Priesthood of the laity

Enriching the inner journey

by Warren Johnson

There have been many letters in recent weeks about the shortage of priests. Perhaps the problem of the shortage of priests will be resolved when we return to our original tradition. In the words of Diarmuid O’Murchu “We are invited to re-vision afresh our celebration of Eucharist, attempting to reclaim the original tradition of the sacred meal – celebrated initially in people’s homes.” (Quantum Theology, Spiritual Implications of the New Physics-Revised and Updated, 2004, p. 95)   This is not so extraordinary as to require shocked disbelief because the Church tells us that we are all priests. Article 1268 in The Catechism of the Catholic Church says of the laity that “By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…”

Could these words have much more meaning than has so far been acknowledged? Does the usual theological distinction between the common priesthood of the laity and the ordained or ministerial priesthood always mean that only the ordained priesthood can ever celebrate the Mass? Perhaps what Christ says about a request to the heavenly Father means that He has given the laity, when acting together, the faculty of concelebrating Mass as ‘a royal priesthood’ and ‘sharers in the priesthood of Christ’.

Again I tell you this: if two of you agree on earth about any request you have to make, that request will be granted by my heavenly Father. For where two or three have met together in my name I am there among them.  Mt. 18:19-20    

Perhaps the Church could prescribe appropriate procedures and requirements so that it would be possible for the laity, with Christ present among them, to make a request to the Heavenly Father to concelebrate the Mass and the request would be granted. Christ’s words suggest that the original tradition of celebrating the Eucharist as the sacred meal in people’s homes, in the specific and limited circumstances that Christ mentions, and in accordance with the requirements of the Church should always have continued.

There would not be the same liturgy and perhaps there would be much more silence but then maybe Evelyn Underhill was right in saying that there is “too much of human attitudes and doings in the foreground of religious worship.” (quoted in Brenda & Stuart Blanch, eds., Heaven a Dance - An Evelyn Underhill Anthology, 1992 p 99)  In the Mass as we know it there is “little time for silence and contemplation of the mysteries celebrated, either before the liturgy begins or at points during it.” (Thomas P. Rausch, Reconciling Faith and Reason - Apologists, Evangelists, and Theologians in a Divided Church, 2000, p94)   This seems strange when we are told that “Prayer is not a matter of talking to God but of listening to Him.” (Laurence Freeman, Jesus – The Teacher Within, 2002, p208)  and Christ has told us to use few words when we pray.

Some churches, the Quakers, for example, fully value silence to this day and conduct their services largely in an atmosphere of silence. (Marsha Sinetar, Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics,1986, p147) There is the story of Mother Teresa being asked what she said to God when she prayed and she said “I don’t say anything I just listen.” When asked what God said to her she said “He doesn’t say anything either. He just listens.”  She then said “But you will not understand this unless you experience it for yourself.”

Accepting that the priesthood of the laity means that, in the prescribed circumstances, the laity can concelebrate Mass would be of great benefit in alleviating or even eliminating the problem mentioned by Bishop Stecher of Austria back in 1997.  He wrote that millions of people were denied the sacraments because there are not enough priests. (William Johnston, Arise, My Love-Mysticism for a New Era, 2000, p 219)    The problem is so severe that Peter Steinfels, who writes for The New York Times, mentions the possibility of the “rethinking of priesthood and its current forms in church life and law”. (A People Adrift - The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America, 2003, pp. 343)

He is not talking about the priesthood of the laity but what he says about the ordained or ministerial priesthood may have some implications for the priesthood of the laity. He mentions that in the future there might be ordained or ministerial priests who are part-time or who have limited faculties and so would not need the traditional education of priests. He then says “while priestly duties requiring more extended education (hearing confessions, preparing people personally or hiring staff to prepare people for other sacraments) would be reserved to a full-time priest---.” (ibid  p 344) Perhaps full time priests would be involved in conferring the limited faculty of concelebrating the Mass within parishes.

It might also have great consequences for healing the split between religion and spirituality given the words of Cardinal Bernardin that the real work of priests with the people can be obscured. (Bishop Stecher quoted in William Johnson, op. cit., p. 135)   If the role of ordained or ministerial full-time priests was redefined so as to focus more on those responsibilities that require more education then they could be trained as spiritual directors. This does not necessarily seem to be the case at present. It has been said that “Some priests and ministers report that the word ‘spirituality’ hardly entered their training at theological institutes and seminaries…” (David Tacey, The Spirituality Revolution-the emergence of contemporary spirituality, 2003, p 204)   Such training would mean there would be ministering to the laity in the fullest possible sense of the word.                     

Warren Johnson, of Sydney, believes that spirituality is about the inner journey to the Kingdom of God.  Christ tells us to make the inner journey when He says ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’ and ‘the Kingdom of God is within.’

His concern is that meditation - the most obvious, but not only, way, to make the inner journey - is not a main stream activity or even a mainstream option in the Catholic Church. He looks forward to the day when the inner journey and meditation again have their rightful place in the Church, with the sacraments, because each enriches the other.   This kind of spirituality needs small communities (in networks in parishes) and these need the priesthood of the laity. But Pope Paul II did say in section 72 of his encyclical Fides et ratio that ‘it is the duty of Christians now to draw from this rich heritage’ of Eastern spirituality ‘the elements compatible with their faith in order to enrich Christian thought-’ and so he continues to call himself a Zen catholic.