S0ME LENTEN ENRICHMENT
Several parishes in the United States are inviting laity into small faith communities. When these groups gather, people share their experience of living the Gospel in their everyday lives.. Gradually they begin to sketch the outline of an authentic lay spirituality. This kind of sharing enriches each participant. In fact, one might be tempted to think that a distinctive lay spirituality has flourished for years. Surprise! A bit of historical detective work reveals that, for centuries, the spirituality offered laity was a derivative of clerical or religious life.
Those who commit themselves to participate in small faith communities at Saint Malachy are part of a new wave of U.S. Catholicism. Today laity are spelling out what spirituality means for them. An authentic, distinctive lay spirituality has been developing throughout the 20th Century. Scholars and historians are beginning to chronicle this development and draw out its implications for the spiritual vitality of the Church in the 21st Century. American Catholics thorough the Twentieth Century: Spirituality, Lay Experience and Public Life (New York: The Crossroad Publishing company, 2001, 212 p., $24.96) is a fine overview of lay spirituality in the public forum. Its author, Claire E. Wolfteich provides a sketch of U.S. spirituality from the 1920s to today.
Dr. Wolfteich addresses the lay struggle for an authentic spirituality. "At the core of the struggle over spirituality is a wrestling with private and public meaning (p.2)." In short, she tells the story of how the laity sustained an inner life while, at the same time, bridging the Gospel and politics, business, labor, education, and other spheres. She "(identifies) the varying theological beliefs and spiritual practices that ground public involvement - or withdrawal. I will show that imbedded in the story of American lay Catholics is a deep struggle over the Spirit and alternative visions of the lay vocation (p.3.)"
Chapter one chronicles how Catholics did the task of lay formation from the 1920s to the 1950s. This is a dynamic period in Catholic publishing (America and Commonweal magazines, Sheed and Ward books, The Paulist Press) and apostolic ventures (The Catholic Worker, the Christian Family Movement, Young Catholic Workers, the Grail, and Opus Dei). The laity awakened to their vocation in the church and in the world. This period was a moment when a particular state of life becomes more conscious of its specific task and function than before, and, through reflection, frees itself from its previous dormancy. Today seems to be the time of the laity, which, having attained its majority, needs an appropriate spirituality, and one no longer governed by the standards and categories of the religious state (p.9)."
Chapter two considers the importance of the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency, the enthusiasm that accompanied the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the impact of the civil rights movement, and the cause of the United Farm Workers. Similarly, chapter four addresses the spirituality of the marketplace. Chapter three considers the Charismatic Renewal, the inner life, and the vocation of marriage and parenting.
Wolfteich concludes with her own models and metaphors of lay spirituality, and some tactics for sustaining a vibrant public spirituality. Any small faith community would profit from this book. I hope that she will continue to write about lay spirituality and the issues that confront women, poor people, newly arrived people, and the spirituality of the earth.