The Laity In The Catholic Church Of The D.R. Of The Congo

Since the closure of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the importance of the laity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has grown unceasingly. The Congolese laity are no longer passive onlookers but are now dynamic partners in the evangelising mission of the Church. In conformity with Book II of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, they founded, and indeed are still founding, lay associations and ecclesial movements in order to fulfill their baptismal vocation in the modern world. An association of the faithful is an important tool to Church's mission, ad intra as well as ad extra. Every single association embodies two juridical aspects, including juridical and pastoral aspects. Brother Masumbuko's essay deals with the juridical aspect of the Council of the Apostolate of the Catholic Laity of the Congo (CALCC) without, however, ignoring its pastoral implications. The CALCC was established by the Congolese Bishops' Conference as a public association and at the same time as a self-governing aggregate of associations and movements of the laity. Later on, it came to be inoperative due mainly to its juridical hybridism. Thus, revising the Statutes of the CALCC is one of making it attain the goals assigned to it by the ecclesiastical competent authority. This undertaking should be carried out by the very laity under the higher direction of the competent authority who established it.