Pope declares year of the priest to inspire spiritual perfection

By Carol Glatz 

Catholic News Service

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI declared a year of the priest in an effort to encourage "spiritual perfection" in priests.

The pope will open the special year with a vespers service at the Vatican June 19 -- the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the day for the sanctification of priests. He will close the celebrations during a World Meeting of Priests in St. Peter's Square June 19, 2010.

The pope made the announcement during an audience March 16 with members of the Vatican Congregation for Clergy.

He met with some 70 participants of the congregation's March 16-18 plenary assembly, which focused on the missionary identity of the priest and his mission to sanctify, teach and govern.

During this jubilee year, the pope will also proclaim St. John Vianney to be patron saint of all the world's priests. At present he is considered the patron saint of parish priests.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of this 19th-century saint who represents a "true example of a priest at the service of the flock of Christ," the pope said.

St. John Vianney is widely known to Catholics as the Cure (parish priest) of Ars who won over the hearts of his villagers in France by visiting with them, teaching them about God and reconciling people to the Lord in the confessional.

In his address, Pope Benedict said the priestly ministry consists of total adherence to the ecclesial tradition of participating "in a spiritually intense new life and a new lifestyle which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and which the apostles made their own."

Priestly ordination creates new men who are bestowed with the gift and office of sanctifying, teaching and governing, he said.

The pope underlined the necessary and "indispensable struggle for moral perfection which must dwell in every authentically priestly heart."

The pope said he was calling for the special year for priests in an effort to foster the priest's yearning "for spiritual perfection, upon which the effectiveness of their ministry principally depends."

"The awareness of the radical social changes over the past decades must stir the best ecclesial energies to look after the formation of priestly candidates," the pope said.

This means great care must be taken to ensure permanent and consistent doctrinal and spiritual formation for seminarians and priests, he said, specifying the importance of passing down, especially to younger generations, "a correct reading of the texts of the Second Vatican Council, interpreted in the light of all the church's doctrinal heritage."

Priests must also be "present, identifiable and recognizable -- for their judgment of faith, their personal virtues and their attire -- in the fields of culture and charity which have always been at the heart of the church's mission," he said.

"The centrality of Christ leads to a correct valuation of ordained ministry," he said, adding that, without priestly ministry, there would be no Eucharist, no mission and even no church.

Therefore, he said, it is crucial to make sure that new bodies or pastoral organizations are not set up "for a time in which one might have to 'dispense with' ordained ministry based on an erroneous interpretation of the rightful promotion of the laity."

"This would lay the foundations for further diluting the priestly ministry, and any supposed 'solutions' would dramatically coincide with the real causes of the problems currently connected with the ministry," he said.

Interesting Article (May the Angels Lead Father Theodore into Paradise)

From: www.courier-journal.com

Posted on April 29, 2009

The Rev. Theodore Heck, believed to be the world’s oldest Benedictine monk, died at age 108 today at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Southern Indiana.

Heck, who died a month before what would have been his 80th anniversary in the priesthood, was a former professor and rector at St. Meinrad’s college and seminary. The monastery said he was the oldest monk in the monastic orders following the tradition of St. Benedict.

In a monastery interview posted on YouTube, Heck said in 2006 he still enjoyed the monks five-times-a-day gatherings for prayer.

“As long as I can hear and I can pray, I’m glad to be with them,” he said.

“Everybody needs a family life of some kind,” he added. “Here we are kind of a spiritual family of young men and older men living together in harmony.”

A native of Chariton, Iowa, Heck was born on Jan. 16, 1901 and was later raised in Missouri and Indiana.

Photo Courtesy St. Meinrad Archabbey

He enrolled in the high school seminary at St. Meinrad in 1918, professed his vows as a monk in 1923, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1929.

He earned a doctorate in education at Catholic University of America and taught for more than 50 years at both the high school and graduate seminaries at St. Meinrad. As rector, he oversaw the accreditation of St. Meinrad’s undergraduate and graduate programs.

The high school and college programs have since closed, but the graduate School of Theology continues to operate.

At age 70, a time when most people have wrapped up their careers, he began a 17-year term as pastor of St. John Chrysostom Parish in New Boston, Ind.

The funeral will be Saturday.

Benedictine monks make vows committing themselves to lives of prayer, obedience, celibacy and stability, or staying rooted in their community.

Homilies from the Cloister

For more great homilies like these see our "Daily Homily Link" above

"Hear now, while I declare what he has done for me."


Psalm 66 addresses both "all you who fear God" and "you peoples." Everyone who can hear is an audience for those who pray this Psalm. We who pray Psalm 66 in spirit and in truth want to declare what God has done for us. When we appeal to him in words, even while we are making intercessions, praise is on the tip of our tongues. We bless the LORD who refused not our prayer nor his kindness. The joy of salvation is contagious, and like King David, Saint Philip cannot hold back. The Spirit moves the Deacon Philip where he wills and the good news reaches all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Jerusalem rejects the early church and the hungry world embraces the followers of Jesus, the bread of life. Jesus, too, proclaims to the crowd that whoever believes in him has eternal life. Everyone who has been taught by God comes to Jesus and is nourished by the bread of life. Everyone comes-even Ethiopians, eunuchs, and the people of Azotus.

