Ecclesiastical Ministry

The role of lay ecclesial ministers—professionally prepared laity who serve in leadership roles—is becoming critically more important in the life of the Catholic Church. In Lay Ecclesial Ministry, theologians and pastoral leaders from diverse disciplines provide a deeper understanding, envision future direction, and offer inspiration for these new ministers and the community of the church.

In this revised edition of her groundbreaking original volume, Zeni Fox emphasizes the crucial relationship between lay ecclesial ministers and the Church's response to them in light of the many developments in recent years. Written in a clear, crisp style, the book is divided into three parts: Part one describes the present reality, both sociological research about who these new lay professionals are and a review of the ways in which theologians are reflecting upon this new phenomenon. The second part explores the new reality from the standpoint of tradition, including Scripture, the documents of Vatican II and the work of U.S. bishops. The final part assesses this reality in light of the tradition, and outlines steps needed to more fully integrate lay leaders into the fabric of the Church.

Over the centuries, the crisis of ordained ministry has not been exclusively about the problem of celibacy, even though that is important, and this book certainly includes a reflection about it. The crisis is, above all, a crisis of identity due to the progressive disfiguring of the sense of the mission which Christ left to his apostles and which made of the early church as well as the later church an essentially missionary institution. All ministry, and specifically the ordained ministry, must express this same missionary spirit in order to avoid a relapse into preChristian religious beliefs, such as the belief in sacred mediators that threaten the exclusivity of Christ's mediation, as it is ascertained in the New Testament. It is exceedingly possible that the Church might be reaching what has been called the time of the laity, and yet is also possible that we might pass through this time in a sterile way, not because of not having known of its arrival, or what it was about, but because of not having understood the specificity of the ordained ministry and that of other ministries within Christian communities.

"A Michael Glazier book." Includes bibliographical references and index.

A completely revised edition of a widely-used text that surveys the history, theology and present condition of ministry-both clerical and lay-in today's church.

Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord offers pastoral and theological reflections on the reality of lay ecclesial ministry, affirmation of those who serve in this way, and a synthesis of best thinking and practice.