Chapter IV

The Laity: "Called and Gifted"

    After his return to Duluth, Bishop Anderson continued his efforts to implement the People of God vision of the church stressing pastoral councils, small neighborhood communities, and social justice. In addition to his work in the diocese, he played an important role on a national committee that drafted a document on the role of the laity. The document, "Called and Gifted: The American Catholic Laity 1980, Reflections of the U.S. Bishops," addressed a wide-range of topics including lay ministry, a vital aspect of Vatican II renewal.

    Anderson's interest in lay ministry was in the tradition of one of Minnesota's most notable prelates, Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul. At the turn of the twentieth century, the archbishop advocated greater lay initiative. He declared, "Let there be individual action. Layman need not wait for priest, nor priest, for bishop, nor bishop for pope."

    Ireland was deeply interested in the history of the church in the upper Midwest. He wrote lay persons "were the vanguard of the priesthood, they prepared the way and drew after them the priesthood, and before the priesthood came they did, as far as they could do, the work of the priesthood, instructing children in the faith and meeting together for prayers on Sunday. The tradition of early settlements handing down in their respective districts the names of laymen familiarly styled priests or bishops, give proof of this lay apostolate."

    It is obvious that Ireland both recognized and appreciated the laity's important role in the history of the church in the upper Midwest. Without using the words "lay ministry," Ireland was clearly pleased that laypersons did the work of the church. Despite his efforts lay ministry remained a controversial idea in the Catholic Church. Some priests opposed it fearing that it threatened their authority and prestige.

    Bishop Anderson was fully aware that lay ministry raised troubling questions about the relationship between priests and laity. Despite the problems, he thought that lay ministry was essential in keeping the church truly alive. With the steady decline in the numbers of priests, the church, more than ever, needed to awaken the sleeping giant of lay ministry.

    Given his exposure to the lay-oriented Christian Family Movement, Anderson was ready, indeed eager for lay ministry. The Mystical Body concept that informed CFM prepared Anderson for the Vatican II understanding of the church as the People of God. Historian Jeffrey Burns explains that "CFM was one of the earliest Catholic groups to vigorously popularize the concept of the Mystical Body of Christ and to push it to its logical conclusion. Given authority by Pius XII's 1943 encyclical on the Mystical Body, the concept introduced a new model of the Church." In St. Paul's analogy, the "Church is a living body, of which Christ is the head and the faithful are the members. This was heady stuff for the laity, who were now being told that they were the Church."

    Moreover, the concept of the Mystical Body "suggested a new approach to relationships within the Church. Rather than reinforcing the traditional hierarchical structure of the Church, the Mystical Body instructed that each person was responsible to and for other members of the Body." Burns adds, "few groups were better suited to implement the council's call for renewal." After all Vatican II's "new definition of Church as the People of God came as nothing new to CFMers, who had been steeped in the theology of the Mystical Body and who had been told for close to two decades that they were the Church."

    Bishop Anderson, utilizing the principles of CFM, argued that lay ministry would be effective only when Catholics realized that the church was all the People of God, not just the pope, bishops and priests. He maintained that laypeople played a vital role in ministry since they lived in both the church and the world and brought the church and its Christian message to a waiting world and the issues of the world to the church. Anderson was given a rare opportunity to help shape the national discussion on lay ministry when he was invited to serve on a committee drafting a document on the laity for the U.S bishops. The bishops planned to issue this document of pastoral reflections in 1980 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.

    Kathleen Walsh puts the Vatican II decree into context, explaining that "the idea of organized lay apostolic action is usually traced back to Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), under whose inspirations many lay organizations were started. It was described as 'Catholic Action,' and in it the laity were intended to operate under strict episcopal direction. This reflected the belief that the hierarchy's was the true apostolate and the laity's derived from theirs." In contrast, the Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity opened with the "emphatic statement that the call to the apostolate comes to every Christian with baptism." She adds that the Vatican II document was designed "to acknowledge a demand for and assumption of greater responsibility and autonomy of organization and action on the part of an increasingly better-educated laity, and to intensify and broaden this action."

    To commemorate this important Vatican II decree the bishops issued "Called and Gifted," written by the Committee on the Laity chaired by Bishop Albert H. Ottenwaller of Steubenville, Ohio. Ottenwaller, like Anderson, had extensive experience as a parish priest and he was eager to have the Duluth bishop on the committee knowing that he would speak from a pastoral perspective. Anderson more than met Ottenweller's high expectations thoughtfully articulating the following positions: the document should be succinct, in non-technical language, and should speak to the heart as well as the mind. In the deliberations, Anderson stressed that the laity was gifted and should play a significant role in the mission of the church arguing that the term "ministry" should be applied to certain lay activities.

