JANUARY 2022

GUEST column
Growing the Church: Lay Ministry
In the Gospel of Matthew, the Church
calls “the great commission,” given to the
Apostles and to every baptized Catholic
to go out and preach the message of the Gospel
and bring all souls to Christ. “Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded
you; and behold, I am with you always, to the
close of the age.” (Matthew 28:19)
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church
(CCC 74), it states God “desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth;”
that is, of course, the truth of Christ Jesus. Christ must
be proclaimed to all nations and individuals so that
this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth.
We have seen an extraordinary number of lay
people in the church proclaiming the message of the
Gospel and doing so with boldness and conviction.
This is not something new to the church; St. Paul
went to many cities and established communities of
believers so the Gospel could be spread all over the
world. We are doing the same thing today; except
now we have the benefits of modern technology.
JEFF KASSAB
SPECIAL TO THE
CHALDEAN NEWS
Pope Francis has established the lay
ministry of catechists in the Catholic
Church. “The history of evangelization
over the past two millennia shows the effectiveness
of the mission of catechist,”
Pope Francis said, among whom were
“countless lay men and women,” including
many “saints and martyrs.”
Lay ministry in no way takes away
from the mission of the bishop who is the
primary catechist in his diocese. But it
gives recognition to the men and women
who feel called by virtue of their baptism
to cooperate in the work of preaching the Gospel.
This work of lay ministry is not something that
we do of our own accord - we are very receptive to
the call of the Holy Spirit and follow his guidance as
we discern what gift is given to us. “And God has appointed
in the Church first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers,
helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of
tongues.” (1 Cor 12:28)
Many Catholics feel that the job of evangelization
is for the clergy only, and we should leave it
up to them because they have the education and
formation that is needed to carry out that mission.
But when I was reading Scripture and I came across
a passage about Peter and John when they were
preaching and healing in Jerusalem, it struck me
that was the core of evangelization. Anyone can do
it. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and
John and perceived that they were uneducated,
common men, they wondered, and they recognized
that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)
We don’t need degrees in theology to preach the
Gospel, all we need is love for Jesus and the fire of
the Holy Spirit. We do need some type of formation
to make sure the truth is being proclaimed. As Pope
Francis says, “Those called to the ministry of catechist
should be men and women of deep faith and human
maturity, active participants in the life of the Christian
community, capable of welcoming others, being
generous, and living a life of fraternal communion.”
In addition, they should receive suitable academic,
pastoral, and pedagogical formation “to be competent
communicators of the truth of the faith” and should
also have “some prior experience of catechesis.”
Without lay ministry, the Gospel (“Good
News”) would not have been able to spread all
across the world like it has been doing for the past
two thousand years. Preaching the Gospel is at the
heart of evangelization and the core of lay ministry.
Remember, God doesn’t call the equipped, He
equips the called.
Jeff Kassab is a lay minister, dedicated evangelist,
and teacher of the faith who works with the Eastern
Catholic Re-Evangelization Center. He holds a
degree in Pastoral Theology and writes a blog titled,
“The Journey to Heaven.”
JANUARY 2022 CHALDEAN NEWS 7