Thread by @padresj

There is a question I get asked quite a lot, & I'd like to address it.

There are many variations of the question - sometimes asked seriously, sometimes out of mockery - but the gist is always:

"If you're a priest, why don't you ACT like a priest?"

It's a good question.

Thing is... they're not REALLY asking,
"why don't you ACT like a priest?"

They're asking,
"why aren't you acting in the way I EXPECT a priest to act?"

... that expectation can be born from experience w/priests, or from preconceived notions of what the priesthood represents.

I know the "traditional" roles of a priest: pastor, confessor, counselor, administrator, etc. -- and those ALL important parts of the ministry of the Church.

However... if ALL priests ONLY did those things, our ministry wouldn't just be stunted... it would die on the vine.

I joined a religious order b/c it offered a charism different than that of a diocesan priest.

I joined the Jesuits SPECIFICALLY b/c the charism it offered, and thus the ministry, spoke to where I felt I was being led by the Holy Spirit.

Jesuits are not Franciscans, or Dominicans, or Salesians, or Holy Cross, or Opus Dei, or Legionaries, or Augustinians, or Benedictines, or Franciscans, or Diocesan, or Franciscans
(Catholics understand the repeats)

We COMPLEMENT one another, but we each have a unique charism.

Sometimes we butt heads theologically, philosophically and politically - but each of us plays a role in the "universal" Church.

If we were all the same, we couldn't serve a Church with such a wide range of people, cultures and backgrounds.

Yes... sometimes I run across a priest who's work I don't understand, but then I have ask myself:

- Is he serving a congregation?
- