SHEPHERDS!
BE GOOD AND BE GOOD AT IT!
I am the good shepherd. I know mine and
mine know me.
John 10
I
may be retired, but I am not ready to hang up my collar just yet. In fact, so far, I can hardly tell
the difference. I am still running around the United States, Canada and the Caribbean leading
priests retreats. I have led over 100 of them in 10 countries - 15 of them in Canada alone. The simplest way to put it might be to say that
I go to these places to deliver my crash course in "team shepherding." The bottom line is this: to be more effective shepherds today, we priests must learn to work better as teams!
Because
of a couple of little books I put together on the subject of "spiritual
shepherding" a couple of years ago, called The Spiritual Leadership of a Parish Priest, Intentional Presbyterates and
A Bishop and His Priests Together, I
have probably spoken to well over 20,000 priests, bishops and Cardinals in way over
one hundred dioceses so far. I've actually lost count, Just this year I have been to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean in February and Crookston (Minnesota) last week, with London (Ontario, Canada) twice, Calgary (Canada), San Antonio (Texas) and one for the Byzantine priests and deacons of the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, to go!
All
these invitations, are not about my great personal talent or ability, but about
the crying need the church has for "good shepherding." As you already
know, lay people are dying for quality spiritual leadership from their priests
and are often left disappointed. For some reason, I was simply able to notice
this and try to do something about it by writing about it earlier than a lot of
others. I am known for my "simple, hard-hitting, straight forward and
direct" speaking style. From
priests, I usually hear something like this: "You hit us right between the
eyes, you pushed every one of our buttons and you got away with it!" From
bishops I hear, "Thanks for saying things to my priests that I cannot say.
They listened to you and they even laughed while you were doing it!" I
always try to remember the words of Oscar Wilde who said, "If you are going
to tell them the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill
you."
I am the good shepherd. I know mine and
mine know me.
What
has my work in dioceses around the world have to do with you? I would say that it has everything to do with
you. Most of you already know, at least intuitively that the most pressing need
facing the Catholic Church today is the quality of its spiritual leadership -
the ability of your designated shepherds to lead you to holiness. We still have
about 67,000,000 Catholics on the books in this country, but we also about
20,000,000 who now call themselves as ex-Catholics, former Catholics or
non-practicing Catholics. In the past, organized religion could impose
unquestioned rules of behavior on its members, but not today! No amount of
ranting and raving from our shepherds about how they ought to be listened to
and no amount of new rule books will fix this. We need credible spiritual
leaders who have the ability influence people, to inspire people, to move from
where they are to where God wants them to be! Ordinations alone, Roman collars
alone, new editions of the Catechism or Canon Law alone will not fill this gap.
We desperately need spiritual leaders, not just in name, but in fact! Without
"good shepherds," the flock will continue to be ravaged by wolves and
it will continue to run away from hirelings who are only interested in what the
sheep can do for them.
In
the gospel we read today, Jesus is called the "good" shepherd. In my
teaching at the seminary and to priest groups around the country, I like to
point out that there are two possible Greek words for "good." Agathos means morally good as in she was a
good person. That is not the word
used here. The word used here is kalos which means good at as in he was good at
playing baseball or good at playing the guitar. When the gospel says that Jesus was the Good
Shepherd, it means to say that Jesus was good
at shepherding, not just a good
person. Jesus wasn’t just a fine person, he was good at finding grass and water – and he was good at keeping the wolves at bay!
When speak to priests and seminarians, and most of
them are very good people, holy people, I tell that that being holy, being
good, is not enough! They must be good at
leading you to holiness. I always get a laugh when I tell them that
their goal is not to have golden light coming from the priest’s house, but to
have golden light coming from the homes of the parish. Their job is not just to
become personally holy. They must be able to lead you to holiness.
Most
of you will be called to be spiritual leaders as well - maybe not as priests,
but certainly as married partners and parents. In fact, the Catechism is
clear. Those in Holy Orders and Marriage
are both called to lead others to holiness - priests their parishioners and
married persons their partners and their children. So those of you who are
disappointed with the spiritual leadership of your priest must also examine
your conscience about your own spiritual leadership within your families. You
will be called to be good personally, but also good at leading your partner and children to holiness. You must protect your children from
predators, find the nourishment they need and teach them to graze safely in a
complicated world, both physically and spiritually. You too must be good at being a marriage partner and good at parenting. The "Good Shepherd" is a model for
those of us in ordained ministry, but also those of you who will be marriage
partners and parents. I will say to you what
say to our future priests, "If you are going to marry or be
ordained, for God sake make sure you have what it takes to be good at it!"
