"The message that Jesus brought was never a condemning one... rather, a message of individual freedom, of each of us being a manifestation of Divinity..."

 
 
About the Priesthood  

In this section are six important articles on the nature of the Priesthood:

 
  1. The Code of Professional Practice for Deacons, Priests and Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit
     
  2. The Nature of Priesthood by Carl Hemmer and Jim Burch
     
  3. The Fallacy of Clericalism by Thomas Doyle
     
  4. A CHRISTIAN MORAL DECICATION FOR THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ONE SPIRIT 
    by Daniel C. Maguire and James H. Burch
     
  5. History of Ordination within the Catholic Church, a selection from: Eucharist and the Early Church by Rev. Rich Hasselbach
     
  6. Priesthood of Community Leaders from the book, Like His Brothers and Sisters by Roman  Catholic Bishop Fritz Lobinger


The Code of Professional Practice                                                            

For Deacons, Priests and Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit

   

As a member of the Diocese of One Spirit, I give full assent to this code of professional life as a statement of my serious intent: 

 

1. SELF

 

Because spiritual life is a growing life, I will respect and protect my own needs for spiritual growth, ethical integrity, and continuing education in order to deepen and strengthen my ministry and myself.  I commit myself to a life where the compassion of Christ governs all my relationships with others.  I commit myself to honest work, believing that the honor of my profession begins with the honest use of my own mind and skills.  I will sustain a respect for the ministry. Because my private life is woven into my practice of the ministry, I will refrain from private as well as public words or actions degrading to the ministry or destructive of parochial life.

 

As a sexual being, I will recognize the power that ministry may often give me and refrain from practices which are harmful to others and which endanger my integrity or my professional effectiveness. Such practices include: sexual activity with any child or with an unwilling adult; with a person unable to make informed consent to the activity; with a person whom I am counseling; with the spouse or partner of a person in the parish; with interns; any other such exploitative relationship.

 

Because the demands of others upon me may be many and unceasing, I will try to keep especially aware of the rights and needs of my family and my relation to them as spouse, partner, parent, or friend.

 

 

2.  COLLEAGUES

 

I will stand in a supportive relation to my colleagues and keep for them an open mind and heart.  I will strictly respect confidences given me by colleagues and expect them to keep mine except in the case of being made aware of a serious issue of misconduct made known to me outside of the Sacrament of  Reconciliation.  Should I know that a colleague is engaged in practices that are damaging, as defined in our Code of Professional Practice, I will speak openly and frankly to her/him and endeavor to be of help. If necessary, I will bring such matters to the attention of the local Bishop or Presiding Bishop of the Church.

 

If I am to share the ministry of a parish with (an) other pastor(s), I will earnestly seek clear delineation of responsibility, accountability, and channels of communication before responsibilities are assumed. I will thereafter work in cooperation and consultation with them, taking care that changing roles and relations are re-negotiated with clarity, respect and honesty.

 

 

3.    PARISH

 

I will uphold the practices of parochial polity including both those of local self-government and those of counsel and cooperation within our church.  I will respect the traditions of the parish, enriching and improving these in consultation with the members.

 

I will respect absolutely the confidentiality and inviolability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I will remember that a parish places special trust in its professional leadership and that the members of the parish allow a pastor to become a part of their lives on the basis of that trust. I will not abuse or exploit that trust for my own gratification.

 

  

In acceptance of these articles I have this ________ day of  _________________, ________ affixed my signature.

 

 _____________________________________________

 

 

Witnessed by ______________________________________________

 

 

 

 

By Carl Hemmer and Jim Burch                                                                

 


The sacrament of ordination can be viewed, traditionally, from two perspectives: in terms of ex opere operato (the ontological view), or ex opere operantis (what the recipient must do).  Here we focus on one of the traditional aspects that is often overlooked.  It's both legitimate and important to attend to what priests should do to make the most of their graces.

 

Priesthood is usefully expressed by the modern image of the coach.  A priest, like a good coach, knows the game of life because he's played it.  He's wrestled with the tough questions that come up during the game and he can prepare others, his players, to deal with these questions.  His role is important in forming the players, teaching them the disciplines they need, suggesting ways to deal with the problems they'll have to solve in the course of a game, motivating them to do their best and to strive to win.  But the (priest, as) coach has a very limited role.  After the locker room chat, after brief sessions during timeouts, the players are on their own.  The game, after all, takes place apart from the coaching.  The coach's pride is that the players can play successfully under their own power and with their own wits.  They can improve on his advice and counsel.

 

The application to the priest is fairly straightforward.  He is a player himself who takes on the role of sharing what he has learned so that others can play more successfully.  If he has somehow bridged the gap between the human and the divine in his own life, he wants to help others to build their own bridges.   

 

Ultimately, the priest wants those he coaches to walk their own bridge to God because that's the only way it happens. The priest facilitates, motivates, and leads the way but he cannot walk the walk for others.  The priest keeps the signs of the invisible God visible and meaningful to others but he always recognizes that, beyond the signs, there is the game of life that others must play.  The priest sees assertions of his "betterness" as irrelevant to his role; he is either a successful coach or he is not.   

 

There are other consequences to this view of priesthood. Most obviously, some people are not cut out to be priests.  They may be able administrators or technical assistants, but they don't have the stuff to be good coaches.  When "priest" is used to describe wildly different capabilities related to Church administration, it confuses the term.  It should be reserved for those who are really pastors and coaches.

