Year of Faith - Midway Checkpoint

Half-Way Point
We've long passed the half way point of the Year of Faith. What have you done either personally or through your parish to learn more about your Catholic faith?

If the answer is nothing or very little, there is still time to set out to consciously learn more about our rich Catholic faith. Here are some suggestions.

The Catechism
It is not too late for you to register to get the daily emails to read the Catechism in a year. Granted, you aren't going to be able to accomplish the complete reading without going back and reading archived posts, but you could start today. You can register to receive the daily emails at Flocknote. If reading the Catechism through the emails isn't to your liking, you could pick one of the main sections of the Catechism and read it. I would recommend reading Part One, The Profession of Faith.

Documents of Vatican II
You still have time to read some of the documents of Vatican II. I recommend the following:

• Lumen Gentium - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
• Dei Verbum - Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
• Apostolicam Actuositatem - Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity
• Gaudium et Spes - Pastoral Consitution on the Church in the Modern World
• Sacrosanctum Concilium - Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Despite what you may have heard or assumed, these are wonderful documents. One theologian described them as the "Christmas gift that has gone unopened." If you need a little help understanding them, you can listen to Father John Trigilio's EWTN show, Council of Faith: the Documents of Vatican II. 

A Look at Vatican II

Image from Vatican Archive of the Documents of Vatican II

We are now one full month into the Year of Faith (YOF) promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI. One of the explicit instructions we have received in order to more fully participate in the YOF is to revisit the documents of Vatican II. Pope Benedict exhorted the Church to build the New Evangelization "on a concrete and precise basis, and this basis is the documents of the Second Vatican Council.” This is wholly consistent with the Pope's comments in July 2007:

And thus it seems to me that we must rediscover the great heritage of the Council, which is not a “spirit” reconstructed behind the texts, but the great conciliar texts themselves, reread today with the experiences that we have had and that have borne fruit in so many movements, in so many new religious communities. [emphasis added] 

Since we are being asked to read the documents, we should also possess an understanding of the context in which they were written. I can think of no better way to do this than to share the insights of Douglas Bushman, STL, the director of the Institute of Pastoral Theology at Ave Maria University. Here is an interview with Father Mitch Pacwa on EWTN Live. The video is nearly an hour long, but well worth the investment.

Pope Benedict Opens Door to Year of Faith

Image from Catholic News Agency

Pope Benedict XVI opened the Year of Faith with a call to share the faith in our daily lives.  Specifically, in his homily the Pope said, “People of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive.” He went on to say that our faith must be informed by the truth of Catholic teaching. He explained that "the new evangelization [must] neither remain just an idea nor be lost in confusion, it needs to be built on a concrete and precise basis, and this basis is the documents of the Second Vatican Council”.

What is the Role of the Laity?

The role of the laity, outlined primarily in Apostolicam Actuositatem, may seem ordinary to Catholics today, but it was a radical concept when introduced by the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Christ commissioned the Church to spread the Gospel to all the nations (Matt 28:19-20) and the Council defined the role of the laity within the context of this apostolic mission. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (863) directly explains that “all members of the Church share in this mission.” Hence the Council defined “all activity of the Mystical Body directed to the attainment of this goal” of evangelization and sanctification as the apostolate (AA, 2).

Sacrosanctum Concilium

According to Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), the Church prepares the laity for the apostolate by instructing them to follow the teachings of Christ. The Church invites the faithful to participate in “the works of charity, piety, and the apostolate.” These acts demonstrate that Christ’s followers “though not of this world, are to be the light of the world and to glorify the Father before men” (SC, 9).

Lumen Gentium

Lumen Gentium (LG) lays the foundational understanding of the role of the faithful in works of the apostolate. The laity, as members of the Body of Christ, is called to use their entire well being for the growth and continued sanctification of the Church (LG, 33). The lay apostolate “is a participation in the salvific mission of the Church itself.” Through the sacraments of initiation, the faithful are called directly by God to answer this vocation. The “soul of the apostolate is communicated and nourished” through the Eucharist. Fortified by the sacraments, the laity are called “to make the Church present and operative” in all walks of life (LG, 35). 

Apostolicam Actuositatem

Apostolicam Actuositatem (AA), viewed in conjunction with Lumen Gentium (LM, 4 & 5), can be called a practical handbook to the universal call to holiness. The Council explains that the lay apostolate stems from the general Christian vocation and is vital to the Church (AA, 1). The lay faithful “share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ” and therefore share in the mission to evangelize all the nations (AA, 2). They are essential precisely because they possess the ability to enter into all aspects of life and address the needs of a changing world. 

Each member participates in the apostolate through “the faith, hope, and charity which the Holy Spirit diffuses in the hearts of all members of the Church.” This participation is forged through the gifts of the Holy Spirit in each (AA, 3). Furthermore, it is formed and influenced by one’s particular state of life (LG, V, 42). Moreover, “the success of the lay apostolate depends upon the laity’s living union with Christ” (AA, 4). This means by sanctifying their ordinary lives they witness to the Gospel truth, announcing it to non-believers and fortifying the faith of believers (AA, 5). The sacred synod spurs the laity to use their particular gifts “to explain, defend, and properly apply Christian principles to the problems of our era in accordance with the mind of the Church” (AA, 6). The function of the apostolate is to influence the temporal order and cultural milieu into conformity with Christian ideals (AA, 7).