How to address the shortage of priests? Fr Kevin J Murphy applies a bit of lateral thinking in today's commentary. He seems to assume the shortage isn't going to be addressed so the focus of his attention is more directed at us — the recipients of communion rather than those who confect it and distribute it. He invites us to turn every meal into a Eucharistic celebration. There is no law against it but he also cautions against the threat to Church unity if we become too cavalier in our attitudes.

The great Eucharist starvation in the Church...

During the "Year of St Paul" which officially closed on June 29, 2009, considerable attention was given in the Catholic Church to the life and letters, the teaching and mission of Saint Paul, who was so important in the development of the early church and who guides and inspires us still.

What might Paul say to us in a situation where there is a great Eucharist starvation in the church?

According to Vatican statistics, as quoted in The Catholic Leader (28 June 2009, p 9) there were 408,024 priests in the world at the end of 2007. The total number of priests has been increasing slightly in recent years, but has not kept pace with the increase in the total number of Catholics. The number of Catholics per priest was 1830 in 1977, and had jumped to 2810 in 2007. And many of those priests are elderly or infirm. Even the 95 year olds are counted in the number. In ordinary circumstances, how can one priest provide Eucharist every Sunday for 2810 people?

People grow spiritually as members of the Church through a regular, conscious participation in the Eucharist. Deprived of such Eucharistic experience, church communities find it very hard to survive, and the people drift away, seeking other nourishment elsewhere. While millions of people might be coming into the Church through baptism, millions are also leaving because they are not being nourished and supported by a conscious participation in the Eucharist. A strong, living, growing Church has to have Eucharist.

Such a problem of a lack of Eucharist for even small church communities could not have happened in the church communities established by Saint Paul. Whenever he founded a church community, from within that church community, people with the necessary gifts to make the community viable as church were discerned and accepted in the ministries that were needed, including the ministry of leading the Eucharist. It seems from the letters of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles that sometimes such church communities were initially formed in a matter of weeks, and then Paul moved on. For Saint Paul, it would have been incomprehensible for a church community, no matter how small and isolated, not to be able to have Sunday Eucharist every Sunday.

Perhaps something like this needs to happen in the church organisation today. Is there any other way of making it possible for people to be regularly involved in a Eucharistic Church?

An additional, less controversial way of becoming aware of the presence in our lives of the risen Lord Jesus, who shares the power of his transforming Spirit with us, is to realise that any meal we have can have a eucharistic dimension.

In some places people are beginning to follow Paul's church model, without official permission. There are serious dangers in this development: the necessary unity of the church can be weakened. But those involved might not be able to see any alternative, if they are to remain Eucharistic Christians.

An additional, less controversial way of becoming aware of the presence in our lives of the risen Lord Jesus, who shares the power of his transforming Spirit with us, is to realise that any meal we have can have a eucharistic dimension.

The following statement is given as expressing the mind of Jesus. Revelation 3:20: "Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me."

Jesus also spoke about giving "Living Water" and "Bread of Life".

Theologically, we know that by the Incarnation Jesus is connected with the whole of creation, and creation is being transformed by the power released in the death and resurrection of Jesus and in his communication of the Spirit of God. As we talk and eat and drink – any food or drink, with no need to say any special words – we can see ourselves as partaking in this transformation process, as being nourished by the transformation process that has been made real in Jesus, crucified and risen. Even one person, having a meal alone, can enter into this eucharistic awareness.

And surely we give thanks for having access to life being transformed. This is a form of eucharistic spirituality. There is no law against it, restricting it. There can't be. It can happen just as eating and drinking happen.

How life-giving is your eucharistic spirituality? By yourself? with others?

In eating and drinking we can use anything that can remind us of the underlying reality of the transforming love and power of the presence of Jesus. We can use any small rituals or procedures or words or ideas we like to remind ourselves of that faith reality, which is a deeper dimension of all reality. We might call to mind passages from scripture, perhaps from the day's Lectionary readings; we might reflect on what's happening in our lives, or consider the import of world or local events.

When Catholics have limited access to the official Eucharist, if we don't learn to do something like this, there is a great danger of us losing all awareness of our involvement in the transformation process being brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is particularly a danger, either when we don't have access to official Eucharist in the church or if the official church Eucharist is celebrated in such a way that it does not draw us into the mystery. When this happens we are left without a consciousness of what is at the centre of Christianity. How sad! How disappointing!

It seems this has already happened to many baptised Christians. We might know some of them.

Image Credits:
The headline image has been sourced from: www.hollywoodlutheran.org. Clicking on the other image will take you to the original source.

Kevin Murphy, Ballarat

Kevin Murphy is a priest working in the Diocese of Ballarat. Readers of Catholica might be interested in a web-based service he provides which produces weekly liturgies for small lay-led communities which are without a priest. His website can be accessed at: www.giant.net.au/users/murphy/. You can also contact Kevin via email through the address he gives on that website.

[Index of Commentaries by Fr Kevin Murphy]