---

Last month, we capped off our observance of the Year for Priests with the ordination of five priests for the Albany Diocese, our largest class of priests in over a quarter of a century.

Twelve hundred people crammed our beautifully-restored Mother Church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, to celebrate this happy event in the life of our Diocese.

Let me offer some of the reflections on the priesthood which I shared with our newly ordained.

In recent years, there has been debate in the Church about the nature of the priesthood - about whether the cultic dimension of the priesthood, its sacred ritual and sacramental aspects, has been overshadowed by an emphasis on the call of the priest to be a servant-leader within the community.

To my mind, this is a false dichotomy. The priesthood is not either cultic or servant, but both cultic and servant.

On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus, the eternal High Priest, instituted the Eucharist and established the priesthood, bidding us, "Do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:9).

But this action was immediately preceded by His washing of the feet of His disciples, saying, "What I have done is to give you an example. As I have done, you also must do" (John 13:15).

Priests, then, are called to be spiritual leaders: to celebrate the Eucharist and the sacraments, to preach and teach the core message of the Scriptures and to oversee right order among the faithful.

But priests must do this not in an authoritarian, elitist or self-righteous fashion but with the gentleness, meekness, compassion and selfless love of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who came "not to be served, but to serve" (Mt 20:28).

Hence, priests must not be aloof or apart from the daily struggles of their people, but must be among them, serving as brothers among their sisters and brothers. In other words, the ministerial or cultic priesthood is at the service of the common or baptismal priesthood, not vice versa.

If priests are to exercise this ministerial priesthood of Jesus in a way that proclaims hope to the people entrusted in their care, I would suggest there are four qualities which they must seek to integrate into their ministry.

Teaching ministry
1. First, priests must be effective teachers. The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s stated boldly and unequivocally that the first task of priests, as coworkers of the bishops, is to teach the Gospel to all.

Without diminishing the threefold priestly ministry to sanctify, to lead and to teach, as Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington notes, given the urgent need for catechesis today, there is a particular focus priests must give to teaching.

We hear frequently that many Catholics don't accept the teaching of the Church - be it on abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, marriage, sexuality, societal care for the poor and migrants or other issues. There is, however, a clearly articulated body of teaching on these matters.

Thus, either this moral and doctrinal content is not being taught, or it is not being communicated in a way that is cogent and persuasive.

In this regard, the observation of Pope Paul VI comes to mind: "Laypeople listen more to witnesses than to teachers. If they do not listen to teachers, it is because they are not witnesses."

There are many places where priests can teach: in the hospital room, at the funeral home, in the parish office, at the retreat center, in a civic group, on a blog or at a family table.

Indeed, there is almost no end to possibilities, if priests set their minds to it.However, among all the occasions priests have to proclaim the word of God, none has a more privileged place than the Sunday homily. So I urge priests to devote quality time each week to the Sunday homily.

Read the Scriptures early in the week; pray over them; seek to discuss them with other priests and deacons as well as the laity; draw upon the resources of Scriptural commentaries, hom-iletic services and websites - and, then, help people penetrate the richness of the Sunday scriptures by breaking open their meaning in tangible ways that are practical and relevant to people's everyday experience.

God's word is a living word which does what it says and brings about what it proclaims. However, it can be such only when it is proclaimed with an awareness of the needs, hopes, desires, fears and expectations of one's hearers and with the passionate conviction of the homilist.

Further, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles has pointed out that this perspective of the priests' ministry in the service of the Word can serve as a corrective to the tendency toward understanding priests almost exclusively as a sacramental ministers or as dispensers of the sacraments, since this service to the Word is prior to sacramental ministry and includes much more than delivering a good homily.

It involves evangelization, catechesis, leading people to a deeper life of prayer and encouraging the faithful in the exercise of their baptismal priesthood.

Evangelists all
2. Second, priests must be collaborators. Steeped in the Scriptures and in the teaching and tradition of the Church, priests are called to motivate and animate God's people in living out their baptismal call to Christian discipleship.

One immediate area where priests in our Diocese of Albany are to be collaborators is in the realm of evangelization: inviting our laity not only to become active and participating members of the Church, but to reach out and share their faith with others.

In our 14-county Diocese, for example, we have 1.2 million people, approximately 400,000 whom are Roman Catholics. We have 116 active diocesan priests, in addition to our retired and religious order priests who continue to serve us faithfully.

