The gift and the mystery of priesthood |
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Written by BISHOP LEONARD P. BLAIR
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Saturday, 12 June 2010 00:00 |
June is marked by two great liturgical Solemnities: the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) on June 6 and the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11. This year both days can be viewed from the perspective of the Year for Priests, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, which is now drawing to a close.
Hopefully the Year for Priests has been an occasion for all of us to renew our appreciation for the gift and mystery of the ministerial priesthood instituted by Christ as one of the seven sacraments and as part of the church’s very constitution.
 I invite you to make an act of thanksgiving to God for the priests who serve in our diocese and in your parish, and to say a kind word to them personally. These are very difficult times for Catholic clergy, given the many scandals that have rocked the church and that need to be addressed honestly and forcefully. Yet the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of clergy are not guilty of betraying the sacred trust of their ordination. They serve the Catholic people faithfully and well.
In an effort to remedy an excessive clericalization of the church in the past, we have heard much in recent decades about the importance of ministry. “Ministry” has evolved as a more general word to describe a sharing by all the baptized in the work of Christ as priest, prophet and king. Nevertheless, some distinctions have to be made if we are to be faithful to Catholic teaching.
In the Second Vatican Council we read: “That office which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people is, in the strict sense of the term, a service which in Sacred Scripture is very distinctly called a ministry” (Lumen Gentium, no. 24). In singling out the Twelve Apostles to be with Him and to act in His name with authority, Jesus instituted the ministerial priesthood as part of the church’s very constitution for teaching, sanctifying and shepherding His flock. However, this office exists in order to foster, not exclude, lay participation in the work of Christ — priest, prophet and king — as His witnesses for the transformation of the world in everyday life.
The relationship of ordained priesthood to ministry in a wider sense has also had a bearing on ecumenical dialogue. The Catholic Church, together with the Orthodox, hold to the divinely instituted mediation of a ministerial priesthood. Reformation Churches do not. There are points of convergence and scope for ecumenical dialogue, but a fundamental difference remains, with profound implications. Among other things, it explains why Catholics and Orthodox, unlike Protestants, do not practice Eucharistic sharing or ordain women clergy.
Another aspect of priesthood that I would like to mention is the spiritual fatherhood of priests. Rightly are priests called “Father,” and it troubles me how often in our diocese that familial term is dropped when people speak to or about their priests, perhaps for the sake of a misguided leveling of all relationships.
In May and June we celebrate both Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days. All adults, whatever their state in life, are biologically, psychologically and spiritually meant to make a gift of themselves as either fathers or mothers according to their sex. Those whose circumstances in life do not include marriage are also called to make a gift of self that is in some way paternal or maternal, as the case may be, by the very fact of being a man or a woman. That is part of the reason why we address priests as “Father,” and not just mister, reverend, friend, associate, colleague, coworker or anything else.
Another reason is the one St. Paul mentions when he tells the Corinthians: “Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (1 Cor 4:15). In the family of the church what did “Father Paul” of Tarsus give to his spiritual children? His letters reveal the fatherly things he did for them: putting food on the table of word and sacrament; exercising authority for reconciling divisions; providing sound teaching and moral direction; giving courageous leadership amid daunting challenges; and protecting his spiritual children from dangers.
Do women share these labors too? Yes, but from who they are as women, just as men act from who they are as men, all in a complementarity of the two modes of being human created by God.
I began by speaking about the Solemnities of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Body and Blood of Christ are a gift from His pierced heart on the Cross and from the exercise of His priesthood. Christ personalizes this for us every day at every Mass in our diocese, thanks to His priests. Let us pray for many more vocations to this sacred calling.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 12 June 2010 00:00 |
