A former Archbishop of Washington was known to often remark, “There’s nothing deader than a dead priest.” Some wondered as to the meaning of this expression, and those who knew him the best explained that it was a sort of version of the old Latin expression Corruptio optime pessima (The corruption of the best is the worst thing of all).
Of all the men on the planet who need to be alive, vocal, clear, and active, the priest is one of the most critical. For if he is doing as he should, and like a herald, summoning the faithful to be true to the gospel. He can reach thousands, who in turn can reach thousands more. But if he fails, the whole chain of the gospel is broken at the critical link and falls to the ground.
The same Archbishop also told us priests that if we did not go to bed tired most nights, something was wrong. There is nothing deader than a dead priest.
Two images from Pope St. Gregory the Great come to mind in this regard. He writes them in his Pastoral Rule, which is must reading for every priest. But every father of a family and every leader in the Church can also benefit from Gregory’s reflections. Both images are drawn from the ancient Jewish Law in reference to the priests and Levites.
The first image pertains to the priest’s duty to work hard:
Both the breast and the right shoulder [of the sacrificed animal] are offered to the priest for food so that he may learn from the sacrifice that he has received to offer a corresponding sacrifice to the Creator of all things (Lev 10:14-15). Thus, not only is he to have right thoughts in his breast, but by putting his own shoulder to good works he invites to sublime heights those who watch him (Pastoral Rule II.3).
So, it is not enough for the priest to be learned in orthodoxy. That is clearly essential. But he must also be willing to work hard in proclaiming and teaching the doctrinally orthodox faith by patient and persistent work. He teaches not with words only, but also by his works and by his manner of life. He cannot merely speak of prayer, he must pray; he cannot merely warn of greed, he must live simply and humbly; he cannot merely speak of chastity, he must live chastely; he cannot merely counsel love, he must love. To adapt an old expression, he must live faith, heart and shoulder above the rest.
The second image pertains to his duty to speak, to preach:
Moses was enjoined that when a priest goes into the tabernacle, he should be canvassed with little bells, a sign that he must have a voice for preaching, or else by his silence he provoke the judgment of Him who sees everything from above. For it is written, “So that the sound is heard is heard when he entered and exits the sanctuary in the sight of the Lord, so that he may not die” (Ex 28:35). For the priest who enters and exits will die if a sound is not heard from him because he provokes the wrath of the hidden Judge if he goes about without the sound of preaching.
The bells are appropriately described as being inserted into his vestments because what else are we to understand the vestments of the priest to be but good works? The psalmist attests this when he says, “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness” (Ps 131:9). The little bells therefore are fixed to the vestment to signify that the works of the priest should be proclaimed by the sound of his voice and the way of his life (Rule II.4).
Pope Gregory’s ability to see the significance of seemingly small things is magnificent. Here he draws on the simple truth that the High Priest, gone into the Holy of Holies, wore a vestment with sounding bells. And as long as he moved and said the prayers the bells rang, signaling that he was alive before the Lord of Glory. But if the bells (of preaching) fell silent, then he was surely dead, for no sound came from him. All that could be done was to drag his dead body from the Holy place by the rope that was tied to his ankle.
The Image is clear: no sound, no life. A silent priest is a dead priest. And there is nothing deader than a dead priest. He is good for nothing but to be dragged from the Holy Place and buried underfoot.
Let priests and bishops who have ears hear. Let all leaders in the Church who have ears hear! Let parents, catechists, teachers, and elders hear! Let us heed Gregory’s warning: to be silent is to be dead, good for nothing but to be dragged off and buried.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
This is a great meditation on the life of the priest. Ironically, I think this is what Pope Francis is and has been calling us all to (not just the ordained priesthood, but for the laity to realise their share in Christ’s priesthood afforded to us in Baptism and Confirmation), but unfortunately the messages used to impart this truth have often smacked somewhat of spiritual pride and contained subtle barbs towards those not considered to be sufficiently ‘pastoral’ because of their commitment to orthodoxy. I think basically that the Holy Father’s heart is in the right place, and he has legitimate concerns with respect to the need for the Church to get out there and practice what it preaches, but there is a tinge of vanity and not a few accusatory phrases that hinder the message.
