Recently, I was privileged to be the homilist at a silver jubilee celebration of a member of the faculty of the Regional Seminary who also cares for a parish in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain.

Last Friday, I was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Eucharistic Liturgy that formally opened the new academic year at the Regional Seminary.

Next month, all the bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference will be in Trinidad to participate in the Vatican Visitation of the Regional Seminary that was requested by Cardinal Sepe, the then Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.   

I shall use my column this week to link the issues involved in these three events. I offer these reflection points from the understanding the Church has of priesthood not only for priests and seminarians, but also for the People of God so that they may have an informed and accurate foundation for their expectations of priests and their responsibility to collaborate with priests:

1) Celebration. Celebration is a vital element in Christian life. Celebrating a jubilee of ordination is good for the Church community because it provides an opportunity to reflect on the priesthood which, along with many other vocations and ministries in the Church, is so very necessary for the Church.

Priesthood and other vocations and ministries are united by a theology of communion which was emphasised in the archdiocese during the recent Eucharistic Year.

Celebrating a jubilee is also good for the priest because it gives him an opportunity to renew his commitment to the Lord before the community. It enables him to deepen his appreciation of the gift of priesthood. Finally, it provides him with an opportunity to accept with humility the gratitude of the people he serves in his ministry as a priest.

Recent surveys of priests support the teaching of the Church on the importance of celebration. The results of the surveys may be surprising to some people.

The surveys indicates that most priests are quite happy being priests. In particular, the surveys state that if priests had the chance to live their lives over again, they would make the same life choice: to request ordination and to serve the community as a priest.

That is powerful information especially for young people who are thinking about priesthood.

2) Prayer. A priest is a believer who prays in the name of the Church for the Church. It is not just a matter of praying personally to sustain and deepen his relationship with God. It is about praying in an ecclesial manner for the entire People of God.

By law, a priest must pray the Divine Office each day for the Church. In addition, residential bishops and parish priests must celebrate Mass without a stipend on days listed in canon law for the people they serve.

Fidelity to personal and ecclesial prayer provides powerful witness to the people and also brings profound meaning to the life of a priest even when age or illness may limit his ability to serve in active pastoral ministry.

I have witnessed this dimension of priestly life on many occasions as priests I have known aged, retired and eventually prepared for death. They died as they lived – men of prayer for the Church.

3) The Sacraments. Living a full sacramental life and celebrating the sacraments well according to the mind of the Church are two of the principal responsibilities of priestly life and ministry.

Sacramental ministry necessarily involves teaching and preaching. Quality teaching and preaching require ongoing study and preparation. Even though pastoral service requires a great deal of time, priests must find time to study.

Periodically, they should be given the opportunity to participate in formal programmes for spiritual renewal to help them to persevere on the journey for holiness and for study to help them serve their people in a competent manner. 

4) Presence. Priests must be present to the people they serve in ministry. Presence is always important but it is particularly important at the time of sickness and death. Due to the shortage of priests, this dimension of ministry is becoming more and more difficult to implement.

At times, people feel rejected when the presence of their priests appears to them to be lacking. However, there is an incompleteness to that perception. People must appreciate that fewer priests cannot do what many more priests did in former days.

The new circumstance of reduced numbers of priests must be responded to by careful pastoral planning developed in dialogue with the people that will then be implemented by permanent deacons, religious and laypersons.

5) Mutual Support. Mutual support among priests is another expectation of the Church for priests. The support must be generous and holistic. Overwork, routine, the inevitable instances of misunderstanding in ministry can drain priests of energy.

These and other challenges in priestly life require ongoing attention. No one understands a priest better than other priests. The assistance priests provide to each other by welcoming each other in their presbyteries, by having time for each other, by sharing in dialogue, by collaborating in ministry, by praying together reduces the stress and isolation that, at times, can be overwhelming for a priest.   

Conclusion

While much more could be written about being a priest, the five points listed above, when lived generously and perseveringly, help sustain happy priests who are committed to the Lord.

Seminary programmes must communicate these values. The Vatican visitation of the Regional Seminary in October will pursue these values along with many other issues.

When lived well, the five points offer a form of witness that is very attractive for those thinking of priesthood. The lifestyle that flows from these points also helps families and peers of potential candidates to develop an attitude of confidence in the priesthood. 

As a result, when they encourage young men who have shown interest in the priesthood, they have no doubts that they are providing valuable assistance for the individual who is discerning and that they are participating in a very important ministry of the Church.

I encourage all God’s people to be confident as they support priestly vocation programmes and, in particular, I encourage priests, diocesan and religious, to raise the issue of priesthood in their ministry of preaching and to support what they preach with the witness of their lives.