Talks > Other > John Carroll Society’s Little Flower Lenten Lecture - “Why Priests?”

John Carroll Society’s Little Flower Lenten Lecture - “Why Priests?”Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, S.T.D., Archbishop of Washington

04/07/2010| Church of the Little Flower, Bethesda, Maryland March 21, 2010

Every time I appoint a priest as pastor of a parish, I try first of all to present him a letter of appointment in person and then later go to the parish and liturgically install him as pastor.  There are important theological reasons for doing both.

 Second only to ordaining a priest, the most important exercise of episcopal ministry is the sharing of the care of the flock entrusted to the bishop with a brother priest when he is appointed pastor.  The bishop turns over to the pastor the responsibility for the spiritual care, the three-fold ministry of teaching, leading and sanctifying, to be exercised in the midst of and for this portion of the Church.  I make the point every time I hand a pastor his letter of appointment to highlight how unique and important the office of pastor is.  Then I try to install liturgically each pastor by going to the parish for a Sunday liturgy that provides the occasion to present publicly to the parish faith community its new shepherd.

            The ritual for the installation of pastor calls on the priest to renew his ordination promises, because in them we find all of the elements of priestly pastoral ministry and an answer to the question, “Why priests?”  When the priest who is appointed pastor is asked to renew his ordination promises, it becomes clear that he is present in the parish not just as an individual, but as someone with a special relationship to Christ, someone who functions as a representative of Christ’s Church and assumes the responsibility of being shepherd or leader of a portion of the Church, but in communion with that whole ecclesial body.

The ordination promises focus on the communion / unity of the priest with his bishop and, through the bishop, with the whole Church Universal.  None of us come to our ministry in our own name or by our own authority.  We are there precisely as a representative of something far greater than ourselves — we are shepherds who participate in the pastoral ministry of Christ the Good Shepherd at the service of the whole Church.

 To understand who the priest is and what his role in the Church is, one has to go all the way back to an understanding of who Christ is and how he continues his work in the Church today, and thus why he established a Church, the Eucharist and the priesthood.

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church begins its discussion on the Church’s origin, foundation and mission by reminding us that the Church begins with God’s plan of salvation, a plan that unfolded gradually in history (CCC 758).  The Father so loved us that he sent his Son to redeem us.  Jesus so loved us that he died and rose again for our salvation.  To continue the work of salvation, he selected apostles upon whom he would build his Church, his new body, which would have as its responsibility the task of carrying out and completing the work which he began.

 The Church, then, shares in the very life of the Risen Lord.  His members, those baptized into the Church, form a body with Christ as its head.  It is through this Church that women and men are saved by coming to know Jesus Christ and through him are united in grace to the Father through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 Each year with eagerness, we await the celebration of the sacrament of holy orders in this archdiocese.  Each June we have the ordination of those men to the diaconate who are preparing to go on to priesthood.  The following Saturday witnesses the ordination to priesthood.  In addition, we have ordination of men to the permanent diaconate.  All of these are occasions of great joy because they are expressions of the enduring service the ordained render to the communion of the Church.

             The heading under which we find the sacrament of holy orders in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is “sacraments at the service of communion.”  The Catechism points out that the sacraments of initiation “ground the common vocation of all Christ’s disciples, a vocation to holiness and to the mission of evangelizing the world” (1533).  At the same time it tells us that “two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed toward the salvation of others...” (1534). 

             The Catechism teaches us that the origin of the word “orders” is rooted in Roman antiquity where it referred to a special governing body.  Those ordained to holy orders are incorporated into Christ so that they might lead God’s holy people.  This hierarchy — “hier” “archos” — holy ordering — assumes the responsibility of furthering the work of Christ to teach, to lead and to make holy.

 Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all conferred by a sacramental act called ordination; that is, by the sacrament of holy orders.  Bishops and priests are configured to Christ, Head of his Church.  Deacons are ordained and configured to Christ the Servant (1569).