Saint Philip is obedient to an angel of the Lord, to the Spirit of God, and to the request of a stranger. The stranger seems to be a Jewish convert, an Ethiopian eunuch, who wants to understand the meaning of one of the Suffering Servant Songs in the prophecy of Isaiah. With this passage as an opening, Philip enters into the stranger's heart and proclaims the good news of the cross and resurrection of the Faithful Suffering Servant, Jesus the Christ. His interpretation, evangelization, and catechesis is so powerful that the eunuch pointed to some water along the side of the road and asked, "what is to keep me from being baptized?" Both continue down the Way, in Christ, the eunuch goes back to Ethiopia, to declare God's great kindness, and Saint Philip continues to invite all the earth to cry out with joy. The revelation through the Law and the Prophets enables us to see the fulfillment of God's design. The Word of God reveals a universal hunger and thirst and the Word Made Flesh satisfies completely all those who come to him-the bread of life.

Jesus quotes the prophets who declare that God shall teach them all. All who listen to the Father and learn from him come to Jesus and believe in him. This universal outreach points out the difference between the ministry of Moses and Jesus. Moses is God's Friend, and yet the Lord God places him in a crevice and covers his face so he does not gaze upon the Lord, lest he die. Moses is close to God, but he never sees the Father. Jesus is the one who is from God and has seen the Father. The manna in the desert fed the people Moses led, but they died. The bread that is Jesus comes down from heaven, for a man to eat and never die. The Word Became Flesh and dwelt among us to give over his flesh and die so that we might live now in the joy of salvation and forever in the kingdom of his glory. Such is his promise to us and to all who have heard the Father and learned from him. The question remains in John's gospel how is Jesus to give over his flesh for the life of the world? Jesus, the bread of life begins to respond. He will give his flesh, this revelation points to both the altar of the cross and the table of the Passover Feast. Jesus' self-gift so transforms us that we can not hold back; indeed our joy is contagious, and we cry out, blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Such joy attracted people to Saint Philip and it will attract people to us so that we can give our testimony about the reason we have to be hopeful. We have seen the Face of God in Jesus and have died to ourselves so that we can live forever. It is this faith that ignites a life of charity, and it gives us hope to live from day to day.

More about our Br. Elijah Joseph, OSB

Double click on the video to go to our youtube page in order to watch this clip in HD.  This clip comes from our award winning DVD ("I Only Show you the Cross") which you can have a copy of  (FREE) by contacting the vocation office.

"Jock Monks "

 

  

Br. Maximilian, OSB giving encouragement to  with our college football team

 

Monks at St. Vincent have a long history of being involved in athletics (especially with the teams here at our college.)  Since our earliest days, monks have served as coaches, chaplains, mentors, and sometimes even players on our various sports teams.

 

Br. Gabriel Myriam, OSB watching and cheering on our Bearcat basketball team

 

The monks taking in a game

 

  

"Br. Max" is seen above ministering to both the men and women Bearcat basketball teams.

Today the tradition of monks being involved in athletics continues in order that we may evangelize, promote good sportsmanship, and teach our students leadership skills rooted in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

 "Br. Max" praying for an injury free and Christ centered game
 

This past year, our wonderful campus minister Father Vincent Zidek, OSB and our beloved Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB created a new campus ministry position (a full-time athletic chaplain) and they appointed our Br. Maximilian Maxwell, OSB to the position.  "Br. Max" as the student’s affectionately call him has excelled in the position and has opened our student’s hearts and minds to new ways of following Jesus by allowing them to use their love and talents of athletics to affectively minister to God's people.  Many of our student athletes have taken "Br. Max" up on his invitations to pray with the monks, to work at homeless shelters, and soup kitchens and to assist in the various campus ministry programs.  It is safe to say that both students and monks have been touched in a powerful way by the work of the Holy Spirit in regards to our campus ministry program and its athletic chaplaincy program.

The monks playing a little volleyball

I will close this post on a less serious note.   With all this talk of sports I must point out that many of the monks of St. Vincent enjoy following our local sports teams - the Pirates, Penguins, and especially the Pittsburgh Steelers who train at St. Vincent during the summer. “Br. Max” is, as you would expect (being the fact that he is the athletic department chaplain) is also an avid sports fan.  The problem is that he is a Philadelphia sports fan and a HUGE Flyers hockey fan (Note: Br. Maximilian is a native of the city of "Brotherly Love").  This past Friday he decided to show his team spirit by wearing his Philly Flyers jersey over his habit which prompted our college students to have some good-spirited fun with him as they rooted on their beloved Pittsburgh Penguins.  Today, some of our great St. Vincent employees (when hearing I was doing an article on Br. Max and the athletic chaplaincy program) asked me to post a survey to vote for what look you like better on Br. Maximilian ("Br. Max the Flyer" or "Br. Max the Penguin").  You can vote on the side bar for the remainder of the playoff series.  

 

"Br. Max the Penguin fan"

 

 "Br. Max the Flyer fan"

 Our Lady of Victory…pray for us!!!