Pope Benedict's song for the laity: Follow the clerical road; follow the clerical road; follow follow follow follow, follow the clerical road. You're off to hear the wizard, the clerical wizard of Rome.Pope answers priests' questions on prayer, celibacy and new vocations
CNA/EWTN - Vatican City - 6/10/2010
Priests from around the world gathered at a prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square on Thursday with Pope Benedict, who responded to questions addressed by priests from every continent.The Pope spoke on the importance of prayer and the Eucharist in the life of priests, defended the role of celibacy and emphasized the need to trust that God will bless the Church with new vocations.
The Holy Father recalled the importance of each priest having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ before he can go out and fulfill his calling.
The Holy Father recalled the importance of each priest having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ before he can go out and fulfill his calling.
He emphasized the importance of prayer, which he called the “profession of the priest,” pointing to the example of Christ, who is shown in the Gospels taking time to rest during his priestly ministry. If a priest neglects the care of his own soul, Benedict XVI said, he will never be able to love others properly.
Encouraging priests to take the time they need to nourish their own soul through prayer, the Holy Father offered words of encouragement, saying, “The Lord will help us make the right decisions if we are prayerfully attuned to him.”
Priests and the Eucharist
The Pontiff pointed to Mother Teresa as an example of “a love that abandons itself” in order to reach out to the forsaken. He recalled how she would always place a tabernacle at the center of each new community, thus keeping the Eucharist as the center of community life.
Priests must live out the Eucharist, said the Holy Father, reminding those present that “the Eucharist is not a closure to the rest of the world,” but rather, is open to the world's needs.
Priests in the Modern World
The Pope encouraged theologians to “be brave” in the midst of a world that excludes the Gospel.
Drawing on a distinction made by St. Bonaventure, he warned against a “theology of arrogance” that makes God a mere object rather than a subject speaking to us. Instead, the Pope said, priests must engage in a “theology stimulated by love” that seeks to dialogue with Love and come to a better knowledge of the Beloved.
Drawing on a distinction made by St. Bonaventure, he warned against a “theology of arrogance” that makes God a mere object rather than a subject speaking to us. Instead, the Pope said, priests must engage in a “theology stimulated by love” that seeks to dialogue with Love and come to a better knowledge of the Beloved.
He called on priests to have the “courage to go beyond positivism” and be “humble enough not to follow fads,” but instead to “live by the great faith of the Church at all times.”
“The true majority in the Church are the saints,” he said. “We must draw nourishment from them.”
The Pope explained that the faithful must “have faith in the life of the Church” while at the same time exercising critical thought. Emphasizing fidelity to the Church, he added that “the Catechism is the criterion by which we can judge whether a given theology is acceptable or not.”
Priestly Celibacy
One question directed to the Pontiff asked about “the true meaning and depth of ecclesiastical celibacy.”
The Pope began by emphasizing that the foundation of the priesthood is the celebration of the Eucharist. “Christ is drawing us into himself, allowing us to speak for him and with him,” he said. “He is at all times the only real priest, yet he is very present to the world today because he draws us into himself.”
Priestly celibacy must be understood in light of this unity with Christ, he continued. “We are going forth towards the life of Resurrection,” he said, a life in which “we will be beyond marriage.”
Therefore, he explained, “Celibacy is simply an anticipation, a foretaste, made possible by the grace of the Lord, that pulls us towards the risen world and helps us transcend ourselves.” In a world where people think only about the present and forget the future and eternity, priestly celibacy is a living witness and reminder of that reality to the world, the Pope remarked.
The Holy Father went on to discuss the ways in which priestly celibacy differs from the “increasingly fashionable” trend of simply “not getting married.” While the avoidance of marriage is based on a selfish rejection of commitment, celibacy means “saying that final yes,” he stated. “It is an act of trust, an act of fidelity.” In this way, “celibacy confirms the yes of marriage.”
The world does not understand this, the Holy Father observed, because in a world where there is no room for God, “celibacy is a scandal.” The Pope encouraged priests to let “the scandal of our faith” shine forth in their lives. (I'm pretty sure I would have done everything possible to avoid the language in this sentence--especially the word scandal in relation to the priesthood.)
Encouraging Priestly Vocations
Asked what priests can do to help “generate new vocations,” the Pope warned against the temptation to transform the priestly vocation into a mere job in order to attract larger numbers to the priesthood.
