The privilege of the priesthood

I’ve been thinking a lot about priesthood lately. It is an occupational hazard working at a seminary.

One of the “tensions” in the theology of the priesthood is the affirmation that the sacramental character of ordination sets the priest apart and gives him a unique relationship with Christ. Specifically, he is conformed to Christ as head, unlike the laity. 

In his book, Alter Christus: priestly holiness on earth and in eternity (Sophia Institute Press, 2022), Fr. Ezra Sullivan asserts that the priest is a friend of Christ in a more intimate way than the lay person. 

Some friendships spring up because of family relations, or from acquaintance in a neighborhood, at school, or at work. Every Christian in a state of grace, even now, experiences something of friendship and transforming union with God. God's friendship for a priest is derived from the ontological bond established in the Sacrament of Ordination. Hence, priests have a special privilege of being called into God's "inner circle," as Christ said to His disciples: "No longer do I call you servants ... but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15: 15). He is such a good friend toward priests that He seeks priests out: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide" (John 15: 16). Aristotle famously observed that a friend is "another self." 326 This is much truer than he ever realized. The special vocation of a priest, his particular call, is to be such a close friend of Jesus of Nazareth that, when others see the priest, they also see Christ. This friendship begins in this life and will be fully realized in the next. Through Sacred Ordination, the priest is empowered to act as a living extension of his friend in the celebration of Holy Mass, and graces are made available to him in order to continually “incarnate” Christ in himself. [emphasis mine]

This, of course, gets the goat of the typical American egalitarian, who can’t stand any implication that someone may in fact in some way have a superior status than the rest of us. One thinks of the article in America Magazine by Fr. Jim McDermott “I’m a Catholic priest. But please don’t call me Father”, who emphasizes that he is just like anyone else. This aversion to ascribing a more intimate friendship with to priests is especially strong because of our sense that clericalism is a big problem and may have in part been responsible for the abuse scandal. 

The phrase “inner circle” makes one think of C.S. Lewis’s essay, “The Inner Ring,” and, of course the series of concentric “inner rings” in That Hideous Strength. That there is an insidious inner ring among the clergy is a very common trope these days, which has been exacerbated by the McCarrick affair. 

On the other hand, Lewis himself doesn’t think “rings” can be avoided, nor should they be, so long as they aren’t aimed at or used for self-aggrandizement or nefarious purposes. 

There must be confidential discussions: and it is not only a bad thing, it is (in itself) a good thing, that personal friendship should grow up between those who work together. And it is perhaps impossible that the official hierarchy of any organisation should coincide with its actual workings. 

It is the desire to be “in” and therefore have a certain power that others don’t have that is the problem. On the other hand, Jesus himself made distinctions between the Apostles and his “inner circle,” Peter, James, and John. They had privileges and intimacy that the others didn’t have. Although I accept the Gospel’s judgment that Judas was motivated by greed, I wonder if he also wasn’t motivated by jealousy of the “inner circle.” And, of course, there is the beloved disciple, as if the others weren’t beloved. 

The solution, of course, is humility. “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you” (Jas. 4:10). Perhaps that is Fr. McDermott’s point. On the other hand, accepting a title you don’t feel worthy of is itself an act of humility. 

The specific attitude is for a priest to stay focused on the pursuit of holiness and on his mission. As Lewis says:

The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public: nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain.  

I have no reason to be jealous of priests because of their privileged, even exalted position. 

And, besides, I want a priest to be a father to me, even if he is 26.