Lay Ecclesial Ministry Summit - Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord
This summer I had the opportunity to attend the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Lay Ecclesial Ministry Summit, which convened on the 10th anniversary of the bishops’ pastoral statement on lay ecclesial ministry, “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord.” The summit gathered bishops, pastoral leaders, and academics to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the field of lay ecclesial ministry and to consider possible next steps for advancing conversation about the co-responsibility for the new evangelization among all the U.S. Catholic faithful.
The format of the summit itself modeled the spirit and short-hand title of the pastoral letter on lay ecclesial ministry, “Co-Workers.” Bishops, priests, lay pastoral leaders, and lay academics were all welcome at the table. We worked together, side by side, exploring topics of lay ecclesial ministry. Each small group table was intentionally comprised of bishops, pastoral leaders, and academics, to invite dialogue among all participants. As a lay ecclesial minister, I felt like my own sense of call to ministry was honored and my insights as well as the insights of those at my table were appreciated.
As we look at our shared mission in the vineyard—to proclaim the Gospel—a talk by Santa Fe’s Archbishop John Wester sparked conversation at my table. Archbishop Wester reminded us that one theme of Co-Workers is that we cannot look at the ordained without looking at lay ecclesial ministry, and we cannot look at lay ecclesial ministry without looking at the ordained. We are co-workers and we truly need one another.
Archbishop Wester went on to say that we are more than complementary to one another. Instead, he proposed that we compete with one another! He explained that being complementary suggests that we are simply helpful to one another. Though being complementary is to be helpful, but not necessarily in need of one another. We are, and must be, more than simply helpful to one another. We must compete. Much like two competing teams, we need one another to play the game. We need one another to proclaim the Gospel. Like competing teams we drive each other to practice and to get better. We bring out the best in one another. This is the fruit of healthy competition.
As a Benedictine oblate, I immediately thought of Benedict of Nursia and his insistence that the only competition in the monastery is to ‘outdo one another in love.’ To paraphrase the Rule of Benedict, just as there is a wicked zeal and wicked competition which separates us from one another, so too there is a good zeal and good competition. Archbishop Wester’s reflection sparked my own reflection. As co-workers in the vineyard, as competitors in the field, we “should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, supporting with greatest patience one another’s weaknesses…earnestly competing in obedience to one another…” (Rule of Benedict, Chapter 72).
My prayer moving forward is this: With God’s grace, may we as ordained and lay ecclesial ministers compete with a humble spirit; may the joy of the Gospel exude in our manner of relating to one another and to all God’s people; and “in all we do, may we prefer nothing to Christ, may Christ bring us all to everlasting life.” Amen!
Kelly Adamson, Associate Director of Campus Ministry: Residence Life Ministry and Graduate Assistant Program at University of Dayton