Looking back to my altar-boy days, the priests I knew had a certain aura about them; men of mystery who touched the hem of the divine daily. They offered Mass, forgave sins, baptized, married, and buried.  The religious world of  Catholics rested on three cornerstones: doctrine, devotion, and morality. Not only could the priest make one right with God through absolution, the priest made it possible to do more than touch the hem of the divine. He made it possible to receive Holy Communion, being mysteriously and unspeakably close to God.

The humbling of the priesthood

The priests of today are leaning into cold, humbling winds their pre-Vatican II brothers were spared mostly. Consider the following realities and issues: an aging, dwindling priest corps; a drastic decline of the number of seminarians; the questioning of mandatory celibacy for diocesan priests; conflicting theologies about who’s suited for the priesthood by gender and sexual orientation; parents dissuading their sons from thinking about a life as a priest; and the fallout from the clergy abuse scandals for priests and bishops – and for the church in general – is difficult to exaggerate.

From a spiritual perspective, a humbled priesthood is a good thing. One of the great contributions of Vatican II was its emphasis on the church as the pilgrim people of God and that all the baptized, in terms of spiritual dignity, were equal members of the church. The priest is ordained to be the pastoral leader of the parish community, but not the only leader.  The priest isn’t the only one anointed by the Spirit with gifts and talents for the good of the church. Finding his place alongside the deacon, the lay ecclesial minister, the vowed religious, and the many untitled ministers in his parish will be an ongoing challenge for the priest today, as will engaging and relating to educated, thinking, believing Catholic women.  Many don’t quite know what to do with the articulate, well-read women of their parish, even as they admit a church that doesn’t hear the word of God preached in the voice of women remains skewed and handicapped.

Holding on to the sacred

Without a fundamental sense of the sacred, a sense of the hidden presence of God, Catholicism loses its savour. That’s why the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, are central to the life of faith. Having, by God’s grace, a sense of the holy, priests should, by their presence, foster a sense of the sacred, a sense of mystery.

The cold, humbling winds continue to blow, and today’s priests lean steadfastly into them. In these days without sun, no one thinks priests can walk on water, but the One who once did stands with them. That should be enough.

Rev Donald Cozzens

The Church will be smaller but will possess greater zeal for Jesus. “Our future priests and people deserve a joyful, holy and urgent impatience for preaching the Gospel; an unhindered zeal for Jesus.  Christ guided by a deep catechesis and formation of all the baptised, lay and ordained; and a demand for effort and excellence in our liturgy for the sake of God’s glory, not our own.  These are all the marks of the fewer but reformed and renewed disciples, schools, ecclesial movements and parishes of the future.”

They will be among the chosen instruments God uses ‘to make all things new.’  No longer can we coast along on our former glory, our erstwhile clout, huge and listed churches, generous numbers of priests and expanding schools.  We may well ask has all of this perhaps dulled our imagination and missionary focus.”

At this point in its history, the Church is being “chastened and purified”.  He said that therefore the Church needs “a clear and honest view of our pastoral realities, more focused on our mission as the Lord’s disciples and leaving behind our preoccupations with buildings, Mass times, narrow identities and other man-made structures; to a joyful new vision tempered by love, ruled by fidelity, but unencumbered by legacy, habits of the past, or an investment in keeping things the way they currently are. 

As Pope Francis has reminded us, ‘a Church that does not go out, sooner or later gets sick’ in the hothouse atmosphere of its own self-absorption.”

“The Spirit remains at the heart of the Church, directing us towards the future.  We should like to have a glimpse of that future, so as to read better the signs of the time.  But that is not essential: our hope for the future is not based on statistics and charts.  It derives entirely from faith in the Spirit, who is with the Church as it moves into the future.”

Cardinal Leo Josef Suenens

Mary assists the struggle of God to be one like us.  There is something dangerously new about Mary:  the woman at the centre of the Christian story.  It is a woman, not a man, who brings God’s real presence into the world.  Through her, the presence of the redeemer will be known and celebrated.

Almighty God, who raised our broken race by the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant that we, who have seen your glory shown in our humanity and your love perfected in our weakness, may be renewed in your image and conformed to the likeness of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Do this in memory or me.”  Those arresting haunting words of Jesus have defined the Christian community for two thousand years: we meet together to hallow the memory of the Lord by doing this—celebrating the Eucharist. 

Week by week, throughout the year, we nourish our faith and strengthen each other by celebrating the Eucharist.  Until the fullness of the kingdom, when we hope to see the Lord face to face, this simple meal is real food for the journey.

O Lord, who in the Eucharist have left us a memorial of your passion: grant us, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of your body and blood that we may ever perceive within ourselves, the fruits of your redemption; who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

As presented by Michael Campbell, the Bishop of Lancaster but appropriate to our Diocese too.