(FABC Clergy Seminar, Bangkok, May 11, 2010)
by Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, DD
Introduction
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this very important FABC seminar. As we approach the conclusion of the Year for Priests, this seminar on a new paradigm for priestly life and ministry in Asia takes on a special significance.
I have been assigned to reflect on the challenges that today face the priest's life and ministry. To proceed I would like to use the traditional paradigm for understanding the priest's identity, life and ministry – i.e., the triple messianic function of Christ as priest, prophet and king.
A Theological and Pastoral Note on Priestly Identity
Through centuries of clergy history, the emphasis has shifted from priestly (cultic) to prophetic or from priestly to kingly, as pastoral situations demanded. But even when emphases changed, for the lay faithful the cultic identity and role of ordained priests have always been the way that they could relate best with the ordained priest.
Theologians have differed on what among the three dimensions of the priestly identity should be the best starting point to describe the priest's identity, a paradigm as it were to describe the basis of priestly life and ministry. Thus Karl Rahner and, if I am not mistaken, the young theologian Josef Ratzinger thought that the priest as prophet/teacher/herald of the Word of God should be the starting point. But the theologian Walter Kasper offered the kingly or leadership role as the starting point. However, Pope John Paul was generally inclined towards the cultic role. Attempting to put together all the above, Avery Dulles looked at the representational role of the Priest which evokes the idea of alter Christus.
One could very well look at these various dimensions as points of departure for understanding different paradigms of priestly life and ministry. Perhaps individual priests might base their own priestly self-image on how they personally view Jesus the High Priest. Does my view personally favor the image of Jesus as the preacher of the Kingdom? Or the image of Jesus as sacrificial and saving victim as well as offerer of the Paschal Mystery, sacramentally memorialized in the Eucharist? Or the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd who loves and serves his flock and offers his very life for them? One's understanding of priesthood is intimately linked to one's image of Christ.
My reflection does not make any choice of the three dimensions of priestly life and ministry but present some of the challenges today to all of them.
A. Challenges to the Prophetic Role of the Presbyter
The Challenge of a Secular World That Rejects the Word of God
As prophet and teacher the priest of today is in a world of competing words, competing voices. He announces the Word of God where new teachings, a new morality, and new values are being powerfully communicated through the tools of social communication, from movies to mobile phones. The remotest part of Asia is reachable by various means of social communication. A world of new values and attitudes are taking possession of peoples' minds. Ours is the era of cultural globalization.
Modernity – Rejecting God's Story in the Scriptures and Tradition
From the Age of Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution up to the beginning of the 20th century, the period of "modernity" saw the ascendancy of a secular and materialist ideology that considered religious faith as irrelevant. Only the truth that comes from reason and science can be universal.
"Meta-narratives" or universal truths, many philosophers and scientists said, are the result of objective rational and scientific reasoning and not of some mysterious divine revelation. The more science unravels the universe, the less it is necessary to use a mysterious divine being as the explanation. The rise of such secularism and materialism is best exemplified in the movement set off by Marx.
The Challenge of Postmodernity - the Total Relativizing of Truth
In the 20th century a new ideology arose again in Europe as a reaction to the "modern spirit." It is called "postmodern." It denied that there are absolute truths either from reason or faith. Truth is what the person perceives according to his own understanding or feelings. Truth is subjective. It also changes from time to time. It is can be contingent on varying cultures. It is not universal. There are no universal "meta-narratives" whether of reason/science or religion. Truth is entirely relative.
Thus to the modern spirit of secularism and materialism, postmodern thought has added new isms – subjectivism, individualism and relativism.
The Rise of a Supermarket Religion – The Demise of Absolutes
The idea that there are no universal truths, no "meta-narratives" such as those of God in Sacred Scriptures and in the teachings of the Church, or from reason and science, makes it possible for one to choose his or her own truth from a wide array of "truths" or even to create new truths or values.
So in the past 60 years in the West we see the rise of "supermarket Catholics" who pick and choose what they wish to believe from the magisterial doctrinal and moral shelves of the Church. So called "liberated" people see dogma and creed as obstacles to human freedom, development, and maturity. The supreme arbiter is a conscience that is free from the guidance of priests and churches. A Filipino "Catholic" columnist once wrote with regard to the Church's teaching against artificial contraception: "My body is my on. No religion or Church can tell me what to do with my own body."
