Resolving problems with priests

Roy Cimagala, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

Priestly holiness appears to be a hot topic these days. Given the special temper of our time, many people are wondering about whether there is genuine holiness among our priests.

Do they really pray? Are they really close to God? Do they practice what they preach, presuming that they preach properly?

These are questions some people ask me. Many others may not ask them explicitly, but you can easily detect, by the drift of their thoughts and words, that they also want to ask these questions. They want reassuring answers.

I find these developments very welcome and challenging. Welcome, because in the end they show genuine concern, they show there is still faith in the priesthood among the faithful.

In the process, they may complain, say some negative and even nasty comments about priests. But at the end of the day, they still believe that priests are and are supposed to be men of God.

As the Letter to the Hebrews expresses it beautifully, "Every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in the things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

My reading of the minds of people, if you can call it that, is that by and large they still believe in this description of priests. It would have been a far worse scenario if people have changed their definition of priests.

Like, that a priest is just any other professional man, interested only in building a career and earning for security along the way, or that the priesthood is just a matter of arts and skills, purely human and scientific, with hardly any supernatural dimension to it, etc.

I still believe that people in our country in general still believe in the supernatural character of the priesthood, and that priests therefore should be true men of God, holy, virtuous, learned, full of charity, patience and mercy.

But, alas, we cannot deny that there are tremendous difficulties and challenges that confront priests today. Ever since Vatican II, there had been changes in priestly attitudes and lifestyles that make the understanding and fidelity to their vocation more difficult.

The very welcome thrust of the Vatican II for priests to be immersed in the concerns of people and of the world, for example, somehow led many priests to relax on their duty to pray, to keep a certain priestly image and presence in public, to be available for confessions, spiritual direction, and other spiritual services to the faithful.

They have misunderstood this Vatican II orientation. The results are that they get entangled with social and political issues, they don't like to be distinguishable from the lay faithful by refusing to wear clerical attire, they develop unregulated interest in temporal affairs, like going into business and politics.

All sorts of problems soon crop up. Lack of obedience and docility to superiors, neglect of priestly functions, and doctrinal confusion and spiritual complacency follow.

That is why the Church is now faced with the tremendous duty to instill discipline among the priestly ranks. And it's an uphill battle. For priests to be holy these days is like an impossible dream!

There seems even to be redefinition of holiness. It's not anymore so much associated with prayer, sacraments, ascetical struggle, fidelity to doctrine and obedience to superiors, virtues, etc. It now seems veering toward self-assertion and social action.

The Church continues to make reminders of how a priest ought to be and to behave. Only recently, the Pope told some newly ordained priests that they first of all have to be holy, before they can perform their priestly duties well.

There are now countless documents about priestly formation, both in the level of the Holy See and that of the dioceses. More or less, the same ideas and recommendations are made.

We just have to pray, all of us, that all these indications are followed and truly lived, not just understood and mouthed, by those concerned.