VATICAN CITY—Wary of a clericalization of the laity and a laicization of the clergy, John Paul II insisted that the relation between priests and faithful is one of complementarity, not equality. The ...

“Vatican II will be remembered in history as the Council of the advancement of the laity in the Church,” commented one Council Father during the discussion of the Council’s document on the apostolate ...

Pope Francis has approved the institution of a new Vatican department dedicated to the family, the laity, and life. According to a set of statutes released Saturday, the new department will promote ...

Amid misrepresentations in the media and public square, a newly-formed U.S. lay Catholic group is working to communicate the Church's message in a way that is clear, positive and captivating. "I think ...

Clergy sexual misconduct, the place of women in the church and issues of authority are all reasons for Roman Catholics to ask hard questions about their church. But according to Paul Lakeland, if ...

The Second Vatican Council presented alternative roles for believers, those who make up more than 99 percent of all Catholics. In it, the "docile flock" was redefined as the people of God. Lumen ...

While bishops scramble to find their way out of the woods, attempting to disprove the illusion that rulers are capable of reforming themselves, the laity hold the key to whether anything fundamentally ...

(RNS) — Since the role of bishops in the Catholic Church is so important to the life of a local church, the process by which ...

Caacupé (Agenzia Fides) - "According to their baptismal identity, the laity assume the commitment to be authentic Christians, so that in every social, political, economic, ecclesial reality ... they ...

To the extent of their knowledge, competence or authority the laity are entitled, and indeed sometimes duty-bound, to express their opinions on matters concerning the good of the church.” It might ...

It was the kind of pep talk for the Catholic laity that would have been impossible to imagine a half century ago, especially in a setting like Philadelphia. Three solid-citizen Catholics, two of them ...

Now a view from the pews as Catholics respond to the Church's new policy to remove abusing priests from the ministry: That plan adopted by the Conference of Catholic Bishops. At our Lady of Lourdes ...