In accord with the postmodern spirit is the rejection of the Natural Law that was the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The idea of human nature and of the law of God written in it is, according to postmodern advocates, philosophically passé. Human rights are cultural constructs that can change. Gender, for instance, is not determined by nature, by physical genital attributes, but is determined by one's sexual orientation. Since this is so then a marriage between persons of the same physical sex is all right. New human rights can, therefore, be added not according to the any objective criterion, such as human nature, but according to what most people would think or feel.
The Challenge of Dichotomy between Faith and Life
There is yet another area where the challenge to the Priest as Prophet arises. This is the fact that for many Catholics, teaching is one thing and practice is another.
Unlike the postmodern individual who rejects religious truth, a Catholic will believe in what the Church teaches. But religious belief is placed on one level while the political, economic and social dimension is on another level. The two levels are lived separately – the religious simply on the belief level but is completely left out of the praxis level. This dichotomy between faith and life is, according to Gaudium et Spes, "one of the major errors of our time." A Filipino psychologist who closely observed Filipino Catholic life called this separation as "split-level Christianity."
I suppose this is true for many of us Asians when what we believe we do not live on the political, economic, and social level. I was once very embarrassed when a brother Asian bishop observed: "I live in a Muslim country but unfortunately I cannot use the Philippines as a good example of a good Catholic country." I do realize that the dichotomy between faith and life is not a Catholic disease. Corruption, for instance, afflicts almost every country of Asia, whatever its predominant religion might be. (I must recognize that Singapore almost always rates very high in the Transparency Index).
Hence the challenge to the priest as prophet – an audience that listens and believes but does not put it into practice. Could this situation be true for the prophet himself who at diaconate ordination heard the Bishop tell him as he received the Book of Gospels: Believe what you read, meditate on what you believe, and practice what you believe"?
B. Challenges to the Priestly Role of the Presbyter
The Challenge of Diminishing Awareness of the Sacred in Asia
Pope John Paul's post-synodal exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia, acknowledges the Asian Bishops' observation that we in Asia have a deep sense of the sacred and profoundly admire people whom we sense as men and women of God-experience. We go to sacred places to seek God and have a space of interior communion with God.
This was so once upon a time in Europe. Europe was the first Christian continent. Its churches were filled. This was so even when Europe was fragmented into various Christian denominations. For this reason, Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly reminded European governments to remember Europe's Christian roots and to express this identity in their policies and constitutional work.
Secularism as a Cause of Diminishing Awareness of the Sacred
But through the course of more than three hundred years of modernity and then of post-modernity such religious identity has almost practically disappeared. European countries are at the vanguard of secularist and relativist ideology where religious belief no longer counts in government policies regarding such most vital issues as gender, life, marriage, and worship. One might say that except in pockets of religious fervor (as in famous sacred shrines), Europe has lost its sense of the sacred. Many of its historic churches are becoming more like tourist spots and some are actually made, I understand, into museums.
And now the entry of secularism, materialism, and relativism into Asia through the tools of social communications is affecting our Asian sense of the sacred. More and more Asian societies are becoming secularized and taking on the values of secular societies in the West.
A Paradigm Shift in Christology and Liturgy – Another Cause?
But could theological developments in the past 50 to 60 years have possibly weakened our sense of the sacred?
Before the Second Vatican Council, in the light of our belief in Jesus as true God and true Man, a new Christological paradigm began to emerge. Interest in the humanity of Jesus began to displace the centuries-old paradigm of Jesus as God. Even though popular piety revolved around the humanity of Jesus, his Sacred Heart, his sufferings, the way of the Cross, etc., theology had been centered on the divine face of the Second Person of the Triune God. It was a face of transcendent mystery, awesome and resplendent, glimpsed briefly on the mountain of Transfiguration and to be seen face to face in the Beatific Vision. This is Christology "from above" and is expressed in the first half of the prologue of St. John's Gospel.
This transcendent mystery of the divine was also expressed in the Liturgy. The priest served as the bridge between God and people in rites of worship in a language that is filled with the riches of antiquity, tradition, and mystery. Silence before the mystery, solemnity of hymns of worship, kneeling in adoration and communion were ordinary dispositions before the Sacred. The Mass was a Holy Sacrifice. The priest was himself regarded by the people as occupying a pedestal of honor, higher than the angels, befitting someone who by divine ordination is a sacred person, a steward of the mysteries of God, and one who is of God and belongs to God.
That situation has changed since Vatican II. A Christology "from below" developed, dwelling on the humanity of Jesus to such depths that Gaudium et Spes would emphasize Jesus as the "man par excellence" (see GS, no. 22). As a corollary, the Liturgy also changed. The language became vernacular. The horizontal dimension of the liturgy was emphasized – community participation, the Mass as meal, the Mass as fellowship and communion. Hymns of worship were composed that underscored joyful praise and even exuberant joy. This contributed to a greater sense of community and fellowship, of belongingness, a sense of God who is never distant from us, a sense of Jesus as friend, as brother.
Diminishing Sense of the Sacred Due to Paradigm Shift – A Cultural Factor?
At least in the Philippines I see a problematic effect of this paradigm shift in Christology and Liturgy. Perhaps the problem is partly cultural.
There is a loss of a sense of the sacred, of transcendence, of mystery in the celebration of the Sacraments, particularly of the Eucharist. The emphasis on meal and joyful fellowship has overshadowed the transcendent meaning of Mass as Holy Sacrifice. It seems that Filipinos have become less aware of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist (e.g., Holy Communion), less aware of the sacredness of things blessed or consecrated for sacred purposes (priestly vestments, sacred vessels, the tabernacle, the Church as building). In many instances, the Church as a building has simply become a place where the community gathers for fellowship, to meet one another, rather than the house of the Lord, a place of prayer. Many celebrations of Marriage and of Baptism have become more like joyful social events rather than moments of God's awesome visitation and saving grace.
I am aware of the differences, sometimes observed, in the way different cultures approach community prayer and worship. It is sometimes said that Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Thai Catholics would prefer a more solemn and more silent celebration of the Eucharist, while Filipinos would have livelier and more energetic celebrations, less observant of silence and solemnity. In this sense my observation on the loss of a sense of the sacred might more properly apply to Filipino Catholics. Is this the case?
If my observations about a diminishing sense of the sacred are correct, then the priest as cultic leader has much to work on with regard to liturgical renewal and the training of liturgical collaborators, not to mention the lay faithful in general. The new English translation of the Eucharistic celebration would demand maximum catechesis.
C. Challenges to the Kingly Role of the Presbyter.
Pastoral leadership is an expression of pastoral charity. The shepherd's role goes beyond the imperatives of "administration and supervision," of "management and control." Governing and shepherding have to do with feeding the flock – with building the faith of the flock, with nurturing that faith into maturity and with organizing the faith community into one that would participate fully in the mission of the whole Church.
The Challenge to Listen and Dialogue
It would seem however that the faithful expect us, the clergy, to give answers to the problems of daily life, to the problems of the parish or of the diocese. And apparently by tendency and training we do give answers, from our own knowledge and experience.
We often fail to listen to people, to consult them, to dialogue with them in the common striving towards a better Church, a better community of God's people. Perhaps the failure is rooted in an inability to listen with mind and heart, to accept contrary opinions, and to underestimate the charisms of others.
At the end we regularly resort to the use of power, our power granted by Canon Law and the hierarchical structure of the Church, to have the final word.
The Challenge to Exercise Enabling/Empowering Leadership
In many a parish (diocese?) the language could be Vatican II but the members of the parish might remain in actuality very much non-participatory. The Vatican II buzzwords of co-responsibility, participation, and communion remain unrealized.
Why is this so? I believe that seminary training has not formed us to be participatory leaders. We are often unable, by our natural talents, to recognize the different charisms in parish lay collaborators who might be members of parish councils. We may not be able to "liberate" and activate those charisms so that they would be put to use to help build up the parish community. We may not be able to harness those charisms together and make them work in harmony and synergy. To "empower the faithful" is simply to allow the activation of charisms ("power") that the faithful had already received in Baptism and Confirmation.
If this be the reality today in the pastoral shepherding by the clergy (priests and bishops), it has many implications on initial and on-going formation of shepherds.
The Challenge of Pastoral Envisioning
Understandably we are often too busy with the different kinds of pastoral work that we daily have to do, sacramental, educational, social, charitable work. We do have pastoral teams to help us accomplish various ministries. But there is often a lack of direction, a lack of focus, when pastoral programs / offices / commissions act separately without a pastoral vision that unifies them all and gives a holistic meaning to their work. To have a pastoral vision for the parish or diocese is a necessity – a vision that simply answers the question, "In the light of what we are today as Church, considering our pastoral realities and challenges, what kind of Church should we be and how are we to become the church that we envision?"
