A homily about the harvest...

James Martin, S.J., of America magazine, recently wrote something that caught my attention. He talked about the present climate in the Catholic church that forces people to be fearful of sharing their views, particularly views about the Church’s needed reforms. About this dysfunctional climate he writes:

“What does this engender? It engenders a fear-based church.  It creates clergy and religious frightened of speaking out, terrified of reflecting on complicated questions, and nervous about proposing creative solutions to new problems. It leads to the laity, who have a hard enough time getting their voice heard, giving up.  It causes the diminution of a thoughtful theological community.  It muzzles what should be a vibrant, flourishing, provocative, innovative, challenging Catholic press. It empowers minuscule cadres of self-appointed watchdogs, whose malign voices are magnified by the blogosphere, and who, with little to no theological background, freely declare any sort of disagreement as tantamount to schism--and are listened to by those in authority.  It creates fear.”

That is why I am happy to share with you a homily by Fr. Lester McCloskey, a senior priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle. The homily addresses the gospel reference to the harvest being ready, but without sufficient laborers. We don’t hear many homilies like this, either because preachers simply have no challenging ideas, or they are fearful that the bishop will be angry or that influential and generous contributors will withold their giving:

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Homily for the 14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time—July 3-4, 2010

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2)

Every year, for the past many years, the priests of the Archdiocese of Seattle have gathered at Ocean Shoes for a few days of R&R. It originally was designed as a time for us to get away from our everyday concerns and to re-connect with one another, many of whom we see only this one time a year. We celebrate those who have reached milestones in their priesthood, especially 25th and 50th anniversaries, and remember those whom we have lost during the past year.

 

But because we suffer from Catholic guilt we cannot gather just to have fun. We have to have an excuse. So every year we invite a speaker on various topics. Some have been good, some not so great. None are particularly controversial or especially challenging, nor are they necessarily meant to be. And at the end of the week, for the past several years, one of our priests always reminds us that the elephant is still in the room. 

He is referring, of course, to the elephant (some would call it the 800 pound gorilla) that everyone knows is in the room, but whose presence no one wants to acknowledge, let alone deal with. In this case the elephant is the priest shortage. (There probably are more, but this is one of the most obvious and most pressing.) We have a crisis on our hands, but no one even wants to talk about it, let alone try to find a solution to it. In all the years we have been going to Ocean Shores it has never even been mentioned.

That there is a shortage of priests is not debatable. The total number of priests in the country and in the Archdiocese has declined precipitously in the past few decades. To deal with the problem some dioceses, especially in the East and mid-West, have chosen to close or consolidate parishes. In the Archdiocese of Seattle we have taken a different approach.

• We have created clusters of parishes which remain independent parishes but share a single pastor. We have four areas in the diocese where one pastor (with one or more parochial vicars) is responsible for six parishes. There are many areas where one pastor has two or three parishes.
• We have also cut down on the number of priests that serve each parish. Parishes that used to have two or three priests now have only one. There are only a handful of parishes (other than the clusters) that have even two priests. There are many areas of the diocese in which new parishes could be created but for the lack of priests to staff them. 
• We have also imported priests from abroad (as have many dioceses), especially from Africa, the Philippines and Vietnam. These men are generally good priests and good men. But they are often very difficult to understand and, more importantly, they come from a very different cultural background and have a very different concept of Church than many of us are used to.
• We have also made most of our newly ordained priests pastors or priest administrators within one or two years of ordination, with virtually no practical experience and often little day-to-day support from fellow priests, to the detriment of both the priest and the parish.
• We have had a fairly aggressive campaign to attract vocations the past several years. It has resulted in a few ordinations every year, but not nearly enough. A couple of week ago the Archbishop ordained four young (and not so young) men to the priesthood. However, in the past year three priests have died, one resigned and six attained “senior status” (read “retired”). We had, and have had for some time, a negative balance.

How did this crisis come about in the first place? 

Some blame Vatican II (which they blame for everything). The Church has gotten too lax; we have lost our sense of sacrifice; we don’t demand enough discipline.

Some blame “secularism.” Our young people are just too materialistic, too selfish, to “secular” to make the sacrifices necessary to embrace the priesthood or religious life. Secularism has become the scapegoat for all the Church’s ills (kind of like “socialism” has become the favorite whipping boy in politics). In fact, the Pope recently set up an office in Rome to deal specifically with the question of secularism, especially in Europe, where church attendance is practically non-existent in many places. 

The trouble with these approaches is that they tend to put all the blame on outside forces, on the “world”. But instead of blaming the outside world, maybe the Church needs to look inside itself and ask: What have we done to bring about this state of affairs? Maybe through this crisis the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something.

In the Vatican II document The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World the bishops are urged to read the “signs of the times.” (§4) Perhaps these signs are telling us that it is no longer necessary to insist that all priests be celibate males, that the priesthood need not be limited only to unmarried males who are willing to remain unmarried for the rest of their lives. (To say the least this approach severely hampers the work of the Holy Spirit by shrinking the pool of available candidates practically to zero.) 

