Priests and laity both responsible for evangelization, asserts Spanish bishop

Cadiz, Spain, May 24, 2010 / 20:00 pm

On the Feast of Pentecost yesterday, a Spanish bishop discussed the “complementarity” of the relationship between priests and the laity and stressed the importance of both assuming their “co-responsibility” in the task of evangelization.

Bishop Antonio Ceballos Atienza of Cadiz and Ceuta made his remarks in a pastoral letter, honoring the celebration of Catholic Action and Lay Apostolate Day on May 23.

After addressing the theme for the celebratory Day, “I have not come to be served, but to serve,” Bishop Ceballos wrote that both “priests and the laity form one body, one Church of Jesus Christ.”

Because of this, he noted, “we are all presented with a series of obligations that must be very present as we live out our respective vocations.”

“I believe that celebrating Catholic Action and Lay Apostolates Day on the feast of Pentecost, within in the Year of Priests, is a very opportune invitation to reflected on the profound union and complementarity that exists between the common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood and its obligations,” he observed, “so that each one of us may assume with joy the vocation to holiness and so that we make take decisive steps in the co-responsibility and mission of evangelization of the Church.”

In his letter, Bishop Ceballos also thanked “all of the numerous associations that are present in various areas of social life,” and expressed how he finds “hope in the new movements appearing in the Church, in response to the new needs our time.”

The Spanish prelate added that “associations and movements will always find a valid measure of their authenticity in their capacity to organically integrate themselves in the diocese in order to contribute to building up the Church of Christ.”