 Christ is the true, invisible head of his body which is the Church.  Yet just as that body of Christ is made visible and manifest in all of the members throughout the world, so too is it manifest in the presence of Christ the head of the Church specifically in the priesthood which carries on the ministry of Christ as head of his body the Church. 

             Saint John Neumann, canonized in 1977, served as pastor of the Redemptorist Parish of Saint Philomena in Pittsburgh.  At that time he had a young assistant named Francis Xavier Seelos.  He was beatified (the last step before sainthood) on April 9, 2000.  The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults begins the section on holy orders with a reminder that “St. John Neumann and Blessed Francis Seelos exemplified what the Sacrament of Holy Orders calls priests to do.  They were outstanding shepherds of God’s people, bringing them the Sacraments of salvation, inspiring them to conversion, and witnessing in their own lives the holiness that drew their people to follow Christ more deeply” (Ch. 20).

 In explaining how the priest can function as Christ, the Church speaks of the priesthood as an identification with Christ on the most fundamental level.  The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum ordinis) tells us that the priestly office “is conferred by that special sacrament through which priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are marked with a special character and are so configured to Christ the Priest that they can act in the person of Christ the Head” (2).

 Because of sacred ordination the priest stands in the midst of the Church as its leader, its head.  He also then functions in the name of the whole Church specifically when presenting to God the prayers of the Church and, above all, when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice. 

 As we identify the work of the priest, we see that it is completely tied to the continuation of the unique work of Christ.  That work is preeminently achieved in Christ’s death and Resurrection which won our redemption.  Hence the priesthood is intimately tied to the Eucharist which continues to make present the life-giving effects of the great Passover.  On the same first Holy Thursday on which he instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ conferred priesthood on the apostles:  “Do this in remembrance of me.”

             In instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist, our Lord created what would be a living re-presentation of his own death and Resurrection.  At the same time, he charged some to see that this sacred mystery would be made present forever in his memory.  The Church sees the origin of holy orders in the will of Christ and his explicit acts on that first Holy Thursday.  Thus it is true to say that holy orders and the great Christian paschal mystery are inseparable.  Christ the priest offered himself for our salvation; the Eucharist is the continued re-presentation of that sacrifice, the priesthood is a special human participation in that divine work.

The order of presbyter grows out of the realization that the bishop is not able to be present in every part of the Church over which he presides given the size of the Church and the number of the faithful.  In this regard, the Catechism quotes the Second Vatican Council:  “The function of the bishops’ ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ” (PO 2, CCC 1562).  The ordination of deacons is to provide in the Church those who will be of service to the priests and especially the bishop. 

 In keeping with a tradition going back to Christ’s selection of his apostles and affirmed in the Church as the explicit will of Christ, only men can be ordained to the priesthood.  It is important when we reflect on this teaching of the Church that we recognize the issue is one of sacramental theology, not civil rights.  At the same time, we must also note that the Church makes great effort, particularly today, to underline the dignity of women in the Church and their role in the life of the Church apart from sacred orders.  While the Church does not have the power to ordain women, it is clearly calling on all the members of the Church to recognize the important role that women have in the life of the Church and to recognize and highlight that role and the dignity of women.

             While holy orders exists to be of service to the faithful, it should also call forth from them a spirit of support, understanding and solidarity.  Perhaps the most important thing we can do for our priests as they labor on behalf of the Church is to recognize our need to be open to their teaching, their leadership, their sacramental ministry and to embrace them in a solidarity of prayer and loving support.

 Given the understanding of the Church as the communion of the faithful in the Holy Spirit, the new Body of Christ, his Church, the very first task of the priest is to sustain the communion of the Church — the unity of the Church.

 Sometimes the bishops will make a practical judgment that a particular course of action best serves the unity and teaching of the Church.  This happened in 2004 when the Bishops of the United States agreed that “the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” (Catholics in Political Life).  While everyone may not agree with how an individual bishop applies this principle for institutions within his own diocese, it, nonetheless, is the bishop’s call.  Communion in and with the Church obliges its members, even in practical decisions, to support the legitimate exercise of a bishop’s responsibility.  Solidarity, which is a practical expression of spiritual communion, requires such support.  Otherwise, the unity of the Church becomes a theoretical consideration and the role of the bishop, who has the responsibility of unifying, is diminished.

 The very nature of a Catholic institution, which is part of a larger community of faith, makes it incumbent upon it to work out of a lived and concrete communion with its diocesan bishop whose task is to oversee all ministry in the local Church.  When any Catholic institution — for example, health care, higher learning, social service or Catholic Charities — chooses to disregard a legitimate instruction, it weakens the Church’s practical communion and fails to recognize the authentic role of the leaders of the Church.

 At the heart of the life of the Church and her great saving tradition is the Eucharist.  Thus the second promise of the priest involves the celebration of the sacraments, most particularly, the Eucharist.  “Are you resolved that in praise of God and for the sanctification of the Christian people you will celebrate the mysteries of Christ devoutly and faithfully and in accord with the Tradition of the Church?”

 One of the most dramatic moments in the liturgical year takes place in Holy Week as we prepare to commemorate the events of our salvation.  The Church sets aside this period of time so that we will remember not only what Jesus endured in his Passion and death but what he accomplished for us — our redemption — our salvation.  At the beginning of the week, as we come together on Palm Sunday, we stand and listen to the entire Passion narrative from one of the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark or Luke.  This powerful and dramatic reading is repeated again on Good Friday.  This time we listen to John’s account of the suffering and death of Jesus.

 There is a sense in which everything else in the Scriptures, particularly in the Gospels, leads up to Calvary and then the empty tomb in the Easter garden.  There is also a real sense in which everything else flows from these sacred events that we have become so familiar with as we trace the Way of the Cross — the Stations of the Cross. 

 Yet we do more than listen to and hear the account of Christ’s final hours.  We actually become present, or rather the events are made present to us.  It is for this reason that the narrative of the Passion and death of Jesus begins with the account of the institution of the Eucharist.  In all four Gospels there is the reference to the Last Supper which is the context of the institution of the Eucharist.  In Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospel, the relationship of the Last Supper to the events of our redemption is made explicit in the account of the institution of the Eucharist. “Do this in memory of me,” Jesus announces.

 The night before he is to undergo his Passion and death, Jesus established a new memorial — a new way to recall and to remember what he was about to endure.  As Paul so beautifully describes the Last Supper in his First Letter to the Corinthians, we read: “For I have received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor 11:23-26).

 The context of the new memorial — instituted at the Last Supper — is the Jewish Passover.  This is the ritual meal established at God’s command to help the Jewish people remember the events of their deliverance from Egypt and the gracious loving-kindness of God, who is their deliverer.

 In an age before technology, where there were no cameras, photographs, phone cameras, or camcorders, the ways in which events were remembered and passed on were through the celebrations and ritualized reminders that formed the history, frame of reference and calendar for a people, in this case, God’s people.  This was the way people recalled what happened to them in the past, its significance for them in the present and why it is important to continue the memory in the future.

 In the Book of Exodus we read how at God’s instructions, Moses fashioned a memorial meal – a ritual presentation of the Passover events.  The meal was thus integrally connected with the circumstances of the liberation.  The symbols of nourishment taken in community and of eating in haste while prepared for flight captured in ritual what God was about to effect in history.

 This whole series of saving events was richly preserved in the annual repetition of the Passover meal in what was called a “memorial feast.”  As generation after generation shared the paschal lamb and the unleavened bread, fathers told their children of the wonders Yahweh had worked on behalf of His chosen people.  In this “memorial feast” they understood and celebrated far more than a community festival. The Passover meal was not simply an opportunity to review past history.  In this meal the people of God knew they were with their Lord, and they renewed the covenant He had made with them.

 The interplay between ritual and history that took place in the Exodus was repeated at the New Pasch.  Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection, which are the sacrificial offering that frees us from sin, took place after the Last Supper, just as the flight from Egypt and the events of Sinai followed the first Passover meal.  But Jesus’ command to repeat this as a “memorial” of Himself established the Last Supper as the ceremonial setting for the representation of the events of our salvation.  In this memorial sacrifice the new covenant could and would be constantly renewed with every succeeding generation.

