Participation of Lay People in the Apostolate of Religious Community. The Example of Redemptorists Congregation

Lay people occupy a very important place in the community of the People of God like other groups: religious or clergy. Their vocation is to be people called to transform the world in the spirit of Gospel through the testimony of their daily lives. In many situations they can take part of the apostolic works of the Church without loosing their own identity and their own specific vocation in the world and in the Church. In this evangelical mission they are invited to a very close collaboration with the Church’s hierarchy. In this collaboration they are not treated only as helpers but as partners sharing responsibility for that noteworthy mission. The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, aware of its mission in the Church and in the world and reading the signs of the time, invites lay people do participate in its apostolic activity. Its institutions and provinces are constantly searching for new forms and ways of collaboration through several meetings and issued documents regarding this matter. Redemptorists, according to their possibilities, are trying to create an atmosphere that will facilitate this common evangelical work. Quite often there are lay people that take initiative and propose new ways of collaboration in proclaiming the Gospel. They express their desire to be involved in the Redemptorists mission so they can live in their lives the charism given to the Redemptorists by their founder saint Alphonsus. In many cases, without the help of lay people, the massage that the Redemptorists bring to the world, would never, or with many difficulties, arrive to its addressee