The Church has consistently taught that the laity not only have the right, but the responsibility given to them by Christ to participate in the essential mission of the Church, which is evangelization.

"On all Christians rests the noble obligation of working to bring all men throughout the whole world to hear and accept the divine message of salvation." [Decree on Apostolate of Lay People (AA), 3]

The participation of the laity in the mission of the Church is called lay apostolate. By lay apostolate the Church means that the laity are actively committed to the mission outward from the Church to evangelize and sanctify people (AA, 2). Christ and the Church want and need the laity to carry the Good News out into the world!  However, the reality is that the majority of committed lay Catholics are often exclusively involved in ministry to and for the existing lay faithful. Thus, the lay apostolate to the world in many parishes and dioceses has not developed as the Vatican Council II intended.

Why Vatican II emphasized the lay apostolate by Russell Shaw

§897 - §913 of the Catholic Catechism