“In a secular age, those who live and work ‘in the world’ are called to be leaven, transforming the culture from within, invisibly yet powerfully,” writes Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen.
“One of the most hopeful signs in the Church today,” Bishop Long argues, “is the growing recognition of the laity’s co-responsibility in building the Kingdom.
In a talk delivered at the Catholic Social Services Australia national conference, Bishop Long notes that “pastoral ministry is no longer the sole domain of clergy; it is being lived out daily by the baptised in diverse and abundant ways.”
“As the number of ordained leaders declines, laypeople increasingly carry the mantle of leadership,” he says. “Reimagining Church beyond clerical structures is not a loss but a gift, a source of renewal and shared mission.”
Bishop Long continued:
Our world is suffering not only an environmental crisis but a spiritual one. We live in a world that prioritises wealth, power and individualism over charity, humility and the common good. We live in world addicted to busyness and productivity, when public responsibility is on the wane and the most privileged desperately work to improve their private estate. Based on an economic model of constant growth and productivity, we have become alienated from each other, from the earth, from God.
In such a world, we are called to be an economy of solidarity that takes care of all, especially the poorest among us. In such a world, regeneration matters more than profit.
Given that we are likely to become a minority in the future, our call is not to batten down the hatches and circle the wagons but to be the critical yeast for critical times by modelling a new way of being together for the sake of God’s creation and for the sake of the poor.
We live in a particularly polarised time. In some countries, partisan politics is so entrenched, it threatens to undermine social cohesion and unravel the fabric of a democratic society. Australia is not immune from these global trends. Ideological positions are widening on every issue, whether it is immigration, environment, gender, or the Voice for Indigenous Australians. But Catholic tradition offers something different. It invites us to listen. To discern. To act with integrity, courage, humility and truth. And in so doing, the Church is called to be the conscience of society and the voice of justice.
It is more important than ever that we do not lose sight of our calling, which according to the Second Vatican Council, is a sacrament of God’s love and a sign of hope for the world. That hope must be visible in how we live, relate, and serve and share resources.
The early Christians understood this. In the face of a fractured society, they shone as a community of radical inclusivity, hospitality and justice. Against the dominant system of exploitation, self-interest and greed, they enacted an ethos of communion, justice and compassion. The Church was transformed beyond the original company that Jesus had gathered and yet this creative process remained faithful to his core values.
READ MORE
Bishop Vincent Long, What the Church can learn from its exile to the margins (Eureka Street)