Our People

Priest – A Man Set Apart

Opening Address for the Seminary Year of 2006

By Most Rev. Julian Porteous
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
13/2/2006

The diocesan priest lives in the midst of the world. He is at the front line of the presence of the Church in the lives of people. Increasingly the cultural environment in which the priest ministers to people is heavily marked by secular post modernism. People no longer live within a discernable Christian milieu. There are few everyday signs of faith and Christian culture. People struggle to have a sense of the presence of God in their lives. The spiritual dimension of each person is drowned under the constant barrage of enticements to the senses. Life is busy, noisy and superficially engaging.

The diocesan priest is concerned daily with the sacramental and pastoral needs of the people, and these are many. If the priesthood is not just to become a functional role, we need to explore more closely the inner dynamic of the priesthood and to see more clearly its potential.

The seminary has the task of preparing the next generation of priests. In a particular way it has a responsibility to ensure that the priests that emerge from their period of formation are well ready to tackle the particular challenges of the age.

A great deal of attention has been given to the pastoral role of the priest. The Synod of Bishops that gave rise to the great document on the formation of priests, Pastores dabo vobis, gave particular attention to the pastoral role of priests. Indeed, the image of Christ the Good Shepherd was presented as a key image of the role of priest as shepherd of the people.

Another line of consideration for an understanding of the nature of the priesthood, one that has been traditionally referred to, is found in the teaching of the Letter to the Hebrews. The early chapters of this letter provide a rich reflection on the priesthood of Jesus Christ, comparing it with the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament.

Chapter 5 begins with words very familiar to priests, “Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”[1] This text highlights the cultic and sacramental dimension of priestly service. A priest is one who is chosen. He is chosen ultimately by God – “You did not choose me, no I chose you.”[2] The priest, in order to be ordained, is chosen by the Church. The candidate for ordination is presented to the bishop and the bishop says, “We rely on the help of the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and we choose these men, our brothers, for priesthood in the presbyteral order.”[3]  

Being chosen means being set aside for a special work. The Scripture is full of accounts of the selection by God of individuals to carry out a specific role as part of God’s plan. A priest carries this consciousness. He has been set aside for a particular role. God intends to use him for “his own kind purposes.”[4] Being set aside means that our life and vocation are no longer of our own making. It is not what we may be able to do for God, but rather what God is able to do through us.

In a particular way being “put in charge of the things pertaining to God” finds expression in sacramental moments – baptising, absolving, anointing and saying Mass. These are things only a priest can do. Yet it is not just the functional doing of these priestly acts, but being a conscious instrument of the grace of God touching the life of the individual believer. Sacraments are efficacious in their own right, but their full efficacy in the life of the believer can be immeasurably enhanced by the strong sense of faith and, indeed, expectation that accompanies the sacramental moment.

A man in becoming a priest is ontologically transformed. His very being is changed. He participates in the priesthood of Christ. Christ, the Priest, acts in and through him. His whole identity is radically refashioned. St Paul declared as a great act of his personal faith: “For me to live is Christ.”[5] Every priest, by virtue of his ordination, can likewise profess the same. Christ, in his priesthood, becomes the principle of the individual priest’s identity.

A priest then stands in the midst of the secular culture of our day as a man set apart. He no longer belongs to the common run of people, even of Christians. He is a priest in their midst. He is a Man of God. He belongs not to this world, but to the Reign of God.

As a priest he will be a sign of contradiction, and at times a subject of persecution or rejection. He will be a mystery to many. He will be a reminder of the Divine to others preoccupied with the present.

To those who have faith or are seeking God, he will be a man to whom they will turn. He will be a consolation to many in moments of darkness and struggle. He will be a source of hope. He will be loved deeply by those who see him as a spiritual father.

His life may appear outwardly ordinary and uneventful, some would even say a waste, but his life will be rich in spiritual moments when grace powerfully moves and lives are transformed. He will build up treasures not here, but in heaven.

He is simply a man set apart for the things of God.