6 minute read

Priestly Ministry and the People of God

Thomas Groome

Iin september 2016 , boston college ’ s Church in the 21st Century Center established and funded a faculty seminar to study and imagine “the future of priesthood.” The sentiment was that while the state of priesthood shows ample signs of crisis, this might also be a moment of grace to forge a new horizon for ordained ministry.

The seminar group that came together was made up of twelve working members and a student scribe. Of those, six were distinguished theologians with particular competence on the theme (three were priests), two were University personnel who worked in spiritual formation, two were young BC Ph.D. students in theology (both women), and two were priest leaders from the A rchdiocese of Boston. There were eight men and five women in all. Richard Lennan, Richard Gaillardetz, and I served as co-chairs.

The ninety-minute breakfast seminar met four times each semester for two years, adding a final gathering for seventeen meetings in all. The first three semesters were spent in intense study and conversation, with the fourth dedicated to writing a consensus statement taking many drafts. While concerned for the state of Catholic ministry in general, we realized early on that it would be wise to limit our focus to diocesan priesthood. Further, while we hoped our research might bear fruit for the whole Church, we limited our focus to the U.S. context.

We soon recognized that the seminar members spanned the theological spectrum regarding priesthood. We ranged from people who hoped that its future would include married and celibate women and men to members who favored the more traditional understanding a nd practices of holy orders. This diversity became a “back-handed” blessing in that it prompted us to step back from the controversial issues and to ask instead the deeper questions: What does it mean to be “ordained”? What is the nature, purposes, and needed charisms for priesthood? How should the Church craft the selection, preparation, and ongoing education of its priests?

Given the pastoral nature of our theme, it seemed wisest to take a practical theological approach. This meant that we began with contemporary research on the present practice of diocesan priesthood in the United States, looking at statistics, trends, and projections. We studied what was happening with collaborative parishes, with the recruiting of international priests to fill a perceived shortage, considered the faculties and formation practices of our seminaries, the integrating of diocesan priesthood with the explosion of full-time lay ecclesial ministers (now some 40,000 in the U.S.), and more.

Informed by such data regarding current practice, we moved to the more theoretical work of grounding ordained ministry in scripture and tradition across the centuries, at Vatican II, and into the present day. We read all of the relevant Church documents (e.g., Pastores Dabo Vobis of Pope John Paul II, 1992, The Gift of the Priestly Vocation of the Congregation for Clergy, 2016, etc.). We brought in scholars from other universities to share their research on ministry in the early Church and across the centuries.

After such practical cum theoretical research, we moved in our fourth semester to writing a foundational statement on priesthood, one readable within an hour or s o (about 8,000 words) and by any interested person. The result was To Serve the People of God: Renewing the Conversation on Priesthood and Ministry (hereafter TSPG ), issued jointly by the Boston College Department of Theology and BC’s School of Theology and Ministry. It was first published in Origins (Vo 48, No 31, Dec. 2018). The document was well received, with very appreciative reviews in a number of publications. For example, in America magazine, Professors Steve Bevans and Robin Ryan of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago rated it “one of the best reflections on priesthood we have ever read.”

Likely the most significant achievement of To Serve the People of God was its pithy summary of the threefold functions of priesthood—as evidenced throughout its long history but sometimes forgotten. Priests are to preach, breaking open the word of God for people’s lives; to preside prayerfully at the celebration of the sacraments; and to pastor the community in ways that serve the needs and empower the gifts of all. To fulfill these functions requires formation—ongoing—for collaborative leadership and the pastoral works of compassion and justice. We recommended that the most effective preparation for such leadership will be done best in mixed and inclusive academic cum pastoral contexts, instead of the traditional all male seminary.

TSPG concludes by urging “openness to the future.” In particular, it notes “the presence and gifts of a large number of women in ministry today which ensures,” quoting Elizabeth Johnson, “that there can be no future for the Church (and its ministries) which women have not had a pivotal hand in shaping” (Par 69). It also notes, and “in the immediate future, the possibility of priestly ordination of mature married men (viri probati )” (Par 69). Since TSPG was published, Pope Francis has reappointed a fresh committee to consider women in the diaconate—long identified as one of the three “holy orders” alongside bishop and priest; if admitted to one holy order, why exclude women from the other two?

We shared our TSPG document with all the bishops of the Englishspeaking world as well as the presidents of all the episcopal conferences worldwide, in both English and Spanish. It was communicated to Pope Francis through Cardinal Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State. Cardinal Parolin wrote appreciatively: “I am grateful for your efforts aimed at renewing the theology of priesthood and ministry and I express my hope that your w ork will bear fruit in the life of the Church.” TSPG was also shared with and appreciated by scholars preparing for the Pan Amazon Synod (Oct 2019).

From January 2 to 3, 2020, we gathered a group of some forty people at the Boston College retreat center in Dover, MA, for an intense conversation around TSPG. We were particularly honored by the presence and participation of Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Tobin of Newark, and Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising and then president of the German Bishops Conference. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston presided and preached at the opening liturgy. In addition, we were six bishops, seven rectors of seminaries or deans of theologates, seven theologians from other universities, some lay leaders, and the members of the original seminar—about forty in all.

The agenda was a thorough conversation of TSPG. This was aided by three presentations that elucidated the text by Professors Richard Lennan, Richard Gaillardetz, and Liam Bergin. Throughout the conference, Cardinals Marx, Tobin, and Cupich also made brief presentations. Most of the time was spent, however, in engaging small- and whole-group conversations. To say that the discourse was “lively” would be an understatement. At the end, the conference issued a “communiqué” that summarized some of its insights and recommendations. This too, with the Lennan, Gaillardetz, and Bergin papers, was published in Origins (Vol 49, No 33, Jan 16, 2020).

Soon thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and delayed any further in-person conversation. Instead, we reached out to about half of the scholars who had participated in the January 2020 conference with an invitation to write an essay summarizing their own passionate hopes for the future of diocesan priesthood. The result is the edited collection Priestly Ministry and the People of God: Horizons and Hopes (Orbis, Nov 2021), edited by Richard Gaillardetz, Richard Lennan, and myself. Part I includes the full text of TSPG and the three elaborating essays by Professors Lennan, Gaillardetz, and Bergin. Part II has twenty essays from participants in the January 2020 conference, including a cardinal, archbishop, bishop, three seminary rectors, and others. Our invitation to all was to write a readable essay of some 3,000 words, expressing their best hopes for the future of priesthood. We encouraged the authors to write from their own context and experience, and particularly from their hearts and deepest desires.

Our best hope is that this volume— Priestly Ministry and the People of God —will be a catalyst of fresh conversations across the ideological spectrum regarding priesthood. We hope it will be read by bishops a nd vocation directors, by the faculties of seminaries and theologates, and likewise among the whole people of God.

A loud note sounded at the BC January 2020 gathering was the cherishing of priesthood that is at the heart of our Catholic faith and people. Also palpable was a deep desire to have priestly ministry flourish going forward to effectively provide its constitutive services of preaching, pastoring, and presiding, so essential to the nurturing of our Catholic faith. Though this volume brings some completion to the work of the original Church in the 21st Century Center-sponsored faculty seminar on priesthood, we hope the conversation and the fruits of our good work will long endure. ■

Thomas Groome is a long-serving professor of theology and religious education at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, and director of BC’s Ph.D. in Theology and Education. He is a former director of The Church in the 21st Century Center.

For more information on these publications, visit: bc.edu/c21anniversary20

This article is from: