A Misconception Challenged

This statement — sometimes whispered, sometimes boldly stated — reflects a lingering assumption within the Church: that the “real” vocations are to the priesthood or religious life, and that the lay state is somehow second best. But this is not what the Church teaches. Nor is it what Christ desires for His people.

1. A Persistent Myth

The idea that the lay vocation is lesser comes from centuries of emphasis on the visible roles of priests and religious. Meanwhile, lay people carried out their discipleship in homes, fields, and marketplaces — often unnoticed. Holiness was frequently associated with those who left the world behind.

But Vatican II and the teaching Church present a renewed understanding: lay life is not a secondary option — it is a mission.

2. The Church’s Clear Teaching

“The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will.”
— Lumen Gentium 31

“The (Vatican)Council, therefore, does not look at lay people as if they were ‘second class’ members, at the service of the hierarchy and only executors of orders from on high,” ……….But as disciples of Christ who, by force of their baptism and their nature inserted ‘in the world,’ are called to animate every space, every activity, every human relation according to the spirit of the Gospel.” Pope Francis –  Letter to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. 2015

This is not a consolation prize — it is a distinct and necessary part of the Church’s mission. In Christifideles Laici, St John Paul II emphasised that the lay faithful “are not merely collaborators with the clergy, but are co-responsible for the Church’s being and action.”

Co-responsible. Not spectators. Not volunteers. Co-responsible.

3. Jesus Called Lay People First

When Jesus began His public ministry, He did not first call the Temple elite. He called working people: fishermen, tax collectors, ordinary men and women. He lived with them, taught them, and sent them out to carry His mission into the world.

The early Church grew not in monasteries or seminaries, but in homes and city streets. The Gospel spread through the witness of believers living their faith in daily life.

4. Different Roles, Equal Dignity

While different vocations have different functions, none is “higher” in the sense of holiness or worth. All the baptised share in the call to holiness and to apostolic mission.

Every vocation is born of that gaze of love with which the Lord came to meet us, perhaps even at a time when our boat was being battered by the storm. “Vocation, more than our own choice, is a response to the Lord’s unmerited call”. We will succeed in discovering and embracing our vocation once we open our hearts in gratitude and perceive the passage of God in our lives.”

– Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for 2020 World Day of Vocations

This means the vocation of a single adult, a married couple, a teacher, a farmer, a shop assistant — all can become ways to respond to God’s loving gaze, and to bring Christ into the world.

5. A Mission the World Needs

Today’s world urgently needs lay saints — people living ordinary lives with extraordinary love. In a secular age, it is the lay faithful who can bring Christ into workplaces, homes, universities, online spaces, and public life.

St Teresa of Ávila said:

“Christ has no body now but yours.”

The lay vocation is not “second-class.” It is incarnational. It brings Christ where He is most needed.

6. Lay Saints and Blesseds of the Last Century

To make this even clearer, we can look to the many lay men and women the Church has recognised as saints, blesseds, or venerables in the last 100 years:

• St Gianna Beretta Molla (1922–1962) – A physician, wife, and mother who gave her life to save her unborn child. She is a powerful witness to sacrificial love in family life.
• Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) – A teenager and computer whiz who used technology to evangelise. He built a website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles and lived his faith joyfully, simply, and fully.
• Blessed Franz Jägerstätter (1907–1943) – An Austrian farmer who refused to swear loyalty to Hitler. He was executed for his Christian convictions and is a model of lay resistance to evil.
• Servant of God Chiara Corbella Petrillo (1984–2012) – A young Italian wife and mother who bore heroic witness through suffering and trust in God’s providence, even in the face of terminal illness.
• BL Gregorio Hernández (1864–1919) – A Venezuelan physician and layman recently beatified for his witness of faith through science, charity, and care for the poor.
• Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl (1904–1964) – A French laywoman and social worker, poet and mystic, who lived among the working class in communist France and wrote powerfully about everyday holiness.

These are not exceptions. They are signposts. They show that the lay state is fertile ground for sainthood.