Today I would like to share with you a beautiful experience I had recently. There is a woman in our parish by the name of Joyce Scollen who died recently. She was 84. A few months ago she came to me with her daughters, as she wanted to plan her funeral, readings, music, etc. She wasn’t sick at the time, but wanted to be practical. About six weeks later her daughter called me to say that she was in hospital, but seemed to be doing ok. After another two weeks her family called me to say that she was in intensive care and was getting weaker. Joyce asked if it were possible that I would come in to her and by God’s grace I was free and able to. When I got to her she was still fully conscious, though weak. WE chatted for a few moments and then I asked her if she would like me to give her the sacrament of the sick, aka anointing, aka last rites. It is for when people are sick and not just dying. She said she would. After I had given her the sacrament of the sick, she asked, ‘Is that last rites?’ I said yes. She said, ‘Is there anything else that I need to be ready?’ I said, ‘No, you have done everything and you are ready [to meet the Lord]. She said ok and I left. Three hours later she died. She was ready and the Lord brought her home. This was one of the many privileged experiences that I have as a priest.
Before Jesus left the Apostles he promised them, ‘I will be with you always, to the end of time’. And the way he chose to remain with us above all others, was through the Eucharist, which comes through the priesthood. Without the priesthood there would be no Eucharist. We would not have Jesus with us in this beautiful way, where we can receive him into ourselves. The Eucharist is the greatest treasure we have in the Church as it is the gift of Jesus himself. It is also through the priesthood that God gives us the healing that we need through forgiveness of sins. The sacrament of reconciliation is a sacrament of healing. God uses the priesthood as a channel, or vessel, to make himself present to us at key moments in our lives. When a baby is born at baptism, at weddings, when our loved ones are sick and die. He calls certain people to do this. Wherever there are communities of faith, there will be vocations to the priesthood and Religious life, because people’s faith gives birth to vocations. The prayer group I was part of when I was nineteen produced four vocations, two nuns and two priests.
The shortage in vocations at the moment is not because priests can’t get married, or because of any conditions of the priesthood. It’s because there is a crisis of faith in the world. When faith increases, people begin again to see the value and gift of the priesthood and then people are encouraged to go forward when they believe that God is calling them.
Priests also need support and encouragement, because we are human like everyone else and all of us need to be encouraged. In Ireland there was less and less support for priests when I was there and I believe it is still the same. So priests ended up being more isolated and alone. Many have left the priesthood, which is sad though not surprising. Of all the men who were ordained around the same time that I was, about one third have left. I am happy to say that people here are wonderfully supportive and I thank you for that.
What about the terrible scandals that have been caused by priests? Aren’t priests supposed to be people of God who do no wrong? When St. Teresa (Mother Teresa) of Calcutta was asked about the sexual abuse scandals in the Church, she pointed out that Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas spent three years with Jesus, walking around with him, listening to him speaking and witnessing miracles, yet he ended up betraying Jesus to death, for money and not even much money. Peter, who was the first Pope and leader of all the others also betrayed Jesus, but he repented. He asked forgiveness.
A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call at lunchtime and a man asked to speak to the person in charge, which was me! He told me that he was a Christian and that God had blessed him and he had made a lot of money. And now he wanted to donate a large amount of money to some churches. I knew there was a catch, as people don’t just call up and offer large sums of money, but I listened to what he had to say. He spoke for quite a while and I couldn’t get a word in, but eventually he said, ‘If you were willing to stop praying to Mary and the saints, I will give you money.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was asking me to change my faith for money. What an insult. I hung up.
Priests are ordinary people, with ordinary interests and ordinary needs and we are sinners just like everyone else. And we will sin, just as everyone sins. We must also ask forgiveness from God and from you, the people we serve, when we do wrong. It would be a big mistake to think that just because our work is about the sacred, that we won’t do wrong. We are sinners and we need to be held accountable like everyone else.
As long as there are human beings, there will be corruption, abuse and betrayal, because these are human problems, not priest problems. That doesn’t excuse anyone, but that is humanity.
