More on Year of the Priest
By Fr LW Gonzales On June 12th, 2009
Special Year: Also to Get Priests Back in Shape by Sandro Magister
ROME (Chiesa) – In a few days, on Friday the 19th, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the special Priestly Year conceived by Benedict XVI will begin.
Pope Joseph Ratzinger explained the reasons for it to the cardinals and bishops of the congregation for the clergy, who met last March for their plenary assembly.
Until 1967, the congregation for the clergy was called the congregation “of the Council.” It had been set up, in fact, after the Council of Trent, in order to oversee the application of the council guidelines on the part of the clergy with the care of souls.
The profile of the priest outlined by the Council of Trent characterized the life of the Catholic Church until the second half of the 20th century. It was exemplified by the sainted CurĂ© d’Ars, Jean-Marie Vianney, the 150th anniversary of whose death falls this year.
Over past few decades, however, the identity of the Catholic priest has in varying degrees been transformed, obscured, and fragmented under the blows of secularization, outside of and within the Church.
The intention of the Priestly Year is precisely that of rebuilding in the priest a strong spiritual identity, faithful to his original mission. This also involves an energetic effort to eliminate the “filth” that has polluted part of the clergy, limited in numbers but disastrous on the level of its worldwide image.
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