UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF THE LAY APOSTOLATE

By Sir Fosuaba Banahene Certainly, in undertaking to revamp lay apostolate, there must be some principles to guide activities that may be undertaken, especially in the temporal order. Some ideas in this direction may be helpful here: Respect human dignity, eschew personal advantage, do not proselytize, pay attention to your own examples and life-style, ensure your concrete efforts to support the needy are developmental, focus on the vulnerable, encourage peerism in evangelisation among the youth, portray a great sense of charity and friendliness, ensure you do not overdo things and do not engage in arguments with persons obviously against you, eschew holier-than-thou attitude, always ensure that what you do is in tune with what the Church prescribes. You have to also note the following: Church decisions are not made by lay persons, not even jointly. Pope John Paul II in Novo Millennio Ineunte admonished that engagement of lay persons in Church governance is not in the realm of “deliberative” but rather “consultative” in nature. This policy is both authoritative and non-negotiable. Blessed John Henry Newman put out the famous teaching that lay persons should be encouraged at all times to offer opinions when decisions are being made but the making of decisions is the right and duty of those who hold the office of decision-making in the hierarchical structure of the Church. This position is being challenged in our day, even by some Church scholars, but until the Spirit brings about the desired change we are all obliged to respect the status quo of an ordered Church. KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAITY The time-honoured saying, “Knowledge is Power” holds good in every sphere of life. True power flows from knowledge, and all knowledge is given by God. Human beings strive at all times to acquire knowledge which enables them have the power needed to prosecute whatever agenda they pursue. Essentially, knowledge that produces mental power is what is required most of the time since mental power is superior to physical power. Quite often, lay persons hold seminars based on themes relating to, for example, empowerment of the laity for responsible Christian life. Such engagements should be taken much more seriously so that adequate and relevant knowledge about the Church and the role of her members can be attained. Lay persons, as a matter of necessity, should be seen to be knowledgeable and resourceful so that they are able to (a) confidently articulate their insights about Catholic faith and also provide for themselves dependable reference for responsible living, and (b) provide the hierarchy with responsible and informed opinions about worldly matters that the hierarchy can rely on to make public pronouncements on temporal affairs. It is not only in the temporal sphere that the laity can provide useful and reliable knowledge; they should be able to study their Church and submit critical proposals that can affect the direction of spiritual life. Alas, such a practice or ability is not evident in the life of the laity. Many lay Catholics just do not bother to stay sufficiently informed about Church issues. Some Pastors lament that the trouble with consulting lay people is that time and again, they do not understand very much about the Church, and bringing them up to speed – supposing it is possible at all – is hard work. What answer do our lay leaders give to such a charge? In our present digital era where information of all kind is available at minimum or no cost, lay Associations should endeavour to establish structures and systems that will facilitate the acquisition of sufficient knowledge about their Church by their members. It can be said without any fear of contradiction that the average lay Catholic in Ghana has poor knowledge about his or her own faith. He or she is unaware of the vital teachings of the Church. If we are to ask the question “how often are lay members of the Church able to publicly defend the Church when she is under attack?”, the answer would pitifully be in the negative. It is the Bishops that have always come out, and when there is a backlash the laity scarcely demonstrate credible support for them. The question is: Why can’t lay Organisations apply their immense energies and resources to the Organisation of continued education on Church matters for their members? Is it impossible for lay Organisations to organise special seminars to educate their members on say, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Code of Canon law, Encyclicals, Vatican II Documents and so on? Can the energies more often expended on struggles, overt or covert, over leadership positions in their societies be channeled into productive ventures such as provisioning of resource materials for the learning of Church issues? Let the elite Lay Societies take up the challenge of making their members acquire, at least, the minimum knowledge about their faith and the Church.