The Hour of the Laity

The website for the magazine First Things always features one article from the current issue, with entire back issues being available online.

I'm happy to see that the featured article from the November issue is Mary Ann Glendon's terrific piece, The Hour of the Laity.

Essentially, Glendon is echoing the documents of Vatican II, Paul VI, and John Paul II which call for the laity to bring the Gospel to the world in the affairs of their daily lives. Particularly, she calls for an intellectual renewal among American Catholics, arguing that "we have neglected our stewardship duties toward the intellectual heritage that we hold in trust for future generations," and stating that we "need to rededicate themselves to the intellectual apostolate, not only for the sake of the Church’s mission, but for the sake of a country that has become dangerously careless about the moral foundations on which our freedoms depend."

Near the end of the article, she writes:

"What if the scattered Catholic faithful were to remember and embrace the heritage that is rightly theirs? What if they were to rediscover the newness of their faith and its power to judge the prevailing culture? What an awakening that would be for the sleeping giant! As John Paul II likes to tell young people: “If you are what you should be—that is if you live Christianity without compromise—you will set the world ablaze!”"

What if, indeed!