like to clone him. But since that’s not possible, he’s doing the next best thing: he’s putting this priest in as many places as he can, hoping his leadership skills ignite more and more people to become more effective leaders themselves.
The cynic would say, “No good deed goes unpunished.” And, in truth, the frequent moves were beginning to wear on the man. But he knew what it meant to be a priest, and he had accepted the stole freely, despite great personal sacrifice. He was called, and he would follow … again and again.
When he was ordained, this man was ready to be an exceptionally effective parish leader — and the people noticed it instantly. In his case, we have the U.S. Marine Corps and a gifted, dedicated mentor to thank for his incredible pastoral leadership skills. But we can’t rely on the Department of Defense to train all our pastors for effective leadership. If we want truly powerful leaders in the Church — people who can enkindle and enrich the faith of the laity — we will have to equip them to lead like Jesus.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
• Do I ever experience difficulty applying my faith convictions to the situations that arise in my everyday life?
• If so, when and where does this happen most often? In what roles do I experience the most difficulty? Why is this so?
• What is the greatest challenge I currently face as I try to live my faith and function as a leader at home, at work, in my community, or in my parish?
• Do I sometimes look for faith guidance in fulfilling my various roles in life and not find it? In which roles does this happen most often? Why do I think that’s true?
• Who are the people most directly impacted by my leadership thinking and behavior? What do I most want for each of them?
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
“It is to all Christians that we address a fresh and insistent call to action. In our encyclical on the Development of Peoples we urged that all should set themselves to the task: ‘Laymen should take up as their own proper task the renewal of the temporal order…. It belongs to the laity, without waiting passively for orders and directives, to take the initiative freely and to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live.’ ” 3
Pope Paul VI
Chapter Two
What Is Our Purpose?
Lay Catholics of a certain age grew up thinking their purpose in the Church, and perhaps in life, was to “pray, pay, and obey.” However, Jesus had a much larger role in mind for us. So did many of our Church leaders down through the ages. We might not have heard about their vision for us in childhood catechism classes because it concerns how we function as adults. But since we are now adults, we should consider it.
At Vatican II, the council fathers addressed this issue as soon as they addressed the meaning of baptism. Quoting 1 Peter 2:9, they wrote that baptism makes us part of Jesus’ own body and consecrates us “into a kingly priesthood and a holy nation” where we are called to “witness to Christ all the world over.”4 Makes us sound important, doesn’t it? But perhaps it also sounds a little too idealistic to fit the reality of our everyday lives. Elsewhere in the documents of Vatican II, the council fathers offered a more down-to-earth description of the role of all baptized persons:
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life which, as it were, constitute their very existence. There they are called by God that, being led by the spirit to the Gospel, they may contribute to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular duties. Thus, especially by the witness of their life, resplendent in faith, hope and charity they must manifest Christ to others. It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are so closely associated that these may be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.5
Here we are presented with a clear call to lead like Jesus in our everyday lives at home, at work, and in our communities. To summarize:
• What are the laity called by Christ to do? To work for the “sanctification of the world.”
• How are we to do it? By “the witness of [our] life, resplendent in faith, hope and charity.” (Clearly, it is much more a matter of what we do than what we say.)
A few years after the Second Vatican Council ended, Pope Paul VI added a note of urgency regarding the laity’s special mission in the world. He issued an “insistent call to action” for us to “infuse a Christian spirit” into the world around us — noting that we should not wait passively “for orders and directives.”6
What Is Sanctification?
If the vocation of every baptized Catholic is to “sanctify the world,” it’s only fair to ask: What is sanctification? Perhaps the best definition is found in Vatican II’s call “to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and behavior, laws and structures of the community in which one lives.”7 This isn’t the only time we’ve been told that it’s our job. Pope John Paul II said basically the same thing to lay people when he visited the United States in 1987:
As lay men and women actively engaged in this temporal order, you are being called by Christ to sanctify the world and to transform it. This is true of all work, however exalted or humble, but it is especially urgent for those whom circumstances and special talent have placed in positions of leadership or influence: men and women in public service, education, business, science, social communications, and the arts.8
Notice that the pope said that the call “to sanctify the world and to transform it” applies to “all work, however exalted or humble.”
A Warning About Preaching
“Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.”
St. Charles Borromeo
But obviously, he was also aware of what had happened to American Catholics as a people since the end of World War II. Thanks to the GI Bill and a booming economy, in one generation Catholicism in the United States moved from a church of the urban working poor to a church of suburban, upper-middle-class leaders and managers. So the pope said that the work of sanctifying and transforming the world is “especially urgent for those whom circumstances and special talent have placed in positions of leadership or influence.”
Clearly, all of us who are baptized share a calling to “sanctify the world.” It’s “especially urgent” that those of us with leadership positions in the world respond to that calling. But if we conclude that this calling is limited
