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15. The laity can engage in their apostolic activity either as
individuals or together as members of various groups or associations.
16. The individual apostolate, flowing generously from its source
in a truly Christian life (cf. John 4:14), is the origin and
condition of the whole lay apostolate, even of the organized type, and
it admits of no substitute.
Regardless of status, all lay persons (including those who have no
opportunity or possibility for collaboration in associations) are
called to this type of apostolate and obliged to engage in it. This
type of apostolate is useful at all times and places, but in certain
circumstances it is the only one appropriate and feasible.
There are many forms of the apostolate whereby the laity build up the
Church, sanctify the world, and give it life in Christ. A
particular form of the individual apostolate as well as a sign specially
suited to our times is the testimony of the whole lay life arising from
faith, hope, and charity. It manifests Christ living in those who
believe in Him. Then by the apostolate the spoken and written word,
which is utterly necessary under certain circumstances, lay people
announce Christ, explain and spread His teaching in accordance with
one's status and ability, and faithfully profess it.
Furthermore, in collaborating as citizens of this world, in whatever
pertains to the upbuilding and conducting of the temporal order, the
laity must seek in the light of faith loftier motives of action in their
family, professional, cultural, and social life and make them known
to others when the occasion arises. Doing this, they should be aware
of the fact that they are cooperating with God the creator, redeemer,
and sanctifier and are giving praise to Him.
Finally, the laity should vivify their life with charity and express
it as best they can in their works.
They should all remember that they can reach all men and contribute to
the salvation of the whole world by public worship and prayer as well as
by penance and voluntary acceptance of the labors and hardships of life
whereby they become like the suffering Christ (cf. 2 Cor.
4:10; Col. 1:24).
17. There is a very urgent need for this individual apostolate in
those regions where the freedom of the Church is seriously infringed.
In these trying circumstances, the laity do what they can to take the
place of priests, risking their freedom and sometimes their life to
teach Christian doctrine to those around them, training them in a
religious way of life and a Catholic way of thinking, leading them to
receive the sacraments frequently and developing in them piety,
especially Eucharistic devotion.[27] While the sacred synod
heartily thanks God for continuing also in our times to raise up lay
persons of heroic fortitude in the midst of persecutions, it embrace
them with fatherly affection and gratitude.
The individual apostolate has a special field in areas where Catholics
are few in number and widely dispersed. Here the laity who engage in
the apostolate only as individuals, whether for the reasons already
mentioned or for special reasons including those deriving also from
their own professional activity, usefully gather into smaller groups
for serious conversation without any more formal kind of establishment
or organization, so that an indication of the community of the Church
is always apparent to others as a true witness of love. In this way,
by giving spiritual help to one another through friendship and the
communicating of the benefit of their experience, they are trained to
overcome the disadvantages of excessively isolated life and activity and
to make their apostolate more productive.
18. The faithful are called to engage in the apostolate as
individuals in the varying circumstances of their life. They should
remember, nevertheless, that man is naturally social and that it has
pleased God to unite those who believe in Christ into the people of
God (cf. 1 Peter 2:5-10) and into one body (cf. 1 Cor.
12:12). The group apostolate of Christian believers then
happily corresponds to a human and Christian need and at the same time
signifies the communion and unity of the Church in Christ, who said,
"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
For this reason the faithful should participate in the apostolate by
way of united effort.[28] They should be apostles both in their
family communities and in their parishes and dioceses, which themselves
express the community nature of the apostolate, as well as in the
informal groups which they decide to form among themselves.
The group apostolate is very important also because the apostolate must
often be performed by way of common activity both the Church
communities and the various spheres. For the associations established
for carrying on the apostolate in common sustain their members, form
them for the apostolate, and rightly organize and regulate their
apostolic work so that much better results can be expected than if each
member were to act on his own.
In the present circumstances, it is quite necessary that, in the area
of lay activity, the united and organized form of the apostolate be
strengthened. In fact, only the pooling of resources is capable of
fully achieving all the aims of the modern apostolate and firmly
protecting its interests.[29] Here it is important that the
apostolate encompass even the common attitudes and social conditions of
those for whom it is designed. Otherwise those engaged in the
apostolate are often unable to bear up under the pressure of public
opinion or of social institutions.