    Though based on his own deep spirituality and extensive pastoral experience, Anderson discovered that his use of the term "ministry" to describe lay activities, was very controversial. Some on the committee argued that the term should be limited to the clergy and that lay actions should be considered "service" while some others were willing to extend the definition of ministry to include lay church professionals. In contrast, Anderson opposed narrow definitions stressing that laypeople ministered to each other and that helping Catholics realize this was an important part of renewal. To resolve the dilemma, he suggested regional meetings to learn what laymen and women had to say. This broke the deadlock! As committee members listened they realized that laypersons did in fact minister to one another. Thanks to Paul Anderson, the U.S. bishops did apply the term "ministry" to lay actions.

    As Anderson wished "Called and Gifted" was succinct, used nontechnical language, spoke to the heart as well as the mind, and opened with the People of God vision of the church. The bishops recognized that "one of the chief characteristics of laymen and women today is their growing sense of being adult members of the church. Adulthood implies knowledge, experience and awareness, freedom and responsibility, and mutuality in relationships. It is true, however, that the experience of laypersons 'as church members' has not always reflected this understanding of adulthood. Now, thanks to the impetus of the Second Vatican Council, laywomen and men feel themselves called to exercise the same mature interdependence and practical self-direction which characterize them in other areas of life."

    Moreover, baptism and confirmation empowered laypeople to perform certain ministries that they exercised in both the world and the church. Turning first to the world, the bishops declared that "Christian service or ministry broadly understood includes civic and public activity, response to the imperatives of peace and justice, resolution of social, political and economic conflicts, especially as they influence the poor, oppressed and minorities." The laity were in the vanguard. They were engaged "directly in the task of relating Christian values and practices to complex questions such as those of business ethics, political choice, economic security, quality of life, cultural development and family planning."

    "Called and Gifted" also praised the development of lay ministries in the church such as service on pastoral councils, school boards and committees dealing with finances, liturgy and ecumenism. Others exercised special roles as ministers of the eucharist, teachers and pastoral assistants. The document provided the bishops with a welcomed opportunity to acknowledge and thank the laymen and women who were serving in the missions.

    Highlighting the contributions of women, "Called and Gifted" declared that "special mention must be made of women, who in the past have not always been allowed to take their proper role in the church's ministry." While the document called for "an increased role for women in the ministries of the church" it did not endorse Anderson's view that women should be ordained.

    In committee deliberations, Anderson insisted that laymen and women were gifted, and he urged church leaders to listen to their ideas and concerns. "Called and Gifted" recognized that the laity was "making an indispensable contribution to the experience of the people of God" and that the full impact of their contribution was only in its "beginning form in the post-Vatican II church." The bishops made it clear that they had "spoken only to listen." It was not their intention to rigidly define or control the discussion. They simply wished to take their place and exercise their role "among the people of God."     They now waited for the next word.

The document also dealt with another area close to Anderson's heart and mind: small Christian communities. He used a Neighborhood Renewal Ministry to encourage the formation of small Christian communities. Core team members included: Father James Scheurer, a diocesan priest, Sister Patricia Schneider, S.S.N.D., Sister Joan Gerards, O.S.F., and Father Thomas Maney, M.M., and 30 lay volunteers. This successful program, which attracted regional attention, shaped the bishop's views and convinced him that Vatican II renewal really took place in small communities. "Called and Gifted" recognized that since laypeople experienced "intimacy, support, acceptance and availability in family life, they seek the same in their Christian communities." This was "leading to a review of parish size, organization, priorities and identity."

    Anderson's ideas about lay ministry were in the end decisive. Aware that he had no graduate degrees and unsure of his intellectual ability, he spoke from his own deep faith and pastoral experience. He was convinced that lived experience gave concrete meaning to theological concepts.

    Paul Anderson's legacy is not found in buildings. He was not a brick and mortar bishop. His major contributions were his profound impact on people and his ideas that grew out of his interaction with them. Much of his intellectual legacy is preserved in "Called and Gifted." Many of the ideas in this document are a challenge to this very day. The church still needs to awaken the sleeping giant of lay ministry if it is to bring Christ to a waiting world.