Directory for priests

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 26, 2013

I’M happy to know that the Vatican issued early this year a new edition of the Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests. The first edition came in 1994, under Blessed John Paul II’s watch, after an extensive review of all pertinent documents and reports on priesthood that came from different places. It was a very rich document.

This new edition is one of the last documents that Pope Benedict XVI approved before he resigned in February. It puts in more data as to the new challenges priests today face.

Let’s hope that this directory gets to reach all the clergy, from bishops to priests and even to those studying for the priesthood, since it truly gives a global picture of who the priest is and how he should be. Now with all the communication technologies we have, that concern should be no problem at all.

Still, priests need to be encouraged to study and assimilate this manual. Thus, I encourage even our lay faithful, especially those who occupy some positions of prominence in society, to be familiar with its content.

The laity can do a lot in helping the clergy, just as clergy can also do a lot in helping the laity. This, I believe, is part of what is called as organic mutual relation between clergy and laity that is highly valued in the Church.

Next time you see priest, I suggest that you ask him if he has read the document. I don’t think that would be an impertinent intrusion into his privacy. With the proper words, tone and timing, it can only mean genuine care for him, and I am sure the priest would be thankful for the gesture.

Truth is with all the complicating elements around – unfavourable bishops/priests, clergy/laity ratios, inadequacies in seminary training, increasingly secularized world, etc. – it’s important that priests be adequately equipped to face the formidable challenges.

At this time, so sensitive and delicate, it’s indispensable that we, priests, really know who we are and how we are supposed to behave. In fact, as much as possible, everybody should know this, so everyone can help promote, protect and defend the true identity of priests.

We cannot deny that in many occasions, the identity of priests has been blurred and distorted, and cases of anomalies in priestly ministry and lifestyles have multiplied. That’s why we have been having scandals right and left in the recent past, and they are still evolving.

Obviously, we cannot expect that all problems, irregularities and anomalies regarding priestly life and ministry will disappear, but hopefully they can be minimized and reduced to what we may call as “tolerable” levels.

The directory has three main parts. The first one is on priestly identity that traces the basis in concentric levels of who a priest is. There’s the Trinitarian level, the Christological level and the Pneumatic (Spirit) level. Let’s hope these roots of the priestly identity cease to remain mere abstract ideas.

Then the second part is on priestly spirituality, which is very important, since that is how a priest corresponds to his identity and mission. Without this spirituality, or with a spirituality that is not suited to his status, we will just do things badly. No doubt about that.

Yes, there are priests who do not pray, who just act like performers when administering the sacraments, etc. – why deny it – and these simply have to be corrected, obviously also in an appropriate way. No forcing, of course, and as much as possible, no scolding, but yes, a lot of reminders, suggestions and even paternal or fraternal corrections.

Then the third part is on priestly formation, which should always be ongoing. It’s something that never stops, and in fact, it has to go to more subtle points and ways the older and the more exposed to the world we, priests, become. Woe to us when we feel we already have enough of formation!

This is a big and endless challenge, and the appropriate attitudes, practices and structures have to be put in place. Truth is at the moment, though a lot of improvement has taken place in this respect, still a lot of things need to be done.

We have to remember that the role of priests in the Church and the world is strategic, indispensable and irreplaceable. Everything has to be done to keep the priests as they should be according to the mind of Christ, for they are nothing less than other Christs as head of the Church. Where they are, that’s where Christ is.