Even Pope Francis warned about clericalizing the laity, especially women, but then that’s what happened when he opened the ministries of lector and acolyte to laymen and women. Prior to that, these formal ministries were a part of the clerical process of ministries to the ordained life of the diaconate and priesthood.
Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI also warned against the clericalizing of the laity while laicizing the clergy.
Back in the mid and late 1980’s when I was living with Bishop Raymond Lessard at our Cathedral in historic downtown Savannah, he mused out-loud that we were clericalizing the laity by emphasizing all the church jobs or ministries they could have and were doing to the detriment of what the laity’s role should be as described by Vatican II—in the world, to make Christ known there and what the Catholic Church teaches about that.
Bishop Lessard was no academic lightweight. He had been the chairbishop of the USCCB’s Doctrine Committee.
The Church’s focus for the laity is to empower them to bring their Catholicism to home, work, play and the public square as well as politics.
Has that happened? I suspect so in some cases, but we have so many Catholic politicicaians who have not and in fact fail miserably in this regard in terms of Vatican II’s vision for the laity. Just think of the last Catholic president or the current governor of Massachusetts!
Finally, someone in 2026 is saying what my bishop was saying way back in the 1980’s.
I copy this from Fr. Z’s blog:
The increasingly valuable Infovaticana has a piece by Martin Grichting (Swiss canonist of the Diocese of Chur) argues that Vatican synodality is anachronistic because it draws laypeople into ecclesiastical structures rather than sending them into civil society.
Vatican II envisioned the laity transforming politics, culture, and social life from within. Synodality (“walking together”) instead risks clericalizing the laity, confusing ecclesial roles, and weakening their proper secular apostolate.
Excerpt (READ the whole thing at Infovaticana!):
Synodality suggests to the laity that, when it comes to ecclesiastical and apostolic action in secular reality, only—or primarily—the institutional Church matters. Thus, they wait for the synodal assembly to tell them what they should do. In this way, they fail to realize what their task already is today: to make Jesus Christ—prophet, priest, and king—present in the midst of the fragmented and confusing reality of civil society. And because the current Church leadership is unable to transmit to the laity an appropriate spirituality for this, one that corresponds to their nature, they are drawn into the activity of the hierarchy. From there, they are supposed to collaborate—supposedly—in the Church’s mission. The laity are indiscriminately mixed with the successors of the apostles in the so-called synodal bodies, just as once happened in the Synod of Bishops. This once again ignores the Second Vatican Council. For in LG 10 it had still taught that there is an essential difference between the hierarchical priesthood and the common priesthood. Vatican synodal activists have for years been trying to push for the equalization of clergy and laity also in the particular Churches. The most recent example is the “Notes for the use of Bishops and synodal teams” published at the end of July 2026 by the Apostolic See. This is done with ever more verbiage and greater desperation. And it does not take root, because it does not help the faithful to live their Christianity in today’s world.
4 comments:
Bingo and we see this at Mass every Sunday when attending the Novus Bogus
My observation of modernity in the Roman Church, in part, not totality, is clericalism of both the presbyterate and the laity. Why? Constantly edging towards equality, despite this being counterproductive in a sacramental environment. To me, it simply results in confusion, inflates egos while creating a notion of status, or knowing/becoming an authority figure/subject-matter expert that does not exist. Despite having the best of intentions, I've personally witnessed questionable and prideful behavior among EMHCs both before, during and after fulfilling their assigned role. Pride is difficult to both quell and control. Without proper training and guidance, such behaviors can naturally surface.
In the East, Liturgy is "the work done on behalf of the people" - the word's literal meaning. We are led by a priest (in persona Christe) who faces our Lord at the Holy Table and intercedes on our behalf. Laity have the role of active participation through prayer, participation, bowing, crossing oneself. It's been that way for centuries. Divine Economy allows for laity to fill certain roles in the absence of instituted persons/acolytes, such as reader, or Cantor and Reader as I oftentimes become depending upon who is available on a given Sunday. Despite reliance upon Divine Economies (Oikonomia), roles are clear and unquestioned. Our principal job, as pew sitters, is to be humble, prideless servants supplicating ourselves, crying out "Lord Have Mercy", participating in the sacramental life of the Church and pursuing "theosis", holiness. That's it. We do not mix roles and we aren't confused as to the distinct roles of the presbyterate vs the laity.
ByzRus,
Beautifully stated. In the Roman Church we need to come up with a new word for the Mass, perhaps in Greek, that means "the priest's doing what he feels like doing and the people be damned!"
Probably 30+ years ago a homilist explained to the congregation that soon there would be so few priests that often, if not predominately, Mass would be led by the laity as a worship service without onsite consecration but perhaps a communion service with pre-consecrated hosts distributed by EMHC. This was welcomed by significant group of lay people who assumed the functions normally performed by the priest so that the priest became more like an MC. The lay ministers were identified by large wooden Tau type crosses and by their expert imitations of priestly gestures and postures. One could expect a blessing if you played your cards right. We had a period of large screen video monitors and recorded homilies by local famous figures such as Martin Sheen. Kneelers were removed and the tabernacle moved to a side chapel, out of the nave. The priest became involved in helping refugees relocate anonymously to local areas and we were advised to learn Spanish because it would eventually become the dominant language. Orans postures were expected during the Our Father. We held a liturgical conference for the parish to decide how we would rework the Mass to be inclusive and still incorporate Pope St John Paul’s changes. The defense of the Haugen/Hass portfolio was important because it contained the core of belief of the revised Canon. Synodality is simply the new leaders exerting their authority.
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