| 135 the Juridical Identity and the Apostolate of the Laity
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ARTICOLO DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/ 10.30446/2611-4143.VOL20N47A2018PP135-163 THE JURIDICAL IDENTITY AND THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY IN SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI L’IDENTITÀ GIURIDICA E L’APOSTOLATO DEI LAICI IN SAN VINCENZO PALLOTTI Peter Ndubuisi Ugwuegulem1 Abstract: From different per- Sommario: Da diversi punti di spectives, efforts have been made vista, molte persone hanno com- and continue to be made by many piuto sforzi e continuano a trac- people to trace and highlight the ciare e mettere in luce la relazione relationship between Pallotti and tra Pallotti e i laici. Al centro di the laity. At the heart of these dif- queste diverse prospettive, c’è la ferent perspectives, tends to be sola intenzione di mettere in luce the single intention of highlight- la visione originale e profetica di ing Pallotti’s original and pro- Pallotti sull’identità giuridica e phetic view on the juridical iden- l’apostolato dei laici dentro e fuo- tity and the apostolate of the laity ri la Chiesa. Per alcuni fu uno dei in and outside the Church. To più forti pionieri dell’azione cat- some people, he was one of the tolica, che favorì la partecipazio- strongest pioneers of the Catholic ne dei laici ad alcune delle azioni action, which accommodated the sociali e caritative della Chiesa. participation of the laity in some Per altri, Pallotti era più che un of the social and charitable ac- pioniere dell’azione cattolica in tions of the Church. To others, cui ai laici veniva dato il privile- Pallotti was more than a pioneer gio della partecipazione. Questo of catholic action within which secondo loro, è perché in Pallotti 1 Fr. Peter Ndubuisi Ugwuegulem, is a Pallottine priest from Nigeria. He was or- dained a Catholic priest in August 2011. Since then, he has worked as a spiritual director in the Theology House at Mvolye Cameroon. After that, he was sent to Rome to do one year course on the spirituality of St. Vincent Pallotti. At the end of this program, he was sent to study Canon Law at the Pontificia Università Lateranense in Rome. Currently, he is the novice Master in Nigeria. E-mail: [email protected]. N. 46/2018 - PP. 135-163 | 135 PETER NDUBUISI UGWUEGULEM the laity were given the privilege si può vedere uno sforzo ispirato- of participation. This according to re e unico per evidenziare, anche them, is because in Pallotti, one se in modo implicito, l’identità can see an inspirational and giuridica fondamentale dei laici unique effort to highlight, alt- che accorda loro il diritto fonda- hough in an implicit manner, the mentale all’apostolato rispetto al- fundamental juridical identity of la mentalità del suo tempo. In the laity that accords them fun- questo senso, hanno potuto soste- damental right to apostolate as nere che Pallotti andava oltre la against the mentality of his time. concezione di un’“azione cattoli- In this sense, they were able to ca” in cui la partecipazione dei uphold that Pallotti went beyond laici ad alcune delle azioni sociali the conception of a “catholic ac- e caritative della Chiesa è basata tion” in which the participation of sul privilegio, sulla concezione di the laity in some of the social and un apostolato fondamentale co- charitable actions of the Church struito su principi teologici, eccle- is on the basis of privilege, to the siologici e canonici e attaccato in- conception of a fundamental trinsecamente all’identità di tutti i apostolate built upon theological, cristiani. Quindi, invece di vedere ecclesiological and canonical i laici come coloro che hanno solo principles and attached intrinsi- il privilegio di impegnarsi in al- cally to the Christian identity of cune azioni cattoliche, entro de- all Christians. Hence, instead of terminati limiti concessi loro dalla seeing the laity as those who only gerarchia, Pallotti li presenta giu- have the privilege of engaging in stamente e coraggiosamente come some catholic actions, within par- aventi il diritto fondamentale e at- ticular set limits conceded to tivo di partecipare all’apostolato them by the hierarchy, Pallotti della Chiesa insieme al clero e ai rightly and courageously presents religiosi con pari dignità. La do- them as having the fundamental manda quindi è: come ha fatto a and active right to participate in spiegare questa sua concezione? the apostolate of the Church alto- gether with the clergy and reli- gious with equal dignity. The question therefore is, how did he go about explaining this concep- tion of his? Keywords: juridical identity, lay Parole-chiave: identità giuridica, apostolate apostolato dei laici 136 | RIVISTA APOSTOLATO UNIVERSALE - ROMA THE JURIDICAL IDENTITY AND THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY IN SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI The purpose of this article This article has the purpose of achieving three things. The first purpose