 The Church calls us not just to a commemoration of the events of two thousand years ago, as laudable as that might be, but also to enter the mystery itself today.  We are not bystanders, but rather participants.

 In his last encyclical on the Eucharist, the Servant of God Pope John Paul the Great reminds us of the ancient faith of the Church:  “When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present and ‘the work of our redemption is carried out.’” (11)  Unlike any other form of remembrance or commemoration, the Mass, the Eucharistic Liturgy, thanks to God’s gracious gift, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, has the power to make present the very reality it symbolizes.

 At his ordination, every priest receives a patent with a host and the chalice with wine to symbolize his becoming a part of the Church’s sacramental ministry.

 The next promise has to do with fidelity to the Word.  “Are you resolved that in preaching the Gospel and teaching the Catholic faith you will worthily and wisely fulfill the ministry of God’s Word?”

 A number of years ago during an ad limina visit in the course of a lunch hosted by Pope John Paul II, one of the bishops lamented the difficult situation we bishops encounter in passing on the faith in the face of great apathy, indifference and the powerful force of secularism.  He asked of the Holy Father, “What can we do?”

 The Pope, acknowledging the description of the culture offered by the bishop, reminded all of us at table that we are all called to proclaim the Gospel and then, even in the face of apathy, indifference or rejection, to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it. 

 The Holy Father went on to point out that while the Gospel message is the same wherever it is proclaimed, it must be announced precisely where we are, in the context of the specific circumstances of our day and the conditions of our own local culture.

 To reflect on our role as servants of the Word and heralds of the Truth seems particularly appropriate during this Year for Priests, invoked by our Holy Father to highlight and revitalize our priestly ministry, and in the wake of the Synod on the Word of God during which bishops from all around the world considered this most pressing topic — the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. 

 In understanding what it is we proclaim, the recent Synod of Bishops called us to reflect on the meaning of the Word of God.  It also reminded us that the term itself, “Word of God,” is used analogously.  The Synod began its reflection on the Word of God as the Logos, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, so powerfully emphasized in the dramatic Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel.  This Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.  God became man so that the ineffable, transcendent Word might become visible and a part of our world.  His proclamation and teaching, his “words” are derivatively also the “Word of God,” as Saint Peter confessed to Jesus:  “You have the words of everlasting life.” 

 The responsibility to proclaim the word of God, as we know, fell first to the apostles whom Jesus chose, commissioned, and charged with this task.  In succeeding generations, it has fallen to their successors, the bishops, as well as the priests who are their primary collaborators, to carry on this apostolic commission.  It follows, then, that the authenticity of our message is rooted not in our learning, our wisdom, or our experience; the assurance that we are teaching the full Gospel message is rooted in our vocation within the Church.  None of us preaches as a free agent; we are part of a larger and supernatural reality, the apostolic college in union with Peter and its continuity through space and time, the college of bishops in union with the Pope and guided by the Holy Spirit.

 Priests, as participants in the great apostolic tradition, are a part of God’s plan that his Word would speak to the issues of our day.  Hence, all the more significant is our communion with Peter and the apostolic college as we apply the Gospel to the circumstances of our day — 2010.

 The ministerial manifestation of Christ’s kingdom includes a faithful embrace of the Church’s sacramental and pastoral ministry.  Hence, we promise to celebrate the mysteries of Christ, most particularly the Eucharist, according to the Tradition of the Church devoutly and faithfully.

 We are still a long way from the realization of our communion in its fullness.  But the Church is its beginning and we should be prepared to see in what the Church teaches, in her sacramental life and in her call to unity, the far deeper reality that will develop and mature into a universal oneness before God.

 As a part of the installation ceremony, the newly installed shepherd of the parish leads the community in the Profession of Faith and then concludes with a declaration that he believes “everything contained in God’s word written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the Church...”  He also proclaims that he adheres “with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic magisterium…”  Those words and re-affirmation of faith are an occasion for all of us to reflect on why we believe what the Church teaches. 

