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Theologians’ Corner
Models of Faithfulness
Servants of the Gospel; Servants of the Church
Sally Vance-Trembath and Gaile Pohlhaus
The late moral theologian Richard A. McCormick defines
dissent as “a judgment of disagreement with
an official Church teaching or practice.” By
that definition, VOTF does not “dissent” from
any teaching or practice that has been officially
pronounced by the Church. In fact, VOTF affirms several
very important teachings of the Church not the least
of which is the full and active participation of
the laity in their own apostolic vocation. At Vatican
II Catholic laity were called upon to join in the
mission of Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church.
The opening of The Decree on the Apostolate of Lay
People proclaims:
“Indeed, the Church can never be without the
lay apostolate; it is something that derives from
the layman’s very vocation as a Christian.
Scripture clearly shows how spontaneous and fruitful
was this activity in the Church’s early days.
No less fervent a zeal on the part of lay people
is called for today; present circumstances, in fact,
demand from them an apostolate infinitely broader
and more intense.”
The founders of VOTF saw themselves as one of these “spontaneous
and fruitful” groups who have risen to various
challenges in the long life of the Church.
VOTF follows the tradition of laymen and women who
were compelled by Jesus’ Gospel to meet the
needs they recognized in their own times and places.
Dorothy Day felt challenged by the Gospel to give
direct help to the poor and oppressed. She co-founded
the Catholic Worker Movement that continues to perform
direct action on behalf of the poor and in efforts
towards peace and non-violence. Day was not a dissenter
from Church teaching. Indeed, she was a person who
asked herself to live-out the teaching of Jesus that
proclaims the value and dignity of each and every
human person. Cesar Chavez’s work in union
organizing was animated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
His work on behalf of immigrant farm workers was
embraced and supported by many Catholic priests and
bishops. At the time of their deaths many people
called Day and Chavez saints.
VOTF encourages all Catholics to study the legacy
of these lay people and others like them. They exercised
their own vocations of service to Jesus’ Gospel
by serving the Catholic Church. VOTF’s own
mission is similar. We were animated by the tragic
abuse of children. As a council, Vatican II is our
Church’s highest form of teaching. We do not
disagree with that; we assent to its teaching. We
have taken up the charge of the official teaching
of our beloved Church to serve it in the areas where
we are most competent. We direct our competencies
as educated Catholics towards preventing the abuse
of children in the future and of supporting those
people who have been abused. Many of us have been
educated by the Church herself and we wish to use
that education to support our pastors and to facilitate
the systemic changes that our bishops and two popes
called for such a short time ago at the Council.
In the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops
in the Church, the Church declares:
“The faithful should be carefully reminded
of their obligation to promote the apostolate according
to their state of life and aptitudes, and they should
be urged to participate in or assist the various
works of the lay apostolate, especially Catholic
action. Those associations also should be inaugurated
and encouraged which have, either directly or indirectly,
a supernatural object such as the attainment of a
more perfect life, the preaching of the Gospel to
all people, the promotion of Christian doctrine or
of public worship, the pursuit of social aims, or
the practice of works of piety or charity. The forms
of the apostolate should by duly adapted to the needs
of the times, taking into account the human conditions,
not merely spiritual and moral but also social, demographic
and economic.”
VOTF was born because lay Catholics recognized that
they have the competence and skills to meet the needs
of our time. Indeed, many of our members were trained
in Catholic colleges and universities precisely to
be able to serve the Church as lay women and men.
We do not dissent. Rather we pray as the Council
members did each day: “Ad sum, Here I am Lord.” We
are here to serve our children and our Church.
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