Ten good reasons to become a priest

Recently, Rev. James Walsh from the Albany diocesan Vocations Team asked that I reflect with a group of men considering the priesthood on why anyone should consider becoming a priest in today's Church.

Let me share with you the ten reasons I offered:

1. Bucky G, a street hustler, pimp and drug dealer, shot a rival dealer on Christmas Eve 1972. His family called me at my mother's home in Troy, where she lay dying of cancer. They wanted me to arrange for Bucky's bail.

The request couldn't have been more untimely. I knew it would be my mother's last Christmas, and I wanted to be with her. I certainly didn't want to leave her alone and sick on Christmas Eve.

When I explained the dilemma to my mother, she looked me in the eye and said, "You're a priest; this man has reached out to you for help. Just as Jesus emptied Himself on the first Christmas to become one with us, now is the time for you to empty yourself, without regard for family or personal needs."

I'll never forget that response: her simple yet profound maternal wisdom about what the priesthood really is and why we priests need to empty ourselves to remind the world of God's unconditional love.

2. Susan B, 14, had been sexually abused by a man to whom -- incredibly -- her mother had placed her in sexual bondage.

I met her while serving as chaplain at Community Maternity Services, our Catholic Charities' residence for unwed mothers in Albany. I had the privilege of working with her throughout her pregnancy, the trial that led to her abuser and mother being sentenced, and her own battle with depression and mental illness resulting from her abuse.

Susan is now doing very well, helping others dealing with life's vicissitudes and writing a memoir about her journey to recovery.

3. Mr. X was a powerful political figure whose personal life was in turmoil. He was involved in an unhealthy relationship with a divorced woman, which threatened to ruin his distinguished career.

He was looking for counseling, prayers and support as he sought to untangle this personal mess with integrity and dignity.

Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to walk with him through this dark night of the soul.

4. Mary and Bob were leaders of the Newman Club at Albany Business College. As a newly ordained priest in the 1960s, I was assigned to serve as the group's chaplain.

I didn't know much about being a college chaplain, but we planned a few Days of Recollection, sponsored some social activities and invited a couple of speakers to reflect on spiritual themes.

I grew to be very friendly with Mary and Bob. Eventually, they fell in love. A few years later, I witnessed their marriage. Then I baptized their children as they came along. Married now for 40 years, they periodically send me an update about their family and their own life's journey.

5. Karen, a lapsed Catholic, worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center. She became rather disillusioned by the suffering and trauma she witnessed daily.

How could a caring and loving God allow such suffering: people dying from heart attacks, cancer, auto accidents and drownings, as well as permit the inconsolable grief of family members left to mourn the passing of a loved one?

Overwhelmed by all of this, Karen lost her faith, becoming skeptical and cynical.

In 1978, I conducted a TV retreat titled "Always His People," in which I had the opportunity to reflect on some central themes of the Christian life, including the problem of suffering and the mystery of the cross. I invited people who were alienated from the life of the Church to return and give it another try.

Karen did, discovered a renewed love for Christ and the Church, and found a deeper understanding of how sickness and death can be redemptive and life-giving.

She returned to the Church and became active in her parish. Each Thanksgiving, she writes to remind me of the joy she experienced in returning to the fold.

6. Mary Ann had been a woman religious for nearly a decade, but her life was unhappy. She enjoyed her healing role as a social worker and living in community with the other sisters. But something was missing in her life.

She longed for a family, yet she was plagued with feelings of guilt about leaving religious life. Was she turning her back on God? Was she being a selfish person? What would her family and friends think if she left the convent?

Through spiritual direction and counseling, I was able to help her sort through these issues and make the decision to leave religious life, not with guilt or regrets but with inner peace and serenity.

Mary Ann is now the proud mother of four children and very active in her parish. She lives with gratitude for what had been -- and with happiness for what is.

7. Ellen's son Kevin was a seminarian. A graduate of The College of Saint Rose in Albany, he was a very talented musician and actor.

One Saturday evening, after receiving an urgent phone call, I immediately went to visit Ellen and to share with her the most painful news I ever had to deliver: Kevin had drowned during an afternoon of free time at our annual seminarian retreat.

It was a tragedy of monumental proportions, and the first and only time I ever had to inform a mother that her son had died in such a sudden and shocking way.

Ellen's response was amazing: not anger, rage or bitterness, but sadness, yet with total trust in God's providence. She was confident that, in God's plan, all things work unto good and that her son, who had such rich potential, was now where God destined him to be, just sooner than expected.

8. Tom was a student at a local college. Away from home for the first time, he started associating with the wrong crowd and became part of the drug scene. After dropping out of college, he enrolled in the Marines but was discharged for possessing illegal drugs.

He was homeless and hopeless when he called for help. He had just been released from the hospital following an overdose, and the hospital social worker had given him my name, since I was associated with Hope House, a drug treatment program in Albany.

Tom initially blamed all his problems on others: uncaring faculty members, unfaithful friends, arrogant military officers and so on. Though he was hesitant and reluctant, I convinced him to enter our residential treatment program. Through interaction with the staff and substance abusers already in recovery, Tom was able to understand his addiction and its causes, and to reclaim ownership for his behavior.

Following treatment, he was invited to remain in the program as a peer counselor. He also went back to college, taking evening courses to earn a degree in business. Tom is now a successful entrepreneur in the hi-tech industry with a wonderful wife and family. Most important, he is drug free but high on life.

9. Paul was a teacher with a homosexual orientation. His family was unaware of his homosexuality until he developed full-blown AIDS and made his orientation known.

Initially, his family members rejected him, and he had to go on welfare. I was able to broker a meeting between him and his family. They came to see him for the gentle, caring person he was, and learned to appreciate that his disease was precisely that, not divine retribution for immoral behavior.

When Paul died, he was surrounded by loving family members. They established a caregivers' program to assist other people suffering from HIV and AIDS.

10. Rocco is an inmate at the Great Meadows Correctional Facility in Comstock. I've known him since I began doing Confirmations at the facility.

I never asked him why he was incarcerated, but he has been there for the 29 years I have served as bishop in our Diocese. I assume he's in for some major offense, like murder.

In 2003, at the height of the sexual abuse crisis in our nation and in our Diocese, I was celebrating Confirmation at the prison. After the liturgy, he asked if he could speak with me.

He said, "Bishop, I was watching you during the course of Mass today, and you looked very stressed and pained. I know it may seem strange for someone like myself to be offering advice to a bishop, but the Spirit has moved me to share this message with you."

Then, with tears in his eyes, he said, "Bishop, trust in the Master. Trust in the Master!"

That very simple message is one that I really needed to hear at a very dark moment in my life. It was made all the more powerful by the obvious suffering and pain experienced by the one who delivered it.

Ten stories

I share those 10 stories with you as but a sampling of the types of ministry in which a priest is privileged to be involved.

Most people are familiar with a priest's parish ministry of celebrating Mass and the sacraments, but there are so many other ministries: working with college and high school students, unwed mothers, the mentally ill, the addicted, the incarcerated, and those in hospitals and nursing homes.

People in all of those categories -- and so many others who could be cited -- are in need of hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ, and of having an ordained representative of the Church bringing healing, peace and reconciliation to their lives.

Further, priests like myself find in the lives of those whom we serve a tremendous and invaluable source of inspiration, heroic faith and spiritual nourishment.

Needed: priests

Why do we need priests today? Take the ten stories I have just cited and multiply them by the thousands. Yes, the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.

I ask all within our Diocese to pray that God's call to the ministerial priesthood will not go unheeded in our day.

(5/04/06) [[In-content Ad]]