A eucharistic minister distributes Communion during a 2008 Mass at Transfiguration Church in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y. As Catholics prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, all church members need to make a renewed effort to ensure laypeople are aware of their responsibility for the church and are allowed to exercise it, Pope Benedict XVI said. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz) (Aug. 23, 2012) See POPE-LAITY Aug. 23, 2012.