The diaspora church: Laity & ‘laicity’ in the post-Vatican II era

Abstract

This article builds on earlier research and argues that Vatican II and subsequent church teaching on the role of the laity lack the force to effect change in the deeply embedded subjectivization of the laity. It proposes that, in a vastly changed, pluralistic world, a new sense of being Catholic is emerging, requiring a new identity and direction for mission to be developed in the context of the current exodus of Catholics away from close involvement with Eucharistic rituals and other things ‘sacred’. This ‘exodus’ may represent a relocation of the People of God deep into the heart of the sacred world for whose transformation we are given to mission as church. In this sense, it may well turn out to be a blessing, and not a problem.