It is not a question that we can answer by ourselves. Envisioning is the work of the entire parish or representatives of the parish. We act as organizers, guides, facilitators, catalysts, and inspirers, formators/educators, harmonizers, coordinators, etc. These various shepherding roles make up a dimension, I believe, of a new paradigm of priestly life and ministry. In the light of such pastoral imperatives, we do need likewise to envision our own role as shepherds, not forgetting that our primary role is to be "stewards of God's mysteries."
The Challenge of Servant Leadership
The idea of the Master as Servant goes back to Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper. He teaches us that as priests we have to do likewise – to serve and not to be served. The teaching and example of Jesus demands that we imitate his values as a leader -- humility, the willingness to go down to the poorest and serve them, to be alert to the needs of others and take the initiative of serving them. Such leadership is a disposition and an attitude of the heart.
But the term "servant leadership" as used today evokes a style of leadership that has become part of the literature of corporate management. The guru of "Servant Leadership" was Robert Greenleaf who before he died in the 1970's left behind a body of literature that has generated a movement of corporate leadership in business.
Thus, servant leadership is not only an attitude of the heart, it is also an art and a skill that can be learned. Again such a fact has important implications on initial and on-going formation of priests.
The Challenge of Building Participatory Small Faith Communities
All the above challenges to the kingly role of the priest may be summed up in the challenge of building small faith communities or Basic Ecclesial Communities. This is a pastoral priority of the Church in Asia, a priority that has evolved through the years of FABC discernment and dialogue. There are many ways by which such communities are built. These are exemplified in the success stories that we find in various countries. A well known approach is the Asian Integral Pastoral Approach or ASIPA. Various national teams have been formed to help dioceses and parishes build BEC/or Small Christian Communities (SCC) by way of the ASIPA. At the center of this approach is Sacred Scripture.
To build BEC many a Bishop has searched far and wide for an approach suited to the priests and to the community. Thousands of dollars have been spent for experts to present their approaches. But despite this, the initiative to build BEC has not begun. With the imperative of pastoral renewal to become "a new way of being Church" there is often a fear of the uncharted and a reluctance to move away from comfort zones.
My own pastoral advice is this: there is no one way to build BEC. Simply choose one that has been tried successfully elsewhere, adapt it, and just "do it." Along the way you will realize that adjustments have to be made. It is the work of the whole community with the priest / Bishop fulfilling his office of love (St. Augustine, amoris officium) – munus docendi, munus sanctificandi, munus regendi.
D. The Challenge of Spiritual Renewal, of Credibility
I conclude with a final challenge -- the challenge of the priest's spiritual renewal. In our present pastoral context it is the challenge of credibility, of living in a manner worthy of our call as priests, of living a life that is "a holy and acceptable sacrifice" to God.
This challenge is particularly acute and peremptory in the light of the sexual abuse crisis that is severely wounding the Church. We share the poignant words of Pope Benedict XVI crying out in aguish: "The Church is wounded by our sins!"
Admittedly most of the cases that have exploded in the world stage are cases of deviant behavior -- homosexuality, pedophilia, etc. Perhaps under the tip of the iceberg are even more numerous cases of heterosexuality. We cannot console ourselves by citing the fact that the percentage of sexual abuse by priests is much less than that among the general population and also much less than those by non-catholic ministers, whether married or not.
What is condemnable in the strongest terms possible is the fact that sexual abuse is usually committed with the insidious use, deliberate or not, of clerical power. Certainly cases of deviant behavior cannot be cured simply by an appeal to holiness or by an intense spiritual retreat, for quite often these cases are a form of psychological disease.
But the sexual abuse crisis is a wake-up call for all of us to strive for holiness as demanded by our vocation and our identity. We are by ordination objectively configured to Christ Head and Shepherd. We act in nomine et persona Christi. The priest is an alter Christus. The call to holiness is never more peremptory, never more unconditional.
Conclusion
Spiritual renewal is the synthesizing personal and pastoral imperative. This was the main objective of the Year for Priests with the theme, "Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of the Priest." The priest's spiritual renewal would have to address the challenges I have presented using the old paradigm of understanding the identity, the life and ministry of priests.
In the final analysis it is through our life and ministry as priest, prophet and king that we become holy and "spiritual," men who are Spirit-filled, Spirit-driven, men who walk and live by the Spirit of Jesus, the Eternal High Priest.
May we be so today and the rest of our lives through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Priests.
+Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Cotabato
Secretary General, FABC
by Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, DD
Introduction
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this very important FABC seminar. As we approach the conclusion of the Year for Priests, this seminar on a new paradigm for priestly life and ministry in Asia takes on a special significance.
