Knowing how the Church sees herself

BY MGR PAUL NADAL

The vision of the Church, with its profound respect for all human values, is a rediscovery to her self-understanding. This means that renewal goes much deeper than some of the changes have led us to believe.

In looking afresh at the ministerial priesthood, it is necessary to realise the importance of the Church’s rediscovered understanding of herself. This deeper self-understanding will inevitably affect the ministerial priesthood which is an essential and integral part of the Church’s structure. Just as there is a change in the Church’s approach to, and presence, in the world, so too there will be a change in the priest’s approach to and presence in the world.

If this call for a better understanding of the priest’s role, function and presence in the world is true, then priestly and pastoral renewal goes much deeper than preaching more relevant sermons, celebrating the liturgy and sacraments more meaningfully, updating our catechism classes, more home visiting and all the other traditional and worthy pastoral duties.

What it does mean is that priests need to take a hard look at themselves and ask what at times can be painful questions on the role and function of the ministerial priesthood. Some of those questions are:

1. Have I ever asked myself why I am a priest?

2. Do I really understand and accept that to be a priest calls for servant leadership, or do I expect service from the people in my parish?

3. Do I accept that this is not a job like any other, but rather the living out of a calling to service and holiness?

4. Am I open to the formation of my parishioners so that they may truly be disciples of Jesus and continue his mission, or do I see this as threatening to my position?

5. Does my attitude, behaviour and lifestyle witness to the Gospel values preached by Jesus?

The theological perspective of the priesthood is clearly set out by John Paul II in his first Synodal Exhortation in April 1992: “The priest’s identity…like every other Christian identity has its source in the Blessed Trinity… It is within the Church’s mystery that every Christian identity is revealed and likewise the specific identity of the priest and his ministry by virtue of his consecration which he receives in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The priest is configured to Christ in a special way as head and shepherd of his people in order to live and work by the power of the Holy Spirit in the service of the Church and the salvation of the world.”

How this task is actually done is not always that clear. In Pastores Dabo Vobis, John Paul II wrote: “The complex situation of the present day…needs not only to be known, but also interpreted. The interpretation must always be rooted in gospel discernment. This is echoing the teaching of Vatican II: ‘The Church has always had the duty of scrutinising the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel… We must therefore recognise and understand the world in which we live, its expectations, its longings and its often dramatic expectations.’”

It is somewhere between the theological concept of the ministerial priesthood and the present historical situation that the identity, function and role of the priest must be worked out.

Just as the Church is seen as the sacrament of the unity of mankind, at the service of the whole human family, so too the ministerial priesthood is seen as leadership service in the Church and the world.

This idea of priesthood is rooted in the leadership of the Lord himself: “Here I am among you as one who serves” (Lk 22: 27). “The Son of Man himself came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10: 44). “You call me master and Lord, and rightly, so I am. If I then, the Lord and master have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet” (Jn 13: 4).

We cannot move forward into new forms of ministry unless we come with a fresh understanding of the ministerial priesthood in the light of the Church’s own new understanding of herself as the “sacrament of the unity of mankind”.

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