Milly's reflection today explores the changing nature of our understanding of what ceing a Christian community is. She presents an optimistic perspective of this time on continuing upheaval we seem to be in…

The challenges facing priests...

There has been much debate of late about the lack of priestly vocations in our Church. Leaving aside such issues as priestly celibacy, or whether women can be ordained priests or not, the fact remains that few people are willing to step up to the plate. And why would they?

I've known many priests in my life — some of them are my dearest friends — and I can tell you, I wouldn't want their workloads for quids! It's an enormously difficult life for most of them; certainly the good ones, at any rate. Even the most cursory glance at the ordinary week in the life of the average modern-day priest in an Australian parish reveals the sometimes ridiculous demands of the lifestyle.

Aside from presiding at a number of liturgies during the course of a week and weekend, the priest is required to fill the role of pastoral advisor, committee member or chair, and property manager — and that's just skimming the surface. There are countless hours spent with grieving families, couples preparing for marriage, and people in crisis of one type or another, not to mention the numerous meetings with various parish and school groups.

There are a great many parishes in Australia who operate without benefit of a priest residing in the parish. "Cluster parishes" (where two or more parishes are serviced by a single priest travelling from Mass centre to Mass centre) are becoming a common feature, while many outback parishes only get visiting priests periodically. More and more the laity are being called upon to take up the reins of what was once the priest's role, presiding at Mass excluded, of course.

But is this necessarily a bad thing?

A renewed sense of what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ…

It is a far cry from what was expected of those who presided at the Table of the Lord in the earliest Christian communities. In many ways what Vatican II did was to usher in a renewed sense of what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ. After years of being relegated to nothing but spectators in the liturgical life of the Church, all those baptised into the Body of Christ were being encouraged to reclaim our identity as a Royal Priesthood, which required our 'full and active participation' not just in the liturgical life of the Church, but in life itself.

In historic terms, we are still in the early days of the changes brought about by Vatican II. Change is always uncomfortable and many shy away from it, preferring instead to go back to 'the way things were'. But our faith calls us onward and we can't unlearn what we now know. The fact that numbers are dwindling both in the pews, seminaries, convents and novitiates tells us that the old ways of being are breaking down And yet, the message of Christ is as pertinent and necessary to our lives today as it ever was. It is up to us how we meet this challenge.

Fortunately, we in Australia are in a good position to do something about it. We have an enormous and very educated population with more people trained across and number of disciplines useful to the mission of the Church than ever before, ready and able to take up the challenge. With more of the laity able to take up those positions of responsibility that were once the purview of priests alone, the pressure upon our ordained brothers would be considerably lessened, and the giftedness of the community would be called forth, echoing more closely those communities set up by Jesus himself.

We were promised by Christ that the Holy Spirit would be with us always, and I think it's time we started to really trust that promise. Certainly we face challenges, but then, so has every generation that has gone before us. I take strength from the knowledge that good people, with God's help, did amazing things to keep the message of Christ alive in their day. And we, with God's help, and a little courage, can do the same.

What do Catholics hav to offer that is distinctive?

And what do we Catholics have to offer that is different to everything else on offer? In a day and age where everyone follows their own 'personal' path to spirituality, we continue to hold up the model of community — the Body of Christ. We know that our coming together as one at the Table of the Lord gives us the impetus to go and be Christ-bearers to the world. We were promised that "where two or more are gathered…" Christ would be there. So clearly, gathering together was a priority for Jesus, and continues to be a priority for us.

My husband and I attended a Tridentine Mass a couple of weekends ago and it was very much like stepping back in time to my early childhood experiences of Church. Whilst I can appreciate this old rite, to me it was far more like private devotions than a community assembled as the Body of Christ. However, I believe that there is room for this kind of liturgy, as there is room for other rites celebrated in communion with the Catholic Church. Catholicism to me is like a huge umbrella spanning a whole range of expressions in different places across the planet, with people worshipping in a variety of ways. I celebrate this diversity as something good and wholesome. After all, even the communities of Peter, James and Paul had very different approaches to coming together in community depending on the people to whom they ministered. What they each had in common was the Eucharistic meal where the story of Christ is told afresh and kept alive.

Christ "made present" — in four distinct ways…

Vatican II taught us that Christ is made present — here and now — in the four distinct ways when we gather together for Eucharist; Christ is present in the gathered Assembly, in the Word of God, in the Bread and Wine of the Eucharistic meal, and in the person of the Priest. With dwindling numbers participating in the Eucharistic life of the Church we stand to lose touch with this most important insight — that Christ is made present when we gather and "do this in memory" — and that we must tell the story to keep it alive or else risk losing it forever.

We have only just begun to plumb the depths of Vatican II. This time of upheaval is uncomfortable, certainly, but it is also an opportunity for us to trust that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and acting in the Body of Christ to bring about God's reign. What shape this takes as we forge into the territory of today's modern world depends very much on either how much each of us are allowed to use our gifts, or how much each of us is prepared to take the responsibility for meeting the challenges we face.

Milly

Photo Credits: The images used to create the background to the heading have been sourced from stock.xchng. The photographers who submitted the photos are: Rodolfo Clix, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Sanja Gjenero, Zagreb, Croatia.

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©2007 Amanda McKenna

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