The Vocation to the Priesthood
by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of Milwaukee
Assembly Vol 34:1, January 2008
I am grateful to be invited to speak at this undergraduate theology symposium on vocations and the "Universal Call to Holiness". My topic is on the Sacrament of Holy Orders: the Vocation to Priesthood.
Permit me a couple introductory comments, antipasto, as it were, to the main course.
First, while I stand before you as one who studied theology in preparation for ordination, as one who loves theology and tries his best to remain conversant with that sacred science, in no way am I a "theologian" anywhere near the caliber of the prominent presenters who are also part of this ambitious symposium. I do not say this to try to act humble, but just to admit facts. While my 45 minutes or so with you this evening will have a theological component, to be sure, I come before you as just a priest, who relishes and enjoys his vocation, who has savored it for 31 years, who wanted to be one since he can remember, who has spent 9 happy years forming priests in seminary work, who now, as a bishop, has the love and care for his priests branded on his heart, and who never misses a chance to promote vocations to the priesthood.
There is my disclaimer.
My second introductory word is one of commendation for the perspective, the premise of this symposium: the universal call to holiness. Those of us my age and older can remember a time in the Church when the implicit understanding was that, if you really wanted to take sanctity seriously, you had best become a priest or consecrated religious (a brother or sister). These vocations - the priesthood or religious life - were the "green berets," the "navy seals" in the quest for holiness. All the others - laity, married couples, single folks - try their best but they’re left behind in the dust.
Such a view, of course, was totally at odds with the true teaching of the Church, elaborated by such giants as St. Francis de Sales (the secondary patron of our Archdiocese of Milwaukee), St. Therese the lLittle flower, St. Josemaria Escriva, Dorothy Day, or Tom Dooly, who insisted on the inescapable call to sanctity wherever, whenever, however you were living, for every baptized person; but it took the providential alarm of Second Vatican Council to shake us back to the reality that there is a universal call to holiness.
You are, I trust, familiar with George Weigel’s masterful biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope. The author has described his confusion over what to call the introductory chapter, where he introduces his character. Should it be "The Pontiff," since the world come to know Karol Wojtyla as the Pope? Should it be "The Pole," as it is impossible to comprehend John Paul without appreciating his Polish roots? "The Poet"? "Thy Mystic"? "The Priest," since he was really a parish priest at heart? "The World Leader"? Weigel finally entitled it, "The Disciple," because, he explains, the Servant of God, John Paul II, was first and foremost a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else flowed from that. The tenor of this symposium suggests that you understand this insight: discipleship is primary.
About fifteen years ago I got to know well a young man in his early twenties, in Washington D.C. He was smart, personable, good company, and he took his faith seriously. He was faithful to Sunday Eucharist, and on occasion went to Mass during the week. I knew he was a man of prayer, because we talked about that. He was even working his way through the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He was active in his parish, serving as a lector and a member of the parish council. He was not married, and, while he had an active social life, was not serious about any one particular woman.
So, one evening, over a pint, I popped the question. "Steve, have you ever thought about being a priest?"
He smiled. "I wondered when you would ask. Other priests have. Sure I have, long and hard. I love and need priests. No, I do not feel I’m called to be a priest. But, thanks for asking."
Then he paused. "And, by the way, why do you priests automatically think that any unmarried guy who takes his faith seriously should be a priest? Don’t we need holy husbands and dads, holy attorneys and businessmen?"
Steve understood well this universal call to holiness.
When I came to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee almost five years ago, we undertook a series of listening sessions to develop a strategic plan for the future. From that, I set six pastoral priorities, one of which was promotion of vocations. When I laid out this priority - promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life - to our archdiocesan pastoral council, one woman observed, "Archbishop, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. The main vocation shortage in the Church today is to lifelong, loving, life-giving marriages. Take care of that one, and you’ll have all the priests and nuns you need!" Right on target!
Now that I’ve served up the as antipasto let’s dish-up the main course.
As a matter of fact, we’re already well into it, because, one of my main points is that an essential role in the vocation to priesthood is to nourish, sustain, and encourage the primary call to discipleship and universal call to holiness among all God’s People. In other words, one reason why we need the ministerial priesthood - those with the sacrament of Holy Orders - is to serve, nourish, sustain, and encourage those who share in the common priesthood of all the faithful.
