Homily
for April 29, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
4th Sunday of Easter
By Fr. John Carney Topic:
The Priesthood of Jesus Christ
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Gospel
John 10:27-30
Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”
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This is Good Shepherd Sunday. The Archbishop has asked us to speak on
the priesthood. We all know that there is a shortage of priests. I
speak on this subject perhaps every three years. I would like to do
something a little different this year. First, I think we need to
understand what a priest is, or perhaps, who a priest is. You can’t
understand the Catholic priesthood unless you understand the Jewish
priesthood first. In fact, our roots are Jewish. The Hebrew Scriptures
are essential to understanding and living the Christian scriptures.
Priesthood was so important to the Hebrews and to the Jews that when
God designated the twelve tribes of Israel, He designated one of those
tribes primarily to provide priests for the people and that was the
tribe of Levi. They were not to have an ancestral land; they were to
travel throughout other tribes’ land and offer sacrifice, to lead
worship, and to intercede for the people. Of course, none of that
worked very well. The people continued to turn their backs on God.
Finally, in time, in a moment of time, the Father sent His Son Jesus to
be the Great High Priest, to offer sacrifice, to be the sacrifice, to
be both priest and victim.
Jesus Christ is the only priest. When we say there is a shortage of
priests, there is no shortage of Jesus. Let me try to explain that.
Jesus the High Priest desired to be present to all of His people,
everywhere, at all times and so, He instituted the priesthood as we
have come to know it. A priest today in the Catholic faith and in the
orthodox faith (the Greeks, Russians and others), is a priest of Jesus
Christ. Upon ordination, he is changed; we say he is ontologically
changed. The unworthy man is changed to become an alter Christus,
another Christ but not for any worth of his own self. He is called to
serve by the church and by Christ Himself. In this way, Jesus can be
present everywhere, at every place, at every time, forever. The first
twelve priests were His twelve apostles. It is clear He commissioned
them. Luke uses that word in Acts. He came to see them. They were set
apart. There is no question that they were set apart just as there’s no
question Peter was set apart among the twelve. He told them at the
First Eucharist to, “Do this in memory of Me.” He told them to go out
to the whole world and to preach, to teach, and to sanctify. He told
them to absolve sins. The first thing He did after He rose from the
dead, was appear to the apostles. He breathed on them and He said,
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven.
Whose sins you shall hold bound, they are held bound.” The apostles’
successors are the bishops, and to a lesser degree, the priests and
deacons.
There is a shortage of priests today, but there is no shortage of
bishops, believe me! The bishops are like the church’s “group leaders.”
Maybe the group leaders should wear a miter. Fortunately, there is no
shortage of deacons. Although we need more, we are blessed to have
several hundred deacons in our archdiocese. We had no deacons in the
archdiocese 40 years ago. One of the reasons for the great success of
the deaconate program in the archdiocese is sitting behind me. Donato
Lucero, Deacon Don, has been the head deacon for 12 years. I call him
the“Capo di
tutti capi,”(Boss of all bosses.)He will step
down from that role this coming
summer. We all owe him a great debt of gratitude for the wonderful work
he has done.
Now, here are some numbers on priests. These numbers are from 1965
until this year, 42 years. Forty-two years ago, there were 44 million
Catholics in our country; today there are 62, that’s an increase of
17%. During that same time, priests declined from 58,000 to 47,000;
that’s a decrease of 19%. (I’ve been in Los Alamos for 5 years, so let
me be more specific. That’s a decrease of 18.965517%. What is pi? Give
me pi to the 8th place. (….) (What a wonderful place.) Of the 19,000
parishes in the United States, 2000 have no resident priest today. We
are old. I believe the average age is 60. I am 60. You are looking at
the average age.
Now, to put this in perspective, it has been much worse. In fact, in
1850 in the diocese of Santa Fe, there were nine priests in New Mexico.
I read a letter that Archbishop Lamy wrote in 1866; by that time, Santa
Fe was the Archdiocese, and it included all of New Mexico as well as
Colorado and Arizona, and there were only 41 priests. Granted, the
population was much less, but there were still a few hundred thousand
Catholics. There were 5 Catholic priests in Colorado, 3 in Arizona, and
33 in New Mexico.
The situation has also been better. The GI Bill was introduced after
World War II and it had a tremendous impact on the priesthood in
America. Actually, I think we had a glut of priests. My parish had like
500 families and 3 priests. They were fighting over who did the mass.
That problem is no longer true. I will tell you this, and it is true.
Archbishop Sheehan could use 100 priests tomorrow. If they all showed
up, they would all be at work the next day.
Now, let me say this about priesthood. It is a good life. I have to
say, it would be better if there were more of us. Nevertheless, it is a
very good life. I don’t know how many people are here, maybe 700. I am
the least lonely person in this church. I am not lonely. I know that
sometimes I can hear the wife say to the husband, “Poor Father. He
lives all by himself over there. There is probably nothing to do but
sit down and watch NASCAR.” The husband says, “Yeah.” I’m not lonely.
Secondly, and I mean this sincerely, I am humbled every day by being a
priest. People invite you into their lives at the most intimate, sacred
moments of their lives. This past week, I was called to minister to a
dying man. . The family just parted and said, “Welcome Father. Here,
help us.” That’s a very sacred moment. I anointed him, I prayed the
Litany of the Saints, and blessed him. I sat on the bed, rubbed his
back, and prayed over him. Now, the reason I was welcomed was not
because of me. It is because of the alter Christus. They welcomed
Christ into their house. Even though people are not able probably to
express that, or articulate that, they know it in their hearts.