 Knowing that he would eventually return to his Father in glory, Jesus chose from his disciples certain men who would be apostles; that is, those who would be messengers of his word and leaders of his new faith family — his Church.  Upon the apostles God poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ Ascension. 

 Before the apostles died they appointed successors and so through a handing on of the Tradition of the Church through the power of the Spirit the message continues to be taught to us today.  With confidence we can go from where we are today back to the person of Christ and be assured that what we believe is in fact the truth because it is what Jesus came to teach us.

 It is this understanding of the teaching of the Catholic Church that calls us to accept it and live it.  Thus the newly installed pastor proclaims that with firm faith he also believes “everything contained in God’s word written or handed down in tradition or proposed by the Church…”  This affirmation comes right after having recited the creed.  The pastor then adds that everything that is “contained in God’s word” is something that he, as shepherd of the flock, believes.  The same should be true of every member of the flock.  We believe everything that God has come to teach us.

 As members of the Catholic community, priests must live and act within the structure of the community.  That means working in solidarity with the bishops, who as the successors of the apostles are given the responsibility for preserving the unity of the Church and providing leadership, as well as teaching and sanctifying.  Communion in and with the Church obliges its members, even in practical decisions, to support the legitimate exercise of a bishop’s responsibility.  Solidarity, which is a practical expression of spiritual communion, requires such support.  Otherwise, the unity of the Church becomes a theoretical consideration and the role of the bishop, who has the responsibility of unifying, is diminished. 

 There is a current in our society today that suggests that the bishops are just one among many voices offering legitimate direction and guidance to Catholics and the wider community in the name of the Church.  All too often today, we hear from some Catholics, a few of whom hold positions of responsibility in parishes or Church institutions, and even a small number of priests, who feel that they have a better individual take on things than the bishops. 

 Yet, when it comes to matters of faith and morals, when it comes to giving necessary practical prudential guidance, it is the responsibility of the bishops to lead.  It is also the responsibility of the clergy and faithful to recognize that leadership.

 The reason for the joyful celebration associated with the renewal of parish leadership is our faith conviction that such leadership, while entrusted to human beings, is actually guided by God’s grace.  The installation of every pastor is a reminder to all of us simply to thank God for the ability to say, “Yes,” knowing that it is Christ who guides his flock, feeds his flock and gathers it eventually to bring it to its eternal home.

 Just as the newly installed pastor says that he adheres “with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate,” so should every member of the faithful make the same profession.  We are called to adhere with an internal acceptance to what the Church teaches because it is the Spirit guiding the teachers of the Church, the bishops, in their proclamation of the faith.

 Finally, the priest is asked to promise to unite himself as closely as possible to Christ the High Priest who died on the cross for our salvation.  At every ordination, before the priest is ordained he prostrates himself before the altar as a pledge of his self-giving so that when he rises, he does so with the commitment to enter as fully as possible into his configuration with Christ, the High Priest.

 When our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, called for a Year for Priests, he reminded all of us of the unique ministry of the priesthood at the service of God’s people.  Configured to Christ, the priest ministers in the midst of the Church as the image of Christ.  He is to teach, administer the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and be the spiritual leader for the portion of God’s flock entrusted to his care.  This gift and challenge each priest receives, and it is the foundation of our life’s work and our great joy.

 Once I was asked why I always describe, in homilies, talks, articles and reflections, priestly life and ministry in such elevated terms.  I replied that this is how the Church speaks of priesthood because it is the image painted by Jesus of his own ministry in which the priest participates by ordination.  Holy Orders is more than a designation for duty.  It is a change in our very being.  Ordination truly makes us one with Christ, head of his Church.

 

            While it is in earthen vessels that we carry this great treasure, it is nonetheless a truly magnificent treasure.  My hope is that these thoughts on the priesthood might be of some small help as we all reflect on and thank God for the gift of the priesthood.