Antonio Rosmini, Italian philosopher (1797-1855, he was beatified this last Sunday on Nov 18, 2007, http://www.beatificazionerosmini.it/ ) spoke about the “five wounds of the Church” (in analogy of the five wounds of Jesus: “The Five Wounds of the Holy Church”  inabridged trans. with introd. by HP Liddon, 1883 - original:  "Le cinque piaghe della santa Chiesa", written in 1832 and published in 1848) and one of these – the wound of the left hand – is the division between the people and the clergy in the public cult. (See also http://www.lanuovaregaldi.it/evento.cfm?evento=675&situazione=1 )

Notwithstanding the ecclesiology of the Vatican II (of which Rosmini was a sort of a precursor) it seems to me that the vision of the newly beatified thinker (who once was placed on Index) is valid also today and not only in the liturgy but also in the entire life of the Church. Further, the painful division exists between the clergy and the religious and on one side and the people, the laity on the other side. Even in the name the division is suggested, since the first are “consecrated” (more near to God) the second are “lay”, which word although in Greek means simply “people”, in everyday use it suggests lacking of knowledge and expertise, refers to one who is more or less outsider.

In this situation it is hard for any lay person, chaplain or theologian to acquire authority in our Church even 40 years after the Vatican II Council. Even if the theory of equal dignity based on the consecration in the baptism and universal call for sanctity is already there, in practice lay people are still regarded as second rate Christians.