The problem of faith

BY MGR PAUL NADAL

Speaking of the ministerial priesthood and priestly ministry is possible only in the wider context of faith and the role of the Church in the world today.

In his first Synodal Exhortation in April 1992, Pope John Paul II pointed out that the phenomenon of faith (or the lack of it) is affecting and challenging the whole Catholic (and even Christian) world. He spoke of the widespread rationalism which in the name of science “renders human reason insensitive to an encounter with revelation and divine transcendence”.

He spoke of “a personal subjectivity which tends to close off in individualism”. He mentioned a “sort of existential atheism which coincides with a secularist outlook on life and human destiny”. He spoke of “the break up of family life” and finally “the scarcity of priests which creates the most serious problems”.

This theme has repeatedly been taken up by Benedict who speaks of the “dictatorship of relativism”. As the pope pointed out last September in Britain, “the world of faith and the world of reason need to enter into a dialogue”.

Rational secularism without the influence of religion can and does lead to tyranny or worse. On the other hand, the pope said, religion needs to be purified by reason in order to avoid “distorted forms of religion such as sectarianism and fundamentalism”.

Moving from the theoretical and theological level to the pastoral, all those involved in ministry, whether priestly or lay, have experienced these problems. There is the break-up of family life, an ever increasing divorce rate, the thousands of children who have never experienced a good Catholic home and as a result have very little, if any, understanding of God, let alone faith. Many children and young people receive no systematic religious instruction. One is becoming increasingly aware of the toll and havoc that HIV/Aids is playing in our Southern African society.

Added to all this there is the chronic shortage of priests.

It is no wonder that one continually hears the word “crisis” when speaking of the priestly ministry. Personally, I don’t care to use the word “crisis” because of its strong emotive overtones, but that does not mean that there are not real problems in the ministerial priesthood. These genuine problems have been exacerbated by media attention on clerical sexual abuse and scandals in many parts of the world.

In many ways the problems of the ministerial priesthood reflect the problem of the Church in the world. The problem of the priest’s identity and role, like that of the Church, is primarily one of faith and the theological expression of religion.

If the basic problem is in the area of faith, then one cannot look to the social sciences for an answer. One cannot determine or define the role and function of the priest in terms of the human sciences of economics, sociology or psychology, as one might do if one were studying the role and function of a medical doctor, lawyer or architect. By all means one should have the fullest possible research into the role and function of the priest from the human sciences, but one cannot look there for an answer or solution.

The study of the ministerial priesthood belongs first and foremost to the study of dogmatic theology. Unfortunately dogmatic arguments and pastoral consideration are often confused leaving those (like myself) who are not dogmatic theologians, even more confused.

If it is necessary to rediscover the original form of Christian priesthood, then that is the task of the dogmatic theologian.

Pastoral theology and practice should try to embody this fundamental idea in the cultural and social milieu of the world in which the priest lives and works. That is pastoral ministry.

One therefore needs to reflect on the ministry of the priest in the context of a changing Church and its relationship to the world. One needs to pinpoint and highlight the things that are affecting the Church’s understanding of herself in relation to the world, and in turn show how this new understanding is affecting the priesthood and pastoral ministry.

Ever since Vatican II there has been a shift away from a “cultic” understanding to a more “relational” understanding of the priesthood as exemplified in the words sacerdos and presbyter. It is the difference between the cultic priest who offers sacrifice and administers the sacraments and the priest who is leader and overseer.

Obviously one is not either/or. The priest is both, but where one places the emphasis can have repercussions on one’s self-understanding and one’s pastoral ministry.

This is the third instalment in of Mgr Nadal’s six-part series on the priesthood.