 

Another consequence is that priesthood is not necessarily for life, not forever.  It's an "arrogance of institution" to pretend that lives can be so commandeered that no other role can be permitted.  In fact, the Church accepts the temporary character of priesthood when it laicizes priests, or allows them to retire, or gives them non-pastoral roles, or permits the ordination of priests who will primarily serve in jobs that don't require ordination -- e.g. teaching chemistry.  Are all of these non-functioning priests still priests forever?   

 

Does any of this denigrate priesthood?  Of course not.  Rather, this approach demands more of priests, insists that they be what they claim to be or stop claiming a special place in creation.  More importantly, it insists that priests must be helpmates, coaches, sources of inspiration who bring others to their full potential and adulthood, not gurus or mediators who must always be there for something worthwhile to happen.  Ultimately, a priest mirrors Christ precisely because he is willing to die and disappear and let others carry on the message he has shared with them.  Like Christ, a priest multiplies his presence by empowering others who can live without him, not by creating dependencies that hold others back from following the spirit that works in them.  For a priest, the sacraments are training camp, back-to-basics exercises that school believers in what they must do in the whole of their lives, in the continuing game (!) of life. For a priest who has found his own bridge to the divine, his work is to build up the courage and yearning and faith in others that will multiply these bridges so that all can enjoy the wonders of creation.

 

The priest also celebrates the sacraments as signs of what must continue throughout life, apart from the ritual.  The sacraments are, in their way, the locker room pep talks, but the game is still to be played.  If the priest's celebration of Eucharist doesn't knit the celebrating community into a stronger family, open to other humans who also need their love, it fails as a pep talk.  If receiving the Lord in communion doesn't drive home the mandate of Matthew 25 to make communion a consuming daily occurrence, it fails its purpose.

And so the priest must be a natural leader of spiritual services.  The priest who is awkward, tongue-tied, inarticulate or a wall-flower will not inspire confidence and light up a service.  Yet there is a fine line in the other direction as well: the priest should not make the service about himself or herself, but should integrate all the people into a joyous experience.  The axiom of Lao-Tze comes to mind here: "Of the greatest leaders, the people say, 'We have done it ourselves'."

 

The priest must be able to generally follow the outline of the service (whether baptism, Eucharist, funeral, house blessing, etc.) without making it rote or a blathering of words exhaled from a book with no life or energy.  The priest, in order to be good at the role of service celebrant, must be able to spontaneously pray in a way that expresses the theme of the service, the resonance of the congregants and the grace-filled inspiration of the moment.  The message should be adapted to each time, situation and type of participants.  It must always come across as uplifting, relevant, personable, welcoming, professional, warm and vibrantly spiritual.  It is taken for granted that it must express the message of Jesus.

 

Always, always and always, it must be considered well and put into clear execution: what are we doing here, and how do we communicate and uplift with today's message of Jesus.

 

You know that in the world the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects, and their great men make them feel the weight of authority.  This is not the way with you: among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be the first must be the willing slave of all.

 

                              - Mark 10: 41-43

 

 

See my servant, whom I uphold; my Chosen One, in whom I delight.  I have put my spirit upon him; he will reveal justice to the nations of the world.  He will be gentle – he will not shout nor quarrel in the streets.  He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the dimly burning flame.  He will encourage the fainthearted, those tempted to despair.  He will see full justice given to all who have been wronged.  He won’t be satisfied until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth, nor until even distant lands beyond the seas have put their trust in him.

 

                        - Isaiah 42: 1-4

 

 

The Fallacy of Clericalism                                                                        

By Rev. Thomas Doyle

 

Thomas Doyle is a Roman Catholic priest, a Dominican, a military chaplain and a canon lawyer.  In 1984 he issued a strong warning on the dangers of the sex abuse within the Catholic Church, which was ignored but later became recognized as prophetic.  The following was an address given by Fr. Doyle at the Voice of the Faithful conference on July 20, 2002.

 

What we have experienced in our lifetime is a disaster the horror and destruction of which is perhaps rivaled by the bloodshed of the Inquisition, but which certainly makes the indulgence-selling scam and related corruption of the Reformation pale by comparison.  For decades and even centuries, the rape and pillage of children, adolescents, and young adults in our midst at the hands of the clergy has been allowed to not only happen but to flourish.  The physical and emotional plunder has been intensified by the spiritual devastation brought on by the aggressive refusal to face the truth.

 

Honest men and women, Catholic and not, have repeatedly asked.  Why?  Since the first public explosion of abuse in our era in 1984, people from all walks of contemporary life have been searching for believable answers and have been met with continued frustration.

 

The despicable saga of clergy and religious sexual abuse is not the essence of the problem.  It is a symptom of a deeper, much more pervasive and destructive disease that is nearly fatal in nature: the fallacy of clericalism. 

 

The primary symptom of this virus is the delusion that the clergy are somehow above the laity, deserving of unquestioned privilege and stature, the keepers of our salvation and the guarantors of our favor with the Lord.  The deadliest symptom, however, is the unbridled addiction to power.

 

The horror of this sex abuse debacle cannot be adequately described, nor its devastating effects accurately measured.  No public apologies, no new policy statement, no set of elaborate procedures, no widespread purges of suspected or confirmed clergy abusers will ever come close to repairing the immeasurable damage that has been done to the bodies, emotions and souls of the victims, the survivors and indeed the entire Christian community.

 

Yet out of this nightmare there has emerged a beacon of hope.  It is the realization that we must have a deep, probing and painful scrutiny of the governmental system that has caused this to happen, joined by a firm commitment to bring about a real change.

