Lourdes, Cité Saint Pierre, September 22, 2008
1. Lourdes 2008: 150 years of Marian graces and thanksgiving for the Sixtieth Anniversary of Unum Omnes
So soon after His Holiness, Pope Benedict’s pilgrimage to Lourdes in occasion of the 150th anniversary of Our Blessed Mother's apparition to Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), we too find ourselves in this Spiritual place in order to give thanks to Our Lord and to Our Lady. We have a two-fold reason for our gratitude on this occasion. In the first place, we wish to thank Our Blessed Mother for appearing to the young Bernadette eighteen times (from February 11th until July 16th in the year 1858). We are deeply touched by her message -consisting primarily in the call for personal conversion and penance- as well as those special words she pronounced to Bernadette on March 25, 1858. That very day in which the Church commemorates the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the Blessed Virgin said, referring to herself: "I am the Immaculate Conception".
The second reason for our thanksgiving is for the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the International Council of Catholic Men - Unum Omnes, which held its Founding Assembly at Lourdes in September of 1948. Thus, all of you as representatives from the member Federations have wished to meet precisely here in order to commemorate this special reoccurrence.
First of all, on behalf of His Eminence Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and myself, I wish to convey our heartfelt congratulations to all the participants of this meeting, who have come to together to reflect on the path that Unum Omnes has chartered up until now, and to ponder the future of your Federation.
It is worthy to note that since its very beginning Unum Omnes has received papal encouragement. In this regards, we can gratefully recall how Pius XII approved the initial idea of the Federation, and in 1956 affirmed: "Your Federation occupies an important place among International organizations, and this equality in status enables you to exercise your influence among the other official International organisations"[1].
During the course of your history, you have been front line protagonists in one of the greatest ecclesial events of the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council[2]. In fact, some members of Unum Omnes actively participated in the elaboration of two important council documents: the pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, Gaudium et spes and the Decree on the apostolate of lay people, Apostolicam actuositatem, which I will make reference to shortly.
So soon after His Holiness, Pope Benedict’s pilgrimage to Lourdes in occasion of the 150th anniversary of Our Blessed Mother's apparition to Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), we too find ourselves in this Spiritual place in order to give thanks to Our Lord and to Our Lady. We have a two-fold reason for our gratitude on this occasion. In the first place, we wish to thank Our Blessed Mother for appearing to the young Bernadette eighteen times (from February 11th until July 16th in the year 1858). We are deeply touched by her message -consisting primarily in the call for personal conversion and penance- as well as those special words she pronounced to Bernadette on March 25, 1858. That very day in which the Church commemorates the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the Blessed Virgin said, referring to herself: "I am the Immaculate Conception".
The second reason for our thanksgiving is for the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the International Council of Catholic Men - Unum Omnes, which held its Founding Assembly at Lourdes in September of 1948. Thus, all of you as representatives from the member Federations have wished to meet precisely here in order to commemorate this special reoccurrence.
First of all, on behalf of His Eminence Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and myself, I wish to convey our heartfelt congratulations to all the participants of this meeting, who have come to together to reflect on the path that Unum Omnes has chartered up until now, and to ponder the future of your Federation.
It is worthy to note that since its very beginning Unum Omnes has received papal encouragement. In this regards, we can gratefully recall how Pius XII approved the initial idea of the Federation, and in 1956 affirmed: "Your Federation occupies an important place among International organizations, and this equality in status enables you to exercise your influence among the other official International organisations"[1].
During the course of your history, you have been front line protagonists in one of the greatest ecclesial events of the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council[2]. In fact, some members of Unum Omnes actively participated in the elaboration of two important council documents: the pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, Gaudium et spes and the Decree on the apostolate of lay people, Apostolicam actuositatem, which I will make reference to shortly.
2. The vocation of the lay faithful in the light of the Church's Magisterium
In the apostolic letter Novo millennio ineunte (6 January 2001), the servant of God John Paul II stressed the importance of appreciating every type of Christian vocation in the Church, as each is grounded in the new and definitive life as children of God in Christ through the reception of the sacrament of Baptism (n. 46/c). To better understand the significance of the vocation of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world, we must rediscover the richness of the conciliar teachings and the Magisterial teachings that followed this event. In fact, John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have continually invited us to do so, being convinced that a rediscovery of the teachings of Vatican II and their proper receptivity would be of great benefit for the renewal of the Church.
