INVERNESS, Ill. – The leadership of Holy Family Catholic Community gathered the other night to discuss parish business. Seventy-five men and women, none of them ordained, shared readings from Isaiah and John. A Latin hymn rose from a baritone in the back row, and everyone joined in.
All the while, a mild-looking auburn-haired man in a blue blazer and an open-necked shirt leaned against a table to the side, watching and saying nothing until they began discussing management issues. He was the parish pastor, the Rev. Pat Brennan, who works closely with lay members of his congregation and describes his primary role as “the bearer of the vision.”
The influence and activism of the laity is becoming a defining feature of the U.S. Catholic Church, with parishes such as Holy Family drawing creatively from church canons as they tread carefully among the dictates of Rome. Despite last month’s election of a pope loyal to tradition, Brennan and many other Catholics believe the church must continue to innovate, not least through the laity, if it is to overcome a perilous shortage of priests and thrive.
“If the church wants to survive, it will change. If we have a death wish, it will stay with its blinders on and people will vote with their feet,” said Brennan, 58. “Bishops and cardinals have to listen more to the people, for the Holy Spirit is operating there, as well.”
…]
Whatever Benedict may decree, many U.S. Catholics say they intend to continue their experiments in church leadership. They believe the growing influence of lay people means greater openness in parish finances, healthier debate and more influential roles for women. Many say the sexual abuse scandal would have been less extensive if lay leaders had been privy to the treatment of abusive priests and their frequent transfer from parish to parish by knowing bishops.
Such thinking marks a real change for the church. Not so long ago – and in many parishes still – priests exercised complete control over parish finances and conducted much of the parish’s business themselves. Now, with fewer priests, lay Catholics are assuming many roles traditionally saved for the clergy. At a time of widespread disappointment with Vatican orthodoxy, dioceses and parishes are anxious to solve problems and reach people.
“In America, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s opposed in principle to the laity participating in strictly church-related matters. The church allows laity to do all sorts of things that used to be proper to clerics,” said Michael Sirilla, theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio.
Canon law grants considerable latitude to allow “the religious imagination of the local church” to meet its needs, said Dolores R. Leckey, senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center. “It’s not like there’s a prohibition. It’s that there’s a culture that weighs you down.”
…]
That pleases Linda Thomas, a neighborhood ministry leader within Holy Family. “He listens to people. So many other churches are hierarchical and kind of out of touch with the times,” Thomas said. “I don’t want to just follow how it was in the old days, when you didn’t ask anything or question anything.”
Necessity, more than desire, has dictated a similarly unconventional approach in St. Fidelis Parish in a downtrodden downtown Chicago neighborhood. For 10 years, the parish has been run without a priest by Sister Leonette Kaluzny, who is entitled to do everything a priest can do except administer the sacraments, which include hearing confessions.
"I hear confessions anyway," the Polish-born Kaluzny, 69, said with a smile. “You do a lot of counseling in this ministry.” …]
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043000719_pf.html
Can we expect purges of recidivists soon?!?