VATICAN 2 SAYS...

From a comment by Chuck White, originally posted here.

Yes, this (post) describes a dominant form of clericalism. But there's another form too where good and well-intentioned lay persons are tempted to believe that the highest meaning of their vocation is to serve in the sanctuary. This is a form of clericalism.

How about this quote from the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium:

"31. ...What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature...the laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer."

How about lay people stepping up in the secular world around them. We don't have to wait for Father's permission for everything.