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I offer this just as a point of information.  I was born in 1951 and have very distinct memories of life pre VII, albeit mostly has a child.  Lay people were involved with evangelization "back in the day", and their role was supported by the Church.

Reply #17
Reply #27
I offer this just as a point of information.  I was born in 1951 and have very distinct memories of life pre VII, albeit mostly has a child.  Lay people were involved with evangelization "back in the day", and their role was supported by the Church.  My parents were involved with the Legion of Mary https://legionofmary.ie, founded in 1921 by a layman Frank Duff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Duff.  The Knights of Columbus would have booths at public events such a county fairs and distribute pamphlets about the Catholic faith.  A classic pre VII work is "Theology for Beginners" by the layman Frank Sheed (of the Sheed and Ward publishing house).  It was first published in 1957 and is available as a pdf from the SSPX Ireland website: https://fsspx.ie/en/theology-beginners-frank-sheed-35407 .  St. Thomas More, a layman, frequently wrote on theological topics.  Children not in parochial schools would attend catechism classes.  If professed women/men religious, or priests, were not available to teach these, they were taught by lay people, often using the Baltimore Catechism.  If I had more time I could come up with many more examples.

Organizations such as the Legion of Mary and Knights of Columbus were moderated by priests, lay catechists were ideally trained by priests, and published works were required to have the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur.  Still, prior to VII the laity were very much involved in evangelization.

If you're speaking of me, I'm not just a layperson. I'm a Professor, and a Seminarian discerning a Vocation.