19. There is a great variety of associations in the
apostolate.[30] Some set before themselves the broad apostolic
purpose of the Church; others aim to evangelize and sanctify in a
special way. Some purpose to infuse a Christian spirit into the
temporal order; others bear witness to Christ in a special way through
works of mercy and charity.
Among these associations, those which promote and encourage closer
unity between the concrete life of the members and their faith must be
given primary consideration. Associations are not ends unto
themselves; rather they should serve the mission of the Church to the
world. Their apostolic dynamism depends on their conformity with the
goals of the Church as well as on the Christian witness and
evangelical spirit of every member and of the whole association.
Now, in view of the progress of social institutions and the the fast-
moving pace of modern society, the global nature of the Church's
mission requires that apostolic enterprises of Catholics should more
and more develop organized forms in the international sphere. Catholic
international organizations will more effectively achieve their purpose
if the groups comprising them, as well as their members, are more
closely united to these international organizations.
Maintaining the proper relationship to Church authorities,[31] the
laity have the right to found and control such associations[32] and to
join those already existing. Yet the dispersion of efforts must be
avoided. This happens when new associations and projects are promoted
without a sufficient reason, or if antiquated associations or methods
are retained beyond their period of usefulness. Nor is it always
fitting to transfer indiscriminately forms of the apostolates that have
been used in one nation to other nations.[33]
20. Many decades ago the laity in many nations began to dedicate
themselves increasingly to the apostolate. They grouped themselves
into various kinds of activities and societies which, while maintaining
a closer union with the hierarchy, pursued and continue to pursue goals
which are properly apostolic. Of these associations, or even among
similar and older institutions, those are specially noteworthy which
followed different methods of operation and yet produced excellent
results for Christ's kingdom. These societies were deservedly
recommended and promoted by the popes and many bishops, from whom they
received the title of "Catholic Action," and were often described
as the collaboration of the laity in the apostolate of the
hierarchy.[34]
Whether these forms of the apostolate have the name of "Catholic
Action" or some other title, they exercise an apostolate of great
value for our times and consist in the combination and simultaneous
possession of the following characteristics:
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a) The immediate aim of organizations of this kind is the Church's
apostolic aim, that is, the evangelization and sanctification of men
and the formation of a Christian conscience among them so that they can
infuse the spirit of the Gospel into various communities and
departments of life.
b ) Cooperating with the hierarchy in their own way, the laity
contribute the benefit of their experience to, and assume
responsibility for the direction of these organizations, the
consideration of the conditions in which the pastoral activity of the
Church is to be conducted, and the elaboration and execution of the
plan of things to be done.
c) The laity act together in the manner of an organic body so that the
community of the Church is more fittingly symbolized and the apostolate
rendered more effective.
d) Whether they offer themselves spontaneously or are invited to
action and direct cooperation with the apostolate of the hierarchy, the
laity function under the higher direction of the hierarchy itself, and
the latter can sanction this cooperation by an explicit mandate.
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Organizations in which, in the opinion of the hierarchy, the ensemble
of these characteristics is realized, must be considered to be
Catholic Action even though they take on various forms and titles
because of the needs of different regions and peoples.
The most holy council earnestly recommends these associations, which
surely answer the needs of the apostolate of the Church among many
peoples and countries, and invites the clergy and laity working in them
to develop the above-mentioned characteristics to an ever greater
degree and to cooperate at all times with all other forms of the
apostolate in a fraternal manner in the Church.
21. All associations of the apostolate must be given due
appreciation. Those, however, which the hierarchy have praised or
recommended as responsive to the needs of time and place, or have
ordered to be established as particularly urgent, must be held in
highest esteem by priests, Religious, and laity and promoted
according to each one's ability. Among these associations,
moreover, international associations or groups of Catholics must be
specially appreciated at the present time.
22. Deserving of special honor and commendation in the Church are
those lay people, single or married, who devote themselves with
professional experience, either permanently or temporarily, to the
service of associations and their activities. There is a source of
great joy for the Church in the fact that there is a daily increase in
the number of lay persons who offer their personal service to apostolic
associations and activities, either within the limits of their own
nation or in the international field or especially in Catholic mission
communities and in regions where the Church has only recently been
implanted.
The pastors of the Church should gladly and gratefully welcome these
lay persons and make sure that the demands of justice, equity, and
charity relative to their status be satisfied to the fullest extent,
particularly as regards proper support for them and their families.
They should also take care to provide for these lay people the
necessary formation, spiritual consolation, and incentive.
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