R E S O U R C E S
R E S O U R C E S
What I appreciated most about last month’s issue of The Southern Cross were stories about two men I admire greatly, Bishop Gilbert E. Chavez and Msgr. Joseph Carroll. Bishop Chavez, a retired auxiliary bishop of San Diego, was celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood; Father Joe was celebrating the 60th anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul Village, which he has directed since 1982.
These two men have walked very different paths in the Church. But what struck me was that the articles about Bishop Chavez and Father Joe touched upon a common theme: their dependence on their brother priests. It was a theme that was also addressed by Father Michael Sinor, pastor of St. Didacus Parish, in the March issue of The Southern Cross; in an article that appeared on one of our perspectives pages, Father Sinor wrote about the priests who are his heroes.
I still remember the kindnesses of the priests who served as my mentors in the seminaries here in San Diego and in Menlo Park, Calif., and the priest who got me started in my first parish assignment (the late Father Ray Jakobowski). Then, there are those who have been part of my priest support group. At our monthly gatherings over the years, they have offered me encouragement in the dark moments when parish administration seemed to overwhelm me or when I would occasionally succumb to self-pity.
In the homily at his 50th anniversary Mass, Bishop Chavez said he could never have become the man, the priest and the bishop he is today without the support of his brother priests: “We touched each other with faith, with love, with understanding, with values.”
Those remarks are reminiscent of some of Pope Benedict XVI’s comments to clergy.
“Each of us knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our lives,” the pope told the U.S. bishops in April 2008. “That fraternity is not only a precious possession but also an immense resource for the renewal of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations.”
In August 2008, while meeting with priests, deacons and seminarians in the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone, Italy, Pope Benedict said: “Priests, even if they live far apart, are a true community of brothers who should support and help one another. In order not to drift into isolation, into loneliness with its sorrows, it is important for us to meet one another regularly.”
As priests, none of us invent priesthood. Those of us who have built something, like St. Vincent de Paul Village, are well aware of the part that those before us played in the finished product. Clearly, we are not called upon to be priests alone, even though it sometimes feels that way.
We depend on one another to keep focused and open to the Holy Spirit. We thrive for the challenges set out at our annual priest convocation and the regular encounters with one another and our bishop. No, I am not forgetting the daily interaction with the laity, the men, women and children of our parishes and schools and all the love and encouragement we get from them. But in this Year for Priests, which concludes June 19, and in the many years ahead, we need to be aware of how important we priests are to one another.
The Southern Cross