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Reflecting on the Year for Priests

by Pia de Solenni 

As the Year for Priests draws to a close, one can’t escape the irony that it’s also been an exceptionally difficult year for priests. Despite the fact that the sex abuse scandals involved just a few clerics, the coverage has dominated our attention and has obfuscated the good lives of service that so many priests lead.

When viewed simply in terms of a job, the priesthood makes little sense. There are plenty of careers in which people can serve; there’s no need to be a priest in order to serve others. In fact, we are all called to serve regardless of clerical orders.

But the priest is called to serve in a particular way: to be Christ to the Church, to be the bridegroom to the bride. In other words, no matter what the priest does, he should be as Christ. Similarly, a married man or woman can do many things. But the marriage is about who they are for their spouse.

As such priests are called to serve in a variety of ways. The important thing is not so much what they do, but who they are.

We are blessed to see countless examples of good priests throughout history. There are many books and even a few good movies; so I’d like to propose a few for consideration as we bring this year to a close.

Evelyn Waugh’s Edmund Campion details the life of St. Edmund Campion, a 16th century Jesuit and martyr. In the court of Elizabeth I, he was ostensibly convicted of treason. But his crime was living his priesthood in vehemently Protestant and anti-Catholic England. After leaving England to study for holy orders, he returns as an underground priest, secretly offering Masses and providing other sacraments.

Early in his clandestine career, a friend encourages him to write a defense of his actions that could be presented upon his inevitable arrest. His letter became known as “Campion’s Brag” because of his forceful defense of religious freedom. He left the letter in trust to be produced upon his arrest. However, due to its powerful witness, it was secretly printed and distributed long before his arrest, and served as a source of encouragement for Catholics in England to remain faithful to their beliefs.

A new favorite of mine, incidentally involving Jesuits, is director Roland Joffé’s film The Mission, a movie based on the historical facts surrounding the destruction of the Jesuit missions in 17th century Latin America by the secular Spanish and Portuguese governments. One of the main characters in the film, Fr. Gabriel, was loosely based on Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz, a Jesuit who was canonized in 1988, just two years after the film debuted. The very question of priestly identity and vocation drives the film, ultimately juxtaposing Fr. Gabriel’s understanding with that of Fr. Rodrigo Mendoza, a former mercenary and slave trader who undergoes a profound conversion. The movie ends by comparing their deaths and suggesting that only Fr. Gabriel’s bore lasting fruit.

More recently, the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation has produced a documentary on the life of Archbishop Sheen, Servant of All. The archbishop was easily one of the most media savvy priests of our time. In a way, he was the precursor to John Paul II, who read his works and met him as then-Bishop Wojtyla during the Second Vatican Council. Archbishop Sheen made the faith accessible to millions of people through his radio and television shows and his talks around the world. His autobiography, Treasure In Clay, makes clear that his priesthood shaped his entire identity. His life was not about his academic work or even his media work. The documentary and his autobiography detail how he humbly was a priest first and foremost before anything else.

Most of us won’t be able to be in Rome next weekend as the Year for Priests comes to a close, but we can participate with our prayers and our support for priests. At the same time, we can take the opportunity to encounter the stories of good priests, whether in books or other media. Father’s Day is the following week, an excellent time to thank the priests we know for their spiritual fatherhood to us.

Pia de Solenni is a moral theologian and cultural analyst who writes from Seattle, Wash. She can be reached via Facebook and Twitter. (Her website is getting a prolonged makeover and is currently offline.)

 

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)