Collaborators in Ministry: A Guide for Lay People and Clergy

 Since the Second Vatican Council there has been a significant theological development of the church’s understanding of the involvement of lay people in ministry. There has been a notable shift from a time when the clergy led and lay people followed, to lay people “filling in” where there was a shortage of clergy, to the present appreciation that all the faithful are called to share in the church’s mission by virtue of their baptism.

This work will assist both lay people and clergy to understand the principles of a collaborative approach to ministry. In doing so, it contributes to the ongoing discussion of how to re-imagine the way lay people and clergy can work together in fulfilling the missionary mandate bequeathed to the Christian community by Jesus Christ.

Father Brian Lucas is a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney. After 10 years in parish and cathedral ministry he spent 12 years as the secretary and financial administrator of the Archdiocese of Sydney and 13 years as the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference before his current appointment as the national director of Catholic Mission. Father Lucas has academic qualifications in law, theology, general studies, and religious education. He is a co-author of Celebrating with Children and the Church Administration Handbook and author of Pleasing to God: The Call to Church Administration (all published by St Pauls Publications).