The Stereotypical Priest
Last week the priests of the Dioceses of Knoxville and Nashville were blessed to welcome Msgr. Edward Arsenault and Msgr. Stephen Rossetti at our annual convocation at Fall Creek Falls. Both had great wisdom to share with us on the priesthood and how to live as a healthy and happy priest. Msgr. Rossetti began his presentation by first sharing the typical stereotype of priesthood today:
Because of celibacy and their work, priests are lonely, isolated and burned out people. They would be better off married. They have little satisfaction in their lives and little intimacy. They find themselves frustrated and unhappy. Moreover, in the wake of the crisis, morale among priests is very low. Overall, it is an unhappy, unsatisfying life. As one mother said when asked about her child becoming a priest, “I don’t want my son to live like that.”
Of course we have all heard similar statements about the priesthood, but I find these are usually made by those who have little contact with priests, other than seeing them portrayed in movies or on television or perhaps seeing them once a week at mass. There are many assumptions that are made about men who enter the priesthood that for the most part don’t match the reality of our lives.
Msgr. Rossetti decided that the best way to find out how happy or unhappy priests are would be to ask them. He conducted two different studies that examined the spirituality and psychological wellness of priests in the United States. The first was completed in 2004 and the second in 2009. I hope to comment on a few of his findings in this post and perhaps one or two future posts. Much of what he found seems logical, though there were some surprises as well.
One of the topics that brought some of the best discussion was Rossetti’s presentation regarding the morale of priests today. He found that in 2004, 80% of priests reported having a good morale, with 87% reporting the good morale in 2009. Curiously, when asked about other priests’ morale only 38% believed that morale was good. Msgr. Rossetti then asked us the question, “Why would some priests say, ‘My morale is good, but everyone else’s is bad?’” A small group of us bounced around this question and came up with a few thoughts as to why this might be. Perhaps we fall prey just like everyone else to listening to what is reported by the media about priests. We reflected on the fact that when we see one another we often talk more about the challenges we are having than the things that bring us satisfaction. But I think ultimately we came to the conclusion that while our work often is stressful, challenging and we are often called upon to do more than is humanly possible for one person, we enjoy what we do. One of my biggest fears is that we come off too often as being overly busy not only to one another, but to our parishioners. There is some reality to the full schedules most priests have, but my own feeling is that if we find ourselves “too busy” for our parishioners, then we are too busy.
Msgr. Rossetti spoke also about the happiness of priests and what are the factors that typically lead to being happy in priestly ministry. I hope to comment on those findings in the near future.
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