A large number of this 1.2 million population is unchurched. Only about 30 percent of our Catholics attend church weekly. Some fall away because of spiritual apathy or indifference; others, because of alienation caused by disagreement with Church teaching on issues of human sexuality, marriage or women's roles; others, because of an unhappy experience with a Church representative, usually around faith formation policies or admission to the celebration of the sacraments.

Still others are hurt, disappointed and angry about church closings brought about most recently by the Called to be Church pastoral planning process.

There is no way our limited number of priests can reach out to all these people and address their diverse concerns. Even if we could, it wouldn't be appropriate, because evangelization is the mission of the whole Church.

Priests, however, have a vital role to play: They are called to be catalysts for initiating and coordinating the evangelizing effort. They must work with diocesan officials and other priests, deacons and lay ministers in forming parish or cluster evangelization teams and in supporting our multi-faceted efforts over the next three years to invite people to participate in our "Amazing God" evangelization program. (Read more about this program at www.evangelist.org.)

However, to find the nourishment and strength to fulfill these teaching and collaborative roles priests have, they need to draw upon two other vital resources: priestly fraternity and prayer.

Brotherhood
3. The relationship of priests with each other is critically important. It should be noted that Jesus never sent forth His Apostles or disciples by themselves; He always sent them at least two by two.

Priests can develop the tendency to become isolated from one another, or to act like independent contractors. There is also a growing gap between older and younger priests, which is not unusual because veteran and new priests have always had their differences, and usually worked them out amicably.

In fact, the give-and-take between generations or between those who hold different ecclesiologies can be life-giving. Without one side challenging the other, growth and vitality are stifled.

But what is unacceptable, and, indeed, harmful, is a breakdown in effective and affective fraternity among priests.

I am not talking about fostering an unhealthy clericalism, which can become like an exclusive club whose sole purpose is to preserve the prerogatives, privileges and perks of club members. Rather, I am talking about spiritually sound fraternal relationships among priests, which are never over and against the rest of the Church, but which are always in the service of the Church.

Priests need to come together to listen to one another, to encourage one another, to show concern for one another's health and morale and to support one another in their common ministry.

Such fraternity doesn't just happen by chance. Priests need to be intentional about it by making time for being together a priority on their calendars, and by truly being there for one another.

For the past 28 years, I have belonged to a priest support group which has been a marvelous gift and a wonderful source of guidance, inspiration, solace and strength.

The group has provided an invaluable opportunity to share joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, to express concerns, to receive constructive feedback, to socialize and to pray together.

I urge priests to make joining a priest support group and finding time for priestly fraternity - a priority in their life and ministry. I am confident that such bonding with fellow priestly coworkers will be an unparalleled font of joy, hope, peace and contentment.

Prayer a necessity
4. Finally, of course, the lives of priests must be nourished and sustained by prayer. There can be no substitute for time spent each day in prayer. In his priestly discourse on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus tells us, "I no longer call you servants, but friends" (John 15:15).

However, we can be friends of Jesus only when we spend time with Him. That's what prayer is about: spending time with Jesus.

St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, said: "One need not say much to pray well." We need only to open our hearts to Jesus, to rejoice in His presence; to acknowledge our failures; to share our fears, doubts, anxieties and burdens; and to make known the needs and the many prayer requests we receive from the people we serve.

Priests must make time in their daily lives for prayer: for the liturgy of the Hours, the Eucharist, for personal meditation and for placing themselves before the Blessed Sacrament.

In a special way, I encourage priests to pray to Mary, the patroness of our Diocese. Remember that, as Christ hung upon the cross of Calvary, He entrusted His mother to His beloved disciple. She is truly the mother of priests and the mother of the Church.

I know from personal experience that Mary serves as a guiding star and unfailing pillar of strength in times when we are asked to carry the cross.

When priests spend time in prayer encountering the living Christ, then, like St. Paul, they can cry out: "We are afflicted in every way possible, but we are not crushed; full of doubts, but we never despair; we are persecuted, but never abandoned; we are struck down, but never destroyed. Dead, yet here we are alive; punished, but not put to death; sorrowful, but we are always rejoicing; poor, yet we enrich many. We seem to have nothing, yet everything is ours" (2 Cor 4:8-9; 6:9-10)!

May this be the experience of all priests.

(07/01/10) [[In-content Ad]]

---