United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

134 • Part I. The Creed: The Faith Professed

The entire Church as a body is infallible because the Holy Spirit ensures that she will not err in matters of faith and morals. But this infallibility is exercised in a special way by the Pope and the bishops when together they teach what has been divinely revealed either in the ordinary way of their day-to-day teaching or the extraordinary way of an Ecumenical Council or the Pope himself. The Pope and bishops also together teach truths that flow from Divine Revelation or that are closely related to it. Sometimes they teach these truths as being definitive, which means they must be firmly accepted and held. Sometimes they teach in a less than definitive way, which requires a religious submission of will and mind. LAITY By Baptism, every member of the Church participates in Christ’s role as priest, prophet, and king (which is understood in terms of being the shepherd of his people). The laity do this in the context of their lives within families, parish communities, civic communities, and the work place. The everyday gift of themselves in love and care for others, often done at great personal cost, is a priestly offering that is joined to the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist. By words and deeds faithful to the Gospel, they evangelize others, thus fulfilling their prophetic role. By seeking to build the common good of society on the basis of moral prin ciples, they strengthen civic communities and thus fulfill their kingly or shepherding role. The laity are in the unique position of being able directly to infuse culture and society with the Gospel. But they also contribute to the vital ity of the life of the Church through ministry as catechists and many other ministries. Most are volunteers, but some have been called to serve as salaried ministers. Working with their pastors, they enable the Church to witness to Christian faith and love before the world. In the post-conciliar period, a distinctly new and different group of lay ministers has emerged in the Church in the United States. This group consists of lay women and men performing roles that entail varying degrees of pastoral leadership and administration