Apostolicam Actuositatem, also known as the "Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity", is one of the 16 magisterial documents of the Second Vatican Council.
The Legion of Mary is an international association of members of the Catholic Church who serve it on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, as a Marian movement by the layman and civil servant Frank Duff.
The Militia Immaculatae, called in English the Knights of the Immaculata, is a worldwide Catholic evangelization movement founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917.
Lay ecclesial ministry is the term adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to identify the relatively new category of pastoral ministers in the Catholic Church who serve the Church but are not ordained. Lay ecclesial ministers are coworkers with the bishop alongside priests and deacons. In other contexts, these may be known as "lay pastoral workers", "pastoral assistants", etc.
The lay apostolate is made up of laypersons, who are neither consecrated religious nor in Holy Orders, who exercise a ministry within the Catholic Church. Lay apostolate organizations operate under the general oversight of pastors and bishops, but need not be dependent upon them for direction.
The Christian Life Movement is a lay ecclesial movement, founded in 1985, in Peru. At that time, a number of initiatives from members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae had already begun. Luis Fernando Figari, the Founder of the Sodalitium, conceived the idea of gathering those people and initiatives together in an ecclesiastic movement. The Christian Life Movement forms part of the Sodalit Family, which shares a common spirituality, called the Sodalit spirituality.
Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), or Sodalitium of Christian Life is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. It was founded in Lima, Peru, by Luis Fernando Figari on 8 December 1971. It acquired its present canonical form when Pope John Paul II gave his Pontifical approval on 8 July 1997. The Sodalitium was the first male religious society in Peru to receive papal approval. By 1997, there were Sodalit communities in several countries.
The International Alliance of Catholic Knights (IACK) is a non-governmental organization made up of fifteen Roman Catholic fraternal orders from 27 countries on six continents. The IACK was founded in Glasgow on 12 October 1979 at a meeting of the leaders of six fraternal societies, convened on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of the Knights of Saint Columba. The organization is headquartered in Hampshire, U.K.
Purgatorial societies are Roman Catholic Church associations or confraternities which aim to assist souls in purgatory reach heaven. The doctrine concerning purgatory, the condition of the poor souls after death, the communion of saints, and the satisfactory value of our good works form the basis of these associations.
In the Catholic Church, an association of the Christian faithful or simply association of the faithful, sometimes called a public association of the faithful, is a group of baptized persons, clerics or laity or both together, who, according to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, jointly foster a more perfect life or promote public worship or Christian teaching, or who devote themselves to other works of the apostolate.
The Emmanuel Community is a Catholic association of the faithful of pontifical right, founded in 1972 by Pierre Goursat and Martine Lafitte-Catta, starting from a prayer group belonging to the Catholic charismatic renewal.
Catholic Marian movements and societies have developed from the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary by members of the Catholic Church. These societies form part of the fabric of Mariology in the Catholic Church. Popular membership in Marian organizations grew significantly in the 20th century, as apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima gave rise to societies with millions of members, and today many Marian societies exist around the world. This article reviews the major Marian movements and organizations.
Precedence signifies the right to enjoy a prerogative of honor before other persons; for example, to have the most distinguished place in a procession, a ceremony, or an assembly, to have the right to express an opinion, cast a vote, or append a signature before others, to perform the most honorable offices.
The Community of the Beatitudes is one of the "new communities" established in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) in the movement of the Charismatic Renewal Movement. It was founded in France in 1973, and came under the ecclesial authority of the Archbishop of Albi in southern France since May 1975. It was recognised in 2002 by the Holy See as an association of the faithful. On December 3, 2008, the Pontifical Council for the Laity asked the Community to change its canonical form and come under the authority of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. On June 29, 2011, the Holy See recognized the Community of the Beatitudes as a Public Association of the Faithful under the ecclesial authority of the Archbishop of Toulouse. On December 8, 2020, The Holy See recognized the Community of the Beatitudes as an Ecclesial Family of Consecrated Life of diocesan right by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life (CIVCSVA). This is the first community of consecrated life to be erected under the title.
Jesus Youth(JY) is an International Catholic Movement, approved by the Holy See.
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas is a Catholic educational institution providing an international community and formation for lay ecclesial ministers and other lay students at the Pontifical Universities, Athenae, and Institutes in Rome, Italy. It is international in character and composition, and welcomes ecumenical students from other Christian churches and ecclesial communities, as well as those from non-Christian religions.
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world".
The role of a Catholic catechist is to catechize the faith of the Catholic Church by both word and example. The Directory for Catechesis states that faith must be "known, celebrated, lived, and turned into prayer" in a personal and total encounter of the heart, mind and senses with Christ. St. John Paul II describes the aim of catechesis as putting "people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ."
Teams of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic lay organization recognized by the Holy See under the Pontifical Council for the Laity. It is a movement of "Married Spirituality" which brings together Christian couples united by the Sacrament of Marriage; and who wish, together, to deepen the graces of the Sacrament of Marriage. The movement is active in 75 countries.
The Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life is a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Pope Francis announced its creation on 15 August 2016, effective 1 September 2016. It took over the functions and responsibilities of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family. It has responsibility "for the promotion of the life and apostolate of the lay faithful, for the pastoral care of the family and its mission according to God's plan and for the protection and support of human life."
