National center marks 30 years of helping Catholic laity change world

Published: 2007-12-18

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) -- For 30 years the Chicago-based National Center for the Laity has been helping lay Catholics respond to the Second Vatican Council's call to them to change the world through their daily activities and regular responsibilities. The center "is fairly small, but it's been a light and voice for many years," said John Hazard, a center board member. It has been implementing the ideas of Vatican II at a grass-roots level one person at a time, he said. "There's something like 2.6 billion Christians in the world. If every Christian was (adhering) to the values of the Gospel, this world would be a different world," added Hazard, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Downers Grove, which is in the Joliet Diocese. Vaile Scott, president of the National Center for the Laity, said that more than 40 years after the close of Vatican II in 1965 some are still waiting for the message of council documents to be implemented, especially the call for the church to look outward and the laity to bring the Gospel message to the world. Instead, integrating the laity into the institutions of the Catholic Church has become the center of attention, said Scott.

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