To Leaders of lay Movements (31 May 1980)

On Saturday, 31 May 1980, the Holy Father met with the national leaders of lay apostolate movements, which, though having their own goals and methods, he urged to collaboration.  

Dear friends,

1. I am very happy to meet this evening the national leaders of the lay apostolate movements. Beyond your people, I cordially greet and encourage all the members of your associations and their chaplains.

As your simple presentation shows, the apostolate of the laity in France flourishes in a very great variety . I know that it is not only the well Cartesian genius to distinguish the various aspects of the things which pushes your compatriots in this direction; but much more the concern to correspond as best as possible, either to the differentiated tasks of the Church, or to life and age situations, or to living, social and professional environments. Thus the review of life can gain in precision and the action in profound efficiency. I recognize in it the sign of a dynamism and a richness on which I congratulate you.

2. Each movement pursuing its objective, with its own methods, in its sector or environment, it remains important to become aware of your complementarity and to establish links between the movements: not only mutual esteem, dialogue, but a certain consultation and even real collaboration . You are invited there in the name of your common faith, in the name of your common belonging to the people of God, and more precisely to the same local Church, in the name of the same essential aims of the apostolate, in the face of the same problems faced by the Church and society.

Yes, it is beneficial to realize that the specialization of your movements generally allows you to grasp one aspect of reality in depth, but that it calls for other complementary forms of apostolate. And then you can never forget that, in addition to your associations, there is a whole people of baptized, confirmed, faithful “practitioners” who, without being part of a movement, personally carry out a real Christian apostolate, an apostolate of the Church, in their families, in their small communities, especially in their parishes, by their example and by devoting themselves to multiple apostolic tasks: how not to mention here the beautiful service of catechesis to which so many lay people cs in France devote part of their heart and their time, and which also requires continuous training?

In short, the action of your movement takes place as a whole, and I know that many of you are moreover anxious to set up forums for meeting with other movements or with other Christians engaged in the apostolate, for example at the level of the parish, at the level of the diocese - the Pastoral Council should contribute to this -; at the national level, isn't this one of the roles of the Secretariat of the Lay Apostolate? In any case, this evening we are offered a marvelous opportunity to unite in your persons a large part of the organized laity, and this is a symbol of your vocation to work together, to live communion.

3. Unfortunately not being able to reserve a particular word for each movement or group of movements, I will content myself with underlining a few perspectives which form an integral part of the foundations and orientations of each association of Christians: your vocation as lay people, your work of evangelization, your Catholic identity, your ecclesial membership, your prayer.

And first of all, need I tell you again how much the Church - and the Pope in her name - counts on your lay apostolate ? The work that is yours alone in the Church is essential: no one will replace you there, neither the priests nor the nuns, whom I do not fail, as you know, to encourage in their specific role.

Preachers and educators in the faith, priests are there to help you imbue your life with the spirit of the gospel and to unite the spiritual offering of your life to that of Christ; their role is indispensable and you too must be very concerned about priestly vocations.

Likewise, men and women religious are there to bear witness to the beatitudes and the undivided love of Christ. I ask them to act as priests, as religious; and you, you must act as true lay people, responsible all day long for family, social and professional tasks where you incarnate the presence and witness of Christ, where you seek to make this world and its structures a world more worthy of the sons of God. Thus you develop as Christians all your capacities as men; and likewise women, who have a magnificent role to play today in the apostolate, with all the resources of their femininity, in a world where they have and increasingly take their place and their responsibilities.

In short, you all participate in the mission of the Church, in her prophetic, priestly and royal mission, by virtue of your baptism and your confirmation.

Happy Vatican Council II which has brought to light your “vocation as lay people” by articulating it on the life of the whole people of God! I no longer need to quote to you the Constitution “ Lumen Gentium ”[ 1 ], nor the decree “ Apostolicam Actuositatem ” which must remain the charter of your rights and duties in the Church.

In Krakow, we worked together in synod, for years, with the laity, to better assimilate and live the Council. I was also, by the benevolence of Paul VI, a member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. And in Rome, I try to take the time to receive as many lay groups as possible.

I took the liberty of emphasizing your fine role, your indispensable role, when you are well convinced of it and when, probably, your movements are still enjoying vitality and encouraging fruits. But I also know the difficulties that your apostolate is encountering today. They come from the world you want to evangelize: it is very marked by secularization, let's even say by unbelief, and also by the weakening of the moral sense, not to mention the acute problems posed by certain living conditions and social changes.

But the difficulties can also affect your movements themselves and their limbs, for example because of a greater reluctance to commit now, or because certain movements have experienced shortness of breath and deviations, perhaps because they had neglected one of the elements that I am going to talk about. But, despite all this, the organized apostolate entrusted to you, without denying the place of other forms of apostolate, remains today an instrument whose importance for evangelization no one should underestimate.

