Fatherless Christians
Why do protestants reject the priesthood? One reason is that it makes their Christian walk dependent on another person. If you say the sinner’s prayer and you go buy a bible then you don’t need anybody. Sure you find a fellowship and a place to worship and some teaching that you trust. But the point is you can pick and choose. You don’t need anyone. You are completely in charge of your own journey.
Catholics need the Eucharist. They need confession. They need a priest. But priests can be annoying. They can make demands. We call them father for a reason. They give us direction and leadership like a father. But children need fathers don’t they? They don’t always know how much they need fathers but we know they do. Are new Christians any different? I eventually came to realize that even more mature and catechized Christians like me need fathers. That was a hard lesson to learn. It is pretty plain in scripture. We are called children. We are called sheep. We are called disciples or followers. It stands to reason we need a father or a shepherd or a leader.
Look through you local Christian book store. You will find a lot of books on leadership. You won’t find many on being a follower. We love to lead. The priesthood is all about the idea that God has provided leaders and you are not one of them. The people you most want to pick as your leaders are probably not one of them either. God calls. His church ordains.
So the idea of the priesthood of all believers really appeals. That means I can get rid of this pesky spiritual fatherhood business. But what does it really mean? Priests offer sacrifice. What sacrifice do we offer? Penance. But they don’t believe in penance. Never mind the details. It is the concept of the church as royal priesthood that we like. Everyone becomes a priest so nobody is a priest. Never mind the details about what words mean.
So if we offer up our suffering we can act as a priest. But that does not remove the priesthood of Christ. Without the sacrifice of Christ our sacrifice is useless. So we still need that sacrifice and we still need it made present by someone who acts in the person of Christ. We can make Jesus present to others in a spiritual way but that does not mean we don’t need Jesus to be present even more powerfully in a sacramental way through the ordained priest. Just like talking to your wife on the phone does not mean you don’t need to be in the same room as her. One is good and the other is better.
Not sure your post hit on the difference, and I’m certain I can’t come up with a description of the difference, but it’s an interesting concept to ponder on.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:42 amPriests are different. Whether he is nice or a good preacher or whatever is secondary. Those things I can find on the net. Can he give me true sacraments? I need Eucharist and I need confession. The rest is gravy.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:01 amI caught up on your blog posts today–good to see you are still defending the Church. This line is hilarious: “The priesthood is all about the idea that God has provided leaders and you are not one of them.”
Keep it up, and may God bless you and your family.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:00 pm