priests – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Class of 2000 reunion

NZ Catholic Staff — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 01:00:37 +0000

by NZ Catholic staff Priests of the ordination year group of the Jubilee Year 2000 met recently in Mosgiel at the former Holy Cross Seminary. The group was one of the last to experience Holy Cross College, as the seminary moved to Auckland during their time of formation. The reunion was a time to be

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Priesthood is not a business, monarchy, orphanage, pope tells students

Vatican City (CNS) — Tue, 13 May 2014 01:05:16 +0000

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis told seminarians not to become “orphan priests,” who are motherless without Mary; “businessman priests,” who are after money; or “prince priests,” who are aloof from the people.
He also warned them not to give “boring homilies,” saying their reflections should be brief, powerful and address the problems and concerns people are really going through.

Pope Francis smiles next to Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household, during a special audience with seminarians and priests studying in Rome May 12. (CNS/Reuters)

In a private audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall with thousands of seminarians and priests from around the world who are studying in Rome, the pope spent 70 minutes answering the questions of eight pre-selected participants.
The pope told them that he already had seen the prepared questions, and urged them to feel free to change the questions and go off-script if they wanted. However, the men, who were from the United States, China, Lebanon, Cameroon, Mexico, Philippines and Poland, appeared to stay with the prepared questions.
In his off-the-cuff replies, the pope addressed questions about formation; difficulties living in a religious community; advice about being far from home and living in Rome; how to balance the many duties of being a priest or bishop; what a real leader must be; and what the new evangelization entails.
The pope peppered his serious and detailed advice with a number of humorous anecdotes and sarcasm, like when he warned the men to never forget they have a mother in Mary.
“But if you don’t want Our Lady as a mother, you will have her as a mother-in-law and that’s not good,” he said to laughter and applause.
The comment was part of a lengthy response to a Mexican student’s question about remaining faithful to one’s priestly vocation.
The key, the pope said, is vigilance — keeping watch over one’s heart and feelings, and finding peace during times of personal “turbulence.”
Just like a stormy sea, it’s impossible to see what’s going on inside one’s heart when life is in turmoil, he said.
The only way to calm the waters and be able to reflect intelligently on what’s going on is to turn to Mary for help, he said, and to “seek refuge under the mantle of the Holy Mother of God.”
“Some of you will say, ‘But Father, in this era of so many modern benefits, in psychiatry, in psychology, I think it would it would be better during these times of turbulence to go to a psychiatrist to help me.’ I’m not eliminating that (possibility), but go to the mother first before anything else.”
When there’s trouble, children “always go to their mother. And we are children in our spiritual life,” the pope said.
“To forget a mother is a terrible thing,” he said, and when a priest forgets Mary or does not have a good relationship with her, “something is missing. He is an orphan priest.”
The pope later warned against becoming a “businessman priest” or a “prince priest” in response to a question from a Filipino student about the qualities needed to best lead the people of God.
Parishioners are usually very forgiving of a priest’s missteps, except when they are sins of greed and vanity — the “two hazards” that St. Augustine warned about that come with the priestly office.
The people of God “don’t forgive you if you are a pastor who is attached to money, if you’re vain and don’t treat people nicely because the conceited don’t treat people nicely.”
He said the early monastic Desert Fathers used to say that “vanity is like an onion:” the vain keep peeling back and showing off all their layers until “you end up with nothing,” but the repelling “smell of onion.”
Instead, “humility must be the weapon of the priest,” who is close to his people and lives a life of sacrifice, poverty and service.
“There is only one path to leadership: service. There is no other way,” the pope said.
A priest can be a great communicator and have other wonderful talents, “but if you aren’t a servant, your leadership will collapse, it won’t matter, it won’t be able to summon” others or guide them.
Service is always being available to others, responding to their needs, and helping them “grow and walk” with Jesus.
When asked about the “new evangelization,” Pope Francis said it requires “going out of one’s self” and “getting closer to the people, to everyone.”
“You can’t evangelize without being close” to others, which means being “cordial” as well as being physically present and aware of what others are going through.
One of the reasons why there are so many “boring homilies” is because priests aren’t “close” to their people, he said. The measure for seeing how close a priest is to his parishioners is his homily, he added.
Pope Francis lamented long homilies, telling the students he knows the 40-minute homily “isn’t something made up. It happens!”
Homilies also should not be “about abstract things,” he said.
While it expresses “the truth of faith,” a homily shouldn’t be a classroom lesson, a conference or an academic reflection, but be “something else,” that borders on the sacramental, and is “brief and powerful.”
He said “we are late” in picking up on this problem and that the church has a lot to do to ensure homilies are under 10 minutes and done well “so that people understand” the word of God.
The pope urged seminarians to not let their academic studies take over their spiritual growth, apostolic work and community life.
“Academic purism is not healthy,” he said, and it carries the risk of “slipping into ideologies,” which harms the priest and people’s conception of the church.
In response to the challenges of living in a religious community, diocese or seminary, the pope said “gossip is the plague” and will destroy a community.
He said, it’s not true that gossip is “a female thing; men, too,” can get wrapped up in backstabbing, jealousy, envy and power struggles.
“Community life isn’t paradise; at any rate, it’s purgatory, but it’s not paradise,” he said to applause.
The best advice, he said, is to speak face-to-face with the person with whom one disagrees or has a problem or go to one’s superior for help. Also, always pray for that person “and the Lord will do the rest.”
When asked about balancing all of the demands of being a priest or bishop, the pope said the secret is prayer and always making room for the sacraments and eucharistic adoration.
The ideal day is to go to bed tired “so you won’t have to take any (sleeping) pills,” he joked.
But he underlined the difference between the “good tired” of a productive day versus the exhaustion of being run ragged.
He told his audience that he could see his papal assistant “giving me a look right now,” suggesting that the pope does not exactly follow his own advice in that regard.
“It’s true. I’m a sinner,” guilty of overwork and being disorganized, he laughed.

