The indelible mark received upon a priest's soul at the moment of his ordination makes him a bearer of Christ's suffering.
Today’s priest has inherited a real problem. He is the heir to over a hundred years of priestly culture that has reified the priesthood, making it like being doctor who leaves work and the rest of the day is “his.” Further, the rest of the day is for “neutral” non-Christian activities. Living, as we do, in a Protestant culture means that clergy will be likely to unconsciously cast their own priesthood in terms of a protestant minister – hired by the community and so concerned not to upset them by teaching anything they won’t already accept.
Today’s priest has inherited a real problem. He is the heir to over a hundred years of priestly culture that has reified the priesthood, making it like being doctor who leaves work and the rest of the day is “his.” Further, the rest of the day is for “neutral” non-Christian activities. Living, as we do, in a Protestant culture means that clergy will be likely to unconsciously cast their own priesthood in terms of a protestant minister – hired by the community and so concerned not to upset them by teaching anything they won’t already accept.
Some priests do realize that they have to live the life of Christ as closely as possible. I am not speaking about them. The issue comes up when you have one priest who knows this and twenty others who are of the 9-to-5 variety. Where is the chance for collegial growth as priests in Christ?
There’s more. In a unisex culture, the priest is still supposed to be a male leading a parish that is spiritually receptive, that is spiritually feminine. He has to know and live out what true maleness is from Christ, the epitome of being male in this world. Then he can learn from Christ how to lead a Christian community. Of course, this depends on whether we believe in the Incarnation. Was Jesus truly a man? Or do we take the culture with its inevitable cloak of sin and the corresponding distortion of gender as the source of meaning?
Lastly, we live in a distraction-based culture. Every one of us is susceptible to the next shiny thing that comes along – a TV show, a new phone, a movie star’s wardrobe malfunction. You name it. Yet the priest still has to be Christ who is more attractive and more constant than any created thing.
This constancy, which translates into constant Christlike presence, is good for the priest and the people. Constancy in prayer and availability is Christlike. It is a great time to be a priest!
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