The days of “co-responsibility” are back.
This was one of the most widely used terms during the Second Vatican Council, but it then disappeared for years.
A convention organised in France (the proceedings of which were published in recent days) brought the word “co-responsibility” back to life and pointed to the community of Saint-Luc in Marseilles as a model of collaboration between the clergy and the laity in the Church.
Nicole Lemaitre reported on the details of the discussion, on the French website Baptises.
During the convention there was talk of co-responsibility being achieved through the notion of communion, in the sense of what Trinitarian life is: “All faithful are present in it, through their participation in the grace of the sacraments.”
The starting points are the slogan of the French Episcopate’s General Assembly in 1973 (“Everyone in the Church is responsible”) and the apostolic exhortation “Christifideles laici” (“in virtue of this mutual baptismal dignity, the lay faithful are co-responsible, along with all ordained ministers and all monks and nuns following the Church’s mission.”)
There are some important examples of this through history. During the inaugural conference of the IV ecclesiastical Convention (Verona, 16-20 October 2006), Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi referred to co-responsibility as “the basis for a relationship between the various components of God’s people – a population that is rich and fertile from an ecclesiastical point of view.”
Giorgio Campanini, a Professor of History and Political Doctrine at the University of Parma, explained that many ecclesiastical sectors have presented motions aimed at helping get the most out of what lay people can bring to Church life.
“The lay apostolate’s contribution to the Church’s mission of evangelisation was described in the past using two words which represent a long history of ecclesiological disputes and pastoral choices: “participation” and “collaboration”, Campanini stated.
But what really acted as a compass for this “revival” of co-responsibility, was the speech Benedict XVI gave at the end of May 2009, in the Basilica of Saint John the Lateran, during the opening of the ecclesiastical Convention organised by the Diocese of Rome, on the theme: “Ecclesiastical participation and pastoral co-responsibility”.
The Pope pointed to the lay people as being co-responsible individuals in the Church’s mission. They can no longer be considered “collaborators” of the clergy but must be seen as “co-responsible” contributors to the Church’s mission.
An exhortation to reflect on the truth of the faith felt and practiced by the faithful particularly lay members of the Church and on the extent to which their ecclesiastical participation was open to pastoral co-responsibility.
Pope Benedict XVI recalled the fruits of the Second Vatican Council, but at the same time, emphasised that its receptions was not without its difficulties and was sometimes misinterpreted. There was also a tendency to identify the Catholic Church with the hierarchy.
He especially warned against a purely sociological vision of the People of God notion, stressing that the Council had not wanted a split, another Church, “but a real renewal, with the continuation of the Church as a single subject that grows through time and develops, always remaining the same, single subject of the People of God undertaking a pilgrimage.”
Too many baptised individuals today have either strayed from the path of the Church and no longer feel part of the ecclesiastical community or they only turn to parishes for religious services in certain circumstances.
“A change in mentality is required, particularly in relation to lay people – the Pope emphasised. There need to stop being considered as “collaborators” of the clergy, to being recognised as truly “co-responsible” members, involved in the being and actions of the Church, in favour of a strengthened, mature and committed laity.”
Hence the need for an education that is more attentive to the Church’s vision, a better pastoral strategy and the promotion of co-responsibility among the People of God, without overshadowing the role of parish priests.
It is also important to take care in the presentation of the Eucharistic liturgy, from which communion derives. Indeed, the Pope said, we must always learn to guard the unity of the Church from rivalries, competitiveness and jealousy which can grow within and among ecclesiastical communities.
“The spiritual and apostolic growth of the community eventually leads to its increase in size, through determined missionary action,” – the Pope stressed.
Therefore, do all that you can to restore life to every parish, as in the days of the urban Mission, to small groups or pastoral counselling centres for faithful who announce Christ and his Word, places where it is possible to experience faith, exercise charity and plan hope.”
The structure of big urban parishes, made up of small communities which are increasing in number, promotes a more widespread missionary spirit that takes population density and its often significantly diversified social and cultural physiognomy, into account.
The Pope thus emphasised the importance of putting this pastoral method into effect in the workplace.
“When asked how they would explain Christianity’s success during the early centuries, from the ascent of a presumed Jewish sect, to the religion of an entire Empire, historians respond by saying that it was, above all, the experience of Christian charity that persuaded the world. This is why living in charity, is the primary aspect of missionary life.”
According to participants of the convention organised in France, on the theme of “co-responsibility, new ecclesiology begins with baptism. And “The dawn of a new Christianity that is more open, more dynamic and more utopian, appears closer.”