There is a growing appreciation among the Catholic laity that their task in the world is the doing of God's work in and through the work of the world. In other words Christ's life must be actualised by the members of his body through a full participation in the life of the world. The constant narrowing of distance, wider horizons and the increasing independence of former dependant peoples are giving worldwide dimensions not only to problems of politics, economics and sociology, but also to the life of the Church.

Nearly thirty years ago the founders of Ad Lucem were already thinking along these lines. They saw the needs of the under-developed countries of the world, which includes two-thirds of its peoples, and they wanted desperately to help these areas in some way. This was long before current international thinking had begun; long before the idea of the United Nations Organization, and the world's consciousness of to the poverty of the under-developed countries.