Laity must make decisions, not just implement them

WelCom August 2021 Looking ahead to a looming Synod of Bishops on the concept of ‘synodality’, a lay Venezuelan theologian says the time has come for bishops to grasp one…

WelCom August 2021

Looking ahead to a looming Synod of Bishops on the concept of ‘synodality’, a lay Venezuelan theologian says the time has come for bishops to grasp one key point: Lay people aren’t just called to implement decisions in the Church made by others, but to make those decisions themselves. Layman Rafael Luciani, who divides his year between Venezuela and Boston, where he works at Boston College, is one of three Latin American theologians who were chosen as consultants for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on Synodality, to which he hopes to contribute ‘from a non-clerical vision’. If there is no co-governance, there is no understanding of the Church that involves all the baptised’, Luciani said.