24 The Art of Accompaniment
also less likely to engage with religion generally in their lifetime. Though
this trend is occurring across all religions at nearly the same rate, Catholi-
cism has sustained the largest loss of members of any religion in the United
States 5 . There are a number of factors that play a role in Catholic disaffilia-
tion, such as the decline of ethnic communities’ relationship with Cathol-
icism, the closure of parishes in shrinking dioceses in particular parts of
the US, and a weakened sense of what it means to be Catholic. Still, many
Catholics feel estranged from the Church due to poor experiences with
Church leadership, insufficient pastoral care, or isolation from a meaningful
Catholic community. While there are several forces contributing to Catho-
lic disaffiliation, these issues can be helped by a culture of accompaniment.
The apostolate of accompaniment is one essential element in the evan-
gelization of disaffiliated and lapsed Catholics. Because of its emphasis on
listening, freedom, and relationship, accompaniment shows the meaning-
fulness of the life of faith. By taking part in accompaniment, lapsed Cath-
olics can be given helpful pastoral care that takes seriously their doubts and
questions.
Accompaniment that aims to serve those who are disaffiliated or es-
tranged from the Church need not come from only parishes or Catholic
institutions as a formal endeavor, but can also be an effort of all the bap-
tized through the witness of their lives. This type of accompaniment is less
formal, listens to the experiences of those estranged from the Church with
humility, and carefully attends to the needs of the disaffiliated by gradually
re-introducing them to Christ and his Church.
By virtue of their vocation, the laity are called to be the Church in
the midst of the world: “The Faithful, more precisely the lay faithful, find
themselves on the front lines of the Church's life...they in particular, ought
to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church,
but of being the Church…” (Pius XII, Address L'Elevatezza to the new Car-
dinals on the supranationality of the Catholic Church, February 1946). As their
vocation disposes them in a special way to be the Church, the lay faithful
are particularly well-disposed to accompany those who are disaffiliated.
Because the laity are more closely intertwined with the secular world in
their daily life, they are more able to reach those who have little or no
5 https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/08/28/our-teens-are-leaving-church-why