Pray for our priests

by Sarah-Leah Pimentel · March 30, 2014

As I put pen to paper, my heart is still saddened by the news of a Pretoria priest who is alleged to have committed sexual abuse.I am sad because this incident has brought a lot of hurt and confusion to my former Pretoria parish.

This Lent, pray especially for all our priests

This is a very difficult time for them and I feel helpless being so far away from home and unable to share in the grieving and healing process with my community, many of whom have become like family to me.

But it is not my intention to focus on this possible case of abuse, to speculate, or feed the rumour mill. I trust that our Church authorities and the South African legal system will establish the truth, whatever that may be, and take the appropriate measures.

I also believe that in the hurt, there can be great grace. The way in which people at my parish back home have really rallied to keep our perpetual Adoration of 24-hours a day unbroken is a sign of this grace.

Instead, I want to focus on the advice of Fr Chris Townsend, quoted in The Southern Cross report, when he called on Catholics to pray, pray, pray.

Pray for what, you might ask? For justice? Yes. For healing? Most definitely, and not only for the parties directly involved in the legal proceedings, but also for all victims of abuse and all those who feel betrayed by the Church and it members.

But it’s also a call to pray for a group of people that we sometimes forget about completely – our priests.

During Lent, we recall the story of how Jesus was tempted by the devil. Satan offered Jesus instant gratification, power, self-aggrandisement. Had Christ succumbed to any of these temptations, our salvation would have been in jeopardy.

Instead, Jesus was able to look Satan in the eye, recognise him for who he was, and send him packing – and from there begin his ministry of salvation.

In the same way as Satan tempted Jesus, I truly believe that he tries just as vehemently to harm our priests and rob them of their priesthood.

We are all tempted, yes, but I suspect that our priests are tempted in ways we cannot imagine.

Who else but our priests can make Christ physically present to us in his body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist? So in a sense, our priests are a direct point of contact between us and Christ. The devil doesn’t want that. In fact, he wants us as far away from God as possible.

The fewer priests there are, the harder it is to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, the more the devil thinks he can win souls for himself.

Our priests should not be alone in this battle. They are a part of the Church. So are we, the laity.

This is why sin doesn’t just hurt the individual, it hurts the entire community.

When we ask pardon for our sins in Mass, we publically confess three times to “my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault”. This is because when we sin, we hurt ourselves by distancing ourselves from God’s love, we hurt God who created us in love, but our sin is also a sin against the community of God’s people.

And this is why we ask the entire community for forgiveness: “therefore I ask the Blessed Mary ever Virgin and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord, our God.”

So if a priest sins, he sins against God but he also sins against us.

But what about us? Do we sin against our priests? Sin can also be omission – “what I have failed to do.” Have we failed our priests by not praying for them? By not helping them in their ministry and the work of the Church? By not caring? By not taking the time to get to know them?

If this is true, then we are also, in some small way, responsible for their failings. Instead of helping them to stand strong against Satan’s temptations, our indifference may have made it easier for anger, bitterness, weariness, loneliness or a crisis of faith to set in, weakening their defences against the devil’s cunning ploys.

So perhaps this Lent, we can pray especially for our priests. Pray for all priests, pray for the priests who have walked through your life, pray for your parish priest.

Maybe this Lent others may feel called to do something more practical for our priests, those men who have given up so much to minister to us, share our heartaches, walk through our troubled lives.

How about personally thanking our parish priest for all he does for us, helping with some of the duties in the parish that he would otherwise need to do alone, engaging him in finding the best solutions to some of the difficult situations that occur in parish life, or any other action that could help to refresh his soul through the battles of his own life.

For more ideas on how we can better support our priests go to www.schoenstatt.

org/en/news/223/182/Called-to-support-our-Priests.htm