Cardinal says priests are too worldly…
As you can see alongside the website, the Catholic World news site reports that Cardinal Franc Rode, Prefect for the Congregation for Religious reports that “priests tend to be less obedient to the Churchand more responsive to the world.” I guess there are different ways of interpreting this. I do not consider myself worldly, but I do have a lot of stuff. I guess if the Cardinal speaks of wordliness in terms of excessive materialism, I would be guilty as charged. Living at the Seminary, I have a lady who cleans my room and does my laundry. There are cooks who provide three meals a day. I have a large library, some electronic gadgets (eg. ipod) and of course my own website. I have a TV, DVD player and cable (at least when Time Warner is not cutting it off!). I drive a 2002 Chevy Blazer. I find as I get older that I don’t even know why I have amassed this stuff, but here it is. At the same time, I wear my clerics everywhere I go, unless I am traipsing around the Seminary on the weekend. I say my Office every day, do spiritual reading every day, celebrate or concelebrate Mass practically every day and usually end up falling asleep saying the rosary.
There is a strong temptation among priests who are pastors who be so focused on putting out fires and doing administration that prayer, study and homily prep take a back burner and sometimes get neglected. At the same time, when people want their priest, they want their priest no matter what he is doing. I can understand why priests feel they have to hide out and sneak away. Priests get tired too, especially since often times many are not only carrying their crosses, but helping others to carry theirs as well. Sometimes they may just want to blend in with everyone else, not because they are up to no good, but simply because they want to be anonymous for awhile.
I do not know if just because a priest appears incognito for a while that he is worldly. I think the worldliness makes itself seen when the priest decides to play fast and loose with the liturgy. There is a problem also when he does not like it when people refer to him as “Father.” When he takes political and/or moral positions contrary to Church teaching, especially when there are politicians in his parish that espouse them, he is being worldly. I think when the only people he seems to associate or socialize with are the wealthy members of the parish, there is a problem with that. Of course, they may also be the only ones that invite him over. When his homilies consist of jokes and what is happening on American Idol or Desperate housewives and nothing of the “Reform your life and believe the Gospel,” there is a problem.
One thing that has been happening a lot in this diocese is that priests have been turning parish rectories into offices and having the parish purchase them a house offsite. Usually, the reason is that the priest believes he is living above the store. I think for the price of a house, there could be found space on parish property for offices, and have the rectory be the rectory. In some cases, priests are not even living within their parish boundaries. It is just my opinion, and not worth much, but I would argue that the pastor ought to be close to the Church and not have to “drive to work every morning.” I know a lot of the brethren would disagree me on this, but we ought to be bound to our Churches like fathers are bound to their homes and families. The only exception to this is if a group of priests who pastor neighboring parishes would want to live together for fraternal support.
Anyway, all priests need your prayers and support. We all need, myself included, a fuller understanding of our committment to Christ and his Church and the courage to fully live it out. May the Lord send the Holy Spirit to renew us in our mission of spreading the Gospel, leading the faithful and celebrating the sacraments with love and devotion. Any and all comments appreciated.
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