He recalled the Scripture story of how King Saul had been awaiting the necessary sacrifice before a battle, but when Samuel did not arrive, he tried to perform the sacrifice himself. Because Saul was not a priest, he had taken on a role that was not rightfully his.
In the same way, said the Pontiff, we must remember that a vocation is a calling that comes from God, not from our own doing. “We must avoid taking things into our own hands,” he said. Rather, we should “pray insistently for vocations” and wait with trust and humility for the Lord to answer our prayers. (The real question is what if you don't like the asnwer to your prayers? Do you continue to let the People of God go without the Eucharist waiting for God to give you the answer you want?)
Pope Benedict called upon priests to live out their priesthood “in a way that is persuasive” so that young people may see an example of the vocation lived fully. He also encouraged priests to speak to young men and help them find environments where they will be surrounded by faith and can be open to their calling.
Concluding the question-and-answer session, the Holy Father reminded those present to stay faithful to the Lord, maintaining the hope that “God will help us.”
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Nothing Pope Benedict said in this homily surprises me. It certainly doesn't surprise me that he did not acknowledge the damage his corps of priests has done to the Church. I'm sure it frustrated the protesters who had gathered along with the thousands of priests, but this gathering was intended to serve as a priestly pep rally, not a confession of priestly inadequacy.
For anyone who held even the tiniest bit of hope that Benedict might look into priestly celibacy this homily should put an end to that hope. On the contrary, it looks like the Vatican intends to use priestly celibacy as another prop for the theology of traditional marriage. Priestly celibacy is now to foreshadow our heavenly sexless marriages and stand in direct contrast to all the other unmarried selfish people avoiding commitment. What is a good gay Catholic supposed to think now? Damned if you aren't celibate, and selfish and afraid of commitment if you are celibate? Sure sucks to be a gay Catholic these days. Come to think of it, I guess this means it sucks to be a heterosexual single as well. Maybe it's still OK to be a widow or a widower.
True Catholics can take some pride in Benedict's words, for they are all apparently on the path to be saints. If you don't know who a True Catholic is, just wait, they'll tell you--repeatedly. They also have no compunctions about letting a whole bunch of others know they aren't True Catholics. That's how I learned I was not a True Catholic. I guess I'm not a saint either, in spite of what it says on my jacket emblazoned with the Fighting Saint logo of my alma mater. Well, at least I got the fighting part right.
As to all those True Catholics who use the catechism as the rule book of life, I better stop making fun of that because according to Pope Benedict even the thoughts of theologians should be bounded by the catechism. But then why bother with theologians--other than him I mean. Might just as well stick with catechists. Oh wait a minute, maybe that's the whole idea. No more theologians except those who agree with Benedict. (Silly me. I knew that.)
I'm not sure I think using Mother Theresa as an example of the effect of the Eucharist on a religious life was a very good idea. While it is true that she had a tabernacle in all her centers, it's also true that it didn't turn on any light in the fifty year dark night of her soul. I might have used another example. Maybe someone like Padre Pio. Well maybe not. Pio actually did as Jesus did. You know actually healing people and looking into people's souls and levitating and talking to angels and all that kind of thing. That might be too much to expect for alot of today's priests. Besides a lot of them are perfectly content considering themselves ontologically higher up the spiritual food chain than the laity. They have the right to the Eucharistic miracle and don't need to bother with any of the rest of that stuff Jesus talked about and did, and the Apostles talked about and did, and the current Church talks about but hardly ever does.
The part that really confused me, at least at first, is when Benedict says laity must have faith in the life of the Church while at the same time exercising critical thought. Then I realized he must have meant exercising critical thought about the aspects of secular society that fail to meet the criterion of the catechism. Benedict doesn't really believe one can be critical of the church and maintain fidelity. He believes one demonstrates fidelity to the life of the Church by being critical of society. Jesus on the other hand was highly critical of religious authority while maintaining fidelity to His relationship with His Father. It appears a True Catholic must now stick fidelity to priestly religious authority smack dab in the middle of their relationship to Jesus. That's good for the continuance of the current priestly system, but not so good for Jesus's relationship with His people.
But let's face it, Benedict's version of Catholicism is not about Jesus. It's about the Catholic priesthood. In his system we Catholics really don't need Jesus to get in the way. We need celibate male priests to control our access to Jesus, and the Vatican to control the expression of the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin to hold our hands and assure this is all the way it's supposed to be, and God the Father to bless it.
Oh yea, and one pope to rule us all and in his darkness bind us. (oops, wrong movie)
