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Feb
20
Shocking words about the ordained priesthood
February 20, 2007 |
From California Catholic Daily—Cardinal Roger Mahony words are to say the least, disturbing if not from the very pits itself…..
No priest that has a love for the Catholic Church and for the sanctity of the priesthood would utter such blasphemies about God’s love…. Our Lady of Good Success prophesized that there would be a great Crisis in the Church - that many vocations would be lost because of a loss of innocence and lack of virgin souls. This man has contributed to the Crisis. Instead of being remorseful, he continues to rub salt in the wounds of Our Lord and Savior. His intentions for passing on the priesthood are certainly in question. How many more of our “shepherds” - or should we say “hirelings” have these intentions when it comes to passing along the rite of Holy Orders??? It is a frightening thought!
Today is the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. Let us remember to make up for these sins of these poor priests. Console Our Lord.
Our understanding of the ordained priesthood has changed”
“What some refer to as a ‘vocations crisis’ is, rather, one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, a sign of God’s deep love for the Church,” says Cardinal Mahony
Cardinal Roger Mahony has laid out “two absolute essentials” to “the organization of strong, representative groups in the archdiocese.” These, he told the inaugural meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, are parish pastoral and finance councils.
Canon law, Mahony told the 27 council delegates, requires that parishes have finance councils, while archdiocesan policy mandates parish councils. The delegates included “representatives from the regional pastoral councils, Council of Priests, Council of Deacons, Parish Life Directors, religious women, religious brothers and ex-officio non-voting members,” according to the Feb. 2 Tidings, the archdiocesan newspaper.
The parish councils, according to Initiative II of the Los Angeles archdiocesan synod (held 2000-2003), are “structures that provide for appropriate religious and lay participation in decision making and processes of accountability at Archdiocesan, regional, deanery, and parish levels.”
The councils ensure that, in directing parish life, pastors collaborate with laity in what Cardinal Mahony in his 2000 pastoral letter, As I Have Done for You, called “a broadly based shared ministry.”
In his letter, Mahony altered the priest’s office as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as sanctifying, teaching, and ruling, to “sanctifying, teaching, and guiding.”
“Our understanding of the ordained priesthood has changed and is still changing,” Mahony wrote. One key term for the priestly office, in persona Christi capitis (“in the person of Christ the head”), wrote Mahony, “relates priestly ministry to the whole Body, head and members, and emphasizes the priest’s collaborative role, the need to work with other ministries, and the need to draw into the unity of the Gospel and the Church community all the gifts and ministries that come from Christ and his Spirit.”
Priests, in short, are not to rule their parishes but to collaborate with others in guiding them. “In light of the many gifts and challenges that are calling us to reshape our ministerial structures, the priest may be best understood as a sign of ecclesial communion,” said Mahony.
The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council is an important group, since, Mahony told the inaugural meeting, it will oversee implementing the synod’s six pastoral initiatives, which include the establishment of lay leadership of parishes — Parish Life Directors.
Deacon Gus Sebenius addressed the meeting to report on a November meeting of an archdiocesan staffing planning conference that discussed the results of a 2006 parish viability study. The study, according to the Tidings, “reported that 40 percent of parishes would choose to twin with another parish and share one pastor, and 35 percent are interested in having a parish life director to manage administrative responsibilities while a sacramental priest minister is available to say Mass and focus on pastoral ministry.”
“What some refer to as a ‘vocations crisis’ is, rather, one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, a sign of God’s deep love for the Church, and an invitation to a more creative and effective ordering of gifts and energy in the Body of Christ,” said Mahony.
This article was brought to our attention by The Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success