In the apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici, of which we will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this December, John Paul II wrote: "It is no exaggeration to say that the entire existence of the lay faithful has as its purpose to lead a person to a knowledge of the radical newness of the Christian life that comes from Baptism, the sacrament of faith, so that this knowledge can help that person live the responsibilities which arise from that vocation received from God. In arriving at a basic description of the lay faithful we now more explicitly and directly consider among others the following three fundamental aspects: Baptism regenerates us in the life to the Son of God; unites us to Christ and to his Body, the Church; and anoints us in the Holy Spirit, making us spiritual temples" (n. 10).
The sacrament of Baptism constitutes a total rebirth by means of the water and the word, a regeneration of the person into the world in which the old man is transformed into the new. The Holy Spirit makes us adopted sons of the Father in the Son and we become members of the body of Christ, and also members of the body of the Church, the new people of God as St. Paul so often mentioned in his letters.
The baptized also become spiritual temples and are made sharers in the triple function of Jesus Christ as priest, prophet and king. It should be recalled that with the reception of the sacrament of Baptism the laity are charged with a universal call to holiness (LG, n. 39-42) and with a call to the apostolate (LG, n. 33). In fact, the right to establish associations of the lay faithful is ultimately derived from the sacrament of Baptism as this makes the laity co-responsible in the mission of the Church (AA, n. 19; CIC, can. 215 e 299, par. 1; CCEO, can. 18).
It is worth noting that the ecclesiology of Vatican II brought a welcomed change with regards to the concept of the laity. Before, a lay person was defined as a Christian who did not pertain to the clerical state, that is, as one who has received baptism and confirmation, but not Holy Orders, or has not taken vows as a religious. Consequently, the defining of the lay state in a negative way, or by exclusion, did not render the proper respect for the status of the lay faithful, who in fact, make up the great majority of the people of God. It is enough to recall that the Code of Canon Law of 1917 dedicated only two specific canons to the laity and one of them consisted in the prohibition for any lay person to wear the ecclesial habit (Cf. can. 683)!
Vatican II certainly favoured a more positive approach to the concept of the laity. In dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium we read: "The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church. These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world" (n. 31/a).
The same ecclesial document goes on to clarify the nature of the lay vocation and in what it consists: "What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature (...). The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there 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" (n. 31/b).
As we have just heard, the vocation of the lay faithful in the Church is characterized by this secular trait. The lay faithful are men and women, common Christians who live out their vocation in the world, in the most varied human circumstances and situations. The world, which comes forth from the hands of God becomes the theological locus of the lay person as it is there where God calls him to become holy. In this perspective, the world is not to be an obstacle to Christian perfection, but rather, the place willed by God for the lay person to grow in holiness and to build up the world from within, leading it back to God.
The apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici deepens these conciliar teachings regarding the secular dimension which is the particular characteristic of the ecclesial status of the laity. In the words of John Paul II, the laity “are persons who live an ordinary life in the world: they study, they work, they form relationships as friends, professionals, members of society, cultures, etc” (ChL, n. 15/g).
The teachings of Vatican II and the Magisterium that followed are very clear about the vocation of the lay faithful. Nonetheless, in the years following the Council, there could be noted a tendency on the practical level of entrusting to the laity the pastoral functions that were more proper to the priestly ministry, especially in matters that regarded the liturgy, but not only this. In doing so, it seemed to obscure the secular dimension of the lay faithful to the point of being able to speak of a "clericalization of the laity" in which many lay faithful were being absorbed into ecclesial structures.
Some people thought that a shortage of priestly vocations rendered it necessary to delegate to the laity of the Christian community some of those tasks that are intrinsically linked to the sacred duties of pastors. For others, the delegation of roles proper to the priest to the laity was considered as a response to the need of better appreciating the role of the laity in the Church. Before these two ways of thinking, it should be stated that Church practice allows for the laity to collaborate in the priestly ministry in particular cases and under certain conditions. On the one hand, it is necessary to keep in mind that the lay faithful per se don't constitute a sort of "emergency priesthood". Thus, they should not be considered as "substitute priests" simply because they are called upon to fill in when a priest is lacking. On the other hand, in order to truly appreciate the role of the laity in the Church, it is not necessary that the lay faithful become so involved in priestly functions to the point of obscuring the essential difference between the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful, as the former "are conferred a sacred power for the service of the faithful" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1592).