 

This widespread and deeply ingrained abuse of power by the hierarchical leadership of our Church has been sustained and even encouraged by the myth that what is good for that tiny minority, the clergy, is identified with what is good for the Church.  The Church, according to this erroneous way of thinking, is the clergy and the hierarchy.  But they have lost sight of the Christ-given reality that the Church is US.  Its most vital and important members are not those who wear the elaborate robes and sit on the thrones of power, but the marginalized, the hurting, the rejected, and the abused.  What we see happening around us are the initial death throes of the medieval monarchical model of the church.  This was and is an institutional Church that was based on the belief that a small, select minority of the educated, the privileged, and the powerful was called by Almighty God to manage the temporal and spiritual lives of the faceless masses, on the presumption that their unlettered and squalid state meant that they were ignorant and incapable of discerning their spiritual destiny.  This is 2002 and not 1302, and that model is based on a myth that is long dead, if in fact it was ever remotely grounded in a sliver of reality.

 

We are often told that this model is based on God’s will, grounded in an interpretation of Christ’s action in giving the “Keys to the Kingdom” to St. Peter.  Rather than depend totally on this statement as the rationale for the hierarchical system which was later invested with all of the trappings of monarchy, there is another statement of Christ that is a more accurate reflection of His vision for human government.  We find it in Mark’s Gospel:

 

You know that in the world the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects, and their great men make them feel the weight of authority.  This is not the way with you: among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be the first must be the willing slave of all.  (Mark 10:41-43)

 

For centuries, the only form of government most people knew was monarchy.  Even today there are countries throughout the world that are either monarchies or dictatorships.  But the Church is not any ordinary society.   Although its temporal leadership could perhaps conceive of no other form than monarchy, it is entirely possible that God’s vision was more expansive.  If we listen to the words of Christ and especially learn from his actions, we see looming up that word that strikes fear and trembling in churchmen – democracy!  Why?  Because it surely is evident that this was the reality that Christ lived by in his ministry.  Why the fear and trepidation?  Because to accept democracy means to shed the deep seated misconception that to serve means to control. 

 

The terrible disaster that we are living through has proven beyond any doubt the need for all Catholics and indeed all Christians to abandon the magical thinking about the hierarchy and clergy that sustains the medieval paradigm.  We must accept the great risk involved in accepting Christ’s challenge to lead by serving.  The hierarchical system appears to have lost its ability to do this.  You, we, must take up the challenge.

 

The strength, credibility and effectiveness of true church leadership does not need to be fortified by way of multi-million dollar public relations firms.  It does not need to ally itself with high priced lawyers as a backup or even a front line.   We live in the hope that we will see a church that is a Christ-centered community of equal believers first, and a political structure second.  This hope is within our grasp and within our vision.

 

Is clericalism and its co-dependent spouse, a monarchical hierarchy, part of the Divine Plan?  Hardly!  We need only look to the unequivocal words and actions of Christ.  We need to try Christ’s radical egalitarianism.  Where do we begin?

 

We must all accept the responsibility for our own spiritual growth.  It is painful to grow from religious infancy to spiritual adulthood but we must accept this pain to someday rejoice in the freedom the Lord promised.  We can no longer depend on a magical notion of the sacraments and the priests and bishops who administer them.  By sustaining the erroneous magical thinking about the sacraments we also sustain the false notion of the power that clerics hold over the believers.

 

We must stop enabling, through our continued financial support, the very power structures and office holders who have been largely responsible for the horrific consequences of the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse.  Rather we must, in truth and in charity, do our utmost to help free them from these terrible chains of addiction to power and control!

 

 We must challenge ourselves and everyone who is a part of the church to abandon the notion that the Church is a kingdom made up of a series of fiefdoms called dioceses.  There is no longer any justification for timidity and deference to the very structures and leaders who have betrayed us.  Our church has been hijacked and we want it back!

 

We must challenge any deacon, priest or bishop who voices his support for the victims and survivors and who hopes for a re-vivified church to not simply talk, but act!

 

We must keep this wonderful, hopeful spirit alive.  The pope, the cardinals and the bishops and indeed millions have been praying for relief from this crisis … praying for a new dawn.  We believe that our prayers are being answered and the new dawn is breaking, and a sure sign of it is here today.  This Spirit of God is really alive and well and staying involved!  It is here and it is moving through all of you.  We cannot stifle or short-circuit this Spirit by factionalism, narrowness or power struggles.

 

For years, this sex abuse nightmare has caused so many of us to question everything we knew and believed about our Church, and even to wonder if the Lord cared.  The response of the people to the victims, to the survivors and indeed to the whole Catholic community as we painfully live through this tragedy, is a response to God’s promptings.  It is the most eloquent and convincing proof that our Lord is with us and He cares.



                                                                                                               
 A CHRISTIAN MORAL DEDICATION FOR THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ONE SPIRIT

by Daniel C. Maguire and James H. Burch

  

 

We believe in the REIGN OF GOD, this reign which fuels our world, filling it with love and beauty just beneath the surface of all that is1. We believe that we are called to join God in creating a world in which oppression gives way to justice2. And we believe it can be done.

 

We believe that wholehearted biblical JUSTICE is the hallmark of the reign of God, a justice that shudders at poverty and will not rest until all God’s people are showered with empathy and care.  A Justice that acknowledges Creation as the instrument and reflection of Divinity.  And we believe that injustice is our prime moral challenge and the central mission for Christian people3.

