A Patient Firmness: The Beginnings of Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the United States, 1967–1987

The U.S. bishops' 2005 statement Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord affirmed "lay ecclesial ministers" as appropriately trained lay persons who, collaborating closely with the ordained, provide leadership within a particular area of ministry. This affirmation recognized the ministerial reality that rapidly took shape in American Catholic parishes, dioceses, and other institutions following the Second Vatican Council. Not the result of a conciliar decree, Vatican directive, or national pastoral plan, lay ecclesial ministry in the United States instead grew from the ground up. Individual Catholics created new roles in response to new expectations and new needs, coming to share with one another a new ministerial identity. Thus the early history of what would be called lay ecclesial ministry can best be understood as a narrative with two overlapping, interacting plot lines: an institutional/pastoral story that examines changes in Catholic parishes, schools, and personnel, and an ideological/theological story that considers how the people involved in this new form of ministry understood themselves and their roles.