Laity Week Calls Lay People to be Agents of Change

MANILA, Sept. 11, 2009─Aiming to promote lay vocation and its potentials in motivating change in one's life and society, this year's celebration of the National Laity Week once again calls for lay people to become primary agents of change.

The theme "The Laity: Changing Self and Society with Jesus and Mary," also reflects the Church's nationwide celebration of the Year of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has recently declared June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010 as Year of the Two Hearts and Lay Participation for Social Change.

The pastoral statement proposed a challenge on the laity to lead the quest for moral renewal the country desperately needs, even as it entrusted the nation and the work for "moral regeneration" to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

"The loving oblation represented by the Hearts of Our Lord and His Mother invites us to dedicate ourselves fully to the task of authentic social transformation," a statement from the Episcopal Commission on the Laity said.

The National Laity Week is slated on September 27, 2009 and will be hosted by the Diocese of Imus. The celebration will be held at the Our Lady of the Pillar Cathedral.

Organizers also plan to conduct various conferences related on lay vocation as found in the Vatican II Documents, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Acts and Decrees of the 2nd Plenary Council of the Philippines, Encyclical Letters and CBCP Pastoral Statements.

They added that activities such as outreach programs, medical missions, story -telling and other formation programs will also be prepared.

The culminating activity will be hosted by the Diocese of Cubao with a Eucharistic celebration at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on October 3. (Kate Laceda)