 

We believe in PROPHECY and that we are called to stand for what is right, to be the social conscience of our society, to work for an ever-better stewardship to the earth, to be specialists in the art of cherishing the earth and its peoples, and to join with the prophetic movements of all world religions.  We want to stand for something important, and that something important is Christ.

 

We believe that PEACE can be achieved by justice4, and not by war, a peace in which all hostile barriers are dissolved.  We know that we are all one person in God5.  We claim only Peace and reject all hostilities.

 

We believe that our God is a God of TRUTH6, that we are missionaries of truth in a world awash with self-serving deceptions.  We seek to be only Truth.

 

We know that we are called to FREEDOM8, and that freedom married to justice and compassion is the only true Freedom.  We are grateful for this kind of Freedom and hold it as our ideal.

 

We believe in HOPE9, Hope which drives us to dream and work for a better world.  Hope where the cries of the oppressed are no longer heard and where tears are wiped from sorrowing eyes.  We carry this Hope in our minds and in our hearts.

 

 

 

We believe that the whole law is summed up in LOVE10 and that God is love11. Not out of shallow rote allegiance, but out of deep understanding that there is only One – and that One is God, and that God is Love – do we commit ourselves especially to loving those who consider themselves to be our enemies12. We see in Jesus that love can melt all divisions and heal all wounds.

 

We believe that JOY is our destiny, that the promise of the REIGN of God elicits sheer Joy13.  Where joy is not present because of poverty or prejudice, our work is not done.

 

All of this we believe and to all of this we commit ourselves, because we are followers of Jesus.

 

Amen.

 

                                         ------------------------------------------------------------

 

1  … a God who loves us "wIth an everlasting love." (Jer.31:3)

 2  … a world where "justice and mercy kiss,"(Ps. 85:10) a world that will be like a "new heaven and a new earth" (Isa. 65: 17) a world where "they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, (Isa. 65:25)

3  … We believe that we are called to be "good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18), that making the interests of the poor our interests Is the only holiness.

4  … Isa. 32:17

5  … Gal. 3:28

6  … Ps. 31: 5

7  … where "truth stumbles in the market-place and honesty is kept out of court, so truth is lost to sight." (Isa. 59: 14)

8  … Rom. 5:13

9  … that "what we shall be has not yet been disclosed (1 John 3:2), that the plan of the "GOD OF HOPE" (Rom. 15:13) for us has not yet been realized.

10  … Rom.13:10

11  … (1 John 4:16) and that loving like God whose "goodness knows no bound," (Matt. 5:48) Is our mandate and model.

12  … for" only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the honest and the dishonest: (Matt. 5:45)

 13  … Matt. 13:44



History of Ordination within the Catholic Church                                               

 

A selection from:

 Eucharist and the Early Church

By Rev. Rich Hasselbach

  

For the first three centuries of its existence, the church existed without churches - buildings in which to gather. In the earliest Jewish Christian communities in Jerusalem, Judea, and throughout the Levant, Christians celebrated the Lord's Supper in the homes of members of the community. These home churches were small in comparison to the large groups of worshipers that would gather in the large church buildings, the basilicas, which were built in Constantine's time and thereafter. Home churches tended to be smaller, more intimate gatherings of friends and believers, at which all the brothers and sisters, of whatever social rank or standing, were welcome.

 

The early church was not hierarchic, though it was not without its structure. In Paul's church, and because of his letters his is the church we know most about, ministry was not a function of office, but of gift of the Spirit. Members of the community were called to exercise different gifts through the spirit, as they were given.  …

 

In Paul's church there was a radical equality of all in Christ, including an equality of the sexes. There truly were no Jews or Greeks, no slaves or free, no man or woman, but all were one in Christ. Consequently the gifts of all were recognized and allowed to flourish. There was no need for ordination - indeed there was, as yet, no cultic priesthood. The brothers and sisters gathered to share a meal, literally and ritually, and to remember the Lord. The entire community celebrated, the entire community prayed, and if there were a presider at all, that person was called from the community to lead it in prayer.

 

Gradual clericalization and emergence of the monarchic episcopacy

 

Gradually, especially after Paul’s death, a natural leadership emerged in the communities Paul founded. In later letters attributed to Paul there is mention of elders '(presbeteroi), and leaders (episkopoi), though no distinction is drawn between the two, and there is certainly no claim of authority based on a call from the apostle through 'ordination.' In fact, there is NO mention of “ordination” in the New Testament. And during Paul's lifetime he never asserted an authority of coercion, never attempted to impose uniformity or conformity, or centralized authority (his or anyone else's) on the communities he founded. Paul was content to trust in the Spirit to guarantee unity, precisely through the diverse gifts of the members of the community, and in particular through the “greatest” of the gifts of the spirit - agapic (selfless) love.

 

Women, it is clear, played an important role in the early church - Paul addresses women, as well as men, as his synergoi, his "fellow workers." At the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul acknowledges twenty-nine leading Christians in the Roman community to whom he sends greetings - ten of them were women. He calls Phoebe, a “woman active in the Church in Cenchreae, a diakonos, indicating that she was the leader of a home church. He writes of the woman Junia as being “distinguished among the Apostles,” suggesting that she was instrumental in spreading the faith, and eminent in the Christian community - in every respect Paul's equal.

 

Women in the early church were welcomed to share their gifts as the Spirit gave them; many women were considered prophets, and teachers, both considered higher gifts than the gift of leadership. Though cultural biases against women would gradually take root, in the earliest Christian communities women were accepted as the equals of the likes of the Apostle Paul, their ministry welcomed and unrestricted.

