INVERNESS, Ill. -- The leadership of Holy Family Catholic Community gathered the other night to discuss parish business. Seventy-five men and women, none of them ordained, shared readings from Isaiah and John. A Latin hymn rose from a baritone in the back row, and everyone joined in.
All the while, a mild-looking auburn-haired man in a blue blazer and an open-necked shirt leaned against a table to the side, watching and saying nothing until they began discussing management issues. He was the parish pastor, the Rev. Pat Brennan, who works closely with lay members of his congregation and describes his primary role as "the bearer of the vision."
The influence and activism of the laity is becoming a defining feature of the U.S. Catholic Church, with parishes such as Holy Family drawing creatively from church canons as they tread carefully among the dictates of Rome. Despite last month's election of a pope loyal to tradition, Brennan and many other Catholics believe the church must continue to innovate, not least through the laity, if it is to overcome a perilous shortage of priests and thrive.
"If the church wants to survive, it will change. If we have a death wish, it will stay with its blinders on and people will vote with their feet," said Brennan, 58. "Bishops and cardinals have to listen more to the people, for the Holy Spirit is operating there, as well."
The U.S. church is hardly monolithic, but the top-down leadership of Pope John Paul II caused a significant number of members to bridle and turn away. Although he encouraged lay involvement, the pope saw limits. He took strong positions on doctrine and passed them from the higher echelons of the church to the lower, often acting through his close friend and intellectual soul mate, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
With the election of Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, Brennan and others are wary. They are watching to see how Benedict carries out the suggestion in his first homily that he will honor the inclusive, pastoral lessons of the Second Vatican Council, which provided the inspiration and the doctrinal basis for many of the current innovations.
Whatever Benedict may decree, many U.S. Catholics say they intend to continue their experiments in church leadership. They believe the growing influence of lay people means greater openness in parish finances, healthier debate and more influential roles for women. Many say the sexual abuse scandal would have been less extensive if lay leaders had been privy to the treatment of abusive priests and their frequent transfer from parish to parish by knowing bishops.
Such thinking marks a real change for the church. Not so long ago -- and in many parishes still -- priests exercised complete control over parish finances and conducted much of the parish's business themselves. Now, with fewer priests, lay Catholics are assuming many roles traditionally saved for the clergy. At a time of widespread disappointment with Vatican orthodoxy, dioceses and parishes are anxious to solve problems and reach people.
"In America, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who's opposed in principle to the laity participating in strictly church-related matters. The church allows laity to do all sorts of things that used to be proper to clerics," said Michael Sirilla, theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio.
Canon law grants considerable latitude to allow "the religious imagination of the local church" to meet its needs, said Dolores R. Leckey, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. "It's not like there's a prohibition. It's that there's a culture that weighs you down."
At Holy Family, a vibrant church in Chicago's northwestern suburbs, Brennan has established eight divisions, each with a lay director and council. The parish of 3,800 is also divided into 20 "mini-parishes" with a lay overseer, and 160 neighborhood ministries. The church employs a chief operating officer, and financial affairs are overseen by lay people.
Since Brennan's arrival a decade ago, the flock has grown, and weekly collections have risen from $18,000 to more than $40,000.
