those who are good at them, ordained or not...
...Over the years priests have taken on additional roles, including those of community leader, counselor, visitor of the sick, and so forth...
...and if they fail to do so, it is because of an absence of lay leadership...
...We wait impatiently for...
...Pope Paul, for example, has denounced the role of multinational corporations in international politics...
...Is it true that involving lay people in Church activities has led "to a devaluation of the unique ministry of lay people...
...The inwardness which the Declaration mentions is indeed cloying...
...Priests are ordained for a specific and limited function: to preside at the public worship of the Church, and administer the sacraments...
...they knew something was wrong, so they signed...
...The business of the ordained clergy is not necessarily to lead them anywhere...
...The complaint is that "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...
...In addition, its notion of the layperson's place in society is disturbingly narrow...
Vol. 105 • February 1978 • No. 4