 

Over the course of the first hundred and fifty years of Christianity the function of presbyter and bishop slowly developed into a clerical caste of professional ministers over and against the "laity." Bishops, at first merely the informal leaders among the many priests in a community, took on increasing authority, especially after the conversion of Constantine, when the monarchic episcopacy began to develop, and bishops emerged as powerful authorities in both civil and ecclesial society. More gradually still, the bishops of the great cities of the Roman Empire, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople, emerged as the Episcopal powerbrokers and Rome, claiming association with both Sts. Peter and Paul, claimed central authority. What had been born as a gathering of people proclaiming the Lordship of Christ had become the world's first fully functioning bureaucracy – the Institutional Church.

 

What the past can teach us: Back to the future

 

What is essential in the Church can be found in its origins, and those origins also point the way, at least potentially, to the church of the future. There can be no Christianity without the Eucharist - and that meal belongs to the people of God as a gift from the Spirit. As Christians are asked to go without the Eucharist because there are no priests to preside at the Lord's Table, it is important to remember that long before there was a professional, hierarchical priesthood, Christians gathered to remember the Lord and experienced his presence in bread broken and shared. The Eucharist cannot and must not be held hostage by a moribund hierarchy.

 

The early church can show us a different, yet completely authentic, way to be church. As early Christian communities allowed ministry to emerge from within it – not as offices of authority, but as ministries of loving service -- so small Christian communities today, meeting in homes or other informal places, can call one of their own to lead, to preside at the Lord's Supper while remaining completely faithful to the tradition. Both men and women may receive the call when the gift of leadership is discerned - a refreshing return to the fundamental equality of all the sons and daughters of God in Christ.

 

We do not need an ordained priest for a "valid" Eucharist - we merely need a community of faith calling one of its own to lead it in prayerful celebration of the Lord's meal.

 

[Note from the Diocese: those “called by the community”, as described above, are some of the ones the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit opens to ordination as community priests, thus blending the informality of the early Church with the often-felt desire to be a part of a limited structure and to be acknowledged in today’s society. While we may not “need” an “ordained” priest, such ordination has a historic and cultural value, and it acknowledges not just the community’s validation, but that of a larger community within the Church as well. It also provides a sense of belonging to the community and to its ordained leaders.]

 

In these communities all should be welcome at the table as all were welcome at the Lord's own table. We should particularly welcome those shut out by the Institutional church. The apostles were those believers in the Risen Lord who, inspired by the Spirit, zealously worked to create a path of holiness for all God's beloved creation. Their mission was to extend the compassionate, loving, hope filled message of Christ to the ends of the earth. We are their successors NOT when a bishop with the proper 'apostolic succession' lays hands on us, but when we do what the apostles did: when we bring good news, and build communities of hope and healing through the power of the Spirit. This is radical Christianity - a faithful return to the root of the tradition.

 

Used with permission © 2005 Rev. Richard Hasselbach   sacables@mac.com




Priesthood of Community Leaders                                                                

from the book, Like His Brothers and Sisters

by Roman Catholic Bishop Fritz Lobinger

The Crossroads Publishing Company, New York, 1998

  

(Please note that Bishop Lobinger arrives at different solutions than we do in his book; his conclusions draw from the institutional model of the Church as a separate societal entity. Our conclusions, outlined elsewhere, draw from a perspective of the sacredness of all creation, the God-Life in all humanity, and the Church as a spiritual yeast within the everyday life of the world, 24-7.)

 

 

 

WHY WE SHOULD ORDAIN COMMUNITY LEADERS

 

The shortage of priests: not the reason but the trigger

 

It is certainly true that it is the shortage of priests which has prompted us to examine the state of Church ministry.  That shortage has given us the courage to rethink an age-old practice which seemed almost unquestionable.  However, this trigger-motive is not to be confused with the deeper reasons why we should reintroduce the ordination of proven local leaders.

 

If the shortage of priests were the actual reason for ordaining community leaders, then we should discontinue the practice as soon as we have sufficient priests.  If the arguments we present in publications and discussions for introducing the ordination of lay leaders mainly concern the shortage of priests, then we imply that the present policy is the totally correct one.  This present policy excludes many charisms and admits only candidates who choose celibate, full-time priesthood and, as a consequence, we practically say that the communities cannot celebrate the Eucharist without the presence of a priest who comes from outside their ranks.  This was never our explicit teaching or our intention, but our practice seems to give this impression.  If we continue to place our emphasis only on the shortage of priests we re-enforce this wrong impression.

 

The present priest shortage has certainly been the trigger, the starter-motive, but it is neither the only nor the deepest reason for the ordination of community leaders …

 

-     Page 86

 

Reasons for ordaining community leaders

 

It is actually wrong to put the question in this way: “Why should we ordain proven members of the community?”  because it puts the onus of proof on the wrong foot.  The proven community leaders are the more natural kind of candidates and it would therefore be more appropriate to ask “why not proven members of the community?  Why restrict ordination to those who are not members of the local community, are not following an average profession, an do not have a family?”  The onus of providing reasons lies with those who want to continue the present type of restrictions on the access to priesthood, not with those who want certain restrictions to be lifted …

 

-     Pgs. 86-87

 

A mature community should have its own presiders

 

The process of becoming a mature faith community includes many aspects, and one of these is that the community develops the ability to fulfill all its essential tasks by itself.  An immature community is either unwilling or unable to do so, or prevented from doing it.  The New Testament communities provide the model for a mature community.  They were quickly enabled to assume all responsibilities even to presiding over their sacramental celebrations.  However, they will welcomed and wanted the periodic visits of an apostle to ensure that their community life was complete and genuine.

