A Summary on the Laity of Ad Gentes
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Why this document matters
When Vatican II began, the bishops knew they needed to speak clearly about the Church’s missionary identity.
For centuries, “mission” was often associated mainly with priests and religious who travelled to distant lands. But by the 1960s, the Church saw something new:
the world was becoming interconnected,
cultures were meeting and influencing one another,
and the Gospel needed to be present not only in faraway places, but in every corner of ordinary life.
Ad Gentes (“To the Nations”) is the Council’s decree on missionary activity.
While it focuses on the Church’s mission ad extra, it also contains powerful teaching about the laity, because the laity live in the very environments where the Gospel most needs to be present.
The youtube video is from the RC Diocese of Phoenix.
