Diary of a Young Priest
by Rev. James M. Sullivan, O.P.
from the Sept.-Oct. 1998 issue

"Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in roles of service for the faithful to build up the body of Christ, till we become one in faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, and form that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature." (Eph 4:11-13)

The "building up" of the Body of Christ remains an essential task for the Church in every age. We pray constantly for the unity of the Faith and strive continually for the knowledge of God's Son. We long for that perfect man who is Christ to come to full stature within each one of us. As Saint Paul reminded the Ephesians and also reminds us, Christ did not leave us alone in this work. He gave the Church certain men in roles of service to be especially charged with these tasks.

In the Letter to the Ephesians, they are "the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers" and in a unique way each of the duties suggested by these offices is lived out in the consecrated life of the ordained priest. The priest is ordained not only to offer sacrifice but also to govern, prophesy, preach, shepherd, and catechize. His vocation finds its fulfillment when he is faithful to all that has been entrusted to him.

When I was ordained a priest on May 26, 1995, I resolved always to take seriously the duties and obligations of the priesthood. I freely gave myself to the Lord to be His ordained priest and rightly so should I freely accept all of the demands He would make of me. The priesthood is especially a "role of service for the faithful" meant explicitly "to build up the Body of Christ." The priest, following the teachings of the Magisterium, allows himself to be formed by the truth of the Catholic Faith. He in turn teaches and preaches these truths both in his homilies and in the manner by which he lives his life. The priest, above all his other duties though, administers the seven Sacraments where he acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). These are the "timeless" elements of the priesthood. No priest, however, is "ordained in a vacuum."

He kneels before the altar of God at a definite moment both in history and in the life of the Church. The priest, therefore, needs to be aware of the present needs of the Church so that he may best serve her and her people.

I asked myself several questions as I prepared for ordination. What are the needs of the Church at the end of the second Christian millennium? How can a priest best serve the Church and the faithful entrusted to his care? How can he, like Saint Paul, bring about that oneness of faith?...that knowledge of God's Son...that perfect man come to full stature? I came up with three definite answers that have shaped and informed everything that I have done thus far as a priest.

They are 1) to preach the sanctity and goodness of marriage especially by exposing the lie of contraception and its destructive pathway into the family, 2) to embrace the Holy Father's call for the New Evangelization and work wholeheartedly for the preparation and implementation of his program for the Third Millennium, and finally 3) to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with reverence. In a way these three items fit neatly into Saint Paul's charge to the Ephesians.

"...till we become one in faith..."
Recently we have been "carried away by all kinds of strange teaching" (Heb 13: 9) when it comes to the sanctity of marriage and this harms our "oneness in faith." Pre-marital sex and co-habitation are almost expected before a couple could actually consider marriage.

Once married, you would never want to have a child immediately. You have to get your "own life" together first and then maybe five years later one child is a possibility. Beyond that, one or (at the most!) two more children are considered. These few observations coupled with the high divorce rate should make most people seriously question what has happened to the sacred institution of marriage.

Way back in 1968, Pope Paul VI predicted all that would befall marriage and the family if contraception was adopted by society. In Humanae vitae, #17, the Holy Father writes of, among other things, increased sexual immorality and man's loss of respect for woman.

Artificial contraception though has attacked not only marriage and the family but also the Church herself. Somehow the Church's teaching against contraception is seen as "optional" by most Catholics. "Following one's unformed conscience" takes precedence over following the teachings of the Church. Those, however, who claim the ability to dissent from Church teaching have never even read Humanae vitae!

The priest stands in the middle of all of this confusion. He needs to strive for that "unity of faith." He needs to be a faithful son of the Church. His is the task to preach the truth regardless of his own feelings or uneasiness.

Was it "pleasant" for Christ to tell the rich young man to sell all he had and come follow me? Did Jesus "enjoy" confronting Judas at the Last Supper? The priest at the dawn of the Third Millennium must preach the truth and beauty of marriage unreservedly. He must hold nothing back as he explains the destruction wrought by contraception and the lie which it introduces into marriage (and therefore into family, society, and the Church).