It should be noted that the collaboration of the laity in the priestly ministry has a temporal character in order to meet a passing emergency. As John Paul II stated: "the same norms of the Code of Canon Law have offered new possibilities, but they need to be applied correctly, in order to avoid an ambiguous generalization in which particular normative solutions that apply to extraordinary situations or where there is an absence or scarcity of sacred ministers are considered as 'ordinary and normal' solutions (...). Every action and ecclesial function of the laity -even those in which they are asked to supplement the work of the Pastors in as much as it is possible- are ontologically rooted in the common priesthood of the faithful and not an ontological participation (neither temporary or partial) in the ordained ministry proper to the presbyterate. It is clear then, that if Pastors have entrusted to them, in an extraordinary way, some of the tasks that are ordinarily and properly connected to those of the priestly ministry, but do not require the character of Holy Orders, the laity should know that this is essentially rooted in the common priesthood which they received in Baptism, and not anything else. It should always be remembered that "the exercise of such tasks does not make Pastors of the lay faithful: in fact, a person is not a minister simply in performing a task, but through sacramental ordination" (John Paul II, Christifideles laici, n. 23)[3].
To further clarify this point about the collaboration between the lay faithful and the priestly ministry, The Holy See issued an Instruction in 1997 (signed by the heads of eight dicasteries)[4], with clear and precise norms regarding this theme, which I invite you to read.
In his encounter with the French bishops here in Lourdes this past September 14th, the Holy Father also stressed that "It can never be said often enough that the priesthood is indispensable to the Church, for it is at the service of the laity. Priests are a gift from God for the Church. Where their specific missions are concerned, priests cannot delegate their functions to the faithful".
Another situation that you find recently is the fact that some laity who are involved in certain associations of lay faithful have abandoned their professional work in the public square in order to live a life very similar to that of monasticism. What can be said about this? It is a difficult question that merits a deeper analysis. However, I think that it is safe to say that in a way it verifies a certain misunderstanding about the true significance of the secular nature of the vocation of the lay faithful. Regarding this, we read in Christifideles laici that: "The 'world' becomes the place and the means for the lay faithful to fulfil their Christian vocation, because the world itself is destined to glorify God the Father in Christ. The Council is able then to indicate the proper and special sense of the divine vocation which is directed to the lay faithful. They are not called to abandon the position that they have in the world. Baptism does not take them from the world at all, as the apostle Paul points out: 'So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God' (1 Cor. 7:24). On the contrary, he entrusts a vocation to them that properly concerns their situation in the world" (CfL, n. 15/h).
The situation mentioned above shows how the teachings of Vatican II merit a more profound and attentive study so as to rediscover the nature and richness of the lay vocation.
3. The specific contribution that Catholic men have made in the Church and in civil society
If we have pinpointed the secular character as the distinctive feature of the vocation of the lay faithful and its spirituality, then the consequence is that this calling should provoke them to take action in the different secular fields of social, family, professional, cultural and political life, in order to evangelize these areas.
The lay vocation is carried out in temporal realities, that is to say, in the "world". The laity are called to become "the salt of the earth and the light of the world" (Mt 5, 13-14) in the circumstances of ordinary life that surround them. Consequently, the Church is not indifferent to these circumstances, but rather feels herself immersed within them. Regarding this reciprocal relationship between the Church and the world, Gaudium et spes states: "The Church, at once ‘a visible association and a spiritual community’, goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God's family" (n. 40/b). It is interesting to observe that Gaudium et Spes uses these two images: the leaven and the soul, one material and the other spiritual. In fact, the lay faithful are in the world as the leaven that ferments the body and in doing so becomes mixed together to become one with it (Mt. 13, 33; Lk. 13, 21). The image of a kind of soul for human society recalls the words of the Epistle of Diognetus, a short letter by an anonymous Christian around the second century, written to explain and defend the Christian faith: "What the soul is for the body, the Christians are for the world"[5]. The author of this letter expresses a perennial message: a Christian must seek his sanctification while being in the world, enlightening the entire created realm with the light of Christ. The world needs to be sanctified by the testimony of the holy lives of Christians. Only the authentic Christian who lives in totality and with integrity the Gospel message is capable of effectively penetrating the world.
