Gary Michael Voris: Do you think there is a specific role for the laity, an additional role for the laity in this period of crisis in the Church?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, I think this is the hour of the laity today. This is what the Second Vatican Council had in mind. I believe it is now the responsibility of the laity to confess Christ and to bear witness to the realities that touch them most directly, particularly marriage and family, which are under attack today.
This witness is not only directed toward the world outside the Church, but also within the Church itself. It is the laity’s testimony that can strengthen the faith of others, even some members of the clergy and bishops. Mystically, the first witnesses should be the clergy, but in these times, it seems that the laity must take up this role, in some sense, to support and reinforce the faith of the Church.
The Second Vatican Council emphasized that the laity has a special mission within the Church: to contribute to the spiritual good of the entire Church. And this contribution is centered on faith. In this sense, your efforts and the efforts of your colleagues are very much in line with the vision of Vatican II.