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(Editor's Note: The following reflection on the priesthood is taken from Bishop Hubbard's homily at the ordination to the priesthood of Fathers Michael Cournoyer, David LeFort and Robert Longobucco at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany on July 3.)
You candidates for the priesthood are being called to serve God's people at a remarkable moment in human history, standing as we are on the threshold of the third millennium.
It is a moment fraught with unprecedented challenges for the Church, but also one filled with rich opportunities to respond to that spiritual hunger and thirst which the Holy Spirit has stirred up so copiously in the minds and hearts of people in this age of privatism, individualism and narcissism.
Please know that as you undertake sacerdotal responsibility in the Church, you are not alone. In Steven Spielberg's recent movie "Amistad," there is a scene which depicts Cinque, the African slave who is facing trial for the mutiny whereby he and his companions had broken free from the shackles of their captors, discussing with his lawyers his feelings as he prepares to enter a courtroom where he will be tried in a language, culture and system of justice which are totally foreign to him.
Instead of feeling isolated and afraid, Cinque states that he is buoyed up by his past; by the knowledge that he stands before this tribunal of justice not alone but accompanied by his ancestors, saying of them, "At this moment, I am the whole reason they have existed at all."
Company of saints
Like Cinque, you who are to be ordained today stand here not alone but in that great company of the saints who will be recalled momentarily in the litany wherein we invoke the prayers and intercessions of Mary and Joseph, Peter and Paul, John and James, Stephen and Agatha, Clare and Francis of Assisi, Isaac Jogues, Kateri Tekakwitha, and all the holy men and women of God who have gone before you.
It is in their footsteps that you walk; it is on their shoulders that you stand; and it is because of their faith vision, wisdom, spirit and ongoing support that you can find the strength and motivation to undertake this mission and ministry upon which you embark today.
Scriptural mission
Indeed, this mission and ministry are outlined in the Scripture readings we just heard proclaimed. As Isaiah prophesies, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you and you are being sent to bring glad tidings to the lowly...to heal the brokenhearted...to proclaim liberty to captives and release to prisoners.
However, as our second reading from Romans reminds us, priests are to do this, not as the sole ministers in the Church, but as members of the one body of Christ, who collaborate with other members of the body and coordinate their gifts in accordance with the grace given to each.
Furthermore, as Jesus underscores in the Gospel reading, you are to do this as servant leaders who are privileged to celebrate and preside at the Eucharistic banquet until the kingdom of God comes to its fulfillment.
Servant leaders
This point of being servant leaders needs to be stressed, I believe, in light of the different models of priestly identity that are in vogue in our post-conciliar Church. There is a great deal of discussion today about: "Who is a priest? what is a priest? and what is the role of a priest?"
For example, some promote the more traditional cultic model of priesthood in which the priest is seen as a man set apart, whose main task is to provide the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and to combat the errors of the day.
Some foster a prophetic model of priesthood which places great emphasis on proclaiming the Word through preaching and teaching as being the basis for the responsibility the priest has for liturgical leadership and caring for the needs of God's people.
Still others argue for a sacramental or representational model of priesthood which underscores the personal holiness and deep prayer life of the priest who must constantly strive to conform himself to the person of Christ the High Priest.
Role of priests
While those, and other contemporary models of priesthood which could be cited, have valid insights, I would suggest that priests not spend a great deal of time and energy in thinking about the unique identity of the priest. Rather, they should harness their energies to serving people...to visiting the sick, comforting the dying, feeding the hungry...to advocating for justice, preaching the Good News and celebrating the sacraments...to providing for Christian formation, and sharing the sorrows, disappointments, joys and hopes of the people entrusted to their care.
For it is in this type of servant leadership that priests will find their true priestly identity and their deepest satisfaction. It is in this type of active participation in the human adventure that they will best be able to serve wholeheartedly the needs of the community.
And it is through this type of immersion in the life of the faith community that priests will best be able to articulate and then respond to the deepest longings and concerns of those whom they are privileged to serve.
Work of reconciling
Further, I would suggest that, as servant leaders, priests must also be reconcilers. We live in a Church characterized by pluralism: a Church that hears the voices of Mother Angelica and Cardinal [Roger] Mahony [of Los Angeles]...of Cardinal Ratzinger and [theologian] Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza...of Opus Dei and Called to Action...of the Legionnaires of Christ and the members of Corpus [men who left the priesthood].