At this point, I think it is appropriate to share with you a quote from the homily of a saint from the twentieth century, Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975), who states, in 1967: "God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. [...] I assure you, my sons and daughters, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God. That is why I have told you repeatedly, and hammered away once and again on the idea that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my sons and daughters, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives"[6].
Along with the professional work of each day, it is also necessary to mention some other specific areas where Catholic laity need to be engaged. Many of these are listed in the apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici (n. 37-44). They are the following: the safeguarding of human dignity, the inviolable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, respect for human rights; all that regards the advances of biological and medical science, especially in the area of reproduction; the safeguarding of the right of freedom of conscience and religious freedom; the defence of the family founded upon the marriage between a man and a woman; the freedom of education and the right of parents to educate their children according to their proper ethical and religious convictions; charity for one's neighbour; participation in politics; the creation and transmission of culture. These, among others still, are the fields of Christian mission that especially require specific attention on the part of the lay faithful.
It is worth noting that the ecclesiology of Vatican II brought a welcomed change with regards to the concept of the laity. Before, a lay person was defined as a Christian who did not pertain to the clerical state, that is, as one who has received baptism and confirmation, but not Holy Orders, or has not taken vows as a religious. Consequently, the defining of the lay state in a negative way, or by exclusion, did not render the proper respect for the status of the lay faithful, who in fact, make up the great majority of the people of God. It is enough to recall that the Code of Canon Law of 1917 dedicated only two specific canons to the laity and one of them consisted in the prohibition for any lay person to wear the ecclesial habit (Cf. can. 683)!
Vatican II certainly favoured a more positive approach to the concept of the laity. In dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium we read: "The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church. These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world" (n. 31/a).
The same ecclesial document goes on to clarify the nature of the lay vocation and in what it consists: "What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature (...). The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there 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" (n. 31/b).
As we have just heard, the vocation of the lay faithful in the Church is characterized by this secular trait. The lay faithful are men and women, common Christians who live out their vocation in the world, in the most varied human circumstances and situations. The world, which comes forth from the hands of God becomes the theological locus of the lay person as it is there where God calls him to become holy. In this perspective, the world is not to be an obstacle to Christian perfection, but rather, the place willed by God for the lay person to grow in holiness and to build up the world from within, leading it back to God.
The apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici deepens these conciliar teachings regarding the secular dimension which is the particular characteristic of the ecclesial status of the laity. In the words of John Paul II, the laity “are persons who live an ordinary life in the world: they study, they work, they form relationships as friends, professionals, members of society, cultures, etc” (ChL, n. 15/g).
The teachings of Vatican II and the Magisterium that followed are very clear about the vocation of the lay faithful. Nonetheless, in the years following the Council, there could be noted a tendency on the practical level of entrusting to the laity the pastoral functions that were more proper to the priestly ministry, especially in matters that regarded the liturgy, but not only this. In doing so, it seemed to obscure the secular dimension of the lay faithful to the point of being able to speak of a "clericalization of the laity" in which many lay faithful were being absorbed into ecclesial structures.
Some people thought that a shortage of priestly vocations rendered it necessary to delegate to the laity of the Christian community some of those tasks that are intrinsically linked to the sacred duties of pastors. For others, the delegation of roles proper to the priest to the laity was considered as a response to the need of better appreciating the role of the laity in the Church. Before these two ways of thinking, it should be stated that Church practice allows for the laity to collaborate in the priestly ministry in particular cases and under certain conditions. On the one hand, it is necessary to keep in mind that the lay faithful per se don't constitute a sort of "emergency priesthood". Thus, they should not be considered as "substitute priests" simply because they are called upon to fill in when a priest is lacking. On the other hand, in order to truly appreciate the role of the laity in the Church, it is not necessary that the lay faithful become so involved in priestly functions to the point of obscuring the essential difference between the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful, as the former "are conferred a sacred power for the service of the faithful" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1592).
It should be noted that the collaboration of the laity in the priestly ministry has a temporal character in order to meet a passing emergency. As John Paul II stated: "the same norms of the Code of Canon Law have offered new possibilities, but they need to be applied correctly, in order to avoid an ambiguous generalization in which particular normative solutions that apply to extraordinary situations or where there is an absence or scarcity of sacred ministers are considered as 'ordinary and normal' solutions (...). Every action and ecclesial function of the laity -even those in which they are asked to supplement the work of the Pastors in as much as it is possible- are ontologically rooted in the common priesthood of the faithful and not an ontological participation (neither temporary or partial) in the ordained ministry proper to the presbyterate. It is clear then, that if Pastors have entrusted to them, in an extraordinary way, some of the tasks that are ordinarily and properly connected to those of the priestly ministry, but do not require the character of Holy Orders, the laity should know that this is essentially rooted in the common priesthood which they received in Baptism, and not anything else. It should always be remembered that "the exercise of such tasks does not make Pastors of the lay faithful: in fact, a person is not a minister simply in performing a task, but through sacramental ordination" (John Paul II, Christifideles laici, n. 23)[3].
To further clarify this point about the collaboration between the lay faithful and the priestly ministry, The Holy See issued an Instruction in 1997 (signed by the heads of eight dicasteries)[4], with clear and precise norms regarding this theme, which I invite you to read.
In his encounter with the French bishops here in Lourdes this past September 14th, the Holy Father also stressed that "It can never be said often enough that the priesthood is indispensable to the Church, for it is at the service of the laity. Priests are a gift from God for the Church. Where their specific missions are concerned, priests cannot delegate their functions to the faithful".
Another situation that you find recently is the fact that some laity who are involved in certain associations of lay faithful have abandoned their professional work in the public square in order to live a life very similar to that of monasticism. What can be said about this? It is a difficult question that merits a deeper analysis. However, I think that it is safe to say that in a way it verifies a certain misunderstanding about the true significance of the secular nature of the vocation of the lay faithful. Regarding this, we read in Christifideles laici that: "The 'world' becomes the place and the means for the lay faithful to fulfil their Christian vocation, because the world itself is destined to glorify God the Father in Christ. The Council is able then to indicate the proper and special sense of the divine vocation which is directed to the lay faithful. They are not called to abandon the position that they have in the world. Baptism does not take them from the world at all, as the apostle Paul points out: 'So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God' (1 Cor. 7:24). On the contrary, he entrusts a vocation to them that properly concerns their situation in the world" (CfL, n. 15/h).
The situation mentioned above shows how the teachings of Vatican II merit a more profound and attentive study so as to rediscover the nature and richness of the lay vocation.
3. The specific contribution that Catholic men have made in the Church and in civil society
If we have pinpointed the secular character as the distinctive feature of the vocation of the lay faithful and its spirituality, then the consequence is that this calling should provoke them to take action in the different secular fields of social, family, professional, cultural and political life, in order to evangelize these areas.
The lay vocation is carried out in temporal realities, that is to say, in the "world". The laity are called to become "the salt of the earth and the light of the world" (Mt 5, 13-14) in the circumstances of ordinary life that surround them. Consequently, the Church is not indifferent to these circumstances, but rather feels herself immersed within them. Regarding this reciprocal relationship between the Church and the world, Gaudium et spes states: "The Church, at once ‘a visible association and a spiritual community’, goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God's family" (n. 40/b). It is interesting to observe that Gaudium et Spes uses these two images: the leaven and the soul, one material and the other spiritual. In fact, the lay faithful are in the world as the leaven that ferments the body and in doing so becomes mixed together to become one with it (Mt. 13, 33; Lk. 13, 21). The image of a kind of soul for human society recalls the words of the Epistle of Diognetus, a short letter by an anonymous Christian around the second century, written to explain and defend the Christian faith: "What the soul is for the body, the Christians are for the world"[5]. The author of this letter expresses a perennial message: a Christian must seek his sanctification while being in the world, enlightening the entire created realm with the light of Christ. The world needs to be sanctified by the testimony of the holy lives of Christians. Only the authentic Christian who lives in totality and with integrity the Gospel message is capable of effectively penetrating the world.
At this point, I think it is appropriate to share with you a quote from the homily of a saint from the twentieth century, Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975), who states, in 1967: "God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. [...] I assure you, my sons and daughters, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God. That is why I have told you repeatedly, and hammered away once and again on the idea that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my sons and daughters, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives"[6].
Along with the professional work of each day, it is also necessary to mention some other specific areas where Catholic laity need to be engaged. Many of these are listed in the apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici (n. 37-44). They are the following: the safeguarding of human dignity, the inviolable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, respect for human rights; all that regards the advances of biological and medical science, especially in the area of reproduction; the safeguarding of the right of freedom of conscience and religious freedom; the defence of the family founded upon the marriage between a man and a woman; the freedom of education and the right of parents to educate their children according to their proper ethical and religious convictions; charity for one's neighbour; participation in politics; the creation and transmission of culture. These, among others still, are the fields of Christian mission that especially require specific attention on the part of the lay faithful.
