II FORMATION OF LAY APOSTLES: EXERCISE OF THE LAY APOSTOLATE

A few remarks will suffice on the subject of the formation of lay apostles.

Not all Christians are called to engage in the lay apostolate in its strict sense. We have already said that the bishop should be able to choose coworkers from those whom he finds willing and able, for willingness alone is not sufficient. Lay apostles will, therefore, al ways form an elite, not because they stand apart from others but, quite the contrary, because they are capable of attracting and influencing others. We thus understand that they must possess, besides the apostolic spirit which animates them, a quality without which they would do more harm than good-tact.

On the other hand, to acquire the necessary competence, it is obviously necessary to make the effort demanded by serious training. Such training, whose necessity for teachers no one doubts, is just as necessary for every lay apostle, and We have learned with pleasure that the meeting at Kisuba emphatically stressed intellectual formation.

Laymen who administer ecclesiastical properties should be chosen with prudence and after great consideration. When incompetent persons hold these positions and cause some damage to Church properties, they are less to blame than the authorities who sought their assistance.

At the present time, even the lay apostle who labors among workers in factories and business concerns needs a sound knowledge of economics, social, and political affairs, and must also be familiar, therefore, with the Church's social teachings. There is one apostolic organization for men which trains its members in a "social seminar" which accepts 300 members each winter semester and requires 20 lecturers: university professors, judges, economists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, linguists, and scientists. We believe that this precedent is worth following.

The training of lay apostles will be cared for by organizations of the lay apostolate itself. These may avail themselves of the help of the secular clergy and the apostolic religious orders. We are certain that they will also have the valuable cooperation of the secular institutes. As regards the formation of women for the lay apostolate, women Religious already have fine achievements to their credit in mission countries and elsewhere.