Thank God For Our Priests!

This year in the Catholic Church is "The Year for Priests." I've spent a lot of time thinking about the priesthood over the years. Our priests are, for the most part, wonderful men of God who are trying to lead others closer to Christ. And they don't get enough credit. Take a moment and think about the priests that are in your life--both past and present. I know, for myself, I have oftentimes been critical of the priests that I have come across in my life. I have not given them enough credit. I have criticized them for the way they say the Mass. I have criticized them for having too much of a focus on money--and not enough of a focus on faith. I do not give them the benefit of the doubt.

Our priests work hard. They have a lot on their plates. They are charged with "running the business" of the parish in addition to feeding the spiritual needs of their flock. This is not an easy task. Their jobs are often 24/7. They sacrifice an awful lot and get very little in turn. All we do is ask them for more and criticize them for what they are doing.

My perspective on the priesthood has changed over the years. Working in a parish full time has helped to change my perspective. The priests I work with in my parishes truly are wonderful men. We need to thank the priests in our lives. They sacrifice much more than their vows call for. They deserve our love. They deserve our respect. They deserve our gratitude--regardless of how you feel they run the parish or say the Mass. Do you think you could do all they do and hold it together as well as they do? I don't think I could.

They deserve our prayers.

Prayer for Priests taken from the USCCB.
Dear Lord,
we pray that the Blessed Mother
wrap her mantle around your priests
and through her intercession
strengthen them for their ministry.
We pray that Mary will guide your priests
to follow her own words,
“Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).
May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph,
Mary’s most chaste spouse.
May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart
inspire them to embrace
all who suffer at the foot of the cross.
May your priests be holy,
filled with the fire of your love
seeking nothing but your greater glory
and the salvation of souls.
Amen.
Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

Why Women Can't Be Priests

My blog posts are normally spiritual in nature. I do not normally venture into the world of politics and the teachings of the Catholic Church. However, there is an issue that has been on my heart for a while. It started with questions from my youth group teens, and then I read a couple of articles on the subject, one from a blog called Roman Catholic Cop. The title of the post, Why Jimmy Carter is Wrong, got my attention. It was a blog about why women can't be priests in the Catholic Church--the question I have been asked several times by my youth group teens over the past year.

My answers to my teens have always been what I was taught: "Jesus was a man". "Jesus appointed 12 male Apostles, not female." "It's tradition." While these arguments are true, they don't hold much weight. Then things, like Jamie McAdams blog and other resources, kept presenting themselves to me. I didn't look for them, they just found me. While I agree with Jamie and his arguments, I want to share my thoughts on the matter.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition states:

Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination. The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry...The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible. (1577)

Clear as mud, right? This is the same argument I heard growing up. While biblically based, I believe that there is a much deeper reason for this, and one that is also biblically based. For that, we have to go to St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. In chapter 5, St. Paul says, "For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything." (Eph. 5:23-24). Paul is talking about many things here. He is talking about the relationship between husband and wife, but he is also talking about the relationship between Christ and the Church. Just as a man is the bridegroom and his wife the bride, so is Christ the bridegroom and the Church the bride. In other words Christ is married to the Church as a man is married to a woman.

You might be asking, what does this have to do with women not being able to become priests? A priest acts "in the person of Christ" when conferring the sacraments. It is not man that can change bread and wine into the Body and Blood, but Christ. It is not man that can forgive sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but Christ. Just as Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church, the priest acts in "His person" as a bridegroom in giving up his body for his bride, the Church. For a women to attempt to confer the sacraments, this changes the relationship altogether. You no longer have bridegroom to bride, but bride to bride.

St. Paul also says: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." (Eph. 5:31). In the same way, a man who becomes a priest leaves his father and mother and joins his wife--the Church--and becomes one flesh with the Church. A priest marries the Church--enters into a covenant with Her. This becoming of one flesh can only occur in the context of the covenant of marriage. This line of reasoning also works with priestly celibacy. No where in the bible (correct me if I'm wrong) does God ask any one person to enter two covenants at the same time. A man must either make a covenant with his wife in marriage or with the Church through holy orders. He can't do both. (Revision: It has come to my attention that my statement on married priests is not theologically sound. I need to give more thought to this matter. Thank you to Scott P. Richert and Adoro (see comments) for your input.)

I don't know why God put it on my heart to share this, but I hope it proves helpful to anyone who reads it. I keep finding the more I seek to find the answers of my Catholic faith, the more I come to understand the wisdom of the Church. Everything the Church teaches just makes sense. I just hope and pray that my youth group teens choose to seek out the truths of the Church to gain a better understanding for themselves.