Days of Priestly Formation

Fifteen years after Pastores dabo vobis

Saint Joseph Spanish Pontifical College

Rome, November 7 2008

Contemporary challenges to priestly formation

Nature and mission of ministerial priesthood

Address of H.V.R.E Msgr. Mauro Piacenza

Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana,

Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy

Your Very Reverend Eminences and Excellences

Very Rev. Dean,

Revered and Dear Brethren ,

It is a great pleasure to be here with you today to open the works of these days devoted to priesthood, on the basis of the Pastores dabo vobis (March 25 1992). The post-Synod Apostolic exhortation of the Servant of God John Paul II, represents, after the Decrees of the Second Vatican Council, Optatam totius and Presbiterorum ordinis, the most eloquent and conspicuous recommendation for contemporary priestly formation and for the correct reading and interpretation of those precious council documents.

My assignment as Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy is a daily calling to cast a tentatively universal – and surely passionate – glance to the situation of the Clergy in the world. I thus wish to acknowledge the dedication, the testimony and the generous pastoral ministry that the Priests faithfully live. At the same time, some concerns regarding the current situation that, especially in certain regions, demands special attention and care, do linger on. In the afternoon and in the coming days – in observance of the traditional quadri-partitioning indicated in the Pastores dabo vobis - you will be addressing the issue of priestly formation, setting it against the background of human, intellectual, and pastoral realms. In my paper I wish to highlight the foundations of priestly formation, its profound nature, willed by Christ and received in two-thousand years of ecclesial tradition, along with Priestly ministry, with special relevance to sanctification, that the service to God and mankind, authentically lived, leads us to accomplish.

1. Nature and foundations of priestly vocation

The Pastores dabo vobis, at n. 42, acknowledges the root of priestly vocation in the dialogue between Jesus and Peter (cf. Jn 21); “In preparing for the priesthood we learn how to respond from the heart to Christ’s basic question: ‘Do you love me?’. For the future priest the answer can only mean total self giving”. I believe that such theological and spiritual collocation is marked by important consequences, which we shall proceed to explore.

However, I first wish to make an introduction on methodological and semantic grounds, which regards the use of the term “vocation”. My impression is that today this term is abundantly employed to describe not the calling of the Lord but rather the life choices that men are prone to make. It follows that any profession, lifestyle or situation, is putatively viewed as a vocation! Paraphrasing a theological claim by Cardinal Cottier, who said that “if everything is grace, then nothing is grace”, we may say: “If everything is vocation, nothing is vocation!”.

Presenting everything as “vocation” without making any distinction, risks leading to emptying vocation of its meaning, the ensuing “normalization” would thus be viewed as the result of a mere human choice.

If it’s true that it’s licit and due to speak of the “universal vocation to sainthood” or of “vocation to life”, we ought to admit that these phrases pertain to the theological and moral framework best represented by F. Haring, who interpreted Salvation relation according to the dyptich: “God calls – man responds”. We cannot fail to acknowledge the merits of this approach. However, we also ought to establish its limits. Indeed, if it is not appropriately understood, it risks not taking into due consideration the tragic reality of the sin of the origins, thus committing “the sin” of excessive optimism and anthropological irenics. I personally believe we can - and should - recover the clear distinction between “natural vocation” and “supernatural vocation”, thus ascribing only to the latter the authentic meaning of vocation. Accordingly, marriage is and remains a beautiful reality that each man endowed with sound inclinations is naturally called to fulfil. Thus, to be more accurate, it makes no sense to speak of a marriage “vocation”, since, rather than a vocation, it is a “natural inclination”.

Christian sacramental marriage will thus be described as being characterized by “vocational connotations”, since the natural institution has been elevated by our Lord to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 1601). Without doubt, no human action can have a supernatural origin: we can easily imagine what would happen if each human “inclination” were canonized as a supposed divine “vocation”. It’s evident that such approach will not withstand the impact of the confrontation with reality, and mostly, of the scrutiny of the universal tragedy of sin that God is never, and in no any way, accountable for. Thus, when we speak of “vocation”, we ought to recover the authentic meaning of the words, admitting that the very fact of becoming Christians is per se a true supernatural vocation. But at the same time we ought to preserve the traditional sense of the term, (i.e. priestly vocations and vocations to consecrated life).

While it’s true that Christianity is not inborn – if not, to a certain extent, as the result of a given culture – since it is acquired through the event of the encounter with Christ that gives a new horizon to life (Cf. Deus caritas est, 1), it’s equally true that priestly vocation is not a human choice; rather, it is a divine calling. It’s the supernatural entry of God in the realm of human existence! A God that calls to follow him fully, renouncing also all those things that are humanly good and licit, to be for Him and for the Word, the “land” that had been “promised” to the tribe of the Levi, which for their worship of God, possessed no land in this world. Let us recall the Psalm: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup” (Psalm16,5).

This attempt at the semantic recovery of the term “vocation” has major methodological consequences, especially as relates to vocational discernment: if vocation is a supernatural event, discernment ought to be carried out with supernatural means. Otherwise, discerning vocation only through psychological techniques, would imply exerting violence on the object that requires, ex natura sui, the method of knowledge.