"...in the knowledge of God's Son..."
Pope John Paul II has heralded the present age as that of the New Evangelization. This age of the Church is one, as he describes it, which needs to catechize the already converted. In his apostolic letter, Catechesi tradendi, #19, the Holy Father writes:

"The specific character of catechesis, as distinct from the initial conversion-bringing proclamation of the gospel, has the twofold objective of maturing initial faith and of educating the true disciple of Christ by means of a deeper and more systematic knowledge of the person and message of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Presently there abounds great ignorance concerning the Faith. This is due primarily to a specific lack in catechetical preaching. Catechetical preaching opens up the essential truths of the Faith, so that these truths might be known and loved.

The heart of the Holy Father's preparation for the Third Millennium involves a renewed study of the Faith. So many adult Catholics only know their Faith on an "eighth-grade level." How could you weather the problems of college physics if you only remembered Sr. Jane Michael's math class in grammar school? How could you write a Master's thesis if the last time you wrote anything was that book report on volcanoes? The Faith must be studied and learned before it can be loved. Once loved, we are forced back to study even more of the Faith! It is an ongoing process of learning and loving—each one fueling the other.

The priest's role is to clearly explain the teachings of the Church. All of these teachings, of course, culminate in the knowledge of God's Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the "source and summit" of all catechesis. He is the way to God the Father, the truth of God and man, and the promised life of heaven, as well as the fullness of our life here on earth. By helping the faithful to understand their Faith as adults, the priest ensures that they will be able to grow ever stronger in their defense of the Faith. They will find the richness of their Faith too great to let go of because of passing pleasures or temporary temptations. They will then enjoy the Holy Father's prediction of the springtime of Christianity.

"...to form that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature"
In a recent poll (April, 1994) conducted by CBS News and The New York Times, it was shown that of self-identified Catholics only 33% professed a belief of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The remaining 66% settled for believing that it was "merely a symbolic reminder."

The priest must be aware of these realities. Is it because of him that this lack of belief has grown? Are the rubrics for the Mass now just "one way" of celebrating the Mass? Is the Mass celebrated with the reverence necessary to draw the faithful's attention to the altar of God?

If for no other reason, a man is ordained a priest to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Everything else that he does flows from the Mass and goes back to it. At the altar, by his words, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. Every gesture he makes must reveal this awesome mystery of our Faith. Every detail of the Mass must point to this greatest of all realities: his vestments, his posture, his voice, even the way he walks across the sanctuary. It all must point towards Christ and His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. In doing so, the priest will draw his people deeper into this mystery. By his reverence, the people will learn reverence. In his silence, the Church will become silent. With his manner of dress, the style of clothing chosen for attendance at Mass will improve.

It is scary to think of being a Catholic and not believing in the great gift of the Eucharist—what other reason could there be to be Catholic? The priest of the present age has the particular challenge of winning the people of God back to the worship of their God. By his celebration of the Mass, his own love and belief will be self-evident. He believes the Mass is the most important action of his day and his congregation will see this and begin again to believe in the Real Presence. By receiving Christ in the Eucharist, Saint Paul's words will be fulfilled, for what better way to have that perfect man be built up within us than by receiving His very own Body and Blood. Christ will always come to full stature within the soul that longs for Him in the Eucharist.

To be a priest is to be Christ for the Church. It is to build up the Body of Christ. It is to pray constantly for the unity of the Faith and to strive continually for the knowledge of God's Son. It is to long for that perfect man who is Christ to come to full stature not only within himself but within each of the faithful as well.

To be a priest in the atrium of the Third Millennium is to bring salvation to the world, a truth no different than it was in the infancy of the Church when Saint Paul reminded another young priest of his duty: "Watch yourself and watch your teaching. Persevere at both tasks. By doing so you will bring to salvation yourself and all who hear you" (I Tim 4:16).

Reverend James M. Sullivan, O.P. is assistant to the pastor at St. Gertrude Church in Madeira, Ohio. He resides at St. Gertrude Dominican Priory. He is 31 years-old.

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