Saturday, June 20, 2009

The greatest suffering of the Church is the sin of its priests


Zenit.org reports the Holy Father's sermon yesterday for the inauguration of the Year for Priests.

The theme for the priestly year is "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests."


The greatest suffering of the Church is the sin of its priests

....
The Church needs holy priests, ministers to help the faithful experience the merciful love of the Lord and to be convinced witnesses."

....
How can one forget that nothing makes the Church -- the Body of Christ -- suffer more than the sins of its pastors, above all those that are 'wolves in sheep's clothing,' whether because they lead [
the faithful] away with their private doctrine, or because they bind [the faithful] down with the ties of sin and death..

....The call to conversion and to take recourse to Divine Mercy also applies to us, dear priests...

... We should also appeal, humbly and incessantly, to the heart of Jesus so that he preserves us from the terrible risk of damaging those whom we should save.

...Our mission is indispensible for the Church and for the world, which demands complete fidelity to Christ and an incessant union with him; that is to say, it demands that we constantly seek the holiness of St. John Mary Vianney.

8 comments:

Matthaeus said...

A powerful sermon, indeed.

The Holy Father is clearly very saddened by recent scandals involving clergy. He also seems to be trying so very hard to restore the status of priests, and to recognise the great majority who are holy men, pursuing their vocations faithfully, and whose reputation has been so badly harmed by the sins of the minority.

I pray that the Year for Priests is fruitful, that vocations flourish, and that the world can see great holiness in the Church and her clergy. Through Christ Our Hich Priest. Amen.

Pastor in Monte said...

I am horrified by the thought of the souls I may have lost by my inadequacy.

Physiocrat said...

It isn't just the scandals that are the problem it is the wanton degradation of the liturgy and spreading of protestant teachings and practices, I have seen so much of it.

There is a special kind of arrogance not uncommon amongst priests I have met.

Mater mari said...

Dear Pastor in Valle

And we are filled with gratitude for the benefits we have received from you, even though - sadly - we live some distance from your parish.

Assuring you of our daily prayers for you and all priests.

Matthaeus said...

Henry - valid point. I know in the past I have felt compelled to walk out of churches because of liturgical abuses and attitudes of certain priests. Fortunately, I have always had the courage to persevere, finding other Masses celebrated with greater reverence, and acknowledging that the occasional inadequate priest does not invalidate the Church.

I do know others, however, who have 'walked out' never to return, and pray now that these sould may not be lost.

Pastor in Valle - it is a lovely thing to hear a priest showing humility, especially one who I know does a great deal to encourage the Faith: you have obviously taken the teachings of Thomas A Kempis to heart. Please could you pray that for me, that I, a layman could learn to exercise this virtue a bit more.

In Christ,

M.

Jackie Parkes MJ said...

Like the priests we have all probably not shown good example all of the time. It is our human condition. But with priests such as Fr Ray & pastor in valle & my fortunate circumstance to be ministered to priests such as the recent one on my blog, that give us much to hope for.

Physiocrat said...

Yes we are very fortunate at St Mary Magdalens

ORQUIDEA NEGRA said...

"There is a special kind of arrogance no uncommon amongst (some) priests.

Henry is with great saddeness that I have to agree with you.

Ufortunatly one do not have to leave Brighton to find a "wolf in sheep's clothing"

St Michael cast into hell satan and all his servents. I ask this trough Christ our Lord. Amen

The Lord’s descent into the underworld

At Matins/the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday the Church gives us this 'ancient homily', I find it incredibly moving, it is abou...