I propose to tackle this in three ways: the vocation to priesthood as call, identity, and mission.
Priesthood as Call
We have a "theology on tap" program at home which is very successful. One topic that attracted a large audience was entitled "Catholicism 101," and featured a very effective youth minister. She began her presentation by saying that the core doctrines of our Catholic faith are relatively few.
First comes the doctrine of the Trinity: one God, three divine persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit; second comes the doctrine of the Incarnation: the second person of this Trinity, God the Son, the Eternal Word, took on flesh and became man, in Jesus the Christ; third is redemption: Jesus Christ is our savior, who, by His dying and rising, conquers sin, Satan, and eternal death; fourth is that, through God the Spirit, this Jesus Christ remains alive and powerful in and through His Church, sharing His victory with us, who believe in Him, through the sacraments, leading us to eternal union with Him.
I think this summary is a good one. I simply propose to you that the understanding of the Church is that priests are called to personify the living, saving presence of Jesus in His Church, offering His life and mercy in and through the sacraments.
Let’s be clear: Jesus Christ is the one, eternal high priest. The voices of the Reformation were correct: Jesus Christ is the only priest we ever really need. In our Catholic tradition, though, we hold that, just as God the Son took on a human nature in the mystery of the incarnation - a mystery we celebrate today in the Annunciation - and used that human nature to save us, so does He continue to use nature to save us in the Church, in the sacraments, in the priesthood. As Pope St. Leo the Great taught, "All the visible realities of our redemption are now ours in the sacraments." The priesthood is a call to continue the Incarnation.
Bishop Fulton Sheen, in his moving meditation on the Annunciation, claims that every priest daily answers the same question the Archangel Gabriel posed to Mary: will you give God a human nature? Will you allow the Word to take on flesh?
The priesthood is a call to continue - personally, sacramentally, ecclesially - the Incarnation.
Let us be clear about something else: all God’s people are called to priesthood, what we call "the priesthood of the faithful." This is a call that does not depend upon ordination, but Baptism. As the Letter to the Hebrews elaborates, the old priesthood of the first covenant, where priests were members of one tribe of Israel, who alone had access to the temple, who alone could render sacrifice, who alone could approach the Lord in worship, is over with Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest. We are all now called to the triple office of priest, prophet, and king, in the new covenant. This rich biblical doctrine was re-mined by the council.
However, this does not eclipse the classical Catholic belief that, from the "common priesthood of all the baptized," certain men are called to the ordained priesthood.
Let me rely on the words from the preface of the Mass of Chrism. (Whenever we are looking for a poetic way to express the truth of a doctrine of the Church, we can never go wrong in looking to the sacred liturgy.)
By your Holy Spirit, you anointed your only Son High Priest of the new and eternal covenant. With wisdom and love you have planned that this one priesthood should continue in the Church. Christ gives the dignity of a royal priesthood to the people He has made His own. From there, with a brother’s love, He chooses men to share His sacred ministry by the laying on of hands.
Or, to quote the actual Rite of Ordination to the Priesthood:
It is true that God has made His entire people a royal priesthood in Christ. But, our High Priest, Jesus Christ, also chose some of His followers to carry out publicly in the Church a priestly ministry in His name . . .
This call to priesthood comes from the Lord. When I was a rector of a seminary, I would interview each of our new students, and ask him why he wanted to become a priest. One such student, without any touch of arrogance at all, replied: "Well, Father, with all due respect, what I want is secondary. I want to be a priest because, after a lot of prayer, consultation, spiritual direction, and help I’ve discerned that God wants me to be a priest. My folks taught me that the goal of life is to find out what God wants, and then do it." He had a great sense of the call to priesthood.
Keep in mind, too, that this call comes in and through the Church. It is personal, yes; but it is also ecclesial, communal. So, the Church can insist upon qualities she expects of those called. Celibacy comes to mind. While celibacy is not essential to the priesthood, the Latin Church has long held it to be expected of her priests. The Church is free to filter the call, since the call comes through her.
By the way, the call to all the sacraments comes through the Church, and she places conditions on all of them. To receive the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, for instance, you have to be sick; to be married, you have to be free, able to exchange consent, and sincere in your belief that marriage is forever, faithful, and open to children. And so on. The call to sacraments comes through the Church.