 

The congregation which says: “we are able to do most things for ourselves, but for the authenticity of the Word and presiding over the sacraments we prefer to wait for somebody to be sent to us” cannot be considered as leading a complete or mature community life ... 

                       

-     pg. 87

  

To show that it is we who celebrate, let our own leaders preside

 

 A liturgical celebration is like a word the community is saying to God.  God desires to hear the word of every community and each community wants to say its own word to God.  It should not be someone who comes from another place who says the word on its behalf.  For the word to be truly genuine, it should be uttered by the community itself.  Of course this does not mean that the community’s intention is to say this word in isolation but in communion with the Whole Church.  This is why the situation must change and a community should have some of its own members ordained for the task of presiding over the celebrations.  They will at the same time act as the link to the Universal Church …

 

                                    - pg. 88

 

To show that God is everywhere in the world, let the people of the world stand at the altar

 

When we approach the altar, we bring ourselves to it with all we are. We should not say: “We cannot come to the altar because we are involved with the world of fields, of machines, of science, of families, of …”, but instead: “We come to the altar with all we are”.  It is important for Christians to experience the whole world as being very near to God.

 

While this realization is necessary at any time, there is a renewed need for it in our times when so many people find it difficult to sense God’s presence in our modern world. Consequently it is important that some of those who normally preside over the sacraments live in the world in the same manner as the other members of the community.  That is, some community members should be ordained for this service.

 

-     pgs. 88-89

 

We need sound motivations for full-time priesthood

 

… There are numerous complaints that in spite of today’s people-of-God theology taught in the seminaries a dominating kind of priest keeps on developing or re-appearing.  The reason seems to lie in the fact that young candidates are formed by the atmosphere of the great shortage of provider-priests.  They know that they will automatically hold a very special position among the people even if they have little to offer as spiritual wisdom and maturity.  Whatever views they hold and whatever way they have of dealing with people, they are sure to be accepted as the only existing spiritual providers.  They know that they will be the only ones who can dispense the sacraments and this alone assures a kind of automatic superiority.  It is unavoidable that this automatic superiority is experienced as a temptation to be less of a listener than a talker, to pay little attention to the spiritual situation of others but to adopt an attitude of knowing it all.  The temptation to become a domineering person is too great to be avoided.  The assurance of a monopoly is often stronger than our servant-theology.

 

The introduction of OCLs [“Ordained Community Leaders”] can be a powerful antidote against a monopolistic idea of priesthood.  IF parishes have teams of OCLs, young candidates for full-time priesthood will no longer aim at being the sold dispenser of sacraments.  They will see that there is a constant and sufficient number of respected people who can administer the sacraments.  In this context they will come to realize that the Church needs not only dispensers of sacraments but also priests who, above their liturgical role, are evangelizers, witnesses, spiritual friends, community builders, animators for the various charisms in a congregation, formators of the different kinds of ministers, and, in a special manner, are the link with the Universal Church …

 

The existence of OCLs will therefore be a powerful motive for priest candidates to make greater efforts to develop their ability to animate leaders and communities.  At present many of them feel instinctively that even with little knowledge or skill their future position is unquestionable because nobody else can administer the sacraments.  If OCLs become a reality and administer the sacraments, it will be immediately clear that something beyond that is expected of the theologically fully-trained priests.  Candidates will take their formation more seriously because of the higher expectations they will have to meet.

 

Important reasons for the above nature are often overlooked.  Those commonly given for the ordination of community leaders relate to the sacraments: the people must be “provided” with sacraments.  If the traditional kind of priest is not available to “provide” them then we need additional “providers.”  This impoverished, distorted view of ordination and of the sacraments is not only a weak basis for the ordination of community leaders, but it perverts our whole evangelization.  It should be replaced by the true conception of ordination.

 

-     pgs. 90-92

 

We want to follow the self-ministering communities of the New Testament

 

Many New Testament scholars have reminded us that in the early years of the Church the one new priesthood was practiced in slightly different forms in the various areas.  None of those areas, however, would ever have dreamt of doing what we are practicing today: telling the communities they could only celebrate the Eucharist when somebody who had been ordained somewhere else would be sent to them.  The communities and the itinerant apostles automatically did the opposite.  They ordained some of the local leaders so that the new communities could very soon celebrate the Eucharist on their own.

 

This practice was the only reasonable thing to do, also for practical reasons.  For economic reasons it would have been impossible to have highly trained, Church-employed celebrators ordained and sent to each community.  If the issue was discussed by those early communities, we can assume that they would have advanced not only practical reasons why each community should have its own ordained leaders.  They would have advanced theological reasons.  They would have pointed at their way of understanding the charisms given by the Spirit, the spiritual duty to use them and to accept them.  They would have pointed at the nature of the Eucharist which was the thanksgiving of each community, not the thanksgiving of distant leaders.

