Abstract
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was unprecedented in the attention it gave to the role of the laity in the Catholic Church. However, in the decades that followed, it was not the council's specific teaching on the laity, but rather its broader ecclesiological vision that inspired the explosion of lay ministries in the church of North America. In the context of shifting ministerial realities, post-conciliar theological reflection passed through at least two stages of expansion: the laity first came to be seen within the wider context of the church, and then the church itself came to be seen within the wider context of its mission in the world. This theological trajectory suggests that the key category for understanding the laity today is no longer the lay apostolate or lay ministry, but rather missionary discipleship.
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