2:00 AM
This post is not a plea for pity. It is not written seeking praise. It is simply meant to be a snapshot in the life of an average Roman Catholic priest.
It is 2:02 am and I am just getting back to the rectory. Earlier I received a call from a man whose wife is not expected to make it through the night. He wanted a priest to come to the hospital to pray with him, his wife and his family. As I stepped from the elevator the family greeted me with solemn faces that looked to me to do something to take away the anxiety, the pain, the uncertainty that comes with waiting outside an intensive care unit in the early hours of the morning. They told me they hoped I would bring a miracle. I offered to pray with them, hoping it would be God who could bring a miracle. Much of what priests do in this situation is to offer prayers on behalf of people who are so distressed that they are unable to themselves, but most of all we simply make Christ visible through our presence. I left the hospital after having celebrated the anointing of the sick and offering what words of comfort I could and drove home knowing it would be difficult to sleep.
Recently our news media has been giving a fair amount of press to the Catholic Church. Much of that press has to do once again with accusations of sexual abuse of minors or the mishandling of abuse by bishops. Some of what has been reported is credible and for this we should praise the media for bringing the truth to light. It seems also to me that some of what has recently been reported is simply shoddy journalism with an agenda against Catholicism. In our own diocese we are currently dealing with the revelations of one of my brother priests who has admitted to abusing children, and although the abuse reported happened 25 years ago, the effects of it are just as harmful today. It is painful to know that more often than not the news in the near future will focus more in our diocese on the sins of one priest than on the virtue of many more who simply want to be carriers of God’s love to others.
Whenever abuse by priests is brought to light, people bring up how it must feel to be unjustly judged by others who throw all priests into the camp of being pedophiles. This is true to a great extent. There are many who look upon priests as a symbol of all the negative things they have ever experienced in the Catholic Church. However, there are also those who see a man in a collar and judge him just as inaccurately to be a saint. Both extremes are frequently off the mark. My experience with most priests is that they are neither extreme sinners, nor saints, but simply men who are attempting to live lives of holiness while serving others with the gifts God has given to them.
I am not a perfect priest, nor a perfect Christian. On my best days I try hard to bring God’s love to those he places in my path. My hope is that most days I will succeed and that when I fail I have the courage to get up and try again.
Please pray for priests. We need your prayers more than you know.
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