Annotation: 
Pistone, John. "Review: Co-Workers in the Vineyard." Deacon Digest, Sept.-Oct, 2006, pp. 12-13. After highlighting some major points of the document, "Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord," Pistone proceeds to define what constitutes a lay ecclesial minister and ends with a discussion of the Bishop's statement as it relates to the relationship between lay ministers and deacons. Noting that the document is intended as a resource for planning, it is therefore not exhaustive in its analysis of the lay ecclesial minister in the parish and that each diocese needs to "review its own situation and... develop appropriate plans." His discussion of the statement comes off as generally positive. Rake, Kristina. The Catholic Library Association. "Review: Coworkers in the Vineyard of the Lord." Rake notes that this publication stresses the important role of the laity in the Church and the world and recognizes that some laity hear a call to build the Church up from within, a point the bishops encourage. Nevertheless, it is important to notice the important distinctions between the laity and those religious life in this process, a point this Bishop's publication also emphasizes. Rake proceeds to lay out the general structure of the document and ends by declaring that "it should be considered an important addition to Catholic libraries."

Quotes: 
"'Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord' expresses our strong desire for the fruitful collaboration of ordained and lay ministers who, in distinct but complementary ways, continue in the Church the saving mission of Christ for the world, his vineyard." The bishops of the United States (from the Introduction)

TOC: Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Part One: Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A. Describing and Responding to New Realities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Call to All Believers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Call to the Lay Faithful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Call to Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Reality of Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 B. Understanding the Realities in Light of Theology and Church Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Triune God: Source of the Church’s Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Church: A Communion for Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Ministry: Serving the Church and Its Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Bishop and Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Priest and Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 The Deacon and Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Lay Faithful and Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Part Two: Pastoral Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 A. Pathways to Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Desire for Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Discernment of a Call to Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Determination of Suitability for Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 B. Formation for Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Human Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Methods of Human Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Spiritual Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Elements of Spiritual Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Methods of Spiritual Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Intellectual Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Pastoral Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Integrating the Four Elements of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Ongoing Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Agents of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 C. Authorization for Lay Ecclesial Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The Role of the Bishop in the Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The Role of the Pastor in the Authorization Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Specific Roles Covered by the Authorization Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Certification of Candidates for Lay Ecclesial Ministry Positions . . 56 The Appointment of Lay Ecclesial Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Blessings and Rituals in the Authorization Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Additional Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 D. The Ministerial Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Some Human Resource Areas in a Comprehensive Personnel System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Resources and Outcomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66