Catholic Action in the Church

This past Thursday, April 25, the entire country of Italy celebrated la Festa della Liberazione, or the Anniversary of the Liberation.  It was quite festive.

The national holiday celebrates the beginning of the uprisings that eventually led, with the help of Allied forces, to the end of the Nazi occupation.  Of course, the fall of the Fascist Nazi government and the end of WW II soon followed. Celebrations, good food, and traveling to the beaches are hallmarks of the day.

However, for some 80,000 people (me included) it meant an early morning trip to Rome and Saint Peter’s Square.  Here Pope Francis met with the members of L’Azione Cattolica Italiana and gave a discourse.

Catholic Action

L’Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Italian Catholic Action, is one of the largest lay movements in Italy, with over 220,000 members.  Conservative lay Catholics Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderni founded the movement in 1867.  “Preghiera, Azione, Aacrificio” – prayer, action, and sacrifice was the group’s original motto.  The group added the word “Studio” [study] to the motto some time later.

Following the Second World War, the group grew to more than three million members.  With this growth came a growth in prominence and importance.

Indeed, in the decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the apostolate of the laity.  Section 20 of the decree is dedicated to Catholic Action. It concludes: “The most holy council earnestly recommends these associations, which surely answer the needs of the apostolate of the Church among many peoples and countries.”

A Model to Imitate

There are many different lay movements within the Church today, so much so that Pope Saint John Paul II would speak of it in his exhortation Christifedelis Laici (29, par. 2):

“. . . a new era of group endeavours of the lay faithful. In fact, “alongside the traditional forming of associations, and at times coming from their very roots, movements and new sodalities have sprouted, with a specific feature and purpose, so great is the richness and the versatility of resources that the Holy Spirit nourishes in the ecclesial community, and so great is the capacity of initiative and the generosity of our lay people.”

The Pope makes a beautiful connection here.  Lay people make up these movements and groups.  They take initiative and respond generously to God the Holy Spirit.  In turn, God the Holy Spirit encourages them and provides them with the necessary resources. Both aspects are needed, because without the cooperation and generosity of the lay people who respond, nothing would be accomplished.

Without the guidance and grace of the Holy Spirit, these works would remain merely human activities. They would be incapable of transforming hearts, lives, and souls.

In this delicate balance, the words of the pontiffs regarding Catholic Action can serve as a model and inspiration for all those who try to live out their faith in the world as lay people.

The four “hinges”

All lay people should be participating in the Church’s apostolic work, even if they are not they are not called to part of a particular group of Catholic Action. As Apostolicam Actuositatem states (1): “The apostolate of the laity derives from their Christian vocation and the Church can never be without it.”

Hence, we can consider what Pope Saint Paul VI called “the hinges” of Catholic Action.

Four principles are at the heart of Catholic Action. And these four principles  must be at the core of any Catholic movement. The hinges are prayer, action, study, and sacrifice. Pope Saint Paul VI explains them clearly in a discourse from 1973.

Prayer

Prayer is “the soul of all apostolate,” insists the Pope. “If prayer is missing, then Catholic Action,” and any Catholic apostolate “would be missing its backbone.” This prayer consists, not only of participating in the Mass, but also in all forms of prayer, like Eucharistic adoration, the rosary, retreats, and Marian devotion.

Sacrifice

Pope Saint Paul VI explained that “at a time when the permissive and hedonistic mentality seems to have weakened the will by the exaltation of instinct and whim,” there is only one solution. “It is necessary to recall the common commitment – and especially of young people, so generous by nature – to the meaning of sacrifice as formative value of the human person.”

So rather than reject sacrifice as something evil or to be avoided, sacrifice must form part of the Christian life and apostolate. It is never easy to stand up for Christ and sacrifice time, talent, or popularity. If Pope Saint Paul VI could write about “the permissive and hedonistic mentality” of his day, how much more is this true today! A commitment to Christ and spreading the Gospel requires dedication and sacrifice.

Study

The Pope also offers insight into the importance of study, which is necessary “because today, like yesterday, the apostolate is difficult, it is contested, it presupposes deep and lasting convictions: and convictions cannot be improvised, nor do they rely on the fleeting charge of feeling, but require a solid preparation of the mind together with the training of will.” Only when we are truly convinced and convicted can we encourage others in the faith.

The Pope then offers a sort of examination of conscience, meant for Catholic Action, but applicable to all apostolates:

“Are our dear Catholic Action Associations always a center of irradiation through religious culture? Theology courses for lay people? The various initiatives for connecting with today’s cultures? Do our dear members study? Do they study the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments, especially the Gospel and the letters of St. Paul? [T]he Conciliar documents? The acts of the pontifical and episcopal magisterium?”

Action

Only after mentioning prayer, sacrifice, and study, does the Pope come to “action.” The saintly pontiff notes that this action “flows irrepressibly from inner wealth, fueled by the spiritual sources that we have described so far.” Action is impossible without the other elements.

We need prayer, sacrifice, and study, and only then can we proceed to action. But where does this action take place?

The Church, say the pontiff, “has opened up to you the entire field of temporal realities, in which, as lay people, you can and must be present; [the Second Vatican Council] underscored with a particular emphasis collaboration in the development of the family.”

However, this apostolate of the laity extends beyond this: “the same goes for all other sectors of modern life, from profession to school, to work, to time free, to the means of social communication.”

Conclusion

Standing in the plaza at Saint Peter’s, I couldn’t help but think: what if all Catholics, throughout the world, took the Pope’s message to heart? What if every man, woman, and child really took the message of prayer, sacrifice, study, and action, and put them into action in their own corners of the world?

We were 80,000 people in the plaza: men and women, young and old, priests, religious, and many lay people. What if all of us took our baptismal vocation seriously?

As Pope Saint Paul VI said years ago, but with words that still ring true: “The talents, entrusted to you by the Lord, are waiting to be used: don’t hide them! There is a need for generous souls who know how to act joyfully for the Kingdom of God! Always be among them!”