Lay People in the Church

"What is the province of the laity? To hunt, to shoot, to entertain. These matters they understand, but to meddle with ecclesiastical matters they have no right at all..." snorted Msgr. Talbot in 1867. In 1965, Vatican II stated: "The laity derive their right and duty to work in the apostolate directly from Christ himself, not from the Church or its clergy." In 2014, laity ask in disappointment: To whom are bishops and priests accountable? What, when clergy breach the trust reposed in them ...