END

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Vatican guidelines to discourage showmanship, entertainment at Mass

Michael Otto — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:25:26 +0000

The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship is preparing guidelines for priests on how to celebrate Mass properly, the Zenit news agency reports.
In a January 15 address, Cardinal Antonio Canizares, the prefect of the Congregation, disclosed that the guidelines will be issued in a booklet that “will help to celebrate well and to participate well”. He said that he hoped the booklet would be ready for publication in mid-2013.
Offering a preview of the subjects to be addressed in the document, the Spanish cardinal said that the liturgical reforms of Vatican II “must be understood in continuity with the tradition of the Church and not as a break or discontinuity”. He also stressed that the liturgy is God’s gift to the Church, rather than the invention of individuals. “God wants to be adored in a concrete way,” he said, “and it’s not up to us to change it.”
Cardinal Canizares said that the guidelines would discourage “showmanship” by the celebrant and novelties introduced to make the liturgy “entertaining” to the people. He underlined the importance of creating a sense of solemnity and mystery in the liturgy, encouraged moments of silence, and said that the understanding of the Mass as Christ’s sacrifice should be paramount.

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Elderly priest allegedly bites off ear in brawl

Michael Otto — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 03:27:31 +0000

PERTH, Australia (CathNews) — An 80-year-old retired priest allegedly bit an ear off another elderly clergyman in Perth during a violent brawl over a parking bay in their block of units, reports AdelaideNow. The punch-up broke out on Friday afternoon in a Dianella complex in Perth, which houses three retired Catholic priests. Fr Thomas Henry

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Well-prepared priests essential for new evangelisation, Pope says

Michael Otto — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) Without well-prepared priests, "the new evangelisation" of society will be just a slogan, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Today we see a need for each priest to be a witness of the infinite mercy of God with a life completely conquered by Christ and for them to learn this from the very

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Pope ordains priests, warns of worldly spirit in the Church

Vatican City (CNS) — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Pope Benedict XVI ordained 19 priests on May 3 and urged them to make sure their ministry is not contaminated by a worldly mentality. Priests should dedicate their lives to prayer and service, and never lose sight of the self-sacrifice of Christ, the pope said during the lengthy liturgy in St. Peter’s

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Four to be ordained priests

Michael Otto — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

AUCKLAND Diocesan priests around the country are about to experience an influx of new brother priests the likes of which hasnt been seen in New Zealand for many years. Over the final three months of the year, four priests will be ordained two for Auckland, one for Hamilton and one for Palmerston North. Another man

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Priests must spread Gospel where people live, work, says cardinal

Vatican City (CNS) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Priests cannot fulfil their missionary mandate by staying in their rectories and churches waiting for people to come to them, said Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, president of the Congregation for Clergy. echo $variable;

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Mugabe supporters assault priests during crackdown in Zimbabwe

Michael Otto — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0000

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) Several Catholic priests have been assaulted by supporters of Zimbabwe’s ruling party and at least one house belonging to the Church has been burned down, a Jesuit spokesman said. echo $variable;

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Ireland heading toward major priest shortage

Michael Otto — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:00:00 +0000

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) New figures on vocations published in the 2008 Irish Catholic Directory indicate how quickly the country is headed toward a major shortage of priests. According to the directory, the country lost 160 priests last year mostly because of death in old age and had only nine new ordinations. Currently there are about

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