 

-     pg. 92

 

Our theology of ministry: We want to be brothers and sisters in Christ’s way

 

… We know that Christ sent the whole community of his believers to continue announcing and building the Reign of God and that this mission of the whole community is led, authenticated and crystallized in the work of those who are the pillars of the community.  The mission of the whole community is one with the mission of those called to be their sacramental leaders.  The mission can only be fulfilled together …

 

Listening carefully to these aspirations of today’s believers we discern that the priority is the desire to become a community of brothers and sisters in Christ.  The desire to be and to be seen as a community of equals has often been given the first place;  this has also been acknowledged by the Second Vatican Council (GS 29 and LG 32).  People want to be seen as equals and want to overcome anything that could indicate master-servant relationships.  People of today are touched and inspired by the example of Christ who wanted to be a priest who is “like his brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2:17) …

 

In former times the believers may have felt called to be Church in different ways, and may therefore have been happy with different forms.  But it is the task of today’s Church to look for forms of priestly ministry which correspond to the signs of the times as expressed in the genuine aspirations of the believers and of all people of today.  If bishops and theologians hear the genuine voices of the believers saying “we want to be brothers and sisters in Christ’s way,” then this is a theological norm of shaping Church life and ministry today …

 

The suggestion to entrust the ordained ministry to a team of local leaders within the communities constitutes a major shift in the theological history of priesthood. It looks like a return to the practice of the first century, but it differs in many ways from it.  It was not conceived as a return to something practiced before but rather as a response to the faith experience and the situation of today.  The history of the first century of the Church was not the decisive motive, but more an enabling factor …

 

-     pgs. 94-97

 

 

 

ORDAINING TEAMS OF COMMUNITY LEADERS

 

The suggestions never to ordain one leader alone but only teams of viri probati have, understandably, been made only in areas where congregations have experienced progressive stages of community building … Those who promote this … are convinced that the presence of many other active teams, as well as the one at the altar, is an essential element of the congregation.  They consider it vital that the few ordained ones come from the ranks of the many who have been community leaders for many years.  All of them wanted to assist the community; they did not aim at priesthood.  They do not have a clericalistic outlook; they have proved over many years that their style of leadership is a non-dominating one seeking the cooperation of the whole community.  In a healthy community the domineering characters are less likely to be successful, although one can expect to find some exceptions.  Furthermore, having a team of ordained leaders offers the constant possibility of new candidates emerging from the community to join the team.   There is a greater chance … that the changing times and the concerns of society will be reflected in the team of ordained leaders …

 

The selection of candidates … is community based.  The candidates emerge gradually form among the active people of the community.  Many people are engaged in the early stages of selection, and even the final process requires the cooperation of the formation personnel, the parish council, the wives [or husbands … ACCL added]  of the candidates, and the bishop.  Selection is certainly not based on academic examinations but on the presence of a charism and the ability to serve and lead this particular community …

 

The term [“ordained community leader”] should be suitable for people who live like anybody else.  It should avoid reference to an otherworldly, different class.  It should be suitable for ordained leaders who never wear clerical dress.  It is our desire that the new kind of priest should not just supplement and imitate the existing priests but should be different from them and should be “like the brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:17).

 

-     pgs. 68, 68, 73, 77

 

Learning from the successes and failures of history

 

In the Middle Ages we had too many priest and one of the aims of the Council of Trent was to reduce the incredibly high number; to have fewer priests and to have them properly trained in diocesan seminaries.  …There is no comparison between [these] two models.  The thousands of medieval “Mass priests” existed because of an almost magic idea of Holy Mass, each priest celebrating alone on one of the countless alters in corners and niches of the Churches.  The viri probati priests will conduct the liturgy together, always in a community celebration, always as a team, always with the collaboration of teams of lay leaders, and will be involved in much more than liturgy.  They will not, like the medieval Mass-priests, live from Mass stipends but from their secular occupation.  They will not appear as a clerical class.  A low level of secular education or of theological training can constitute a danger but does not automatically do so.  It was a danger for the mediaeval Mass-priest because it was coupled with a kind of magic understanding of the Sacraments about which the people had little understanding or knowledge.  The viri probati priests’ standard of education should be on a par with that of the people in the area; where that is of a low level, there will not be any problem because the community will probably change with the changing times and will admit more highly educated candidates when levels of education rise …

 

From the models which have been successful in other Churches we can single out the Methodist Church.  It is accepted that the Methodist practice of establishing teams of “preachers” in each small or large community has proved efficacious and has been adopted as the most suitable method by many other denominations in developing countries.  According to this model, one full-time minister may served an area of 20 to 50 kilometers in diameter with 50 or so congregations, each with five to ten “preachers.”  The interesting aspect is that the preachers rotate, for each Sunday service from congregation to congregation according to a “plan” which is decided and printed each year.  This “plan” which has assumed strategic importance, assigns each preacher to a different congregation every Sunday.  The preachers move to their assigned places at their own expense; their service is completely voluntary.  The full-time minister visits each congregation only four times a year; on all other Sundays the local preachers together with the “scheduled” preacher conduct the service.  The structure is held together by the regular meetings of all the preachers with the minister, by the strict procedure of appointing new preachers and by the need to be included in the “plan” in order to be accepted.  This method has worked well over a long period of time, especially in developing countries.

 

Frequent celebration of the Eucharist is not seen as a value in the Methodist church, at least not in the majority of the congregations.  Therefore the training programme for preachers does not include such a liturgy or being barred from it, but simply a matter of the particular theology the church has adopted.  The reliability of the structure, the low cost of maintaining it, and the fact that it has been copied by so many other denominations recommend it.  If a church with a high regard for the sacraments would adopt it, it would certainly be a promising model.

