Theological reflections explore the genuine role of the Catholic laity, leading to proposals for a "lay liberation theology" and structural reform of the Catholic church. "Throughout, Lakeland does an admirable job of balancing his style to make the work useful for both general and specialized readers. Lakeland surveys the contributions of an impressive number of historical and contemporary writers on the laity."QWilliam A. Clark, "Catholic Books Review."Continuum Books

A passionate call for a new liberation movement, this time within the church in North America.... The genius of 'The Liberation of the Laity' is not so much that it provides new information or even an entirely original thesis, but that it lays piece after piece together until the pattern emerges for us, and we have the eyes to see the repetition and extension of that pattern in our own experiences of church life. Books and Religion The author, in this deeply felt and powerfully argued book, tackles the issues of the nature of ministry, priesthood, ordination, lay theology, a spirituality of life in the world. The argument is clearly expressed, draws upon a wide range of scholarship, the example of the early church as well as the experience of the author.... I cannot be dispassionate in recommending this book. It provides a model of what a theology of the people should be like in the way it argues the case for such a theology. Zadok Perspectives - a quarterly journal of the Zadok Institute for Christianity and Society (Australia). If I could have one wish fulfilled - I'd wish that Anne Rowthorn's 'The Liberation of the Laity' would be required reading for Christians everywhere! She is a voice for the church's voiceless. Irene V. Jackson-Brown 'The Liberation of the Laity' will irritate, inform, and inspire. And it should be read by all - lay and ordained - who are willing to have their eyes, and most especially their hearts, opened a little wider. Virginia Seminary Journal 'The Liberation of the Laity' is a provocative book that challenges the clericalist culture of the church, and provides practical advice and sound counsel toward a more inclusive future. Further, the book affirms the history and theology of the ministry of all baptized persons in a deep and thought-provoking way. 'The Liberation of the Laity' will spark conversation and reflection among those most concerned about the future of ministry, and the need for the church to support the vocations of all the baptized. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook Director of Congregational Studies Associate Professor Episcopal Divinity School

The present crisis in the American Catholic Church stems from a two-fold source: lay people are powerless while the bishops are accountable to no one but the pope and the curia. While the number of lay people exercising ministries in the church has grown enormously over the past thirty years (largely due to the shortage of priests), there has been little or no theological reflection till now on the genuine role of the laity. It is only from such reflection that structural reform of the church will come.The first half of The Liberation of the Laity concentrates on the fortunes of the laity, theologically speaking, between Vatican I (1870) and Vatican II (1962-65). It examines the growth of the "new theology" in France in the 1940s and 1950s and shows how in the work of one of its leading practitioners, Yves Congar, much of the vision of the laity expressed at Vatican II was anticipated. Seeing the years after the council as decades of missed opportunities to recognize the role of the laity, the book then turns to a series of constructive proposals for the liberation of the laity, and thus the liberation of the church. It discusses the importance of "secularity," the need for a "lay liberation theology," and the centrality of the struggles against global capitalism in the mission of the church. It ends with a chapter envisioning dramatic changes in ministry and governing structures, in which accountability will be central, "servant leaders" will include women and married people, and both ecclesiastical careerism and the College of Cardinals will be history.

Every church has far more work than any one person can do. Even a team of professionals is not enough. The New Testament solution was for every member to be a minister. Though the priesthood of all believers was a key idea in the Reformation, it is little practised today. Following secular models, churches usually organize around the clergy, who are paid by the laity to do the ministry. Paul Stevens argues that, according to Scripture, the primary task of a Christian leader is not to do the work but to equip the saints to do it. Exploring new options for pastors, tentmakers and laypeople, this book provides structures and strategies to best equip all the saints for ministry.

An introduction to how liberation theologists have fought for democratic socialism; demanded radical economic structural change; attempted to raise the consciousness of the poor; and challenged traditional roles within the Catholic Church with the goal of giving the laity a stronger voice.

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has been exacerbated in the minds of many by the dismal response of church leadership. Uncovered along with the abuse of power were decisions that were not only made in secrecy, but which also magnified the powerlessness of the people of the church to have any say in its governance. Accordingly, many have left the church, many have withheld funding—others have vowed to work for change, as witnessed by the phenomenal growth of Voice of the Faithful. Common Calling is indeed a call—for change, for inclusion, and a place at the table for the laity when it comes to the governance of the church. By first providing compelling historical precedents of the roles and status of the laity as it functioned during the first millennium, Common Calling compares and contrasts those to the place of the laity today. It is this crossroad—between the past and the possible future of the Catholic Church—where the distinguished contributors to this volume gather in the hope and expectation of change. They examine the distinction between laity and clergy in regard to the power of church governance, and explore the theological interpretation of clergy-laity relations and governance in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. They look at how church officials interpret the role of the laity today and address the weaknesses in that model. Finally, they speak clearly in outlining the ways governance may be improved, and how—by emphasizing dialogue, participation, gender equality, and loyalty—the role of the laity can be enhanced. Speaking as active believers and academic specialists, all of the contributors assert that the church must evolve in the 21st century. They represent a variety of disciplines, including systematic theology, sacramental theology, canon law, political science, moral theology, pastoral theology, and management. The book also includes an essay by James Post, cofounder of the Catholic lay movement Voice of the Faithful, the organization that was in part responsible for the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law. Common Calling looks to a future of transparency in the Catholic Church that, with an invested laity, will help to prevent any further abuse—especially the abuse of power.

Why the furor over this book? Why was Church: Charism and Power the subject of a Vatican inquiry? The reason, ironically enough, has little to do with its alleged use of Marxist thought, but rather with its critical understanding of the church in the light of the gospel. Church: Charism and Power is a provocative, devastating critique of the ways in which power, sacred power, is controlled and exercised in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a militant book, a radical book, but it is by no means defective in orthodoxy. In fact, with all its criticism it offers a brilliant defense of the historical claims of Roman Catholicism. Its central thesis argues that since the fourth century the church has fallen victim to a kind of power that has nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with the dynamics of power with all of its inevitable abuses. This historical reality, enshrined in the monarchical model of the church, was undermined at the Second Vatican Council and replaced by that of the church as people of God. This 'laical' model is closely allied in Boff's exposition with the notion of the church as sacrament of the Holy Spirit: the church as sign and instrument of the now living and risen Christ, that is the Holy Spirit. A pneumatic ecclesiology such as this would lead the church back to its primitive dynamics of community, cooperation, and charism. It would create a church in which everyone shared equally and where flexible and appropriate ministries conformed to needs as they arose. Is such a church possible? Is it not simply the utopian dream of idealists and sectarians down through the ages? No, says Father Boff, given the incredible growth throughout Latin America of comunidades eclesiales de base, base communities, where the people express and achieve their desire for participation and where the hierarchy divests itself of its titles and ecclesiastical baggage, creating a common desire for community and equality. This model of the church has acquired an unexpected historical possibility: the new church is in the process of being born. This church, the church being born from the faith of the poor, has rediscovered for itself--and for the church universal--the living presence of the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ.

Paul Lakeland popularizes ideas about the contemporary American Catholic Church that he had previously treated in a much more academic way in several earlier books