I have been assigned to reflect on the challenges that today face the priest's life and ministry. To proceed I would like to use the traditional paradigm for understanding the priest's identity, life and ministry – i.e., the triple messianic function of Christ as priest, prophet and king.
A Theological and Pastoral Note on Priestly Identity
Through centuries of clergy history, the emphasis has shifted from priestly (cultic) to prophetic or from priestly to kingly, as pastoral situations demanded. But even when emphases changed, for the lay faithful the cultic identity and role of ordained priests have always been the way that they could relate best with the ordained priest.
Theologians have differed on what among the three dimensions of the priestly identity should be the best starting point to describe the priest's identity, a paradigm as it were to describe the basis of priestly life and ministry. Thus Karl Rahner and, if I am not mistaken, the young theologian Josef Ratzinger thought that the priest as prophet/teacher/herald of the Word of God should be the starting point. But the theologian Walter Kasper offered the kingly or leadership role as the starting point. However, Pope John Paul was generally inclined towards the cultic role. Attempting to put together all the above, Avery Dulles looked at the representational role of the Priest which evokes the idea of alter Christus.
One could very well look at these various dimensions as points of departure for understanding different paradigms of priestly life and ministry. Perhaps individual priests might base their own priestly self-image on how they personally view Jesus the High Priest. Does my view personally favor the image of Jesus as the preacher of the Kingdom? Or the image of Jesus as sacrificial and saving victim as well as offerer of the Paschal Mystery, sacramentally memorialized in the Eucharist? Or the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd who loves and serves his flock and offers his very life for them? One's understanding of priesthood is intimately linked to one's image of Christ.
My reflection does not make any choice of the three dimensions of priestly life and ministry but present some of the challenges today to all of them.
A. Challenges to the Prophetic Role of the Presbyter
The Challenge of a Secular World That Rejects the Word of God
As prophet and teacher the priest of today is in a world of competing words, competing voices. He announces the Word of God where new teachings, a new morality, and new values are being powerfully communicated through the tools of social communication, from movies to mobile phones. The remotest part of Asia is reachable by various means of social communication. A world of new values and attitudes are taking possession of peoples' minds. Ours is the era of cultural globalization.
Modernity – Rejecting God's Story in the Scriptures and Tradition
From the Age of Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution up to the beginning of the 20th century, the period of "modernity" saw the ascendancy of a secular and materialist ideology that considered religious faith as irrelevant. Only the truth that comes from reason and science can be universal.
"Meta-narratives" or universal truths, many philosophers and scientists said, are the result of objective rational and scientific reasoning and not of some mysterious divine revelation. The more science unravels the universe, the less it is necessary to use a mysterious divine being as the explanation. The rise of such secularism and materialism is best exemplified in the movement set off by Marx.
The Challenge of Postmodernity - the Total Relativizing of Truth
In the 20th century a new ideology arose again in Europe as a reaction to the "modern spirit." It is called "postmodern." It denied that there are absolute truths either from reason or faith. Truth is what the person perceives according to his own understanding or feelings. Truth is subjective. It also changes from time to time. It is can be contingent on varying cultures. It is not universal. There are no universal "meta-narratives" whether of reason/science or religion. Truth is entirely relative.
Thus to the modern spirit of secularism and materialism, postmodern thought has added new isms – subjectivism, individualism and relativism.
The Rise of a Supermarket Religion – The Demise of Absolutes
The idea that there are no universal truths, no "meta-narratives" such as those of God in Sacred Scriptures and in the teachings of the Church, or from reason and science, makes it possible for one to choose his or her own truth from a wide array of "truths" or even to create new truths or values.
So in the past 60 years in the West we see the rise of "supermarket Catholics" who pick and choose what they wish to believe from the magisterial doctrinal and moral shelves of the Church. So called "liberated" people see dogma and creed as obstacles to human freedom, development, and maturity. The supreme arbiter is a conscience that is free from the guidance of priests and churches. A Filipino "Catholic" columnist once wrote with regard to the Church's teaching against artificial contraception: "My body is my on. No religion or Church can tell me what to do with my own body."
In accord with the postmodern spirit is the rejection of the Natural Law that was the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The idea of human nature and of the law of God written in it is, according to postmodern advocates, philosophically passé. Human rights are cultural constructs that can change. Gender, for instance, is not determined by nature, by physical genital attributes, but is determined by one's sexual orientation. Since this is so then a marriage between persons of the same physical sex is all right. New human rights can, therefore, be added not according to the any objective criterion, such as human nature, but according to what most people would think or feel.