 

 

THE PREPARATION OF CANDIDATES FOR ORDINATION

 

Preparation of the candidates

 

… To attain this vision it will be important to avoid all forms of status seeking from the beginning.  This means that the parish should never ask for volunteers for becoming OCLs.  The long journey of training must start with nothing else in the mind than working for the community and certainly not with the motive of becoming ordained.  Only when the trainees have been working and training in this general way for many years could the question of ordination … be posed carefully.  … Status seeking is extremely prevalent and this is one efficacious way of preventing it …

 

Onging, unending formation is not limited to the OCLs.  It must be universal practice for all forms of ministry including the non-ordained, in order to avoid any danger that formation might gradually stop after some time.  If only the ordained have to continue with formation it would certainly be in danger of disappearing. The experience of other Churches has shown how easy it is to gradually neglect such formation, reduce it again and again, and eventually to drop it altogether.  It must therefore be part of the preparation work to introduce ongoing formation for all kinds of ministry, not only for the OCLs …

 

-     pgs. 157-158


 

HOW TO MAINTAIN THE STRUCTURE OF ORDAINED COMMUNITY LEADERS

 

Linking the teams of ordained community leaders with the animator priests

 

In this regard we can learn by observing other Churches.   Even Churches which place a high value on lay involvement and on equality, such as the Methodist Church, have made sure that the full-time minister retains strong power.  His authority does not rest on the ability to administer sacraments; it is based on other requisites such as the nomination of preachers or the issuing of receipts for Church dues.  Is it not obvious that the dioceses which introduce teams of OCLs should form the beginning ensure that there will be a permanent link between them, the full-time priests and the bishop?

 

… There is the possibility of giving a special status to the full-time priests, such as appointing each of them (or many of them) as Episcopal Vicar.  This recourse will not be necessary in the initial phase of exceptional ordinations of community leaders but it may become meaningful once many communities have their own teams of ordained community leaders.  Then the communities will no longer say “we need a priest” but will say “we need unity” and this means they want a clear link to the bishop.  Calling the animator priests “vicar of the bishop” will therefore become meaningful as he would exercise part of the overseeing role of the bishop.  This presupposes the ability to accompany the OCLs, to unify them, to plan with them and to be the link between them and the bishop.

 

-     pg. 165

 

Possible ways of preventing community leaders not in communion with the bishop from officiating in the Church

 

A diocese could introduce the following practice:

 

Each year every parish arranges a time of renewal for all its leaders, during which the community evaluates its whole life and the performance of the OCLs and other leaders.  The Parish Council decides which new candidates for lay ministries should receive formation and at the end of their training who should be commissioned and receive the blessing of leaders from the bishop (or his representative).  The Council also determines which active lay leaders are to be presented for the annual rededication and the annual blessing.  The rededication of the ordained leaders may take a different form, such as the inclusion of a clause that the Episcopal Vicar must be present in the parish council when the decision is taken to present the OCLs to the bishop.  Experience may prompt other procedures.  It is when the bishop (or his representative) pays a visit of some days to the parish that these matters are discussed.

 

At the end of the renewal session the Eucharist is celebrated.  The communion of the OCLs with their bishop and the Church is confirmed and a “symbol of priestly communion” exchanged.  The community is told:

 

“The bishop is the center of the body of priests, called the ‘presbyterium’.  These your priests exercise the priestly ministry in union with the bishop and with all the priests of the diocese.  This gives your whole community the joyful certainty tat you live in communion with the whole Church.

 

“Therefore we will now express in a ceremony that the priests of this community are rendering their service in communion with the bishop and the whole Church.  If we are united in this way we can be certain that we are in communion with Jesus Christ, the High Priest.”

 

After the explanation the bishop extends a visible sign of communion with the OCLs.  Probably it will be wise to introduce a new kind of visible sign, a “symbol of priestly communion,” e.g., the “touching of the chalice of the bishop,” a special chalice which is kept at the bishop’s residence and which the bishop or his representative brings with him at the annual visit and which he invites the OCLs to touch and to drink form during this liturgy as a sign of communion.

 

The above is one of various ways how communion between the bishop and the OCLs could be expressed and maintained.  Other symbolic liturgical actions can be designed for this important ceremony.

 

If the deliberations which take place during the visit bring to light that one of the OCLs can no longer exercise the priestly ministry at this time, all the aspects of the case are thoroughly discussed by the Episcopal vicar4/animator priest and the local community who together reach a decision.  The OCL may have to be told that he cannot for the time being exercise his priestly ministry although his ordination remains valid.  At the final liturgy of that particular year he is not included in the symbol of priestly communion.  The way will be kept open for the later re-inclusion of a temporarily suspended priest.

 

It is necessary to make the moratorium visible to the whole community because the OCL will have many relatives and supporters in his community.  The fact that a suspended OCL is not invited to “touch the chalice of the bishop” would serve as a definite and powerful sign that he is not to function as a priest.

 

-     pgs. 165-167


 

A NEW PRINCIPLE: ORDINATION AS SUCH DOES NOT IMPLY REMUNERATION

 

Before ordination to the priesthood, a community leader should make a … statement that he expects no financial assistance.

 

People may find this difficult to understand.  They are so used to the fact that every ordained person is financially completely dependent on the Church that they find it inadmissible for an ordained local leader not to be in a position to claim financial support, not even when he is in need.  The new principle becomes acceptable when we remember the fact that active parishes rely on the voluntary work of hundreds of lay people and none of them would dream of claiming support from the Church in times of need. When some of them are ordained this does not change their financial position.  Spontaneous assistance in times of need can of course be offered but cannot be claimed and has never been claimed by voluntary leaders.

 

-     pgs. 180-181

 

 
 

 

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