Priestly formation workshops are held captive
to self-esteem facilitators
bent on demythologizing the faith.

Priesthood without Christ?

By John J. Lombardi

We can live no life apart from Christ.

+Ignatius of Antioch

n Beware of the buzzwords: Small groups and processing. Goal setting, agenda items and self-esteem. Story-telling, facilitators and imaging. Brokenness, wounded healers and self-actualization. And, oh yes, newspaper print.

When you hear these signal words, do you cringe? Do you feel imprisoned when these phrases fly around at church gatherings?

I was a spiritual hostage for three days at a priest convocation last Autumn; it was one of the most difficult, absurd and sad events of my priesthood. Next time I vow to escape.

Catholic priestly formation workshops are held captive these days- to self-esteem facilitators bent on demythologizing the faith and replacing it with psychobabble. Jung has taken over the altar with acolytes who see the soul and ministry of priests as fertile ground for therapy.

What would St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests, make of this?

There has been, in the last couple decades, an attempt at strengthening the priesthood through workshops, retreats and convocations. Sociologists, psychologists, theologians and sometimes even spiritual directors have been called in to help diocesan and religious priests nurture and recommit to their priesthood. Some of these programs have worked, some have not.

Much work is needed, for sure. Priests and bishops have problems up to their ecclesiastical noses: celibacy, pedophilia, vocations, priestly image are only a few of the burning issues for post-Vatican II discernment.

Who, what is a priest today? And how can he function in today's world? To respond to these questions, many--priests themselves, bishops and personnel directors--have either chosen, or resorted to, the therapeutic roads of spiritual psychology and self-actualization.

The contours of these roads include:

The talking cure-if we talk about the problem, "issue" or agenda item long enough, we'll be able to solve it. The Tower of Babel redux: we fashion ourselves in place of God's grace.

Accentuating the self: the self in need of development, the self longing for healing and the self desirous of fulfillment-to the detriment of Christ's relation to the priest.

Emphasis on self-esteem and personal happiness while clouding out the need of sacrifice and asceticism.

The community and ministry as center of priesthood with Christ as a sometimes secondary addition.

An action-oriented, existentialist form of priesthood to the demise of an ontological/pneumaticological view.

Priest as manager/social worker/mobilizer versus spiritual director.

This is supremely sad, as was my experience at the convocation. In our tradition we have prophets and mystics at our spiritual disposal-Catherine of Siena, John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi, just to name a triad of possibilities-and we are choosing (because it's "spiritually correct") or resorting to (because there are no other agreeable methods or presenters) the jargon and practice of religion as twelve-step healing or self-dynamics.

This school is dangerous: it centers not on Christ, but on the subject, the priest himself, as the central concern of priesthood-a spiritual collapse into the endless vortex of self-analysis. This "subjectivism" is rampant in today's culture of narcissism: we tend to think self-healing, happiness and wholeness are the goals of the spiritual life; forget sacrifice, holiness and alter Christus .

Example: at our convocation process was king, not Christ. Emphasis was on sharing our feelings; the delineations of small and large groups; doing the "newspaper print thing"; coming up with new and meaningful images of priesthood.

After three hours of this, it was obvious: groupthink. Christ the Master was missing. Oh, he was mentioned a couple times, but there was no presentation of Christ as essence of priesthood. The "Intentions for the Convocation" statement reads like a signal flare for spiritual therapy: "By getting in touch with their own image of priesthood and with those of other priests, the participants will be more accepting of a richer variety of images, experience a deeper meaning of priesthood and have a greater sense of self-esteem and belonging to priesthood."

If the words priest/priesthood weren't mentioned in this statement, you might think you were at a men's gathering ready to bang some kettle drums and hug the inner child. Robert Bly, Scott Peck and Leo Buscalia have invaded and, I fear, have taken over.

Processing, self-esteem and Socratic sophistication have become the golden calves of modern priesthood and groupthink. There is a huge lack of emphasis on (take your pick): Jesus Christ; the role of prayer in a priest's life; contemplative prayer; Marian and Eucharistic spirituality; cultivating spiritual devotions. Most of these were never mentioned at our convocation.

