Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson
From the May/Jun 2003 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine
I just returned from the funeral of one of our retired priests. He lived to the grand old age of 92, and many of those he served have already been called to their heavenly reward. The largest group of people present in the church was his brother priests. For us, he was family! This sense of care and responsibility for one another must begin when a man is still in formation as a seminarian, and it must be fostered throughout the life of a priest.
Each year we send out a prayer card with the names of all our priests and seminarians, divided into the days of the month. Each day the priests are invited to pray for one another and for our seminarians, and the seminarians pray each day for the priests and their brothers in formation. We work at getting to know one another, and the seminarians live with the priests and the bishop during the summer. Each of us needs fraternal support to remain faithful to our promises, and it has to begin with the example of the bishop.
In the documents of Vatican II (Lumen Gentium, no. 21; Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 7) and again in Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992 document by Pope John Paul II), we are reminded that among the bishop’s most important duties is his care for his priests and those preparing for the priesthood.
Our Holy Father, in his 1979 letter to the bishops of the world wrote, “May there be a renewal of your love for the priests whom the Holy Spirit has given and entrusted to you as the closest collaborators in your pastoral office.”
The priest, as a member of the Christian faithful, holds in the Body of Christ the sacred power of Order. Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he exercises the priestly office in order to serve the Church. At ordination he receives an indelible character from Christ and, on behalf of the whole Church, he preaches the Gospel, serves God’s people, and above all celebrates the sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist.
After 19 years as a bishop, I am still learning how to love my priests and how to be for them teacher, father, friend, and brother. It is challenging when others see you as CEO, development director, personnel director, sacramental minister, pastor, and boss, all rolled up into one person. I would rather be viewed as the shepherd in their midst (cf. Ezek. 34:7-16). In pastoral charity, I believe that I am called to help priests love their priestly vocation, challenging them to be obedient, to live celibacy joyfully, to develop a thirst for the truth, and to remain always focused on Christ.
I believe the situation of priests in the Church today was captured nicely in a quote by Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J. In a book published in English by Herder and Herder in 1968 entitled Servants of the Lord, he wrote:
Instead of his bearing witness through the church, the church will rather witness through him. His office will not carry weight through social prestige; he will have to set forth and prove his validity by proof of the Spirit and of power, by the authentic vigor of his experience of God. He
cannot be an ecclesiastical “civil servant” doing his job in the church as if he were discharging the carefully delimited duties of a civil profession, and then where allowed—at last— to be a private person as well whose life “is no one else’s business” (pp. 111-12).
The priest, out of his inmost experience of the Trinity, believes, hopes, and loves. People come to him because they know he “tastes and sees the goodness of the Lord” (cf. Ps. 34:8). This demands that we permit God to love us and that we receive every day this tasting, thus allowing our spiritual senses to be developed. We give ourselves totally to Jesus and allow Him to love us to the point that we give up control and desire to be saints.
This is what the bishop means when, during the ordination rite, he hands the new priest the paten and chalice saying, “Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate; model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.”
Priests act “in persona Christi” not merely as passive instruments in God’s hands, but by reason of their intimate and voluntary association with the life of Christ. In everything the priest does, his life should conform to the example of Christ, who has revealed the meaning of service. Obedience, chastity, and simplicity of life, lived in a spirit of faith, makes for closer conformity with Christ.
The bishop must therefore witness to obedience, chastity, and simplicity in his own life. By the example of his own obedience to the Apostolic See and communion with the whole body of bishops, he manifests the humility of faith that is the foundation of all spiritual growth and sharing in the life of Christ. The bishop ought to explain, whenever possible, the reasons for his requests and decisions, and must consult frequently with priests and people.
In the nine years I have been in my present diocese, I have found it a special blessing to meet individually with each of the priests on a regular basis. Usually, I prepare a set of questions which each priest has in advance, to enhance the discussion, but I’m sure to leave it open-ended. This was especially helpful following the clergy scandal last year.
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Mt. 26:41). The spiritual life is a major component of the life of the priest and is anchored in prayer—personal, communal, and liturgical. The Liturgy of the Hours, Rosary, meditation, adoration, Scripture reflection, and spiritual reading need to be part of the framework. And the Eucharist is the center of it all. As Pope John Paul II said in his 1980 Letter to Priests, “The Eucharist is the principal and central raison d’etre of the Sacrament of the Priesthood which effectively came into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together with it.”
As St. Augustine said, “Fill yourselves first, and then only will you be able to give to others.” We need to pray, each one of us—preferably before the Blessed Sacrament—at least an hour each day.
In addition, the diocese needs a strong retreat program for priests with follow-up for those who don’t register for one of the retreat offerings. It also needs to provide other opportunities for spiritual direction. In a small rural diocese it is hard to find readily available spiritual directors so we bring in a team of six directors every four or five weeks to provide direction for the priests and pastoral center staff. We are now training 10 of our own
priests as spiritual directors in a program offered by the Institute of Priestly Formation headquartered at Creighton University in Omaha.
As part of my special care for priests, I am also in the process of setting up a monthly schedule so that at least one Mass is offered each day for the priests of the diocese. The response has been good, and with little effort the calendar is filling up. In the future, I also plan to invite groups of lay men and women to schedule a monthly time to pray for our priests. This will not only be a spiritual blessing, but will also help to strengthen a culture of
vocations in the diocese.
Finally, the bishop must assist the priests in “rekindling the gift” (2 Tim. 1:6) of priesthood through ongoing formation. Our diocese provides a mentoring program for those in their first year of priesthood and an annual in-service program for those in their first five years of priesthood. These first two steps are enhanced with a priest sabbatical program now in place for a decade, which will deepen the priestly commitment through programs of theological reflection and spiritual renewal.
“God continues to call and send forth, revealing his saving plan in the historical development of the priest’s life and the life of the Church and of society. . . . Permanent formation is necessary in order to discern and follow this constant call or will of God” (Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 70). There is a “follow me” call that accompanies the priest throughout his entire life.
Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson is the Bishop of Sioux Falls and a member of CUF’s episcopal advisory council.
Associated PDF File:
This article is available as a PDF download
You may need to obtain a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to use this
PDF file.
The post A Shepherd in Their Midst: The Bishop’s Relation to His Priests appeared first on Catholics United for the Faith - Catholics United for the Faith is an international lay apostolate founded to help the faithful learn what the Catholic Church teaches..
