On Saturday, May 10, I ordained three members of the Redemptorist Community to the priesthood at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.

Since many priests celebrate jubilees at this time of the year, I am sharing the homily I preached at the ordination liturgy for their reflection and for the understanding of the people they serve.

Being ordained a priest in 2008 is both an honour and a challenge.

Ordination to the priesthood always has been, continues to be and always will be an honour because it is a share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ who was prophet, priest and shepherd. In a secularised society, priests must reflect on the honour and privilege of sharing in the priesthood of Jesus. They must never allow secularized society to shake their confidence and put them on the defensive. 

Ordination to the priesthood is a challenge because the Church is in a stage of recovery not just from scandal but from a ministerial method of passing on the faith as information with relatively little emphasis on formation, commitment to the Lord and mission.

That method has produced generations of Catholic people who are insecure in their faith. As a result, in many ways, the Catholic community is vulnerable to secularisation and anti-Catholic initiatives.

How can we grasp clearly the causality of this faith vulnerability? Pope Benedict XVI helps us with his pastoral analysis.

The Holy Father has challenged various Conferences of Bishops with these words: the Church has sacramentalised people but it has insufficiently evangelised them; it has sacramentalised people but it has insufficiently formed them; it has sacramentalised people but it has insufficiently catechised them. 

Consequently, a dangerous vulnerability is present. My brother priests and those to be ordained, our ministry is to change the pastoral method, to begin to reduce the intensity of the vulnerability and to lead people into mature relationship with God.

I have two initial recommendations for the priests and those to be ordained:
1) Cherish the honour and privilege of ordination. Develop a profound appreciation for the fact that ordination continues to be alive in your life only if you remain in union with Jesus the High Priest. If the dynamic of that relationship ever ceases to be real, all you have left is a job. Without the motivation to be a priest, simply having a job will not be enough for perseverance.

2) Accept the challenge of ordination with priestly zeal. Priestly ministry is demanding yet exciting. It is complex yet simple. The observations of the Holy Father that I have already shared have established the pastoral guidelines for your ministry and for my ministry.

In accepting the challenge of ordination in 2008 you have to be spiritually motivated enough and psychologically tough enough to “take some hits” for things you have had nothing to do with and to deal with the justified anger, the unfortunate hurt and the lingering doubt that still lives in the hearts of too many people. 

What do people expect from a priest?

1) They expect presence – that priests will be present to them. That expectation should be easy to meet for a Redemptorist. The pastoral tradition of the Redemptorist community is a “close-to-the-people tradition”.

Pastoral presence was a Catholic strength. Unfortunately, the traditional strength has faded somewhat. Other Christian traditions have adopted the Catholic tradition of pastoral presence and are having great success. It is time to go back to our roots. Make pastoral presence a priority in your lives.

2) People expect a priest to be a person of prayer, who offers life-giving celebration, content-filled preaching and discerning spiritual direction. Literally, millions of people are searching for meaning in their lives, they are trying to clarify the confusion they experience and they are struggling to move to a new level of relationship with God.

We must remember that the Church is the privileged place where people should be able to meet those legitimate needs. As priests we should be comfortable with God, with prayer, celebration, preaching and spiritual direction. We should be able to lead others to the same comfort.

3) Based on the meaning of their baptism and confirmation and the ecclesiology of Vatican Council II, people expect a priest to be a person of dialogue, a facilitator of collaboration and a person who gathers and sustains people in the various stages of their life journey as they search for community.

Priests must understand that loneliness is an incredibly intense pastoral problem in modern society. Life is just too fast and impersonal to develop Christian relationship. As priests encourage people to form community, reach out to the lonely and bring them into community.

Scripture Readings

Let us look briefly at the readings that the transitional deacons chose for this liturgy.
The reading from Isaiah (Is 6: 2-8) provides us with some biographical material about the call of Isaiah. He had a vision in the temple of Jerusalem in which he was confronted by the glory of God.

As a result, he was overcome with a feeling of unworthiness. He is purified for ministry and called to live a holiness of life that will motivate zealous ministry and be a witness to the people who are called to that same holiness.

Is holiness a vague concept? No it isn’t. Actually it is quite specific. It means following the commandments, it means being evangelised as you evangelise, it means being formed as you form others and being catechised as you catechise others. All those elements are quite specific. With the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, priests can respond to the call to holiness and encourage others to do the same.

The reading from Paul (1Cor 9: 16-19, 22-23) brings us into contact with the theology of Paul’s commitment to ministry. His commitment came from within, from his heart, from his relationship with Christ. His reward for serving in ministry is the fulfilment that comes from ministerial service itself. Since his mission is a gift for which he has been chosen, he has no reason to boast.

Very importantly, in his ministry Paul identifies with the people no matter what his personal mood is at the time. What does that mean for a priest? It means you have to meet the psychological/spiritual condition of the people to do ministry well.

For example, in a single day a priest can be involved in these roles: he prays the Divine Office with the people in the early morning and celebrates Eucharist with people before they go to work – those people are striving for holiness; at 10 a.m. he has a funeral when he is dealing with hurting and broken people – he has to shift to the condition of the people.

At 3.00 p.m. he has first communion. He is dealing with people who are happy and joyful – another pastoral shift is required. In the evening, he has a pastoral council meeting with a heavy agenda – another shift is required. All of those shifts cannot depend on the priest’s personal mood. They flow from his commitment to the Lord and are part of your ministry.

Mark’s Gospel (Mk 1: 14-20) speaks of the call of the apostles to preach the kingdom and its values to a people in transition from the former covenant who are struggling with the confusion and uncertainty that accompanies all transitions. That call brings us right back to the opening of this brief homily.

Preaching the new covenant requires: that you know the Catholic tradition, that you study it so you can share it, that as Redemptorists you participate in the moral theology specialisation of St Alphonsus, that you follow the “close-to-the-people” and life-giving preaching theology of the Redemptorist tradition, that you do not just sacramentalise people: that you evangelise, form people in Christ, catechise them into faith maturity and encourage them to participate in mission.

I pray that you will love the vocation you have chosen – to live priesthood in the context of the consecrated life. Enjoy your share in the priesthood of Christ all the days of your life. Experience the fulfilment and peace that only comes from surrender of your life to the Lord.  I pray that in 25 years you can say I love my life as a priest, I love my ministry in the Church and, if I had my life to live over, I would choose the priesthood again.”