The Challenge of Dichotomy between Faith and Life
There is yet another area where the challenge to the Priest as Prophet arises. This is the fact that for many Catholics, teaching is one thing and practice is another.
Unlike the postmodern individual who rejects religious truth, a Catholic will believe in what the Church teaches. But religious belief is placed on one level while the political, economic and social dimension is on another level. The two levels are lived separately – the religious simply on the belief level but is completely left out of the praxis level. This dichotomy between faith and life is, according to Gaudium et Spes, "one of the major errors of our time." A Filipino psychologist who closely observed Filipino Catholic life called this separation as "split-level Christianity."
I suppose this is true for many of us Asians when what we believe we do not live on the political, economic, and social level. I was once very embarrassed when a brother Asian bishop observed: "I live in a Muslim country but unfortunately I cannot use the Philippines as a good example of a good Catholic country." I do realize that the dichotomy between faith and life is not a Catholic disease. Corruption, for instance, afflicts almost every country of Asia, whatever its predominant religion might be. (I must recognize that Singapore almost always rates very high in the Transparency Index).
Hence the challenge to the priest as prophet – an audience that listens and believes but does not put it into practice. Could this situation be true for the prophet himself who at diaconate ordination heard the Bishop tell him as he received the Book of Gospels: Believe what you read, meditate on what you believe, and practice what you believe"?
B. Challenges to the Priestly Role of the Presbyter
The Challenge of Diminishing Awareness of the Sacred in Asia
Pope John Paul's post-synodal exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia, acknowledges the Asian Bishops' observation that we in Asia have a deep sense of the sacred and profoundly admire people whom we sense as men and women of God-experience. We go to sacred places to seek God and have a space of interior communion with God.
This was so once upon a time in Europe. Europe was the first Christian continent. Its churches were filled. This was so even when Europe was fragmented into various Christian denominations. For this reason, Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly reminded European governments to remember Europe's Christian roots and to express this identity in their policies and constitutional work.
Secularism as a Cause of Diminishing Awareness of the Sacred
But through the course of more than three hundred years of modernity and then of post-modernity such religious identity has almost practically disappeared. European countries are at the vanguard of secularist and relativist ideology where religious belief no longer counts in government policies regarding such most vital issues as gender, life, marriage, and worship. One might say that except in pockets of religious fervor (as in famous sacred shrines), Europe has lost its sense of the sacred. Many of its historic churches are becoming more like tourist spots and some are actually made, I understand, into museums.
And now the entry of secularism, materialism, and relativism into Asia through the tools of social communications is affecting our Asian sense of the sacred. More and more Asian societies are becoming secularized and taking on the values of secular societies in the West.
A Paradigm Shift in Christology and Liturgy – Another Cause?
But could theological developments in the past 50 to 60 years have possibly weakened our sense of the sacred?
Before the Second Vatican Council, in the light of our belief in Jesus as true God and true Man, a new Christological paradigm began to emerge. Interest in the humanity of Jesus began to displace the centuries-old paradigm of Jesus as God. Even though popular piety revolved around the humanity of Jesus, his Sacred Heart, his sufferings, the way of the Cross, etc., theology had been centered on the divine face of the Second Person of the Triune God. It was a face of transcendent mystery, awesome and resplendent, glimpsed briefly on the mountain of Transfiguration and to be seen face to face in the Beatific Vision. This is Christology "from above" and is expressed in the first half of the prologue of St. John's Gospel.
This transcendent mystery of the divine was also expressed in the Liturgy. The priest served as the bridge between God and people in rites of worship in a language that is filled with the riches of antiquity, tradition, and mystery. Silence before the mystery, solemnity of hymns of worship, kneeling in adoration and communion were ordinary dispositions before the Sacred. The Mass was a Holy Sacrifice. The priest was himself regarded by the people as occupying a pedestal of honor, higher than the angels, befitting someone who by divine ordination is a sacred person, a steward of the mysteries of God, and one who is of God and belongs to God.
That situation has changed since Vatican II. A Christology "from below" developed, dwelling on the humanity of Jesus to such depths that Gaudium et Spes would emphasize Jesus as the "man par excellence" (see GS, no. 22). As a corollary, the Liturgy also changed. The language became vernacular. The horizontal dimension of the liturgy was emphasized – community participation, the Mass as meal, the Mass as fellowship and communion. Hymns of worship were composed that underscored joyful praise and even exuberant joy. This contributed to a greater sense of community and fellowship, of belongingness, a sense of God who is never distant from us, a sense of Jesus as friend, as brother.