Psychology is a natural method, which is thus inappropriate in the discernment of supernatural vocation. Human sciences may also turn extremely useful “tools of the human realm” that is called to sustain the supernatural grace of vocation. But it can never become the ultimate criteria of vocational discernment.

It’s also important to bear in mind that the Lord donates to those whom He calls, this includes the grace of an extraordinary “human florescence”: humanity, touched by the grace of supernatural vocation to priesthood, and in general terms, by the virginity for the Heavenly Kingdom, blossoms in ways that were deemed inconceivable, and as the experience in the Congregation states, if the path of vocation is relinquished, it suddenly withers.

Priestly vocation is thus a supernatural event of Grace, a free and sovereign intervention of the Lord that “called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. And he appointed twelve to be with him, and to be sent out" (Mt 3,13; C.f. Pastores dabo Vobis n. 65). To this supernatural event responds human freedom, adhering to the divine will and gradually conforming to it.

Thus, as mentioned at the beginning of this paper, with Pastores dabo vobis 42, it would be appropriate to conclude that the foundation of priestly vocation is the intense, passionate, blazing, exclusive and all-comprising relationship of love between Christ the Lord and the person who received the calling. Without this “overwhelming” experience, that changes, and to a certain extent also disrupts life, there is no authentic vocation, which is the true understanding of God’s powerful action in the personal history of all human persons.

This love, that obviously has divine origin, truly involves the human heart, intelligence, freedom, the will and the affectivity of the person that is being called, since, due to man’s profound wholesomeness, all the dimensions of the self are “enraptured” and shaped by the calling of the Lord.

This love for the Lord, the only real foundation of Vocation, is conveyed in an aspect –that nowadays is unfortunately neglected despite its crucial importance in the life of the Priest and of the seminarian: the love for the divine Presence of Christ Resurrected in the Eucharist. It is my belief that Eucharistic adoration ought to become a daily, ongoing practice so as to mark initial and permanent formation. Many things do develop under the Eucharistic Sun. And if the rays of the astronomic sun tan us, what process of growth, of “Christification” will take place under the rays of the Eucharistic Sun? Vocation is born, develops and preserves its fruitfulness only within the intense relationship with Christ.

From the Adoration of the Real Presence, human intelligence ought to understand that Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, is the only truth, the total truth, the only and irreplaceable Saviour! If not, how could the future Priest attain his Christian formation? Where would that missionary element, called to act as a swollen river, draw its nourishment?

The promotion of human values and a generic feeling of solidarity are not reason enough to give life, in the daily martyrdom of virginity, obedience and service and – if called – in the martyrdom of testimony with the effusion of blood. Life is not donated for an idea or for a “Value”! Life is donated for a Person! A Person whom we know and love, and that loves us in return. This is the relationship with Christ, and of true intellectual formation. From Adoration to the real Presence, the heart must feel the exclusiveness of love. A love that burns within us and around us! The true root of sacred celibacy lies in this love. Far from being a mere regulatory norm, as many seem to sustain, the sacred celibacy, or rather, virginity for the heavenly Kingdom, is the existential translation of the Apostolica vivendi forma that, in the imitation of Christ, places God at the first and only place also in the realm of affection. The “Law” is just the obvious consequence.

The Adoration of the Real Presence discloses the profound meaning of ecclesial discipline, i.e. being the disciples of Christ in the Church. The abundantly vituperated ecclesial discipline is nothing more than disciplehood! We ought to recover its roots made of the love for Christ and the souls, because of Him.

The Adoration of the Real Presence is, after all, the only “school of joy”. In Christ also sacrifice is joy, since it entails the participation at God’s plan of Salvation for mankind.

In this framework, the supernatural value of penance is recovered, thus representing a real and true virtue along the ever-present tradition full of love and tenderness for the Lord, marked by ongoing care for Him, the permanent memoria Crucis that characterizes the lives of the Saints and of the Mystics, entailing also the just recovery of those small sacrifices expressed in memories and offerings that fill our days with Christ and His presence. This however requires humbleness, simplicity, and spiritual childhood. Only in this framework, that includes ongoing and seminarian formation, is it possible to understand what it means to be part of the Mystic Body and to act in Persona Christi through our own flesh, by participating, also with our own suffering, to the mystery of vicarship that the Priest is called to live day by day.

A priest that is conscious of the Real Presence of Christ will be a man of God, chaste, obedient, completely detached from himself: therefore free!

In the Church, obedience is an evangelical counsel, a moral virtue. However, above all, obedience is the ongoing manifestation of Christ, “and became obedient onto death, even the death of the Cross” (Cf. Phil 2,8), the manifestation of the love that is redemption that flows from the tree of the Cross, that is obedience, and this obedience is love, pure love!

Only on these grounds is it possible to educate to the true meaning of the Church, to the love for the Holy Mother who generated us all and who generates in faith and in holy Catholic priesthood.