Priesthood as an Identity
Here we have to get a little "heady," I'm afraid. At its core, priesthood is about being, not only doing. Can I quote from the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis) (PO) from the Second Vatican Council? "The priest shares in the authority by which Christ Himself builds up, sanctifies, and governs His Body, the Church. Therefore . . . the priestly office . . . is conferred by that special sacrament through which priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are marked with a special character, and are so configured to Christ the Priest that they can act in His person" . . . (PO, 2).
You see, in the mind of the Church, the priesthood is
• a call, not a career,
• a redefinition of self, not only a ministry,
• a way of life, not a job,
• a state of being, not a function,
• a lifelong commitment, not a temporary phase of service,
• an identity, not just a role.
A priest is a priest. Yes, the doing (the ministry) is exceedingly important, but all of that flows from the being. We can act as priests, minister as priests, function as priests, serve as priests, preach as priests, because first and foremost we are priests. Being before act! Agere sequitur esse, as the Scholastics expressed it. Father William Byron, former president of The Catholic University of America, is fond of saying that "we are human beings, not human doings, because our basic dignity and identity comes from who we are, not what we do."
This is what we call the ontological dimension of the priesthood. Lumen Gentium, #10, tells us that the ordained priesthood differs from the priesthood of all the baptized not only in degree but in essence. Thus the term holy orders: with priesthood a man’s identity is re-ordered.
These notions of being, identity, and ontological change are tough for us to comprehend. We Americans are so functional, so pragmatic, so utilitarian that we equate a person’s identity with what he does, achieves, and produces. In Pastores Dabo Vobis, the Servant of God, John Paul II, remarks that the great temptation of today is to prefer having and doing to being. This has hurt the priesthood. A more classical term for this aspect of priestly identity has been the character of the sacrament. Cardinal Avery Dulles wonders if it is worthwhile retrieving this notion, in order to maintain that the idea of an indelible character can contribute to our appreciation of priestly identity. It implies that the sacrament can never be repeated, and that one remains a priest even if one withdraws from doing priestly things. "Because of its permanent nature," Dulles writes, "this character calls for a total and lasting commitment. It grasps the whole being of the person ordained." (The Priestly Office, p. 12). Or, as Yves Congar observed, ordination is "an act of the risen Christ mediated through the already existing office, which is itself in continuity with the apostolic community" (quoted in Dulles, p. 12). Ordination is thus a conversion affecting the new priest in his very being.
My predecessor as Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland, wrote,
I am, with regard to the priesthood itself, and its sacramental character, an "ontologist." I believe that something happens when one is ordained that assures the validity of the acts when that person functions in the name of Christ and His church. Such a difference does not make the person any better than anyone else, but it does assure the validity of the sacrament. . . In this, we differ from so many Protestant denominations. . . I have slowly come to see the wisdom of "orders" to assure order among God’s people.
Three months before his death, Cardinal Joseph Bernadin of Chicago commented: "We priests are not functionaries; we are bridges to the very mystery of God and healers of the soul. When we claim this priestly identity unapologetically, we not only find ourselves, but we also provide the Church and our culture the sustenance they require."
On the day before I was ordained a priest, nearly thirty-one years ago, I approached the Sacrament of Reconciliation to make a good confession. The confessor asked what I was looking forward to as a priest. Predictably, I replied, "Offering Mass, preaching, serving people in a parish", and so on. "Great," the confessor responded, "but always enjoy first being a priest. You know" he went on, "if you were in a bad automobile accident right after your ordination, which paralyzed you completely, meaning that you could never do any of those things usually associated with priestly ministry, you would still be a priest." And then words I cannot forget: "So, spend time everyday acknowledging this innate priestly identity, rejoicing in it, nourishing it, thanking God for it - and then, what you do as a priest will be all the more effective and rewarding, because it flows from who you are." That’s what I mean by priestly identity.
Can I conclude this section on priestly identity by mentioning two images that can help us understand it better? Although they have been part of the Church’s theology of the priesthood for centuries, they were brought out of storage by John Paul II, especially in his apostolic exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis.
The first image is that the identity of a priest is to act in persona Christi, in the person of Christ.