Diminishing Sense of the Sacred Due to Paradigm Shift – A Cultural Factor?
At least in the Philippines I see a problematic effect of this paradigm shift in Christology and Liturgy. Perhaps the problem is partly cultural.
There is a loss of a sense of the sacred, of transcendence, of mystery in the celebration of the Sacraments, particularly of the Eucharist. The emphasis on meal and joyful fellowship has overshadowed the transcendent meaning of Mass as Holy Sacrifice. It seems that Filipinos have become less aware of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist (e.g., Holy Communion), less aware of the sacredness of things blessed or consecrated for sacred purposes (priestly vestments, sacred vessels, the tabernacle, the Church as building). In many instances, the Church as a building has simply become a place where the community gathers for fellowship, to meet one another, rather than the house of the Lord, a place of prayer. Many celebrations of Marriage and of Baptism have become more like joyful social events rather than moments of God's awesome visitation and saving grace.
I am aware of the differences, sometimes observed, in the way different cultures approach community prayer and worship. It is sometimes said that Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Thai Catholics would prefer a more solemn and more silent celebration of the Eucharist, while Filipinos would have livelier and more energetic celebrations, less observant of silence and solemnity. In this sense my observation on the loss of a sense of the sacred might more properly apply to Filipino Catholics. Is this the case?
If my observations about a diminishing sense of the sacred are correct, then the priest as cultic leader has much to work on with regard to liturgical renewal and the training of liturgical collaborators, not to mention the lay faithful in general. The new English translation of the Eucharistic celebration would demand maximum catechesis.
C. Challenges to the Kingly Role of the Presbyter.
Pastoral leadership is an expression of pastoral charity. The shepherd's role goes beyond the imperatives of "administration and supervision," of "management and control." Governing and shepherding have to do with feeding the flock – with building the faith of the flock, with nurturing that faith into maturity and with organizing the faith community into one that would participate fully in the mission of the whole Church.
The Challenge to Listen and Dialogue
It would seem however that the faithful expect us, the clergy, to give answers to the problems of daily life, to the problems of the parish or of the diocese. And apparently by tendency and training we do give answers, from our own knowledge and experience.
We often fail to listen to people, to consult them, to dialogue with them in the common striving towards a better Church, a better community of God's people. Perhaps the failure is rooted in an inability to listen with mind and heart, to accept contrary opinions, and to underestimate the charisms of others.
At the end we regularly resort to the use of power, our power granted by Canon Law and the hierarchical structure of the Church, to have the final word.
The Challenge to Exercise Enabling/Empowering Leadership
In many a parish (diocese?) the language could be Vatican II but the members of the parish might remain in actuality very much non-participatory. The Vatican II buzzwords of co-responsibility, participation, and communion remain unrealized.
Why is this so? I believe that seminary training has not formed us to be participatory leaders. We are often unable, by our natural talents, to recognize the different charisms in parish lay collaborators who might be members of parish councils. We may not be able to "liberate" and activate those charisms so that they would be put to use to help build up the parish community. We may not be able to harness those charisms together and make them work in harmony and synergy. To "empower the faithful" is simply to allow the activation of charisms ("power") that the faithful had already received in Baptism and Confirmation.
If this be the reality today in the pastoral shepherding by the clergy (priests and bishops), it has many implications on initial and on-going formation of shepherds.
The Challenge of Pastoral Envisioning
Understandably we are often too busy with the different kinds of pastoral work that we daily have to do, sacramental, educational, social, charitable work. We do have pastoral teams to help us accomplish various ministries. But there is often a lack of direction, a lack of focus, when pastoral programs / offices / commissions act separately without a pastoral vision that unifies them all and gives a holistic meaning to their work. To have a pastoral vision for the parish or diocese is a necessity – a vision that simply answers the question, "In the light of what we are today as Church, considering our pastoral realities and challenges, what kind of Church should we be and how are we to become the church that we envision?"
It is not a question that we can answer by ourselves. Envisioning is the work of the entire parish or representatives of the parish. We act as organizers, guides, facilitators, catalysts, and inspirers, formators/educators, harmonizers, coordinators, etc. These various shepherding roles make up a dimension, I believe, of a new paradigm of priestly life and ministry. In the light of such pastoral imperatives, we do need likewise to envision our own role as shepherds, not forgetting that our primary role is to be "stewards of God's mysteries."
