Pastoral care for pastors
LETTERS TO MY BROTHERS: Words of Hope and Challenge for Priests, by Stephen J Rosetti. Ave Maria Press, USA. 2013. 180pp.
Reviewed by Fr Oskar Wermter SJ
The first message the author has for the Church in general and for priests in particular is that “about 90% of priests report being happy as priests”. This may astound many who have been fed for years with “bad news” about priests.
The author should know. He has been dealing with priests “who fell off the wagon” for almost 20 years. And he has been giving “pastoral care to pastors” for even longer.
Most priests are happy. But there are some who are desperately unhappy and have gone wrong altogether. And yet, one can and should be a happy priest. What is needed? Perseverance in prayer and love.
Fr Rosetti talks to priests as his brothers. He speaks about life, not about the theory that goes with it. This book is not a theological treatise, though the author is aware of current academic debate.
For him the foundations of the Catholic priesthood are not shaking; he is not an intellectual who questions all. He sees the priesthood as a wonderful gift to the Church and to the individual chosen to be a priest. The only question is how to live the priesthood at the present time. Much of the book is (auto)biographical.
The author is definitely one of the 90%, a happy priest, despite having to deal with those who have met with an “accident”, which cannot be much fun.
Fr Rosetti is not an idealist. He is fully aware of our faith, including the faith of priests, being questioned, even undermined, by the current wave of secularism. He is aware that priests, like all the truly faithful, often have to swim against the current.
Priests are no longer carried along by the general approval and support of the People of God and society in general. They are outsiders. This is why they need strong support from within the Christian community.
Priests are to be “faithful in little things”, Fr Rossetti writes. Little sins and insignificant bad habits can blow up into big things and derail us altogether. “No decision, however small, is ever irrelevant.”
Among the “little things” priests ought to observe, Fr Rosetti writes, is the wearing of clerical dress. I agree with him that a priest should not hide his identity. But culture and climate vary, and a little cross may be sufficient in tropical Africa to let people know who you are.
Fr Rosetti speaks about the “harsh environment that you and I enter as celibate priests”. That is true of sex-obsessed America as of Africa. Media in Southern Africa are feasting on sexual scandals involving celibate priests or religious. They denigrate celibacy; they also expose mercilessly and shame anyone vowed to it but failing to live it.
The author notes that sexuality can be a great creative power as well as a destructive force. The “sexual revolution” has removed all the stops. It acts like a “tsunami”. Therefore “in today’s climate, it seems to me that our priestly celibate commitment and witness are desperately needed”. Both marriage and celibacy have their difficulties. Both have to work at their particular vocation all the time and live it with integrity.
A celibate priestly life gives joy. This “is our service and love for the people of God,” Fr Rosetti writes. “No priesthood can be fully alive without a dynamic, loving connection to the people.” The priesthood is about building relationship and community.
The other joy is “our relationship to our Loving God”, he writes. “It is the gold of his celibate commitment.” Those who take a negative view of celibacy and see it only as an onerous burden, find their “priesthood cannot really be fully alive and fruitful”.
The active pastoral priest must not leave prayer to monks and contemplatives. The author stresses again and again that we need prayer which is “our direct and explicit way of letting God take over our lives, our priesthood, and our hearts”. In prayer God “fills us with his presence”. The author’s “happy priest” is a prayerful priest.
Fr Rosetti’s letters to his brother priests do not answer all the questions scholars might have about the priesthood. But it gives a rich collection of practical insights gained in a life of serving the people of God and his brother priests.
The author is American and writes in America for Americans. But even in the Southern Africa context, it contains much common wisdom with a universal appeal.
Maybe one day these “letters” will motivate a priest in Southern Africa to write similar reflections to his brothers.
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