Dear people of Arundel & Brighton
When the Pope is elected, he's given a new white car. So last year Pope Benedict sold his old green Volkswagen. You may remember that it got into the news because when the new buyer checked the documents, he noticed who the previous owner was. The story made it onto the programme 'Have I Got News For You' and it was reported how the new owner sold the car on, at a higher price. And the car was sold a third time at an even higher price - so, as the presenter said, on the third day it rose again.
It was interesting that the joke made the studio audience laugh. In other words they understood the religious reference to rising on the third day, even though (statistically) most of them would not have been church-goers. It seems that, for all the secularisation of our society, there is still a religious memory.
This is certainly true of the figure of the priest. The priest is a recognisable character for TV drama and comedy, the priest is the butt of jokes, the priest is a symbol of care and hope - remember how the picture of the New York Fire Department Chaplain being carried dead from the rubble of the twin towers became so poignant and important for people.
So we all know who the priest is, and we all know - more or less - what the priest does, and this is partly true even of non-believers. But do we ever stop and think about it? We probably find that we think instead about what he hasn't done. Certainly, in the past, it's been easy to take the priest for granted and assume that he will just get on with his job. But what is his job? The priest would say that what he does is not a 'job' anyway. It's not well paid and you don't stop being a priest, even on holiday.
In 2002 the Vatican published a document on priests called The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community. I appreciate that not all priests are actually leaders of parish communities - some are working to form future priests or doing other diocesan jobs, others have retired from active ministry - but for most people their experience of the priest is in the parish.
The picture that the documents presents is, in some sense, an idealised one that it would be difficult to live up to. Priests are imperfect human beings too, but at the same time they are dedicated, hard-working and loyal people.
I think there are two particularly important points the document makes about the role and identity of the priest, important for us at this time and in this place.
The first is the relationship of the parish community to the rest of the universal Church. The document says that "a parish is a specific community of the christifideles (Christ's faithful people)… whose pastoral care is entrusted to a parish priest as its own shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop." It goes on to emphasise how this "intrinsic bond with the diocesan community and the bishop, and his communion with the successor of Peter, ensure the parochial community's membership of the universal Church." In other words, being part of a diocese is not just a structural or administrative relationship. It is the way of ensuring that we remain in communion with the Pope and the authentic teaching of Christ passed down through the Church. Where this bond between parish community and diocese is weakened or threatened, so is the bond between that community and the universal Church, and therefore its claim to be authentically Catholic. It is one of the first questions you ask of a Catholic: "What parish do you belong to?" If the answer is "none", then where is that person's Catholic identity (unless they belong to a religious community)? The priest has a crucial role in fostering this true sense of authentic parish community within the diocese and universal Church.
The second relationship the document stresses cannot be separated from the first. The document refers to Pope John Paul II's millennium document Novo Millennio Ineunte, and the seven pastoral priorities it presented. The first of those is the call to holiness, and the 2002 document on the priest makes it clear that "the call to holiness requires that the Christian life is understood as a following of Christ, or of being conformed to Christ." It warns against a sort of "'Christianity' lacking any real reference to Christ and his Church." This can become a vague concern with 'values' or purely social concerns. The Church's genuine social concern is deeply rooted in Christ, in that it regards each person as a person made in the image of Christ. But it is not primarily the image that we are seeking, not a picture or substitute, but the very person of Christ himself. And that personal seeking will only find its goal through the next two millennium priorities Pope John Paul II identified: they are prayer and the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. Here the role of the priest again is crucial, because it must be the priest, first of all, who gathers the community in prayer and encourages in the people a conscious, personal devotion, and invites them to full participation in the Eucharist.
On the Wednesday before Easter, in a little over six weeks, the diocese will gather for the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral. There, with me, the priests, deacons, religious and members of parishes will come together to express our sense of diocesan community.
And we will do it in the context of Mass, because we know that there we have the greatest opportunity for the most intimate encounter with Christ. There, too, the priests will renew their priestly promises to dedicate themselves to Christ, to unite themselves more closely to him, to celebrate the Eucharist and teach the people. You will be asked to pray for them. I would also ask you to pray for vocations to the priesthood, and encourage those who you feel might be looking at this way of life. For all its challenges and the complaints they have about their people and their bishop, most priests will tell you (if asked) that it is something that gives them a profound sense of personal fulfilment.
Over the next six weeks of Lent, we are called to do all of those things. We are called to be truly Catholic Church of bishop, clergy, religious and lay people in Arundel & Brighton, and to hear again the call to draw close to the person of Jesus Christ our Saviour. I wish you all God's blessings in this holy season.
Rt. Rev. Kieran Conry
Bishop of Arundel and Brighton
