Solemn renewals
18.08.2010
Pope Benedict XVI invited priests to the Vatican for the closing three days of the Year of the Priest. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be there for two of the three days.
Rome effortlessly provides a majestic setting for ceremonies. But the more important thing, especially this year, was what goes on inside the participants who are attending.
The great majority of talks were in Italian, and even with simultaneous translation, it was hard to hear every word. But I got enough to mull over a few thoughts as I cast my eyes over the meditations in mosaic and stone that are the interior of the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside-the-Walls and the facade of St Peter’s.
The Vatican said that with so many priests vested for Mass on Friday and reciting together the key words of the Eucharistic prayer with their hands extended toward the altar, the liturgy marked the largest concelebration ever held at the Vatican. Does that mean we made the Guinness Book of Records?
The heat caused nearly everyone to need to wear some type of head covering. The Vatican distributed water bottles to many.
There were many priests there, so many to greet. But it is not easy to tell who is English speaking, and I am afraid if it is not English (or Japanese,) I really cannot easily have a conversation. At the outdoor evening of prayer, I was seated between a priest from Eastern Europe who did not seem able to communicate with anyone and two German diocesan priests who were friendly if not too talkative in English once the introductions were completed.
A welcome Australian voice was in the row behind me for that evening of prayer in St Peter’s Square. At the lunch table that day, I was between a seminary professor from Sicily and a Mexican priest who works in Idaho in Western USA. A group of diocesan priests from Karachi seemed particularly pleased to be involved in such a public demonstration of Catholicism; that is certainly easy to understand when Catholics are an oppressed minority in Pakistan.
Meeting priests from many places and finding that they are friends of friends was one of the more pleasurable aspects of being in such a huge gathering. Quite by accident, I met a priest who was two years behind me in the seminary, someone I have not seen since 1972.
Addressing the abuse scandal in his homily, Pope Benedict said the Catholic Church begs forgiveness from God and “from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again.”
In admitting men to the seminary and priesthood, he said, “we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers.”
The reason I was paying particular attention to these words was that I had just come from a meeting of the rectors of our seminary formation programs, held earlier the same week.
The priests and bishops, who turned St Peter’s Square into a sea of white albs and stoles, were well aware of the scandal and of the shadow of doubt it cast over the Catholic priesthood. But, the Pope said, the scandal should make priests grow “in gratitude for God’s gift, a gift concealed in ‘earthen vessels’ which, ever anew, even amid human weakness, makes his love concretely present in this world.”
“Let us look upon all that happened as a summons to purification,” the Pope said. He then led the priests in the solemn renewal of their priestly promises to be faithful ministers of Christ, working not for their own interests, but for the good of all men and women.
Fr John Burger served as a missionary in Japan and in the USA, and is a member of the Superior General’s Council.
Read more from The Far East, August 2010
