FORUM SUMMARY
"Lay Movements: the Hope of the Church; the Hope of
the World?
The Role of the Laity 40 Years after Vatican II"
October 10, 2002
An ACMICA Forum with international speaker K Amal SJ
Response by Tissa Balasuriya OMI
Summary by Fr Peter Maher
Fr K Amal is the national advisor to AICUF
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Fr Amal spoke of Jesus as the beginning of the lay movements
because he was a layperson. We often think of Jesus as a member
of the hierarchy, but the early church firmly resisted hierarchy.
In response to the question of leadership, Jesus answered:
it is not who is on my right and left in glory, but the greatest
among you is the one who serves. So the way we might put into
practice the hopes of a post Vatican II theology of the laity
is in this way of service. Fr Amal reflected on his work with
the students in India, where the issue is the humanisation
of the world, listening to the students and sharing in their
concerns.
Amal was pushing us to look at an even broader canvas than
the lay movements in the church. He rather felt the future
lay in the social movements in the world. The role of the
christian today is engagement with the human struggle and
the custodianship of the human, economic, cultural and ecological
landscapes we inhabit.
Fr Tissa, on the other hand, invited us to think about the
historical context in which we live in the church and the
world. What is the relationship between the hope for the future
of the world and the future of the church? In the process
of change, so desperately required to save the world from
mass destruction by war and sanctions that result in the death
of women and children - to the profit of the industrial military
complex of the West - Tissa reminded us that it is by conscious
action that things will start to shift. There are no grounds
for complacency. The church offers us a useful structure which
can be used to mobilise the two necessary prongs of social
change - the conscientisation of the reality and the global
network for effective action. Agitation is necessary and it
can change perspectives and influence global decision-making.
The evening was invigorating and yet the most important aspect
of the evening is still to come - the action of those present
to bring about a more just world.
Fr K Amal is the National Advisor to All-India Catholic
University Federation (AICUF)
Fr Tissa Balasuriya is a Sri Lankan theologian and
the Director of the Center for Society and Religion in Colombo
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