The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Discernment of a Priestly Vocation

May 7, 2009

A Priest forever in communion with Peter

Pope Benedict XVI announced in March that from June 19 this year to the same date next year we would have the "Year of the Priest" under the patronage of St. John Mary Vianney the celebrated Curé of Ars. Since the late and long-lamented John Paul II's great mania for calling for a "year of this-that-and-the-other, the current Pontiff has not been slow to follow suit. We are, in point of fact in an overlapping year of St. Paul right now which will coalesce albeit briefly with the sacerdotal year by 10 days.

It would seem with the sudden emphasis on the priesthood by Rome that we should continue our journalistic meditations on the priesthood especially where the discernment of a vocation is concerned.

Recently a correspondent suggested that he would like to try to discern a vocation here in Spring Hill. I wrote this in part back to him (the message is altered to preserve anonymity):

Dear X,

X called me today to tell me that you had asked him what had happened to your e-mail to me. I told him that I hadn't received a message from you but that I would check on this as I had a chat with him. What was my utter amazement to find that I was wrong and that you had contacted me about 6 weeks ago ! I am very sorry but I just seemed to have missed your e-mail.

(...)

Re-reading your message now, again, this evening, I think you misunderstand the issues from my point of view. Let me explain:

1/ Attraction to girls is normal and desirable, but in the Latin Rite priesthood, celibacy is the norm, hence in a priestly vocation girls are off limits. We both understand this - point closed.

2/ In the matter of a priestly vocation there are some general positive signs that we look for in order to discern whether God is calling you to serve Him as a priest. POSITIVE SIGN means not just "good" here, but a "REASON WHY" you think God is calling you.

Let's make a distinction as regards vocation:

God may call you to be:

A/ A priest

B/ A brother

C/ A husband

D/ A single man

Each vocation has its own object or purpose (and in two cases) Sacraments attached that give the sacramental grace to live that state in life i.e. A & C

To be a single man, you have daily prayer, Confession and Communion available.

To be a brother, you have to aspire to the life of perfection and be free from the attachment to sin (even willful venial sin... eventually after many years of effort).

To be a married man, you need a life of prayer, to frequent the Sacraments of Penance and Communion and to find yourself a good Catholic girl who desires through expressing the marital vows together with you, to have children, foster mutual happiness, and ultimately by and through and together with you to save your souls. Ultimately Marriage is about getting to heaven - you, your spouse and your children ! (That's no easy task in this day and age !)

To be a priest a lot more is required; generally there are present some good indications of vocation such as: a desire for self-perfection, a desire to save one's soul, a desire to foster the leading of other souls to God, to offer Mass and the Sacraments - to be ultimately a man of prayer who will lead others to pray and save their souls.

When X asks "Why do you want to be a priest ?", he is asking you where are the signs I have just mentioned. Being a priest is not just "a good idea" or a "better way of saving one's soul" it is rather all about allowing yourself to be God's instrument in the salvation of others - as well as your own life.

Also, generally speaking it is my firm conviction that if one is called to the priesthood, a man knows it. He doesn't have to wonder in a fuzzy way if he should be a priest - he has a burning desire for this way of life. It can happen that in your case is God calling you to priesthood, but I think it to be more exceptional than the rule. I can remember a distinct call at age 17 to serve God in this way, although I wouldn't realize this call until I was 28. Of course I "wondered" all along if this was what God was asking of me, but I always felt a burning desire to embrace this way of life.

That is the "vocation" issue i.e. whether God is "calling" you.

There is another quite important issue, that of mission (meaning "sending" in Latin). If God is truly calling you, will he also "send" you to work in his "vineyard" ? At the end of St. Matthew's Gospel right before the Ascension Jesus sends the Apostles to teach in his name:

"Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." St. Matthew 28:19&20

(...)

Please believe me that I will keep you in my prayers and I ask the same of you in return.

In the passage that is excised by the ellipsis (...) I go into great detail and specifics about what I mean by "sending". Unfortunately for the flow of the article there are too many specific references to people which would not keep the message anonymous and so I am forced to summarize as follows: All of us Traditionalists are breaking the law to keep the law. Normally to be a bishop the Pope would have chosen me and I would have been educated and ordained for a diocese or religious order under the Pope as a priest. I was not. As Traditionalists we believe there is a crisis in the Church which makes us break the law to keep our Faith, but break the law we do for we are neither called or sent by the Catholic Church. The men in my priestly career: Richard Williamson, Mark Pivarunas and John Simmons who called me to orders may or may not have had "valid" orders but they were not called nor still less sent by the Catholic Church to minister to Christ's fold. Indeed Pope Benedict had an interesting reflection on the matter when he ordained priests for the Diocese of Rome in 2006 with which I shall leave you to reflect:

Jesus now proclaims that this time has come: he himself is the Good Shepherd through whom God himself cares for his creature, man, gathering human beings and leading them to the true pasture.
St Peter, whom the Risen Lord charged to tend his sheep, to become a shepherd with him and for him, described Jesus as the "archipoimen" - "Chief Shepherd" (cf. I Pt 5: 4), and by this he meant that it is only possible to be a shepherd of the flock of Jesus Christ through him and in very close communion with him.

(...)

Before reflecting on these three characteristics essential to shepherds, it might be useful to recall briefly the previous part of the discourse on shepherds in which Jesus, before designating himself as the Shepherd, says, to our surprise: "I am the door" (Jn 10: 7).

It is through him that one must enter the service of shepherd. Jesus highlights very clearly this basic condition by saying: "he who... climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber" (Jn 10: 1). This word "climbs" - anabainei in Greek - conjures up the image of someone climbing over a fence to get somewhere out of bounds to him.

"To climb" - here too we can also see the image of careerism, the attempt to "get ahead", to gain a position through the Church: to make use of and not to serve. It is the image of a man who wants to make himself important, to become a person of note through the priesthood; the image of someone who has as his aim his own exaltation and not the humble service of Jesus Christ.

But the only legitimate ascent towards the shepherd's ministry is the Cross. This is the true way to rise; this is the true door. It is not the desire to become "someone" for oneself, but rather to exist for others, for Christ, and thus through him and with him to be there for the people he seeks, whom he wants to lead on the path of life.

One enters the priesthood through the Sacrament, and this means precisely: through the gift of oneself to Christ, so that he can make use of me; so that I may serve him and follow his call, even if it proves contrary to my desire for self-fulfilment and esteem.

Entering by the door which is Christ means knowing and loving him more and more, so that our will may be united with his will, our action become one with his action.

HOLY MASS FOR THE ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF
15 DEACONS OF THE DIOCESE OF ROME

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Vatican Basilica
IV Sunday of Easter, 7 May 2006