That
my primary role as a Catholic priest is to help ground parishioners in
the living and true God has been clear to me since I was ordained a
priest twenty-four years ago. Indeed, I know of no other reason to be
ordained a priest, except to help lead fellow human beings into the
reality that we call “God.” Had I wanted to put the bulk of my energies
into social justice programs, for example, I could have been a social
worker, or donated generously to Catholic Charities. A Catholic priest
has three duties in church law: to teach and to preach the way of
Christ; to help the faithful grow in holiness through meaningful
celebration of the Sacraments (especially the Eucharist); and to provide
pastoral leadership in parish ministry. All of these tasks I find well
expressed in the old-fashioned description of a parish priest: a man who
has the care of souls. That is a wonderful phrase, and meaningful to
me. As your priest, I have been entrusted by our local Bishop with the
care of your souls, depending on the guidance and action of the Holy
Spirit, and your free and mindful cooperation.
In the care of souls, the first and primary duty is, perhaps, to “do no harm,” as in the Hippocratic oath. But along with this duty, one must “speak the truth in love,” using a phrase from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Not to deceive, not to mince words, not to distort the truth, but to speak truthful words about what matters most: God and our relationship with Him. “The rest is passing.” Part of the duty to speak the truth is to remove clutter of untruth (our idols), and especially to help liberate minds from the distorting power of false opinions, of a misunderstanding of reality. Again, truth matters, and untruths lead us astray. In addition, the way in which the truth of God is communicated matters, too. Having just watched the “Vice-Presidential debate,” and watching a man’s expressions, facial gestures, interruptions, I saw how such a poor presentation limits one’s ability to focus on, or to understand, words. In brief, style matters, too.
In the care of souls, then, I must take care not to give scandal, not to mock your beliefs, to be respectful of “where you are now,” to be patient with our human weaknesses and mental limitations. If some of you need mental images of God, for example, to aid your life journey into the divine mystery beyond words, I must seek to understand that need of yours. If others, perhaps carrying baggage of anger at someone in their life, cannot bear to use certain words for God (such as “Father”), I need to be patient with that, too. If some sense God’s love through the maternal love of Mary, and faithfully pray the rosary, I can surely work with that. But if others have emotional difficulty relating to Mary as Mother, that stance, too, needs to be accepted and worked with patiently.
In short, the care of souls requires the priest to adapt himself to a rich variety of human preferences, styles, spiritualities. Unless a person’s way appears to be self-destructive and a hindrance to the union with God, in his care for souls a priest should encourage each person to fare forward with “faith working through love.”
In the care of souls, the first and primary duty is, perhaps, to “do no harm,” as in the Hippocratic oath. But along with this duty, one must “speak the truth in love,” using a phrase from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Not to deceive, not to mince words, not to distort the truth, but to speak truthful words about what matters most: God and our relationship with Him. “The rest is passing.” Part of the duty to speak the truth is to remove clutter of untruth (our idols), and especially to help liberate minds from the distorting power of false opinions, of a misunderstanding of reality. Again, truth matters, and untruths lead us astray. In addition, the way in which the truth of God is communicated matters, too. Having just watched the “Vice-Presidential debate,” and watching a man’s expressions, facial gestures, interruptions, I saw how such a poor presentation limits one’s ability to focus on, or to understand, words. In brief, style matters, too.
In the care of souls, then, I must take care not to give scandal, not to mock your beliefs, to be respectful of “where you are now,” to be patient with our human weaknesses and mental limitations. If some of you need mental images of God, for example, to aid your life journey into the divine mystery beyond words, I must seek to understand that need of yours. If others, perhaps carrying baggage of anger at someone in their life, cannot bear to use certain words for God (such as “Father”), I need to be patient with that, too. If some sense God’s love through the maternal love of Mary, and faithfully pray the rosary, I can surely work with that. But if others have emotional difficulty relating to Mary as Mother, that stance, too, needs to be accepted and worked with patiently.
In short, the care of souls requires the priest to adapt himself to a rich variety of human preferences, styles, spiritualities. Unless a person’s way appears to be self-destructive and a hindrance to the union with God, in his care for souls a priest should encourage each person to fare forward with “faith working through love.”