We have to be careful about this because, once again, all the baptized faithful are called to act in the person of Christ. St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, claims, "I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me." True enough, we are indeed all called to act in the person of Christ - as beloved of the Father, as chosen child, as lover of humanity, as healer of wounds, as sent to bring the good news, as reconciler . . . and on and on . . . to act in the person of Christ.
The priest though, is called to act in persona Christi as head, shepherd, and spouse of the Church, uniquely, sacramentally, personally. By the sacrament of Holy Orders, his identity is so configured to the person of Christ that he is united with Him in shepherding the Church. Thus we call a parish priest a pastor, a shepherd.
So, when he celebrates the sacraments, he is Christ. At the Eucharist, for instance, the priest, at the consecration, does not say, "This is His body; this is His blood." No! He says, in persona Christi, "this is my body; this is my blood."
The second image flows from it, as the priest acts in persona Christi in loving his bride, the Church. Through Holy Orders, the priest is so configured to Christ that Jesus shares his spouse, the Church, with the priest. The Church is the bride of Christ; the Church is the bride of the priest.
So, Father Norm Schrodi was right when Carolyn Carey asked him in our fourth grade, "Father, are you married?" and he replied, "Yes, to the Church."
Which brings us the beautiful notion of spiritual paternity. We Catholics do not call our priests "reverend," or "dean", "parson," or "preacher", or "doctor," or "vicar." We call them "Father". A priest is married - to the church - and has children, whom he births at Baptism, feeds in Eucharist, forgives in Penance, soothes in Anointing, sends off in Marriage; a proud father who laughs, and cries with his children, who corrects and encourages, who loves them to death, all in partnership with his bride, their Mother, the Church. This is what we call the nuptial imagery of the priesthood, helping us understand priestly identity.
The Mission of the Priesthood
We are getting to dessert here. We have spoken of the call of the priesthood, the identity of the priesthood, and now, the mission of the priesthood.
From the preface for the Mass of Chrism:
He appoints them [priests] to renew in His name the sacrifice of our redemption, as they set before your family His paschal meal. He calls them to lead your people in love, nourish them by your words, and strengthen them through the sacraments. Father, they are to give their lives in your service for the salvation of your people as they strive to grow in the likeness of Christ . . .
Word, sacraments, service. Those three terms can sum up the mission of the priest. Teach. Sanctify. Serve.
According to the Second Vatican Council, the major duty of the priest is the ministry of the word, to preach, to teach the gospel (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4). "The priest," says Karl Rahner, "is he to whom the efficacious word of God has been trusted." Put simply, Rahner states, "The priest is the one sent by the Church to proclaim the gospel in her name."
The Bishop says to those to be ordained,
My sons, you must apply your energies to the duty of teaching in the name of Christ. Share with all the word of God you have received . . . Meditate on the law of God, believe what you read, teach what you believe, and put into practice what you teach. Let the doctrine you teach be true nourishment for the people of God. Let the example of your lives attract the followers of Christ, so that by word and action you may build up the house which is God’s Church.
In addition to teaching, the Bishop mentions sanctifying next in the rite of ordination:
In the same way, you must carry out your mission of sanctifying in the power of Christ. Your ministry will perfect the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful by uniting it to Christ’s sacrifice, the sacrifice which is offered sacramentally through your hands. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate.
Last October I spent a week at our sister parish of Sagrada Familia in the Dominican Republic, where our priests have served for a quarter century now. I am so proud of them. As I accompanied our two dedicated priests who pastor the nearly 50,000 people in 22 little villages, I marveled at the love the people had for them. Yes, the people expressed appreciation for the medical clinics the priests had established, the nutrition centers, the irrigation canals, the clean water and new latrines. But, what they first asked those priests as the dirty truck would pull into the village was, "Padre, will we have Mass? Padre, will you baptize my baby? Padre, will you hear confessions? Padre, will you come anoint my mother?"
We sanctify through the sacraments. "When you baptize," the ordaining bishop concludes, "you will initiate men and women into the people of God. In the sacrament of Penance, you will forgive sins in the name of Christ. With holy oil, you will relieve and console the sick. You will celebrate the liturgy and offer thanks and praise to God . . ."