4. International associations of lay faithful today
As you well know, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has approved the new statutes of Unum Omnes as an international association of the faithful with the decree of May 27, 2007. This is certainly a significant event, as it reinforces the tie of your federation with the Holy See, and specifically, with the Dicastery whose competence is that of following with attention the apostolic work of associations of the lay faithful.
The apostolate of lay associations was an object of particular attention during Vatican II in the Decree on the apostolate of the laity, Apostolicam actuositatem (n. 18-21), where it makes explicit reference to Catholic Action (n. 20). What can we say about this today- more than forty years since the publication of this council document? Perhaps what should be stressed is the importance of promoting and adequately accompanying these associations as they are realities at the service of communion in the Church. In the apostolic letter Novo Millenio Inuente, John Paul II pointed out that "an important aspect of communion is the promotion of forms of association, whether of the more traditional kind or the newer ecclesial movements, which continue to give the Church a vitality that is God's gift and a true 'springtime of the Spirit'" (n. 46/d).
On the other hand, Unum Omnes is also an ecclesial reality that enjoys consultative status with the FAO, and subsequently, operates as a non-governmental organization (NGO) within the United Nations system. This is a highly important responsibility at the international level where the lay faithful must make their contribution to international affairs (GS, n. 90).
As you well know, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has approved the new statutes of Unum Omnes as an international association of the faithful with the decree of May 27, 2007. This is certainly a significant event, as it reinforces the tie of your federation with the Holy See, and specifically, with the Dicastery whose competence is that of following with attention the apostolic work of associations of the lay faithful.
The apostolate of lay associations was an object of particular attention during Vatican II in the Decree on the apostolate of the laity, Apostolicam actuositatem (n. 18-21), where it makes explicit reference to Catholic Action (n. 20). What can we say about this today- more than forty years since the publication of this council document? Perhaps what should be stressed is the importance of promoting and adequately accompanying these associations as they are realities at the service of communion in the Church. In the apostolic letter Novo Millenio Inuente, John Paul II pointed out that "an important aspect of communion is the promotion of forms of association, whether of the more traditional kind or the newer ecclesial movements, which continue to give the Church a vitality that is God's gift and a true 'springtime of the Spirit'" (n. 46/d).
On the other hand, Unum Omnes is also an ecclesial reality that enjoys consultative status with the FAO, and subsequently, operates as a non-governmental organization (NGO) within the United Nations system. This is a highly important responsibility at the international level where the lay faithful must make their contribution to international affairs (GS, n. 90).
In order to better coordinate these efforts and to encourage greater participation of Catholic laity in international organizations, the Holy See, by means of the Secretary of State's Section for external affairs and the Pontifical Council for the Laity have taken the initiative to create a forum that gathers the various Catholic NGO's, or those of Catholic inspiration which are present at the international level, which today are quite numerous. This project in no way seeks to interfere with the legitimate autonomy and the responsibilities proper to each organization. Rather, it seeks to place these associations in contact with each other, which perhaps previously were unknown to each other as so many of them are quite new, in order to build a valid synergy that favours a more incisive action and a more effective work of advocacy to the various intergovernmental organizations.
5. Conclusion: the future of Unum Omnes
I now make my concluding remarks. The sixty years of existence of Unum Omnes is not only a moment of commemoration, it is also an excellent opportunity to consider the future of your Federation, as you reflect together on various projects you wish to realize.
There are so many past members of Unum Omnes that we could recall with gratitude. It seems appropriate to mention at least one particular individual: Prof. Luigi Gedda (1902-2000), the first president of Unum Omnes, from 1948 until 1950. Doctor Gedda was an outstanding geneticist, but he is even better known for his leadership within the Italian Catholic movement. He knew how to combine his growth in the faith with social and political action, and all of this during a very difficult historical moment for his country. Let us commemorate him along with so many others who have contributed to the progress and development of Unum Omnes.