Perhaps the Holy Spirit is telling us that the Church is no longer “relevant” in many peoples’ lives, especially young people. Perhaps a Church forged in the Middle Ages simply has no appeal for young people in the 21st century.

Whatever the reasons for this crisis, the more immediate question is: What do we do about it? 

When that question comes up, the “answer” too often is simply: pray. “Ask the master of the harvest to send laborers for his harvest” 

The trouble with relying on prayer alone is that it tends to put all the blame on God; it implies that God is not sending enough vocations to the church. What does that say about our image of God or God’s concern for the Church? 

I would submit that it is not a question of God not sending enough vocations. There are, in fact, plenty of vocations. It is like another parable that Jesus taught, about the man who went into the marketplace to find workers for his vineyard. Several times during the day he went back and recruited more. There were plenty of workers available; but they were ineffective until someone called them. Likewise, God has provided plenty of vocations for the Church. The problem is that we have refused to call many of them, namely those who are married and those who are women.

The question of celibacy and the priesthood is not a theological question. We have many, perhaps hundreds, of married priests throughout the world, and not just In Eastern rites. Most of these have been Protestant ministers, mostly Anglican, who have joined the Roman Catholic Church. But there are a few married Catholic men who have been ordained, albeit very quietly. Celibacy is not, and never has been, an absolute requirement. So why do we cling to it so tenaciously? “Tradition!” as Tevya says in Fiddler on the Roof. There is no practical or theological reason that anyone knows of (or remembers) for why we do many of the things we do except: “We’ve always done it this way.”

In another of its documents, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (§37), the Vatican Council says that “The laity have the right … to receive in abundance from their spiritual shepherds the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the assistance of the word of God and of the sacraments.” Without enough priests we cannot guarantee that all people will have access to these “spiritual good.” So far we have not felt the pinch as much as other places have. (A friend of mine, who has spent much time in a remote part of Mexico, ministered to an area that contained fifty or sixty different churches served by only two priests. Many of them have Mass only once a year, if that.) Nevertheless, by continuing to insist on mandatory celibacy for priests the Church is denying, or severely limiting that access. That is wrong; that is a sin. 

The harvest is indeed abundant and the laborers are indeed few. So let us by all means pray for vocations. But let us not blame God; it’s not God’s fault.

Let us pray also to our spiritual shepherds, those who can make a difference, those who make the decisions. The Constitution on the Church goes on to say: “[People] should openly reveal to [their spiritual shepherds] their needs and desires with that freedom and confidence which is fitting for children of God and brothers in Christ. They are … permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church.” [Emphasis added]. 

So let us make our opinions heard on this matter. Let us pray that our shepherds will read the “signs of the times”, listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, and take seriously their obligation to make sure that all people can “receive in abundance…the spiritual goods of the church.”

After all, it is their right.

Comments

[John]

Thank you for sharing this homily! God has indeed answered our prayers for more to respond to the priesthood, and the priest shortage is His way of trying to wake us up! There are hundreds if not thousands of holy, honorable, wise men who have been called to be priests (I believe I'm one). The impediment? They have received the Sacrament of Matrimony! Celibacy is a great gift for priesthood for one authentically gifted to that call to holiness. Marriage is also a sacrificial, covenantal, agape call to holiness that can be a radical witness to our secular world! We are really missing the boat on this one!

[Father John N.]

As a brother priest, I urge you to remember that you are bound under oath to the profession of faith which you have made.

Canon 720 § 2. Furthermore, each and everything set forth definitively by the Magisterium of the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals must be firmly accepted and held; namely, those things required for the holy keeping and faithful exposition of the deposit of faith; therefore, anyone who rejects propositions which are to be held definitively sets himself against the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Canon 1371 – The following are to be punished with a just penalty:

1° a person who, apart from the case mentioned in canon 1364 § 1, teaches a doctrine condemned by the Roman Pontiff, or by an Ecumenical Council, or obstinately rejects the teachings mentioned in canon 750 § 2 or in canon 752 and, when warned by the Apostolic See or by the Ordinary, does not retract;

[Suzanne]

Another key contribution to the priest shortage in my experience is the expectation that priests be administrators, counselors, and numerous other jobs in addition to their key role as liturgical presiders/sacramental ministers. If the church would let/encourage lay people to take on the roles for which ordination is not necessary, priests would not burn out and leave because they are expected to do too many jobs.

[Juan]

I was amused that you wdnoered what on earth to say to the Pope. I understand that he is unused to discussing anything; it is not the style of a pope. I gather that you just listen to pontifications and dogma, but maybe I am being uncharitable for Benedict came across as a warm and human man, unlike his portrayal by the RC Church and the Vatican. I asked a well-known RC friend why he just accepted all the dogma. He replied that he was a busy man and it suited him to just accept the RC religion as a package, without having to question it or debate it. Other RC friends of mine in Glasgow I find, do want to listen to other viewpoints but are loathe to debate even say the Liturgy.