For too long, and in too many places, we have accepted that the world educated seminarians, who had been abandoned to osmosis within the widespread atmosphere of a relativistic society, that is hedonistic, narcissistic and in short, anti-Catholic!

We thus accepted the world’s wish to condition the thought of seminarians, their words, we accepted their yearning to criticize and to judge the Mother, that is, the Church, along with the mounting historical-political stances, imposed by the hermeneutics of “discontinuity” opposing the only ecclesial reality. Lastly, we accepted certain attire, certain songs, a so-defined “sexualizing attitude”, marked by immature and superficial gestual expressiveness. All of these aspects are conveyed by the world! We are well aware that the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God oppose one another. As we are aware that the realm of theology is not the world but the Church, the presence of Christ in the world.

How do some seminarians differ from their secular peers?

This must not be understood as the establishment of a heresy – that would have triggered the immediate reaction of the ecclesial Corps. Rather, an atmosphere similar to an all-embracing fog has impeded our sight, and prevented the clear distinction between good and evil, true and false, virtue and vice.

We could resort to an analogy, to understand – at philosophical level and then at popular level - the significance of the term “modern”. In ordinary speech, if something is modern it’s also good. No matter whether it’s true or false, whether it truly promotes man or hinders him. None of these questions are raised. If it’s modern it enjoys the sympathy and even the reception of minds and hearts, and of customs.

The same thing happens in specific ecclesial environments. If well-known phrases such as “after the Council” or “according to the spirit of the Council” are employed, nobody will ever consider verifying whether that noble Assembly of Fathers, did actually deliver specific statements.

Consider a series of “key words” that sometimes humiliate and discourage wonderful vocations: “he’s too rigid”, “too bound to the form”; “he is not open to diversity”, “he is too much involved”, “he has no doubts”, “he failed to make a critical evaluation of faith”, “he breaks the communion” and so on.

We ought to clarify all misunderstandings and call things by name. Until ailments are healed, the cure won’t be found and a truly Catholic and modern mode enabling the formation of the world’s future clergy will not be developed.

2. The ministry, path of sanctification

To the light of the above-mentioned claims, it is evident that the ministry ought to be presented, received and lived. On a number of occasions, and with much clarity - as for example in Deus caritas est - the Holy Father Benedict XVI reiterated the urgent need to overcome functionalistic and activistic reductions of ecclesial work, especially as relates to priestly ministry.

The specificity of priestly vocation, that is crucial and irreplaceable in the life and for the very identity of the Church – and this must be reaffirmed when confronted with the numerous attacks to the identity and to the pastoral ministry of the presbyters – entails the specificity of the path leading to sanctification that each priest is called to fulfil through the ministry.

Also in this framework, we rediscover the central role of the Eucharist: fountainhead and zenith of priestly ministry, it is also the propellant of moral life and of the sanctification of the Clergy.

May we celebrate it with the grateful wonder of a child, with the profound interiority of a mystic, with the accurate preparation of a lover, in the orating silence of those who are aware that they are serving God, in need to almost disappear, since “He must increase, but I must decrease” (C.f. Jn 3:30).

The ministry must not be distinguished from the life of the priest, whose actions must preserve the features of priesthood, as if he were constantly on the predella of the altar: his human traits, his language, his habit, that expresses a specific mode of thought and action, convey those of a Good Shepherd, that offers himself for his flock, that is never a mere administrator, or worse, a mercenary. He must always be able to bring back the flock to the fold of the holy Church.

This human attitude doesn’t spring from an improvised effort. It is the result of the well-guided awareness, of being, for God’s pure grace and mercy, an alter Christus who follows the paths of the world.

This is the priest and this is true pastorality!

Do not succumb to the contemporary trends and likes of men, do not favour them in their individual and social sins. Rather, take care of the flock, with special dedication to those who have gone astray and those that are ill, following our burning desire that all may know Christ, the only true Saviour of the history of mankind, and that, at the same time, the visible boundaries of the Church may expand reaching the furthest boundaries of the world.

All men were “ordained to be part of Christ’s flock”. The priest becomes saint by working in this direction, by living, suffering and offering, to ensure that all those that were entrusted to him and that he encounters through his ministry and his human traits, may truly experience Christ.

Thus a priest cannot seek shelter in solitude or in isolation, he must not believe that the canonical age of retirement means interrupting his commitment for the good of the souls.

Priesthood, even sacramental priesthood, entails the ontological change of identity of its recipient. Thus, priesthood lasts forever, even after death!

No ministry, not even the one that is most theologically qualified - assuming that it is sound theology – will ever replace the priest.

Let us cultivate this awareness! Let us renew our affiliation to Christ and the untiring love for the Eucharist, that has been bestowed to us with the grace to celebrate. We love the confessional, as a place and as a service, as identification with merciful Christ, giver of Trinitarian love.

Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the priests, protect our path of sanctification, strengthen us in our conscience that we are also her children and with her almighty plead, give to the Church a new season of blossoming vocations and holy priests.

I believe that with these words the skies are at dawning.

Thank you .