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Michael, I sincerely hope and pray you are correct that “the Holy Father’s heart is in the right place”. No one can know for sure what exactly is in anyone’s heart of course, the HF’s included, but as we are all well aware, there are many who are beginning to doubt that the HF has the ‘hermeneutic of continuity’ of Tradition top of his agenda. 😦
Catholics should be able to trust that the Vicar of Christ would never proclaim false teachings or statements that could mislead the faithful. However, there are a lot of discouraged, confused, and upset Catholics at present, who see their adherence to Catholic devotions, tradition and orthodoxy as being… well, denigrated! Nor can they understand how a pastoral approach to problematic messes people get themselves into could ever take precedence over proclaiming the Truth of Catholic Doctrine.
“This is a hard doctrine” said the listeners to Our Lord’s teaching on the Holy Eucharist, and many left His side. Our Lord did not call them back, compromise his words or soften the teaching. Neither should we do so in any of the so-called “hard Doctrines”… and most especially, nor should those singled out to be Persona Christi to the ‘flock’ – priests of God.
Yes, we all share in the priesthood of Christ in the way you describe, but the post-VII emphasis on the common priesthood of all the baptised has watered down in people’s minds the exalted, irreplaceable role of the ordained, sacrificial priesthood. These are the only members of the Church capable of imparting absolution of sins and bringing us the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. They are (as I’m sure you will agree) various notches above the rest of Mankind, chosen to be the ‘bridges’ between Man and God… and are the beloved sons of the Mother of God.
In this article Msgr. Pope, quoting the lessons from St. Gregory the Great, has given us another of his excellent homilies, always so in line with Church teaching.
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Yes Kathleen, I certainly hope that his heart is in the right place overall, but I also find it hard not to see an agenda in the dealings we have seen with (for example) the FFI. What I really meant was that I think the Holy Father’s vision of a Church that gets involved with the nitty-gritty of people’s lives and evangelises just as much with actions as with teachings is a genuine one, and that this is definitely a message that needs to be delivered. However, this emphasis has on a number of occasions become something of an over-emphasis, and one that a.) gives the impression that sound doctrine is not important (and that people who care about it are not living an integrated Catholic life, and b.) that, by contrast, Pope Francis himself and those who are ‘on side’ with his vision are the first people ever to discover things like joy and mercy. It gets a bit much sometimes.
I certainly do agree about the collapse of the distinction between the sacramental priesthood and the common priestly vocation of all believers – this is another instance of how the Church has become gradually more ‘Protestantised’ over the years. All I meant really was that what Msgr. Pope says about priests doing what they counsel and practising what they preach, sacrificing their own time and resources for others, is something that can be extended to us all, and that this tallies with what Pope Francis has been calling us to do. The only problem with the latter vision is, as I say, that the clarity of orthodox teaching seems to gradually get pushed to the back seat, where I think for both teaching and praxis to be effective, the teaching must always have priority – if we’re not clear on what we believe and what we’re about, how can we communicate it to others, and how can we offer a wounded and sinful world what it so sorely needs?
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Also, just read a really good interview with George Weigel, which covers quite a lot of what we’ve been talking about here!
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/390799/liberating-power-truth-interview
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Thank you for your explanation Michael.
In no way was I intending to criticise what you had written earlier with my reply, as I’m sure you know 😉 , I was only trying to clarify a few points a bit further.
To be honest, I believe the Catholic Church has always got itself “involved with the nitty-gritty of people’s lives…”; this has always been part of its mission from the earliest times, ‘to tend to the flock’ by spreading the love and mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ to all Men everywhere. In fact Catholic Evangelisation has always been a combination of these two pillars of our Faith, and continues in our time: to impart the teachings of all the Doctrinal Truths as summarised in the Creed, together with an active witness of love and service to the people. Those who are now talking of this “involvement with the nitty-gritty etc.” as though they have just ‘discovered America’ (not you of course) are just deceiving themselves and twisting the truth of the Church’s glorious history, IMHO.
