It has been a good while since I checked my own blog! Forgot how to add things.
But I have a 50 year "golden anniversary" of my Ordination coming up this year, so thought I might post some reflections.
It has been a good 50 years. I've been assigned to various work in our Franciscan Province out here on the West coast. Mostly smaller parishes, as 'associate' and a couple of times as Pastor. A bit of teaching in the religion course at Catholic High Schools. Some Retreat work. A stint as Chaplain at the California Drug Rehabilitation Center, a state prison. Did a course in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling and some training in Transactional Analysis. Some work with the Native Americans on the Tohono O'hdham Reservation outside of Tucson. And some time as Chaplain at the University of California at Riverside, CA.
Moving from Sacramento to Spokane to the mission stations associated with Tularosa, N.M. to Tigard OR. to Spokane again, to Parker, AZ. and then to the Reservation and after that to U.C. Riverside and then to our Retreat House at Las Cruces, NM. That took me into the Counseling courses, while living at our Old Mission San Luis Rey, and then into the Prison work. Some "Sabbatical time" while I got one of the first Mac computers and learned what I could do with it. And eventually Pastor at old Mission San Antonio in California. Back to the Tohono O'dham Reservation for a while, followed by a year helping out in a Diocesan parish in Apache Junction, AZ. and eventually here to Old Mission Santa Barbara, working with an intentional community that worships on Sundays at the former seminary Chapel here.
Over the course of time and experience and reading a study and reflection I find a lot of the concepts of "being priest" that I started out with have undergone changes.
While in Spokane the second time the Vatican Council was happening. Together with some people of the parish there we tried to discuss and understand the documents as they were being published. Eventually the people said that they really did not quite 'get into' all of the "churchese" language. So we started to take the topic sentences from all the paragraphs, figure out what "question" they seemed to be responding to, and eventually developed a digest of all of the documents that made a comprehensive study based on and relating all of them to the central document of the Constitution on the Church.
One of the more helpful "insights" that came from this work was that we ought to start with the "Declaration on Religious Freedom" about how people came to reach Religious Truths, as well as other truths; and the Document on Scripture and Revelation, giving guidelines on our present understanding and interpretation and use of Scripture.
Eventually, while in Parker AZ, I had opportunity to mimeograph all of it, and we used it in the parish week by week to understand it and to apply it as we went along.
When I got the Mac computer I re-typed the whole thing into a computerized form. I still use it as a quick reference when I want to find out what the Vatican Council was all about.
Which leads me to reflections on "priesthood" and what it ought to be.
By the time of the Council the theological consenus that became recognized as approved Doctrine was that the Bishop is "the priest" in the Diocese, and he "ordains" helpers to "extend the presence and ministry of the Bishop."
It seems to me that opens up the need to do considerable reflection and study about ministry in the Church. The presence and ministry of the Bishop is already, and ought to be, and needs to be extended through a lot of people who have the gift and training and ability to do the particular ministry. A lot of what we used to consider "reserved" to "the priest" can and should be done by many others. Perhaps the "priestly function" can be sub-divided and people ought to be ordained or appointed to do their ministry in the name of the Bishop.
So we struggle, at present, between re-inforcing the concept of "priest" that existed when I was ordained and moving to consider a whole new concept of priest.
When I give my talk at my Golden Jubilee celebration I am considering that I will say that if someone asked me to be ordained under the concept that existed 50 years ago, I would not really choose to do it.
I just think that the truth of Scripture understanding, the whole reach of history, and our resulting theology does not support that older understanding.
Maybe that's enough for this particular "blog." I'll come back and expand on it later on. Maybe after I figure out those ways for people to make some kind of response to what I post, so that I can be in some kind of conversation and discussion here.
But I have a 50 year "golden anniversary" of my Ordination coming up this year, so thought I might post some reflections.
It has been a good 50 years. I've been assigned to various work in our Franciscan Province out here on the West coast. Mostly smaller parishes, as 'associate' and a couple of times as Pastor. A bit of teaching in the religion course at Catholic High Schools. Some Retreat work. A stint as Chaplain at the California Drug Rehabilitation Center, a state prison. Did a course in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling and some training in Transactional Analysis. Some work with the Native Americans on the Tohono O'hdham Reservation outside of Tucson. And some time as Chaplain at the University of California at Riverside, CA.
Moving from Sacramento to Spokane to the mission stations associated with Tularosa, N.M. to Tigard OR. to Spokane again, to Parker, AZ. and then to the Reservation and after that to U.C. Riverside and then to our Retreat House at Las Cruces, NM. That took me into the Counseling courses, while living at our Old Mission San Luis Rey, and then into the Prison work. Some "Sabbatical time" while I got one of the first Mac computers and learned what I could do with it. And eventually Pastor at old Mission San Antonio in California. Back to the Tohono O'dham Reservation for a while, followed by a year helping out in a Diocesan parish in Apache Junction, AZ. and eventually here to Old Mission Santa Barbara, working with an intentional community that worships on Sundays at the former seminary Chapel here.
Over the course of time and experience and reading a study and reflection I find a lot of the concepts of "being priest" that I started out with have undergone changes.
While in Spokane the second time the Vatican Council was happening. Together with some people of the parish there we tried to discuss and understand the documents as they were being published. Eventually the people said that they really did not quite 'get into' all of the "churchese" language. So we started to take the topic sentences from all the paragraphs, figure out what "question" they seemed to be responding to, and eventually developed a digest of all of the documents that made a comprehensive study based on and relating all of them to the central document of the Constitution on the Church.
One of the more helpful "insights" that came from this work was that we ought to start with the "Declaration on Religious Freedom" about how people came to reach Religious Truths, as well as other truths; and the Document on Scripture and Revelation, giving guidelines on our present understanding and interpretation and use of Scripture.
Eventually, while in Parker AZ, I had opportunity to mimeograph all of it, and we used it in the parish week by week to understand it and to apply it as we went along.
When I got the Mac computer I re-typed the whole thing into a computerized form. I still use it as a quick reference when I want to find out what the Vatican Council was all about.
Which leads me to reflections on "priesthood" and what it ought to be.
By the time of the Council the theological consenus that became recognized as approved Doctrine was that the Bishop is "the priest" in the Diocese, and he "ordains" helpers to "extend the presence and ministry of the Bishop."
It seems to me that opens up the need to do considerable reflection and study about ministry in the Church. The presence and ministry of the Bishop is already, and ought to be, and needs to be extended through a lot of people who have the gift and training and ability to do the particular ministry. A lot of what we used to consider "reserved" to "the priest" can and should be done by many others. Perhaps the "priestly function" can be sub-divided and people ought to be ordained or appointed to do their ministry in the name of the Bishop.
So we struggle, at present, between re-inforcing the concept of "priest" that existed when I was ordained and moving to consider a whole new concept of priest.
When I give my talk at my Golden Jubilee celebration I am considering that I will say that if someone asked me to be ordained under the concept that existed 50 years ago, I would not really choose to do it.
I just think that the truth of Scripture understanding, the whole reach of history, and our resulting theology does not support that older understanding.
Maybe that's enough for this particular "blog." I'll come back and expand on it later on. Maybe after I figure out those ways for people to make some kind of response to what I post, so that I can be in some kind of conversation and discussion here.
posted by Leo at
Thursday, January 30, 2003
