A flowering of lay ministries is evident in virtually any Catholic parish in the United States today. While this has clearly enriched parish life, it has also led to confusion and, sometimes, conflict. The affirmation of lay ministry rooted in baptism has left many priests and potential priests questioning their identity in the Church. There are lay ministers who resent what they see as prerogatives and privileges accorded to the ordained. While some members of the Church are attempting to reclaim an identity for the ordained based on hierarchical and juridical powers, others are rejecting the very notion of a distinctive ministry of the ordained. Both lines of thinking betray the vision of Vatican II and the formative traditions of the Church.
In Ordering the Baptismal Priesthood ten theologians address the theology and practice of ministry in the Church today. Recognizing that neither a theology of ordained ministry nor a theology of lay ministry can be developed in isolation from each other, they propose seven convergence points as principles to shape a theology of ordered ministries.