Priests taking on new roles

How times have changed. Fewer people are receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation these days, and that's just one of many changes he and his fellow priests have seen in their ministry during the past 40 years.

Several priests in the Albany Diocese who were ordained before the Second Vatican Council spoke with The Evangelist about the differences in their ministry that have come about in a post-conciliar Church -- and the similarities that have withstood the test of time.

Door-to-door

Home visits remain a part of Father Gaffigan's ministry, but he senses that his fellow clergy members have become less inclined to make such an effort.

"I think a lot of priests don't visit homes anymore because [people] aren't home," he said.

Improvements

"As I look back, this is a better way of doing it. A priest knows what he's getting into," he said.

Father Gaffigan used to teach religious education, but with more laypeople involved in this ministry, he's able to visit all students instead of teaching just one class. His administrative duties are fewer, too, because the gifts of laity are being put to use.

"Anything I can do to free myself for pastoral work, which is what I'm ordained for, I delegate to other people," he said.

Going to English

"I did that purposely because I wanted to be a priest who understood what he was saying in the Mass and in the breviary," he said.

Five years later, Latin no longer was used during Mass, but he's glad that the Second Vatican Council initiated that change.

Father Halphen and his seminary classmates considered themselves "the last of the old priests," and he sees that as a benefit in his current ministry.

"We learned, lived and experienced all of the old, and we had to adapt to the new, so we can pick from the best of both," he said. "How many of our young priests today know how to administer Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament or how to swing a thurible? I have a great love and respect for the tradition of the Church, and I find great delight in accommodating it to the new."

Dialogue

"A parish appointment used to be called an 'immediate'. You just got an envelope in the mail sending you somewhere, but now it's all in dialogue with superiors. So much leeway is given to personal preference," he said.

Increased lay involvement may help to offset decreasing vocations, but Father Halphen worries that priests' work is being limited to celebrating Mass, hearing confession, absolving from sin and anointing the sick.

"What is the specific and unique role of the priest? What is it that he, and only he, can do?" he asked. "I think there will be an increasing identity crisis for priests, if there isn't already."

Expanding roles

"Those are things we used to have the sisters do, but now you rely exclusively on laypeople," he said. "You depend far more heavily, and rightly so, on them."

Saturday used to be the day when everybody went to confession, but Father McTavey has seen a significant drop in the number of people receiving this sacrament over the years. "I don't think the world is necessarily better or people don't sin anymore. We've rationalized a lot of things," he said.

At least Father McTavey hasn't had to change parishes during these changing times; he has been at St. Bernard's since 1972 and continues to enjoy being its pastor.

"The longer you're in a place, you get to know families and generations," he explained. "To me, the focus of my life is my priesthood, working for the salvation of souls. I might do it differently in the pulpit and church, but the message is the same."

Quick changes

When the Church stopped using Latin, for example, Father Anselment was surprised that such a change could happen so quickly. "We knew it was coming, but we thought it was 50 years down the road, and then, wow, all at once," he said.

Catholic schools were more abundant 40 years ago than they are today, he noted. He taught at and served as vice-principal of Cardinal McCloskey High School in Albany and as principal of Bishop Scully High School in Amsterdam. Now that public schools are more numerous than Catholic schools, there's a shift in religious education; more students attend religious ed classes, and they are taught more by laypeople than by sisters.

Involvement of laity

Bringing communion to the sick used to be a priest's responsibility; today, Eucharistic ministers go weekly, and Father Anselment goes about once each month. More laypeople involved in parish life means more personnel issues facing priests. "You didn't have a music minister and a professional religious education coordinator," Father Anselment said.

Laypeople should be involved in such ministry, he stressed, but the role of a priest shouldn't be forgotten. "The people are still having that ministerial connection with the Church, but the priest feels he doesn't have as much personal connection with the flock," he said.

Working together

Today, he has about 400 volunteers who help in ministries at St. Vincent's as well as a staff of three sisters, music director, bookkeeper, maintenance person and others.

"Without them, I wouldn't get anyplace," Father O'Brien said. Their involvement is due both to an increased awareness of their gifts and the shortage of priests.

(04-08-99) [[In-content Ad]]