The Vocation of Today’s Lay Minister: Perspectives of a Teacher and Researcher

Abstract

INTRODUCTION In recent years, a significant change has been unfolding in Catholic ministry circles. Many roles once filled almost exclusively by priests, sisters and brothers are now held by lay people. In parishes, Directors of Religious Education, Youth Ministers, and increasingly Directors of Liturgy are laity; in our Catholic institutional ministries, the leaders of schools and colleges, health care institutions, and charities agencies are largely lay. In addition, many other roles, such as prison minister, campus minister, and hospital chaplain are held by laity. In the past, we said that the individuals who shared in the mission of the Church in such special ways had a vocation, a call from God, affirmed by the Church, to a state of life dedicated to service in the Church. What can we say of the laywomen and laymen who serve in these ways today? In this article we will explore their self-understanding of their “vocation,” and understandings of vocation, both as a religious and a secular concept, viewing those developments in the context of our culture today, in order to pose an answer to that question, albeit a tentative one.