The Old Wineskin Keep Bursting...

The Old Wineskins Keep on Bursting… Scattered thoughts on the pope's "attitude adjustment program", clericalism and the refusal to make necessary changes to Church structures. By Robert Mickens | Vatican City Pope Francis recently ordained nine new presbyters for the Diocese of Rome.And he told them not to think they're embarking on "an ecclesiastical career", as it was once said in the old days. "This is not a 'career'," the pope warned them in Italian." It's a service... that has a style you must follow. The style of closeness, the style of compassion and the style of tenderness. This is the style of God -- closeness, compassion, tenderness." Pope Francis repeated on this fine morning before the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica on the day that the Church marked "Good Shepherd Sunday". He then repeated the advice he's given out so many times before -- that priests and bishops must be like shepherds that walk "at times ahead of the flock, at times in the middle or behind... but, always there, with the people of God". The 84-year-old pope did not fail to caution these young men against the allure of money or the temptation to treat the people in their care as if they were employees. He also told them not to be afraid of the challenges ahead, promising that all would be well if they remained close to God in prayer, to their bishop in humility, their fellow priests in unity and the "holy faithful people of God" from whom they "were elected". The pope's fine words and the Church's brutal reality These are lovely words. Unfortunately, they don't match the reality of how the ordained presbyterate is envisioned or actually exercised in many parts of the Church. And there is a simple reason for that. The pope's language is contradicted (or, at least, attenuated) by the language used in the official Catholic teaching and legislation regarding the ordained priesthood -- and in the Church's very structures. The Code of Canon Law speaks about commissioning men to the "sacred ministries", preferring the term "priest" (sacerdos) to that of presbyter. The difference in terminology is not unimportant. The connotations surrounding the word sacerdos have cultic overtones more connected to the Hebrew notion of one who offers sacrifices, whereas presbyter is the word the early Christian community used to describe those whom we today call ordained priests. Only later, when it deals with parishes, does the code refer to the "sacred order of the presbyterate". But it still describes presbyteral ministry in the classic language "of teaching, sanctifying and ruling (docendi, sanctificandi et regendi) the people of God". The language of power The code points out that one becomes a "cleric" after ordination to the diaconate. And at that point he receives the "power of orders" (potestas ordinis) and "power of ecclesiastical governance" (potestas regiminis ecclesiastici). The operative word here is potestas -- power. This is emphasized once more in the section on removing men from the clerical state. The code states clearly that they are "prohibited from exercising the power of orders". The Code of Canon Law also underlines that only ordained presbyters have the "power" to absolve sins. "For the valid absolution of sins it is required that, besides the power received through sacred ordination, the minister possesses the faculty to exercise that power over the faithful to whom he imparts absolution" (Can. 966). Exercising power over the faithful! Good Lord! But this is exactly what the priest does in the confessional. And this is so commonly understood as such, that Pope Francis has to keep reminding priests that they must be merciful to penitents above all else. That's because the code puts the emphasis in the wrong place, saying the confessor "acts as judge as well as healer" and is "the minister of divine justice as well as of mercy" (Can. 978). Judge first, healer second. The pope keeps insisting that it's the other way around. Or it should be. But that is not the official language or ethos of the Church. Need for extensive change in language and structures It is true that in 2009 Benedict XVI officially changed the wording in Canons 1008 and 1009 that deal with the sacrament of Holy Orders. Instead of emphasizing that bishops and presbyters "shepherd" the People of God, Can. 1008 now says they "serve" them. Eliminated is the reference to "teaching, sanctifying and ruling". But only in this specific canon. These words, and this concept, remain elsewhere. A new clause in Can. 1009 (but mainly for other political/ecclesiological reasons linked to the debate over the status of deacons) that states: "Those who are constituted in the order of the episcopate or the presbyterate receive the mission and capacity to act in the person of Christ the Head, whereas deacons are empowered to serve the People of God in the ministries of the liturgy, the word and charity". Nonetheless, the connotations of having power, being specially "elected", being administrators of the sacred... all remain. This is all part of a bigger ethos that permeates the entire Church. It is called clericalism. And it is something all Catholics are infected with to some degree or another. All of us. Whether we are conscious of it or not. The limits of Pope Francis' "attitude adjustment program "A big part of the problem rests with our seminaries, most of which set our future presbyters apart from the rest of the people of God from the outset, to prepare them for their so-called "service". Many places enforce a clerical dress code or allow these men who are not even clerics yet to begin dressing like clerics. Seminarians in dog collars and cassocks masquerading as "clerics" -- and not just through the streets of Rome. Most lay people probably think there is nothing wrong with, so much has the clericalist mentality permeated all levels of the Church these past centuries. There is nothing that feeds clericalism in a more subtle, yet incisive way than the use of the titles. And it begins when a newly ordained 25-year-old priest is called "Father" by someone who is old enough to be his grandmother or great-grandfather. It's like the Mormons calling their teenage missionaries "elders". Words matter and have a significance. And an apt word to describe both of the cases above is "weird". Until the structures and laws are changed, the use of terms like "service" and "servant-leadership" will remain mere slogans from an ecumenical council that has not yet been implemented. The current pope has employed Vatican II language in a marvelous way in his "attitude adjustment program" aimed at changing the mentality or ethos of the Church. But changing the mentality is not enough. Right thinking alone cannot correct a bad system. Or put another way, you can't put new wine in old wineskins. This is exactly what well-intentioned Catholics -- including many good men who have been "commissioned to the sacred ministries" -- have been trying in these past five decades or more. It should be clear to all that the wineskins keep bursting. And we have one hell of a mess on our hands. It's well past the time for new wineskins -- new and reformed structures. Not just regarding ministry, but in many other areas of the Church, as well. But it's still not clear whether Pope Francis has the courage to provide them. Or whether he still has time. Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/letter-from-rome/the-old-wineskins-keep-on-bursting/14214