Righting the ship: how the laity can help

Here's a thought experiment with pastoral motives: let's interpret the Davidson-Hoge report in the most sobering direction possible and see where that leads us.

The clearest "finding" of the survey is the undeniably devastating fallout of the sexual-abuse scandal: 91 percent know of the crisis; more than three-quarters of the respondents rank either the actual sexual abuse or the bishops' mishandling of it as the church's biggest problem. Link this to the next largest concern, the shortage of priests and sisters, and note that it is felt particularly keenly by older cohorts, while younger Catholics "are creating new ways of being Catholic that are not as dependent on priests and sisters." Younger Catholics also tend to be less informed about and less confident in their bishops, and more negatively affected by the media indictment of the episcopacy. Factor in rising levels of relativism ("All major religions are equally good ways to ultimate truth") among all cohorts, save the pre-Vatican II generation.

Now comes the familiar murkiness. What is the appropriate role of the laity? The 2003 survey, confirming recent research, notes that laypeople believe they have a right to participate in church decisions, and many, especially the younger cohorts, want greater financial accountability from pastors and bishops. Yet a solid majority, 60 percent, is unwilling to withhold donations until reforms occur. Maybe there is both wisdom and compassion in that decision: the charitable work of the church must go on, lawsuits and scandals notwithstanding.

More telling, though, is the absence of evidence that a significant percentage of the laity see themselves as having (wanting?) real agency in reforming the church in ways that might respond to the major problems they have identified, including the dwindling number of clergy. Davidson and Hoge conclude that laypeople believe they have a great deal to contribute, and that the church "would benefit from their expertise and input." Still, the nature of the desired lay contribution remains vague, especially if one judges the crisis to demand bold innovations that would represent some kind of break with the status quo ante.

Emphasizing and connecting these elements of the survey results suggest the following three-part hypothesis: First, Catholics are concerned about the church, recognize that it faces crises on several fronts, and want to assist in "the righting of the ship." Second, they do not know how best to help, and have not been called clearly and forcefully to do so by the hierarchy or clergy. Third, the active members among the youngest generations of Catholics, like other members of their cohort, have not been educated or trained to think of the church primarily in institutional terms. Nor do they feel or understand that it is their responsibility to ensure the institutional viability of the church for succeeding generations. (To be fair, neither did their parents or grandparents: custodianship and entrepreneurial stewardship were the "job descriptions" for the clergy and religious, who were available in greater abundance.)

What does it mean, laity must ask, to practice responsible stewardship at a time when the church is struggling to sustain its vital institutional presence, extend its pastoral and social ministries to larger and larger circles of need, and regain its irreplaceable moral leadership in U.S. society? Millennials--and the rest of us--must become convinced that it is not enough to depend solely on the generous and dedicated but severely overworked clergy and religious. May vocations to the priesthood grow! But every sign under the sun flashes the "news" that priesthood and vowed religious life must now be accompanied by robust forms of lay commitment and accountability to and for the church.

What forms of lay commitment are required? How shall laity step forward?

They have already done so. Part of the answer, in short, is found in the array of lay ministries that are integral to most thriving parishes. Essential as it has become to the life of the American church, though, the vocation of lay minister suffers from benign neglect.

To earlier generations, the priesthood was a clear choice among other "careers"; the church vigorously promoted it as such, devoting valuable resources and recruiters to the task of helping young men imagine themselves in the role of priest. That effort continues today, as it should. Yet it may not be sufficient to the enormous task we face in recovering from the sexual-abuse crisis and in sustaining even a significant portion of the ministries of pastoral care, social service, and intellectual mission that have enriched the life of Catholics and many other Americans for generations.

What path is available to willing millennials who do not feel called to the priesthood or traditional religious life, and who prefer to remain rooted in a parish rather than join a lay apostolic movement or organization? Despite the existence of a vast pool of potential candidates who answer to this description, the church is not presenting lay ministry as a splendid, absolutely essential vocation--different from but no less worthy than the ordained priesthood. It should. Millennials, too, are "called and gifted"; but the nature of the calling and the gifts they bring have yet to be discerned and cultivated with the kind of systematic, coordinated effort that characterized the halcyon era of recruitment to religious life. The calling to lay ministry and priesthood are different, yet both come from God and both are desperately needed.