4. Evangelization is indeed the common goal of all your movements. It is by definition the common thread of your Catholic action programs or spirituality movements; but it is also true for the Christian movements of cultural activities and the socio-charitable movements, because it is ultimately a question of carrying out a work of Christian education or of witnessing to the tenderness of God and of forming hearts to charity.

The entire apostolic exhortation “ Evangelii Nuntiandi ” of my predecessor Paul VI magnificently illustrates the meaning and ways of evangelization. You are called to be witnesses of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, to contribute to the conversion of the personal and collective conscience of men. Thus you allow them to live in the Church - which presupposes witness to life, explicit proclamation, catechesis, sacramental and community life, education in Christian commitment - and, moreover, you imbue the world with the values ​​of the Gospel in the perspective of the Kingdom of God.

Your apostolate therefore announces Jesus Christ at the heart of family, professional, social and political life; it directs the efforts that are made to create better living conditions, more in conformity with justice, peace, truth, fraternity. But the testimony of your movements cannot be confused with a technical, economic or political work. It aims, in fact, to “make humanity itself new,... (and) there is no new humanity if there are not first new men of the newness of baptism and of life according to the Gospel”[ 2 ], according to the justice, peace and love of Christ .

5. This exalting and demanding mission requires that the members of your movements constantly strengthen their Christian and Catholic identity , without which they could not be the witnesses of whom we have spoken. Of course, apostolic dialogue presupposes the effort to observe and analyze attentively the realities lived by our contemporaries; but at the same time it always requires critical discernment to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Apostolic dialogue invites us to recognize the stones of waiting and even the signs of the Holy Spirit at work in people's hearts; but this presupposes precisely the gaze of a profound faith, and the concern for a purification and a revelation in fullness.

This is why I warmly approve of all the efforts made by your movements to foster a deepening of the faith, thanks to a doctrinal reflection on Christ, the Church, the man redeemed by Christ; and a true spiritual search. Because, ultimately, apostolic dialogue starts from faith and presupposes a firm Christian identity. And this is all the more necessary, you experience it, as your apostolic activity plunges you into a more secularized world, as the questions asked are more delicate, as those who today offer themselves to be militant in your movements are, despite their great generosity, less assured in their faith, less supported by Christian structures, more sensitive to ideologies foreign to the faith.

6. You cannot strengthen your Catholic identity without strengthening your belonging to the people of God , in its practical implications. It means being aware that our whole Christian being comes to us through the Church: faith, divine life, sacraments, life of prayer; that the centuries-old experience of the Church nourishes us and helps us to walk on partly new paths; that the Magisterium is given to the Church to guarantee its authenticity, its unity and its coherent and sure functioning. Even more than that, I hope that your lay people will learn to love the Church like a Mother, that they will be happy and proud to be her sons and her active members.

And, as I told you at the beginning, the spirit of the Church must make you seek dialogue and collaboration with other associations, with the whole of the people of God, from whom you are inseparable and in whose service you are. Furthermore, I have invited you to take up your responsibility as lay people: it necessarily revolves around that of the priest who must keep his place, in your teams, as a priest, as a sign of Christ the Head, participating in his mediation, and a sign of the Church which always goes beyond the life of the team or the movement.

Similarly, as national leaders at the top of your movements, you will be able to combine unity of program and action with the flexibility to allow appropriate and responsible action at all levels. Above all, your movements will have at heart to enter into the perspectives of the local Church, of the universal Church, through your trusting communion with your bishops and with the Successor of Peter. I know and I appreciate that at the national level this bond manifests itself especially with the bishops of the Episcopal Commissions specialized in your problems.

7. I end by encouraging you to be men and women of prayer . For it is the Spirit of God which must be the soul of your apostolate, permeate your thoughts, your desires, your actions, purify them, elevate them. The laity are called like priests and religious to holiness; prayer is the privileged path. And then you have many opportunities to give thanks and to intercede for all those you meet. I learned with great pleasure that there was a real revival of prayer in France, which is reflected among other things in the flowering of prayer groups, but which also affects, I hope, the life of your movements.

God be praised! May the Virgin Mary always accompany the apostolate you undertake in the name of her Son. And I, expressing to you my confidence and my joy, I wholeheartedly bless you as well as all the members of your movements, and your families.

“Hail Mary, / full of grace, / the Lord is with you, / you are blessed among all women / and Jesus, the fruit of your womb, / is blessed. / Holy Mary, Mother of God, / pray for us poor sinners, / now, and at the hour of our death. / Amen!”.

 [ 1 ] Cfr. Lumen Gentium , 30-38.

 [ 2 ] Pauli VI Evangelii Nuntiandi , 18.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana