My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

This coming Sunday has been designated in the Diocese of Brooklyn as Lay Ministry Sunday.  It is an opportunity to again reflect on the role of the laity in the Church.  The Second Vatican Council, whose 50th anniversary we celebrate this year, made one inestimable contribution to our understanding of the Church: that the Church is the People of God. No other image from the Second Vatican Council clearly reflects the teachings of the bishops under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Only 1% of the Church are clergy and religious. It is the laity who make up the vast amount of people in the Church and whose responsibility it is to be the Church in the world.

The development in the past 50 years of lay ministry, and even prior, has taken slow but steady steps. The first is to educate the laity regarding their responsibility. Then, it is to give them the theological formation necessary to exercise this responsibility. Finally, it is to give them the encouragement necessary to put it into practice.

The Diocese of Brooklyn can be very proud of its lay ministry development program, which has been in existence for many years.  Each year, new candidates are recruited for the three-year lay ministry program, which will begin again this coming September.   This program of theological formation, with its pastoral applications, has enabled over 600 persons in the past 10 years to complete this course, many of whom have gone on for formal degrees at St. John’s University and other institutions. The formation of the laity truly is a grave responsibility which we take very seriously.

Most importantly, however, is how this ministry is exercised. By happy coincidence, next week we also celebrate the Feast of St. Valentine, a day when we can reflect on the meaning of marriage on World Marriage Day, which coincides this year with our Lay Ministry Sunday.  There is no more important ministry for the laity than that of marriage.  Unfortunately, in our society today only 51% of persons enter into marriage in comparison to 71% from 30 years ago.  These numbers are also similar for Catholics. Perhaps this number will continue to decline. There has been a loss of meaning on the sacramentality of marriage, much less the civil implications of what marriage truly means.

Marriage and Family Life Education
How can we restore a healthy understanding of marriage and its sacramental character?  None of this re-education and formation will be accomplished easily or quickly. We must start with our youth, giving them a good understanding of what family life is about and how it is tied to the sacrament of marriage, which gives the necessary graces to fulfill this important and most challenging state of life.  As the number of marriages has decreased, the number of divorces of those who do marry has increased. Again, almost 50% of those who marry eventually will divorce. This number is basically similar for Catholics.

Family life education is truly one of the goals of our lay ministry formation. It is the culture in which we live that must be faced and understood to its very depths so that we can counter the misinformation and cultural biases against marriages.

Perhaps it is important to emphasize that marriage is not merely a contract between two persons, a man and a woman, but a covenant between two persons made in the image and likeness of God.  It is a covenant that is blessed by God and maintained by His grace. The cooperation of married couples with God’s direction is the critical factor that some seem to neglect and misunderstand. The casual nature of relationships today and the overemphasis on sexual gratification has undermined the experience of solid marriages in our society.

It is not enough to wring our hands or decry the situation. Some positive action on the part of Catholics must clearly state what we believe and assist those contemplating marriage to find its true and most elevated meaning.

If there ever was an exercise in putting out into the deep, this is one in our society today. As we jointly celebrate Lay Ministry Sunday and World Marriage Day, join me in prayer that the vast majority of the Church, its people, the People of God, will come to appreciate their vocations as laity and as married individuals.