London, England, Feb 17, 2010 / 07:33 am
Citing a lack of initiative and “missed opportunities” to defend Catholic concerns in the United Kingdom, Catholic Union Chairman James Bogle has called for increased collaboration between the clergy and the laity in the face of “novel challenges” to Christian belief and religious freedom.
Writing in the Catholic Herald, Bogle noted that sexual abuse scandals and “unsavory revelations” have encouraged negative responses to the Church. As a partial solution, he proposed a return to a “proper cooperation” between the laity and the clergy for mutual assistance and for the welfare of Church and society as a whole.
Both the clerical role and the lay role in the Church are equally “irreplaceable,” he said, adding that it is “vital” that the laity assumes the “essentially lay” roles such as political lobbying. This way the Church can access the great professional talent of the laity.
“We share with other fellow citizens of faith a novel challenge in which the mere right to hold and teach any faith is challenged,” Bogle wrote.