The Responsibility of the Laity
It is the laity's "special vocation . . . to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will”
Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Vatican II
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"The new evangelization that can make the twenty-first century a springtime of the gospel is a task for the entire People of God, but will depend in a decisive way on the lay faithful being fully aware of their baptismal vocation and their responsibility for bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to their culture and society."[emphasis added]
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"the laity must take up the renewal of the temporal order as their own special obligation . . . ”
[It is] “. . . so much the duty and responsibility of the laity that it can never be performed properly by others" [emphasis added -- Note not by bishops, not by priests -- it is clearly the laity's responsibility]
The Apostolate of the Laity , Vatican II
The "new state of affairs today both in the Church and in social, economic, political and cultural life, calls with a particular urgency for the action of the lay faithful. . . It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle" [emphasis added]
“In particular the lay faithful are called to restore to creation all its original value"
". . . a faith that does not affect a person's culture is a faith not fully embraced, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived.' "
Christifideles Laici, Apostolic Exhortation
Pope John Paul II
“The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society is proper to the lay faithful." [emphasis added -- Note again, not bishops, not priests -- it is clearly the laity's responsibility]
“A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church.”[emphasis added]
“The Church's social teaching argues on the basis of reason and . . . what is in accord with the nature of every human being.”
Deus Caritas Est (see excerpts )
Pope Benedict XVI
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