Michael Redell and Rachel Roa pray during a commissioning Mass for Franciscan lay missioner Susan Slavin at the Franciscan Mission Service house in Washington. Redell was preparing for a missionary assignment in Bolivia.
For a period of two and a half years, I immersed myself in religious life as a Jesuit, gaining firsthand experience of the Church from a more public-facing perspective. This chapter of my life presented numerous opportunities to serve individuals from diverse backgrounds and in various settings. I became accustomed to being addressed as “brother” or “father,” titles that didn’t quite align with my status, yet it was a meaningful experience to represent the Catholic Church in an official capacity as a religious. However, after a period of thoughtful discernment, I decided to transition out of religious life to pursue marriage and family life. This transition brought forth a significant question: How could I continue to Serve Church effectively as a lay person? I wondered if leaving religious life would diminish my capacity to fully minister to others.
In an era where the Catholic Church is navigating the challenge of maintaining its relevance and prominence in society, the focus often lands on the Church hierarchy as the primary drivers of this effort. Bishops and priests frequently occupy the news headlines, authoring letters, and speaking out against complacency and the rising tide of secularism. While their shepherding role is undeniable, it’s crucial to remember that non-laypersons—including bishops, priests, religious, and seminarians—constitute a mere 0.1% of the global Catholic population. The vast majority, 99.9%, are the laity, and they too bear a critical responsibility, positioned, as the Catechism states, “in the front line of the Church.” It struck me as a significant oversight that the vocation of the lay person often seems to be underrepresented in broader discussions.
The Essential Mission of Lay People to Serve Church
Interestingly, the Catholic Church dedicates substantial attention to the role of lay people. Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (2000), underscored the importance of rediscovering the vocation of the laity, recognizing their pivotal role in the new evangelization. Simply put, the laity—not exclusively priests—are called to bring the love of God to all corners of society.
Lay people possess a genuine vocation that translates into an essential mission within the Church. The term “mission” should not be underestimated. Having been deeply involved in the Jesuit mission, the realization that I retained a mission even as a lay person was profoundly reassuring. God’s call to serve church extends to all, regardless of their formal religious status.
Lumen Gentium, a foundational document from the Second Vatican Council, articulates, “The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God.” Lay persons hold a unique position because of their integral involvement in the fabric of human society. They have the capacity to influence laws, shape cultural attitudes, and transform social systems within their diverse spheres of life and work. This influence is a realm where the laity often operates more effectively than the bishops. Their active participation in secular activities has the potential to transform ordinary work into apostolic work—work that touches lives and transforms hearts, effectively allowing them to serve church through their daily actions.
As I transitioned into the secular world, I discovered that I could, in fact, sanctify these activities as a lay person. The Catechism highlights that prayer, work, family life, and even relaxation, when guided by the Holy Spirit, become spiritual sacrifices. Whatever path I pursued—whether in professional endeavors, home life, or interpersonal relationships—if approached prayerfully and with God at the center, I could embody a “priestly” role. Baptism initiates us into the “priesthood of all believers,” distinct from the ordained clergy, yet empowering the laity to serve church in profound ways. Moreover, the laity are not confined to the secular sphere alone; they can also serve as non-ordained “lay priests” within the Church itself.
Embracing the Call to “Go and Serve”
During my time as a chaplain at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., while still a Jesuit, I quickly recognized that even without ordination, I could perform priestly functions for those I ministered to. This included listening, offering prayers, distributing Communion, and even performing baptisms when necessary. This experience underscored the significant empowerment that Catholic lay persons possess within the Church, enabling them to actively serve church in diverse ministries.
Each Mass concludes with the dismissal, urging Catholics to “go forth!” with the missionary purpose of sharing the Gospel with everyone they encounter in their daily lives. The Church places considerable faith in this call to action. Why? Because the laity are the Church, entrusted with Christ’s mission to love and propagate the Gospel. By nurturing the ground through their prayers and actions, lay persons contribute to preparing the world to more readily receive Jesus’ message of peace, love, and justice, essentially preparing hearts to serve church and its teachings.
The Catholic Church entrusts the laity with a crucial ministry: to integrate their faith and love for Christ into every aspect of their lives, both within the secular world and within the Church community. History shows that women and men from all walks of life supported the Apostle Paul in his extensive missionary endeavors. Contemporary Church documents continue to call upon the laity to carry forward this vital work, encouraging them to actively serve church in the modern world.
Every Christian lay person should contemplate how they can further engage in Christ’s mission, both within and beyond their parishes. This is a question I continually reflect upon as I navigate my path as a lay person once again. God bestows upon the laity significant and sacred empowerment, calling us to be priests, prophets, and kings in our own right. With their diverse gifts and talents, lay people are uniquely positioned to become instruments of Christ’s presence and influence in every corner of the world, reaching every type of person, and in every conceivable context, all in service to the Church and its divine mission.
