Abstract

The Servant of God Cardinal August Hlond (1881-1948) promoted the active involvement of the laity in the life of the Church. He paved the way for a new way of thinking about the laity, their role and their duties in church and state.
All members of the Church - both clergy and laity - are called to the apostolic vocation realized in daily life. Concern for the involvement of the laity in the Church, for the "apple of the eye" so to speak, was one of the main themes of August Hlond's entire pastoral teaching. He not only proclaimed lofty theories about the laity, but also testified and corroborated them through numerous pragmatic acts.
Most of what Cardinal Hlond said about the Laikat is in the context of a broader reflection on Catholic Action and the Catholic organizations that belong to it. The presence of the laity in the Church involves not only their specific roles and duties to be performed, but also the relationships between them and the hierarchy.
Throughout August Hlond's teaching on the subject of the laity in the Church, the "principle of subsidiarity" is prominent. The lay faithful have an obligation to help the clergy because they belong to the Church, because of the need of the moment, because of the threat to Christian life from various currents, or from non-religious and openly anti-Church movements.
Cardinal August Hlond's teaching expressed his special concern for the lay faithful who are responsible for the life of the Church. Both the words and the deeds of the primate formed a testimony showing him as a promoter of the laikat. If we look at the message of this "pastor at a difficult time for Poland" in the light of the teaching of Vatican II, we see that many of his intuitions expressed decades ago are being realized today, on the threshold of the third millennium.