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    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Catholic bishops of Canada met with Pope John Paul II on Saturday, September 25, for their ad limina visit.

    During the discussion, the Pope spoke of the "prodigious fruits" of the Second Vatican Council, and the "new spiritual vitality" that is most manifest among the laity.

    The Pope told the Canadian bishops that it is essential to rediscover "the sense of complementarity and communion" between priests and lay people. He argued that the image of the Church as a sheepfold had the negative effect of suggesting that lay people have a "strictly passive and dependant" role. In fact, he said, priests should see themselves as servants of the laity, as well as ministers set apart from the congregation for that special service. Lay people, on the other hand, should recognize that their role is "to promote the art of being Christian in the world."

    The Pontiff urged the Canadian bishops to guard against the danger of confusing the proper roles of priests and laity, saying that such a crisis in vocational identity works to the detriment of priests and lay people alike. Priests should not become "politicized," he said; and lay people should not become "clericalized."

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