Recently, I have been chatting with a very sick woman by telephone. She is kind in telling me my calls cheer her up. I have been keeping in touch with her family as well. She recently went back into the hospital for more surgery. I called her and asked if I could come visit. "Sure!," she answered. "But, if you really want to help me, when you come, hear my confession, anoint me, and bring me Holy Communion." A lot of people could "cheer her up" better than me. What she wanted from me as a priest was the sacraments.
The third mission of the priest is to serve.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to the priest as an "icon" of Christ. Icons allow us to glimpse the beyond, the transcendent, the divine. Thus the priest is to be a hint, a glimpse, a metaphor, an icon of Christ, as our shepherd, as our servant. "Always remember the example of the Good shepherd, who came not to be served, but to serve . . . ," concludes the instruction of the Bishop to those he is to ordain.
Throughout the history of the Church, the greatest temptation priests have faced is not sex, drink, money, or heresy, but a failure to serve humbly, and an expectation that they deserve to be served (a vice called clericalism), the piling up of prerogatives, power, prestige, and authority. Their model instead must be the Master who washed the feet of his disciples, who kept company with outcasts and the scorned, who poured out His sweat and blood on Calvary to save His people.
Holy Mother Church is wise: before a man can be ordained a priest, he must be ordained a deacon. Deacon means servant, and the man remains a deacon as a priest.
In preparation for a prayer service Saturday, I was reading some of the writings of a famous bishop. "I have come to conclude", he wrote, "that even as a bishop I am called to be a simple, humble parish priest, a servant, a shepherd, a pastor to my people. I pray with and for them, I defend them and speak up for them, I confront their enemies, I search for those who have been drug away at night, I listen to their worries and try to help them hope." Twenty-seven years ago, that priest, Oscar Romero, was shot to death by security forces while celebrating Mass. He was a servant, a pastor, a shepherd, a priest.
Concluding Thoughts
Thanks for sticking with me through the whole meal. Let us close with a toast! A toast to priests!
I love the priesthood. I am head-over-heels in love with Jesus and His bride (and mine) the Church. There is nothing that gives me more joy than daily celebrating Mass, preaching, hearing confessions, baptizing, witnessing marriages, anointing and caring for the sick, and being with God’s good people, whose prayers and encouragement keep me going. Yes, I have had struggles and temptations, setbacks and frustrations, heartburn and headache, but I would do it all over again if given the chance. So would 92 percent of my brother priests, according to a recent poll.
I love my brother priests: they’ve stuck with it through some of the toughest years of change and transition in the history of the Church. Those my age and older have seen the priesthood go from a position of clout and prestige to one of derision and decline. They have watched their best friends leave the priesthood; the right attacks them for being too liberal, the left for being too conservative. They are branded as abusers of youth, even though the percentage of priests who have done so is far less than percentages among teachers, coaches, physicians, counselors, and even parents. They see their numbers declining, and they take a second parish, or give up the only assistant they had in a huge parish, or put off retirement a few more years. Leftists charge them with being patriarchal; catechetical vigilantes accuse them of heresy; some say they’re sexually repressed because of celibacy.
Yet, our priests keep at it. They smile, they pray, they trust, they persevere. They know that the vitality of the Church and the efficacy of the sacraments do not depend on their virtue, and they’re sure glad about that. Most of them work as if it all depends on them, and pray knowing that it all depends on the Lord.
And, when all is said and done, these priests do it because they’re in love, hopelessly in love with a Jesus whom they cannot see but who is as real as can be, and with a Church who is at times a dazzlingly beautiful bride, and at other times can seem a cold, distant shrew.
As Father Pedro Arrupe wrote:
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love, in a quite absolute, final way. Who you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, brother priest, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
I love this priesthood; I love these priests. I became one because I wanted to spend my life the way I saw Father Callahan, Father Schrodi, Father Schilly, Father Foley - my parish priests - spend theirs. They were men of joy, love, zeal, faith, and hope.
I toast them . . . and I thank you for letting me tell you about this love of my life.
The Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan was named Archbishop of Milwaukee
by Pope John Paul II on June 25, 2002. His seminary foundation was
at Cardinal Glennon College. He then completed his priestly formation
at the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he earned a
License in sacred theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas.
In 1994, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical North American College
in Rome where he served until June 2001.