As may recall, during the thirtieth anniversary of Unum Omnes, the servant of God, John Paul II stressed “the need for Catholic men to exercise an active presence in the world and the need for their Christian witness and their apostolic action so that the Church, as leaven, can truly penetrate the whole of society and all of its dimensions which today are often marked by ideologies so foreign to the spirit of the Gospel”.[7]
Let us place all of these intentions in Mary's hands. In his recent homily during the Eucharistic Celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (14 September, 2008), Pope Benedict XVI said: "Mary accompanies us with her maternal presence amid the events of our personal lives, our family lives, and our national lives. Happy are those men and women who place their trust in Him who, at the very moment when he was offering his life for our salvation, gave us his Mother to be our own!".
Thank you very much!
[1] PIUS XII, Address to the Council of the International Federation of Catholic Men, 8 December, 1956, in Discorsi e radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, XVIII, p. 705.
[2] For a current analysis of Vatican II, cf. BENEDICT XVI, Christmas Address to members of the Roman Curia, 22 December, 2005 in Insegnamenti di Benedetto XVI, I (2005), pp. 1018-1032; see also: Il Concilio Vaticano II. Ricezione e attualità alla luce del Concilio (ed. Rino Fisichella), Cinisello Balsamo 2000.
[3] JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Symposium on the Participation of the lay faithful in the priestly ministry, 22 April, 1994, in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, XVII, I (1994), pp. 980-981.
[4] Cf. Instruction Ecclesiae de mysterio on certain questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in priestly holy orders, 15 August 1997, in AAS 89 (1997), pp. 852-877.
[5] Epist. ad Diognetum, 6: Funk, I, p. 400.
[6] Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá de Balaguer, Dublin 1968, n. 114 and 116.
[7] JOHN PAUL II, Speech to the International Federation of Catholic Men Unum Omnes, 28 October, 1978, in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, I (1978), p. 71.
5. Conclusion: the future of Unum Omnes
I now make my concluding remarks. The sixty years of existence of Unum Omnes is not only a moment of commemoration, it is also an excellent opportunity to consider the future of your Federation, as you reflect together on various projects you wish to realize.
There are so many past members of Unum Omnes that we could recall with gratitude. It seems appropriate to mention at least one particular individual: Prof. Luigi Gedda (1902-2000), the first president of Unum Omnes, from 1948 until 1950. Doctor Gedda was an outstanding geneticist, but he is even better known for his leadership within the Italian Catholic movement. He knew how to combine his growth in the faith with social and political action, and all of this during a very difficult historical moment for his country. Let us commemorate him along with so many others who have contributed to the progress and development of Unum Omnes.
As may recall, during the thirtieth anniversary of Unum Omnes, the servant of God, John Paul II stressed “the need for Catholic men to exercise an active presence in the world and the need for their Christian witness and their apostolic action so that the Church, as leaven, can truly penetrate the whole of society and all of its dimensions which today are often marked by ideologies so foreign to the spirit of the Gospel”.[7]
Let us place all of these intentions in Mary's hands. In his recent homily during the Eucharistic Celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (14 September, 2008), Pope Benedict XVI said: "Mary accompanies us with her maternal presence amid the events of our personal lives, our family lives, and our national lives. Happy are those men and women who place their trust in Him who, at the very moment when he was offering his life for our salvation, gave us his Mother to be our own!".
Thank you very much!
[1] PIUS XII, Address to the Council of the International Federation of Catholic Men, 8 December, 1956, in Discorsi e radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, XVIII, p. 705.
[2] For a current analysis of Vatican II, cf. BENEDICT XVI, Christmas Address to members of the Roman Curia, 22 December, 2005 in Insegnamenti di Benedetto XVI, I (2005), pp. 1018-1032; see also: Il Concilio Vaticano II. Ricezione e attualità alla luce del Concilio (ed. Rino Fisichella), Cinisello Balsamo 2000.
[3] JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Symposium on the Participation of the lay faithful in the priestly ministry, 22 April, 1994, in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, XVII, I (1994), pp. 980-981.
[4] Cf. Instruction Ecclesiae de mysterio on certain questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in priestly holy orders, 15 August 1997, in AAS 89 (1997), pp. 852-877.
[5] Epist. ad Diognetum, 6: Funk, I, p. 400.
[6] Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá de Balaguer, Dublin 1968, n. 114 and 116.
[7] JOHN PAUL II, Speech to the International Federation of Catholic Men Unum Omnes, 28 October, 1978, in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, I (1978), p. 71.