focuses on producing an elaborate, systematic, orderly, schol- arly and scientific work that will highlight mostly, the indispensability of the apostolic role of the lay people in ensuring the future survival of the life, apostolate and mission of the Church in a fast growing and changing world. As such, it will serve as a powerful instrument that will empower the great number of the laity in the Church to become fully aware of their indispensable apostolic role in the Church. A role that is not in any way conceded to them by any ecclesiastical authority but remains constitutive and essential to their Christian vocation on the basis of their baptism and confirmation. It has the purpose of pro- voking them into active apostles in the Church, who, together with priests and religious, will continue to sustain the Church and its apos- tolate and mission from one generation to another. The second purpose is to use this article as an effective instru- ment that will enable the hierarchy continue in their all important re- sponsibility of making the laypeople become more aware of their ac- tive apostolic responsibility in and outside the Church. Consequently, they will be enabled to create the mature space and collaborative spirit that will nourish this responsibility. By so doing, laypeople will be- come more aware of their true place within the Church. They will be- come more aware of their apostolic obligations and rights, which will have the ultimate purpose of producing a vibrant and living Church ready to carry its mission and apostolate to every corner of the world. This will then bring about a Church were a vibrant community life and constitutive apostolic activity of all will not be sacrificed at the altar of clerical or hierarchical authority. We will indeed have a Church, where the structure will rightly be in service to the active life and ac- tive participation of all her members in line with the inspiration of Vincent Pallotti. The last aim of this article is to highlight the fact that at the heart of the survival of the life, apostolate and mission of the Church are the principles of “communion”, “co-responsibility”, “solidarity” “eccle- siality”, and “collaborative and active participation of all the Christi- fideles” in the very life, apostolate and mission of the Church but in accordance with the status and condition of life particular to each per- son. Consequently, it emphasizes the truth that the Church is indeed N. 47/2018 - PP. 135-163 | 137 PETER NDUBUISI UGWUEGULEM «a community of the people of God, in constant communion», com- prising of members with diverse states of life, who in accordance with their diverse states of life, have a common and peculiar mission and apostolate of bringing to fulfillment, the very apostolate and mission, which Christ handed over to the Church. Introduction Many contemporary political and social issues revolve around conflicting claims of disparate identities involving different groups, since the conception of identity influences, in many different ways, human thoughts and actions. In the world today, the politics of global confrontation is frequently seen as a corollary of religious or cultural divisions in the world. The world is seen implicitly as a federation of religions or of civilizations, thereby ignoring all the other ways in which people see themselves, civilizational or religious partitioning of the world population leads to the approach through which human identity is understood as being members of an exactly one group (in this case defined by civilization or religion). Amartya Sen’s explana- tions of Identity bring out the importance of identity in human life. We are not going to treat Pallotti’s notion of the juridical identity of laity on Sen’s explanation, although it really helps to clarify issues on identity in general. We are going to examine Pallotti’s notion on the juridical identity and apostolate of the laity from the point of view of associations and affiliations in the ecclesiastical context. This will es- sentially be dealing with the canonical expositions “De Christifidelium Consociationibus”. This implies that in the Church, there are associa- tions of Christ’s faithful who devote themselves to works of the apos- tolate; evangelization, works of piety or charity as described in (can. 289 § 1) of the 1983 CIC. 1. The religious context of Pallotti’s time For a better and a deeper understanding of Pallotti’s notion of the juridical identity and apostolate of the laity, it is pertinent we un- derstand the ecclesiology, the situation and the image of the Church of his time. The ecclesiological conception of Pallotti’s time was clearly apologetic and counter-modernistic. It had treaties essentially limited to the doctrine concerning the hierarchy and this was in total reaction 138 | RIVISTA APOSTOLATO UNIVERSALE - ROMA THE JURIDICAL IDENTITY AND THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY IN SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI against the protestant reformation and modernism2.