In an address commencing an ecclesial conference for the Diocese of Rome on "Church Membership and Co-responsibility" this week, Pope Benedict XVI called on all laity to become more aware of their role in the Church. He challenged that we need a "change of mentality" in relation to the laity's participation in the Church, shifting from "considering themselves collaborators of the clergy to recognizing themselves truly as 'co-responsible' for the being and action of the Church, favoring the consolidation of a mature and committed laity."
The Bishop of Rome indicated that "there is still a tendency to...identify the Church with the hierarchy, forgetting the common responsibility, the common mission" of all the baptized. He asked priests to transmit to the laity a "sense of belonging to the parish community" and the importance of unity. He encouraged the laity to "draw close to Sacred Scripture, through means such as lectio divina, and carry out missionary activity through living out charity."
For more on the Pope's address, visit http://zenit.org/article-26023?l=english
