Similarly, Caroline Chisholm’s work echoes in the teachings of the Church on the laity as described by the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II recognised the laity’s ‘special and indispensable role in the mission of the Church’ and, noting the new challenges facing the Church, called forward an ‘infinitely broader and more intense’ apostolate. The document on the laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem listed areas of lay activity including: the renewal of the temporal order, charitable works and social aid, the family – all areas which had concerned Caroline Chisholm more than an century earlier. The Apostolic Exhortation of John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, expands on these concerns. It sets out areas in particular need of the attention of the laity including promoting the dignity of the human person, respect for life, religious liberty, marriage and family life, works of charity, social and economic justice and the evangelisation of culture.
It is unlikely that the Holy Father expects an individual to engage in all these areas, yet Caroline Chisholm’s work did engage them all. If engagement in these areas constitutes a legitimate living out of the lay vocation and therefore a path to holiness, Caroline Chisholm’s life fulfils this call in abundance.