UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF THE LAY APOSTOLATE

By Sir Fosuaba Banahene

More often, lay persons find themselves confronted with the question of what to say when they decide to preach the Word.  It may not be out of tune to suggest that when the Laity undertake the preaching of the gospel, they must rely on the Creed they profess and begin by telling people the Universal Truth and essentials such as:

• That God is real and exists; that He is King of Kings, the Almighty who created all that exists and that he is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, the logos, the Alpha and Omega
• That God is the One and Only Truth and nothing surpasses Him
• That Almighty God loves us all abundantly and we should worship Him and Him alone
• That eternal life is given by Him alone and not any mammon or principality.
• That when the human being sinned against Him, He did not abandon human being but sent his Son, Jesus to lead mankind to recover from his lost position
• That Jesus is God the Son and together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit form the Triune God (the Blessed Trinity)
• That no-one goes to God-the-Father except through Jesus
• That Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and whoever so believes in him shal never die
• That for our sake, Jesus suffered a shameful death and he was crucified
• But He rose from the dead (Resurrection) and ascended to Heaven in fulfillment of his promise and this is where our FAITH is founded. Easter is the raison d’etre of our faith
• So Jesus is the “place where the Church begins” and the source, summit and centre of all that is done towards God
• That He commands us to show love to one another and even to our enemies (The Good Samaritan) just as he loves us
• That to the poor and downtrodden he demands we show concern and love and never despise them
• That Jesus requires us to forgive those who sin against us and He directs us to reconcile with God by the Prayer he gave us – “Our Father………”
• That Jesus will come again and so we must joyfully live in the Hope of Christ who is always coming
• He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter as he had promised

Obviously, a better form and substance for announcing the Gospel can be crafted by our Pastors and others with better insight so that a stronger strategy can become available.

Some Worrying Issues

There is the need to understand that some specific issues are so worrying that they must receive direct treatment and attention.  Many areas of behaviour in our world today can be pointed at as disturbing to the Christian conscience.  For purposes of illustrating the dire decadence the world is moving into, only seven examples of these issues are discussed or interrogated as below:

1. a) Relativism

Relativism is a thinking that seeks to lead people not to accept that there can be an Absolute Truth in the world.  It is a philosophy that denies and discourages the search for the Absolute (Quaerere Deum).  Adherents of relativism believe that truth of any kind is dependent on an individual’s intellectual conception of reality or experience.

From this thinking have arisen concepts such as Agnosticism and Subjectivism as well as the various notions of secularism.  To put it poignantly, the proponents of relativism reject the existence of God as the Absolute or Universal Truth.

This thought, championed by some intellectuals of no mean repute, strikes directly at the foundation of faith in God.  This is unacceptable to Christendom.  Relativism together with its associate, secularism, tends to lead people, especially the young ones to put excessive trust in personal intelligence and natural science, leading them to idolatry and slavery of them.  In line with such thinking, persons of relativist persuasion stipulate that “matter” is superior to the “Spirit” and also, “technology” is superior to “morality and ethics”.

Young people who are genuinely applying themselves vigorously to the study of natural sciences may become victims of relativism and may imperceptibly move along dangerous paths.  There is the urgent need, therefore, to take steps to ensure the safety of our young academics from relativistic tendencies. Relativism and secularism are largely responsible for the aberrant moral tendencies observed in today’s world.  The Pope refers to these aberrations as “serious errors” that should not be allowed to fester.

Can lay persons determined to see the growth of the Kingdom of God here on earth not do anything about this danger?  What can the lay Societies, including the members of IMCS-Pax Romana as well as professional Catholic Associations do to prevent what Pope Benedict XVI describes as “dictatorship of relativism”?

Dual-faith Practitioners

There are people who claim to be practising Catholics or Christians and yet secretly worship or subscribe to other deities and fetishes, strangely believing that these deities can secure for them prosperous and abundant life.

Some of such Christians are seen regularly at Church services, yet, there are reports that they conceal everyday on their bodies talismans and potions supplied them by their, for want of a better word,  “second God”.

Some may even have pots of concoction under their beds to which they periodically offer sacrifice; and some also may have “protection pads” fastened to the remotest base of the steering wheels of their cars, believing that those pads would insulate them against road accidents.

But, at the same time, they would conspicuously hang a Rosary or Crucifix around the inside driving mirrors of their cars.  Such persons are best described as dual-faith practitioners.  They are dangerous to others who may look up to them as Leaders.

Who do such dual-faith practitioners think they fool by such practices?  Is this a schizophrenic malaise or sheer indulgence in mockery of faith?  Remember, the God of Abraham is a jealous God!

How do Catholic lay people of our country respond to this shameful situation?

Abuse Scandal of the Clergy of the Countries of North

One other phenomenon that has brought shame to the Church in recent times is the widespread abuse scandal involving the Clergy, especially those from developed countries.  Even though countries of the South are not cited in such scandal, the Church here in Africa, as part of the Universal Church, can be said to share in the infamy.  Many Churches in North America have gone completely bankrupt in the wake of huge compensations they have been compelled to pay to victims that have proved their cases of sexual abuse by the Clergy.  It is a kind of disgrace that saw the Pope publicly apologising to victims and the world at large.

How do the laity in Africa respond to such phenomenon, knowing very well that the phenomenon can reach their shores?

Since the issue is pedophiliac in nature, it may be wise for those not yet afflicted by the “disease” to infuse awareness of it in the training they give their children so that in the event it breaks out in their part of the world in the future, they will have provided some level of protection for their children.  But parents must also make sure that their own life styles are devoid of tendencies of sexual promiscuity.