By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - Meanwhile, the most pernicious and widespread form of clericalism in the Church today – the irrepressible belief that the measure of a layperson is his proximity to the clerical power... It’s an idea spread mostly by laity... While many lay people continue to clamor for a seat at the clerical table – worrying themselves about who gets to be in the sanctuary during Mass or serve as head of this or that dicastery in the Roman Curia – vast swaths of the vineyard which can only be tended by the laity are falling into disarray.