It is a Church in which some promote liberation, feminist and ecological theology while others foster Marian apparitions, magisterial maximalism and neo-conservatism. It is a Church where, as Charles Morris suggests in his fine book "American Catholic," "The majority are not radical feminists, cultic earth goddess worshipers or reckless hedonists who seek to end all rules; nor, however, are they convinced that the ancient structures of the Church will collapse if Catholics use a more inclusive language, stand during the Eucharistic prayer or welcome and support their gay and lesbian children."
In such a Church, priests must seek to be healers and reconcilers; recognizing that:
* Catholicism is open to all truth and to diverse expressions of the truth;
* it includes within itself a wide variety of theologies, spiritualities and expressions of Christian life;
* it prefers to say, "both/and." Not Scripture alone, but Scripture and Tradition; not grace alone, but grace and nature; not faith alone, but faith and works.
One and holy
In such a Church, priests must strive to maintain unity in parishes composed of traditionalists, liberals, radicals and charismatics. Priests cannot write people, groups or movements off because they have a different theological or ecclesiological model than theirs, for those to be served are not objects to be used or adversaries to be defeated but persons worthy of reverence and respect.
As Cardinal Joseph Bernardin pointed out in his Common Ground initiative, we must appreciate that no individual or group has a monopoly on the truth, nor should any group function as a saving remnant which spurns other Catholics as unenlightened. Rather, we must put the best possible construction on the position of opponents and not impugn their motives or accuse them of disloyalty to the Church.
To be reconcilers, then, will require that priests manifest some theological humility; that they realize that not every question can be answered by citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the National Catholic Reporter. For the Church today is confronted with many difficult questions that do not readily admit of facile solutions but, rather, require honest discussion and genuine searching.
Therefore, we need not just talk at each other but listen to each other; we need prayer, discernment and the freedom to be led by the Spirit. Hence, priests must be willing and able to facilitate such an open and candid quest for answers in our contemporary Church, respecting and celebrating the insights and contributions each person has to make.
Spirituality
Finally, I would suggest that if priests are to fulfill their mission and ministry as servant leaders in today's Church, they must develop an apostolic spirituality.
It is said, and rightly so, I believe, that the crisis of our age is the crisis of spirituality. We have lost the sense of the transcendent. We have lost the art of contemplation. We have failed in our efforts to integrate liturgy and work, prayer and service, faith and action.
To be sure we have moved away from that monastic approach to spirituality which dominated the prayer life of the Church for many centuries, but we are still struggling to develop an authentic apostolic spirituality: one which enables us to harmonize our work and our prayer...one which enables us to be doers who contemplate...one which enables us to reflect upon the wonder of the Father's creation, the beauty of the Redeemer's love and the pulsating presence of the Spirit within ourselves and others, and then translate that reflection into words and deeds which speak to contemporary realities.
Balanced life
Last Advent, Father James Bacik of Toledo, Ohio, conducted a day of recollection for the priests of our Diocese wherein he posited that the best way for priests to balance a busy life of service with a regular, nourishing prayer life is to develop a type of situation spirituality in which prayer and the spiritual exercises of priests flow organically out of their ministerial activities.
For example, priests can say a quick prayer for guidance in difficult counseling situations, express gratitude to God when receiving an honest compliment, request the gift of patience in the midst of a boring meeting or when being confronted by an outraged parishioner, or ask forgiveness after being insensitive to someone in need.
That principle can be extended to other situations as well. Homily preparations provide a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the Scriptures. The responsibility for giving a talk can prompt spiritual reading around the topic. Stress and fatigue induced by ministerial activity can lead to adopting a regular regime of physical exercise. Driving to the hospital to visit the sick can set the stage for serious meditation or reflection.
Doing, praying
The key to a situational spirituality, then, is to use the events of priestly ministry as catalysts for prayer and other spiritual exercises. That approach enables priests to pray in the midst of a busy schedule and to be attuned to the presence of the Spirit in their daily round of service.
It transforms the inevitable tensions of a busy or hectic pastoral life into a fruitful means of spirituality. Indeed, it mirrors the practice of Jesus, where prayer is so tightly woven into the ministry of the Master.
It is my fervent hope and prayer, then, that the priests of our Diocese and throughout the world will strive to be servant leaders, reconcilers and people imbued with an apostolic spirituality. To the extent that this occurs, I believe, will priestly vocations flourish -- and the ministry of priests will be a credible and attractive witness to believers and non-believers alike.
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