The Challenge of Servant Leadership
The idea of the Master as Servant goes back to Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper. He teaches us that as priests we have to do likewise – to serve and not to be served. The teaching and example of Jesus demands that we imitate his values as a leader -- humility, the willingness to go down to the poorest and serve them, to be alert to the needs of others and take the initiative of serving them. Such leadership is a disposition and an attitude of the heart.
But the term "servant leadership" as used today evokes a style of leadership that has become part of the literature of corporate management. The guru of "Servant Leadership" was Robert Greenleaf who before he died in the 1970's left behind a body of literature that has generated a movement of corporate leadership in business.
Thus, servant leadership is not only an attitude of the heart, it is also an art and a skill that can be learned. Again such a fact has important implications on initial and on-going formation of priests.
The Challenge of Building Participatory Small Faith Communities
All the above challenges to the kingly role of the priest may be summed up in the challenge of building small faith communities or Basic Ecclesial Communities. This is a pastoral priority of the Church in Asia, a priority that has evolved through the years of FABC discernment and dialogue. There are many ways by which such communities are built. These are exemplified in the success stories that we find in various countries. A well known approach is the Asian Integral Pastoral Approach or ASIPA. Various national teams have been formed to help dioceses and parishes build BEC/or Small Christian Communities (SCC) by way of the ASIPA. At the center of this approach is Sacred Scripture.
To build BEC many a Bishop has searched far and wide for an approach suited to the priests and to the community. Thousands of dollars have been spent for experts to present their approaches. But despite this, the initiative to build BEC has not begun. With the imperative of pastoral renewal to become "a new way of being Church" there is often a fear of the uncharted and a reluctance to move away from comfort zones.
My own pastoral advice is this: there is no one way to build BEC. Simply choose one that has been tried successfully elsewhere, adapt it, and just "do it." Along the way you will realize that adjustments have to be made. It is the work of the whole community with the priest / Bishop fulfilling his office of love (St. Augustine, amoris officium) – munus docendi, munus sanctificandi, munus regendi.
D. The Challenge of Spiritual Renewal, of Credibility
I conclude with a final challenge -- the challenge of the priest's spiritual renewal. In our present pastoral context it is the challenge of credibility, of living in a manner worthy of our call as priests, of living a life that is "a holy and acceptable sacrifice" to God.
This challenge is particularly acute and peremptory in the light of the sexual abuse crisis that is severely wounding the Church. We share the poignant words of Pope Benedict XVI crying out in aguish: "The Church is wounded by our sins!"
Admittedly most of the cases that have exploded in the world stage are cases of deviant behavior -- homosexuality, pedophilia, etc. Perhaps under the tip of the iceberg are even more numerous cases of heterosexuality. We cannot console ourselves by citing the fact that the percentage of sexual abuse by priests is much less than that among the general population and also much less than those by non-catholic ministers, whether married or not.
What is condemnable in the strongest terms possible is the fact that sexual abuse is usually committed with the insidious use, deliberate or not, of clerical power. Certainly cases of deviant behavior cannot be cured simply by an appeal to holiness or by an intense spiritual retreat, for quite often these cases are a form of psychological disease.
But the sexual abuse crisis is a wake-up call for all of us to strive for holiness as demanded by our vocation and our identity. We are by ordination objectively configured to Christ Head and Shepherd. We act in nomine et persona Christi. The priest is an alter Christus. The call to holiness is never more peremptory, never more unconditional.
Conclusion
Spiritual renewal is the synthesizing personal and pastoral imperative. This was the main objective of the Year for Priests with the theme, "Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of the Priest." The priest's spiritual renewal would have to address the challenges I have presented using the old paradigm of understanding the identity, the life and ministry of priests.
In the final analysis it is through our life and ministry as priest, prophet and king that we become holy and "spiritual," men who are Spirit-filled, Spirit-driven, men who walk and live by the Spirit of Jesus, the Eternal High Priest.
May we be so today and the rest of our lives through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Priests.
+Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Cotabato
Secretary General, FABC
3 comments:
I read the article and i understood well.thnaks for the reflection....what you say is tru. thanks..God Bless
This is one of the most comprehensive articles I have come across on this topic. Your insights are thought provoking and they demand further reflections from the reader; especially the question "whether the paradigm shift affected our sense of sacred or not", demands a sincere reflection from our part, though to some extend it is a debatable issue. Thank you my Lord.
Fr. Jose Mariadas OIC
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