Since 2002, very strict guidelines have been introduced into the Church for the protection of young people and vulnerable adults, which is good. It is now probably one of the safest institutions for young people, because it is so strict, but nothing is foolproof and we must never let our guard down. If I want to travel outside the diocese and celebrate mass somewhere else, I have to get a letter of good standing from my bishop, which specifies where and when I hope to celebrate mass. That is sent directly to the bishop of that diocese, not given to me.
A few years ago Cardinal Dolan of New York, asked the attorney general of New York if she would do an audit of the diocese to see if the guidelines were being properly implemented. She did and she said it was as good as anyone could ask for. It is good to her that, because that’s not the kind of thing you will often hear.
What about celibacy? Isn’t it high time that was changed? After all, it’s totally unnatural. Yes, it is totally unnatural, but no one ever said it was otherwise. One difficulty with trying to understand celibacy, is that the media are constantly telling us that we cannot be fulfilled as human beings unless we are sexually active. So celibacy is presented as a negative thing. But wouldn’t it resolve the shortage of priests if priests were allowed to get married? Not necessarily. In the Eastern Rite Catholic Church priests are allowed to marry and they have all the same problems that we have. Celibacy is also blamed as one of the causes of sexual abuse, but this is not true. If you ask any expert in this area they will tell you that celibacy has nothing to do with sexual abuse. God calls certain people to a particular type of relationship with him, to dedicate their lives completely to him. People have often asked me would I not like to be married. Of course I would, it is a very natural desire, but the only way I can explain it is to say that the desire to be a priest was and continues to be stronger than anything else. That is not to say that it is easy, but no way of life is easy. It is also a sign of faith in the life to come. In the next world, Jeus tells us that people won’t marry. At the moment it is a particularly powerful sign of faith, to a world that places so much value on what we have now.
What about women priests? Why doesn’t the Church ordain women priests? The Church doesn’t ordain women to the priesthood because it believes that it doesn’t have the authority to do so. We believe that God established it this way and that means it is part of revelation, in other words, something that has been revealed to us by God. If it is revealed by God then we cannot change it. It would be saying that God got it wrong. It is not a discrimination against women, rather it shows us that God has given different roles for men and women in the Church, just as there are different roles for the husband and wife in a marriage. The temptation is to see it as a right, but is not a right. No one has the right to be a priest. It is a gift that God chooses to give certain people.
Satan continually tries to turn us against each other, in our faith just as much as anywhere else. He continually lies to us and twists the truth. Jesus called him the father of lies. And he whispers in our ears that the Church has no right to do this, that it is a discrimination and prejudice. Who are those men in Rome to think that they can do this? But that is a spirit of rebellion, just as Satan managed to get Adam and Eve to rebel against God. It is not from God.
Satan also lies to me and tries to get me to rebel against the Church in subtle ways. He will tell me that many of the Church’s teachings are unfair and unreasonable and they make life needlessly difficult for people, and so I should not be so strict about them but bend those teachings where I need to, to make life easier for people. But that is not what I am called to.
In Germany over the last few years many of the bishops have been rebelling against the Church and going against Church teaching, because they believe they know better [than Church teaching]. At this time they are on the verge of schism, which is very sad. In the Prophet Isaiah it says, ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight’ (Is 5:21). That is the temptation, to think that we are wiser. We know better.
The priesthood is under terrible attack at the moment. Why? because Satan knows well that it is through the priesthood that we have the greatest treasures of the Church, especially the Eucharist and the healing through forgiveness of sins. And if he can get people to turn against the priests then they will turn away from God’s gifts. Anywhere there is religious persecution, the priests are always the first ones to be attacked. In Nicaragua over the last two years there has been terrible persecution against the Church and many priests have been killed, imprisoned and exiled. Satan does not want us to be close to God.
At this stage I have come to know many priests and I have great respect for the majority of them. They are ordinary men, doing their best to be faithful and to pass on what God asks us to pass on. Their dedication and fidelity alone, inspires me.
So pray for us priests that we will be the kind of people that God wants us to be and so that all of us will continue to have the Eucharist and all the other gifts that God offers us.
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