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The Lay Apostolate

(899) The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church: "Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth, under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church." (Pope Pius XII)

(900) Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, #899-900)

"It Takes A Reformed Criminal To Reform Criminals"

Guiding Principles of the Apostolate

1) We will defend the dignity of the human person in all that we do.

"Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator." (Pope John Paul II, 1995, Gospel of Life, #3)

2) We will work for social justice in all that we do.

"Social justice is an active state of human consciousness, based on the transcendent nature of human beings, in which respect for each person's human dignity governs all social action, where individual rights exist prior to society, and must be recognized by it, and where each of us are called by our Creator to defend the dignity of human beings, in every moment of our lives, and at every moment in history." (David H. Lukenbill, 2004, Social Justice Discussion Group)

3) We know that our work is with, and through, the community.

"In our time, the role of human work is becoming increasingly important as the productive factor both of non-material and of material wealth. Moreover, it is becoming clearer how a person's work is naturally interrelated with the work of others. More than ever, work is work with others and work for others: it is a matter of doing something for someone else." (Pope John Paul II, 1991, Centesimus Annus, #31)

4) We know that Catholic social thought is a transformative social force.

"A Christian critique of social structures is based on the conviction that the effects of original sin are universal, and that it is necessary to conduct a keen and detached discernment in looking at societal assumptions about rights and duties, relationships and expectations, distribution of material goods and cultural opportunities. A Christian critique of social structures therefore begins by taking careful note of suffering, especially mass suffering, and tracing its causes. The more sophisticated our means of data gathering and our tools of analysis, the more urgent is the Christian vocation to apply these skills in Catholic teaching about the conditions of living within the Reign of God. The Second Vatican Council's large document, Gaudium et spes, "The Church in the Modern World," sets out at length that this work of drawing on the available skills of the social and natural sciences for the work of social transformation is the work of the Christian laity. For each baptized Christian this is realized in terms of personal education, abilities, contacts, and so forth, calling one to the type of engagement for which one is best fitted. It is clear that for economists, statisticians, sociologists and political scientists this translates into a calling to excercise one's specific competence in collaboration with those of other disciplines so as to work with the right questions. And the right questions are always, "What is the system doing to the poor, the excluded, the weak?" In Catholic teaching, the wellbeing of a society is best judged by the way it treats its weakest members." (Monica K. Hellwig, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 2004 (pp. 11-12)

5) We know that charity work is essential to comfort the suffering, and that justice work is essential to stop the suffering.

"From the Hebrew prophets to Christ's description of the Last Judgment, the Scriptures are clear that we are called to help those in need and to oppose unjust and oppressive laws. The practice of charity and the pursuit of justice are linked and complementary duties. The principle of the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable demands that we respond to the needs of others and work to ensure their full participation in economic and political life. The tradition of the corporal works of mercy calls us to provide direct aid to those in need, offering food for the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. While these charitable acts are essential, they are not a sufficient response to the Christian vocation. We are also called to work for justice. In our daily lives, through our roles at work, in our communities, in our families, and as citizens, we are called to participate in shaping a social order that promotes just relationships and safeguards human rights." (Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges & Directions, 1998, U.S. Catholic Bishops.)

Adopted by the LampStand Board of Directors, September 7, 2004