Thank you also for that link to the very interesting interview with George Weigel, mostly about the recent Synod. Many of us (as you have said yourself) have been voicing our concern at those very absences that he points out:
“It’s also disconcerting that John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, which is the Church’s best answer to that challenge [of the sexual revolution], seemed to have been systematically excluded from the synod deliberations, in that no member of any of the John Paul II Institutes on Marriage and the Family around the world was invited to the synod. We may hope that that will be remedied when the cast of characters is assembled for 2015.”
And later on he mentions John Paul II’s pertinent apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio that also appears to have been ignored at the Synod.
He finalises the interview on a very hopeful note, something we should remember! 🙂
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Yes Kathleen, I certainly hadn’t thought that you were criticising anything I’d written – was just wanting to clarify further what I meant. Similarly, re the Church getting involved with things at every level and providing service to people (i.e.; basically living out the Gospel in everyday life), this is indeed undoubtedly true (whenever the old canard of ‘you don’t need God to be good’ or ‘atheists can be good people too’ comes up, I always like to bring up the hugely disproportionate number of religious – especially Christian, and ironically, especially morally conservative and/or doctrinally orthodox Christians – people who are involved in charity and relief work!) To clarify, all I was meaning here is that this aspect of Pope Francis’ teaching is a genuine concern of his, and it is a shame that this seems to lead to it overshadowing the beautiful harmony between doctrine and life that you outlined above.
Very good point about the end of the Weigel interview btw – it is always important to remember to be hopeful. We must always remember John 16:33! 🙂
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P. S. If you haven’t seen it already, the most recent article from ‘the Liturgy Guy’ makes some really good points that supplement what you’ve already said here about the Church being called to do what it already does, by pointing out that a lot of what was said at the Synod was calling the Church to revoke positions it never actually held! 🙂
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Sorry, that should be ‘what has been said after the Synod’ (though I’m sure what he writes could be applied to a lot of what was said there too).
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Michael, that’s a fantastic article by liturgy guy – thank you for calling my attention to it. (Thought I was “following” his blog, but his new post alerts don’t seem to be coming through to me!)
Directing his article towards Card. Vincent Nichols’ pronouncements, liturgy guy is saying exactly what I have been feeling all along, without having been able to formulate my thoughts so well and clearly, as he has done. 😉
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I know exactly what you mean Kathleen (re his capturing something that myself as well, and a lot of people I imagine, have been feeling all along)! The real elephant in the room is that the progressive wing have routinely been setting up a straw-man image of the Church (as uncaring, inflexible, ignorant of the currents of change that have affected our society, etc) in order to put forward reforms that are not really about reform at all, but about an overturning of essential and unchangeable moral and doctrinal teaching.
Yes the modern world and the lifestyles advocated in it pose many problems that the Church has not had to face before (at least not on such a wide scale – similar issues have existed in the past, but now we have to contend, amongst other things, with a general feeling that various irregular ways of living are no obstacle to holiness) but the fundamental way to address these problems is the same as it ever has been – hate the sin, love the sinner. The self-styled ‘reformers’ of today want to go past this and normalise the sin as well.
P.S. I have had this problem before with ‘following’ various blogs – sometimes the posts haven’t come through at all, and sometimes they do but a good day late. At one point I even started receiving the comments from Fr. Z’s blog in my reader, which cluttered it up quite a bit, as you can imagine!
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Excellent comment Michael! You make some great points.
Yes, hopefully the problem with “following” liturgy guy’s blog will get sorted.
“At one point I even started receiving the comments from Fr. Z’s blog in my reader, which cluttered it up quite a bit, as you can imagine!”
I can indeed! 😆 Is there any blog that gets such a steady stream of comments as Fr. Z’s ?
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If there is I don’t know about it 🙂 I’m still not sure how they all got into my reader either. I do have a great deal of sympathy with the Luddites sometimes (he writes on a computer at a desk lit with an electric lamp)!
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