After a morning when we had no communal prayer (the first thing omitted, because "time and the final presentation were essential"), I asked the leader of the formation team if he could offer a prayer before the last session. He said it was not his responsibility and that I must get approval from my diocesan planning team. After this surrealistic response I realigned my blood cells and, thinking he misunderstood my request, said I was asking only for a spontaneous, simple prayer. He said we would reconvene and immediately finish watching the video without interruption. I caught my breath, and assertively made some other points, and the priest-a religious-walked away, saying he had to go to the bathroom.

No wonder priesthood is in demise; it is not filled with mystical passion. We are seen largely as a bunch of bureaucratic figureheads-the fire, the passion of living Christ in the world is dead in process. The holy hour has been replaced by the happy hour.

The presenters of this convocation were good at the spiritual version of post-modernism: everything's in flux, forget the "old system"; "revelation" happens through us and we need to create "new paradigms" for priesthood; let's reimagine ministry. Whatever happened to mystical theology, the Bible and Christocentric spirituality in all this?

At one of the "sharing sessions" we were asked to talk about images of priesthood that were "meaningful" to us and then put them up on newsprint for all to see (including the hotel staff waiting on us). After hearing images like priest as "Eveready bunny" and "crabpot" (an arcane image unique to Maryland priests!), I volunteered the image of Christ. The facilitator of my group said "Christ" was not an image; it/he is a person. I responded saying he is an image: icon means image. The facilitator rejected the suggestion. Now there's a bunny on newsprint somewhere as an image of priesthood. I did four years of seminary studies for this?

When we priests ask our parishioners at Mass to pray for us as we leave for a convocation, they get a misty-eyed look, perhaps thinking, "Father is going on a spiritual retreat-how beautiful!" Do they really know what we're up to? These convocations are scandalous when compared to the real spiritual hunger that the laity desire, embody and demand.

One of the discussion questions during our convocation was "Focus on the (priestly) image that best expressed how you felt and who you were at that time. Be concrete: Were you an orchestra leader? Were you putting ketchup back in a bottle after it was spilled over? "

Get the message?

Today we priests are seen licking our wounds, processing our concerns and sharing some drinks as part of priestly fraternity. Is this how we'll attract new vocations?

Don't get me wrong. There is good that comes from such gatherings; we do need a firm commitment to priestly solidarity and spiritual individuation-no question about this. But the pendulum has shifted: in the past, perhaps, there was little concern about the body, the psyche and human feelings in priesthood-we needed to correct that. But today, the pendulum seems fixated: self-esteem, fellowship and re-imaging priesthood just won't cut it. Horizontal and psychological spirituality in isolation are the death knell for thirsting souls and a hungering Church.

The best advice any spiritual advisor ever gave me was simple, timeless and challenging: Christ and prayer should be THE center of your priesthood-before all else. It is the burning love the saints describe as central to every Christian. And this spiritual doctrine naturally and necessarily leads to community and service. The interior life leads to the exterior adventure: it cannot be the other way around. Ask Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Francis of Assisi or St. Ignatius Loyola.

Mystical theology is not antithetical to psychology or modern science. It was St. Catherine of Siena who said, "In your nature, O Eternal Godhead, I discover my nature." Self-discovery and revelation is subjected, and complementary, to spirituality.

The Rev. Robert Barron wrote in the Summer 1994 issue of Church magazine one of the finest essays on priesthood I've ever read, including this beautiful observation:

The priest of Jesus Christ is, first and foremost, a mystagogue, one who bears the Mystery and initiates others into it. At the heart of the Christian faith is a confrontation with the all-grounding and all-encompassing mystery of Being itself, which is God. The believer is grasped, shaken, overwhelmed by a powerful force, which in Jesus Christ is revealed as wild, passionate, unconditional love. Without a sense of that ever fascinating and uncontrollable power, the church becomes, at best, a social welfare organization or a self-help society.

Today, we priests need not so much sharing as shaking up; we need passion more than analytical paralysis. We need Christ back in the priesthood. n