THAT OTHER PROMISE
A few selected ideas from an article I wrote about the Promise of Obedience in 2010 for Our Sunday Visitor Magazine.
The priests, who
make up the majority of every diocesan presbyterate, make two solemn promises:
celibacy and obedience. (It might be good to remind ourselves here that
religious priests working under a diocesan bishop are full members of that
presbyterate as long as they are working in that diocese. They are not just
visitors or mere associates.)
Rather than
negatives, the promises of celibacy and obedience are meant to free us up for
ministry. Celibacy makes it possible for us to become that ''intimate
sacramental brotherhood for the purpose of ministry'' that the Church speaks
about.
Of the two
promises, the only one we ever hear much about, after we make it, is celibacy.
We never hear too much about ''the other promise,'' the promise of obedience.
It, too, makes it possible for us to be that ''intimate sacramental brotherhood
for the purpose of ministry.''
The older I get,
the more I appreciate the wisdom of our two promises. Regardless of all the
pious exaggeration written about the beauties of celibacy, I agree that, if
embraced and lived freely, it can be freeing. It can free one up for a greater
good, for full-time service to the People of God. The only time I have ever
thought much about obedience, or needed to, was when I got my first assignment
after I was ordained.
As one who was
born in the country, but urbanized quite well by the seminary system, I had my
heart set on being an associate pastor in a large suburban parish in
Louisville, where restaurants, theaters and friends were all around. What I got
was an assignment to the ''home missions'' of our diocese, on the edge of
Appalachia, a parish the size of the state of Delaware with a Catholic
population of one tenth of one percent, as far away from Louisville as one
could get. My family and friends were three hours away.
I cried, I pleaded
and I even took to my bed to no avail! I had to go ''out of obedience.'' I was
a bit like those people who join the National Guard in peacetime, not imagining
that they would ever have to fight a war! I balked at first, but with God's help,
I was able to turn my mind around.
Since I didn't get
what I wanted, I decided to want what I got. That, I believe, is part of the
true spirit behind the ''promise of obedience.'' I went because the bishop has
the ''big picture'' and said he needed me there. I went because I promised him and
his successors that I would go where the Church needed my gifts.
Yes, I was upset
and disappointed. Yes, I tried to change his mind, but in the end, I knew that
it was me who needed to change my mind. I did change it, not grudgingly, but
with as much good spirit as I could muster. (By the way, that assignment turned
out to be fabulous, one that led directly to later assignments that were all
the loves of my life.)
Over the years, my
understanding and appreciation of ''obedience'' has evolved. It has matured. I
have come to see that the ''promise of obedience'' has implications beyond the
person of the bishop. It includes a promise to fellow members of my presbyterate.
Rather than making me a slave to the whims of one particular person, the
bishop, it is really a promise to be a ''team player'' with the bishop and the
other members of my presbyterate for the sake of the common purpose we share:
effective ministry to the People of God. It is this understanding of the
''promise of obedience,'' a promise to be a ''team player,'' that I believe
will lead to a renewal of our presbyterates. The theology is quite clear: we
are not priests, one by one. We are priests in a presbyterate under a bishop.
''Lone rangers'' and ''priests in private practice'' are heretical!
Remember these
promises? You made them! I made them! We meant them, didn't we? Didn't we? (1)
''Are you resolved, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to discharge without
fail, the office of the priesthood in the presbyteral order as a conscientious
fellow worker with the bishops in caring for the Lord's flock?'' (2) Do you
promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?'' How do those promises
sound to you after all these years? How do those promises sound in one’s
retirement years!
Priests do not
carry out their own ministry, they are fellow workers in helping the bishop
carry out his ministry! For the bishop to carry out his ministry of caring for
the Lord's flock, his team of fellow workers must be on the same page with him!
That is why respect and obedience is needed! All this is beautifully put in
Eucharistic Prayer I for Masses of Reconciliation, ''Keep us all in communion
of mind and heart with our Pope and our bishop.''
At a time we need
to work together as a team, we seem to be growing further and further apart. As
Lily Tomlin would put it, ''We are all in this together, by ourselves.'' A new
look at, and a new appreciation of, our promise of obedience, I believe, can be
the beginning of the reversal of that trend.
An expansive
understanding of ''promise of obedience'' is the only thing we have in our
arsenal as diocesan priests to ritualize that group resolve because, in it, we
promise each other to be ''team players.'' We cannot have a healthy, unified
presbyterate when everyone is self-focused. We are an orchestra, not a loose
association of soloists. We are one body with many parts, each with gifts the
whole body needs. Like the original twelve, Christ calls us to resist those
things that threaten that unity, especially working alone, working too much and
working against each other.