It is wonderful to celebrate the joyful occasions. We had a wedding
here yesterday and it was just great. I love to be part of that. I’ve
got the best seat in the house.
It’s moving to anoint the sick and the dying and to reconcile sinners.
People who have been carrying around the burden and guilt of their sin
for decades, and they can unload that and hear the words of Christ: “I
absolve you of your sins.” Really, the Holy Spirit speaks through the
priest. He does through all of us, if we let Him. Oftentimes I have
said things and I don’t know where they came from. We had a funeral
this past week for Louise Gallegos. Some of you remember Louise. Her
husband was killed in 1972 in that tragic airplane accident. Remember
when 11 were killed? She moved about 25 years ago. She put in her
instructions for her death that the family was to return here. She has
7 kids and lots of grandkids and great grandkids. Nevertheless, the
family was to return here and have a mass. They did, because mama told
them to. And if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. As I prepared my
homily, I said, “Your mother has gathered you here.” They were all
sitting right here. I said, “Your mother has gathered you here today,
one last time, in this church. Maybe she just wants to pinch you and
remind you of what’s really important.” They were aghast. Caroline, the
youngest daughter told me, she said, “Father, mom would always pinch us
in church. Especially the boys.” I didn’t know that. I don’t know where
that came from – yes I do. In spite of this stuff, the Lord speaks
through His priests.
Finally, one last point. Priests are loved by their people. In spite of
all the scandals, in spite of all the bad news in the last 20 years,
priests are so loved by their people. It is incredible. It is
overwhelming. In fact, that is why every month or two, I have to
escape. People love us so much. It is incredible.
Why are there not more priests? Well, there are some answers that I
find lacking. Sometimes, and you hear this a lot, “Well, you know the
story of the rich young man in the Gospel; he goes to Jesus and asks,
‘What must I do to be saved?’ and He says, ‘Follow the commandments.’
He says, ‘I’ve done that all of my life.’ Jesus says, ‘Tithe.’ He says,
‘I do that.’ Jesus says, ‘Sell everything you have and come and follow
me.’ And the rich young man went away sad, for he had many
possessions.” So, there’s this argument that our young people won’t
become priests because they are too tied to material things. I don’t
believe that and I’ll tell you why. We don’t become greedy until we
turn 40 because we have nothing before 40. When I buried my dad, I was
33, and I had $150 left in my checking account. How could I be greedy?
I didn’t have anything. Then we start to acquire some wealth as we age,
some of us. I’ve been blessed like that, and that’s when we start
counting and we get …. That’s another homily, but not our young people!
Our young people are the most generous creatures in the world. They
are. They would give you their life. In fact, thousands have
volunteered to do just that in the Armed Forces. They are very
generous. That is not the reason.
Another reason, they say, “Well, the scandals.” I know 15 priests in
this archdiocese today that became priests because of the scandals.
They said, “the church needs a few good men. I’m singing up because I
love the church, and she needs me now.”
Some say its celibacy. I am not only the least lonely person; I am one
of the happiest people here. Celibacy is a gift, just as the married
life is a gift. Celibacy is a wonderful gift.
I was flying back two weeks ago from Indianapolis and my good friend
sat next to me, a lady from my former parish. A wonderful woman and she
told me, “Father, I was divorced.” I knew her husband, and I was sad to
hear that. She said, “But I told him, ‘I am going to be celibate’,” she
said, “‘for five years.’ Well, I’ve lived the celibate life for 5 years
and I’ve never been happier!” Celibacy has a wonderful value to it. I
don’t think that’s the reason there’s no priests.
I do know this, though. I know this as a fact. Some priests and
religious within our church have actively undermined vocations. Their
latest agenda is not being met by the church and so they have
undermined the entire church. That includes some bishops, some priests
and some religious. However, that is just a small thing.
I do not know why there is a shortage of priests. Perhaps, people don’t
understand what a good life it is. However, this I do know. It is this
community’s responsibility to do something about it. This parish and
every other parish in the United States, it is your responsibility, as
well as mine, to do something about it. What can you do? First, you can
pray every day, for vocations. Second, you can do something to
encourage them. If you know a young man, or even a 30- or 40-year old
man, that you think would be a good priest, then pray for him. Tell
him, “The church needs you. The Gospel needs you. The sick, the dying,
and the imprisoned need you. The grieving need you. Our soldiers need
you. I need you.” Tell him that. I do that as a priest. I have several
people in mind always. I won’t mention any names because it would
embarrass this one fellow. He works at Smiths. He is here today. He has
a black shirt on. I am on him like white on rice. Every time I see him,
I say something. In fact, sometimes I go into Smiths and if he sees me,
he goes, “Oh, ho!” You know whom I am talking about. Stay on him!
Sorry, David. So, please, pray every day. Do something about it.
Priesthood is a real life. It is not a perfect life. It has its trials,
but it is a meaningful life and a beautiful life.
Let me finish with this poem, by Father Jean-Baptiste Lacordaire, a
Dominican priest. It is an idealistic poem but it is also true. It’s
called, “Thou Art a Priest Forever.”
To live in
the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; to be a
member of each family, yet belonging to none; to
share all sufferings; to
penetrate all secrets; to heal
all wounds; to go
from men to God and offer Him their prayers; to
return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; to have
a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to
teach and to pardon, console and bless always—what a glorious life! And it
is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ.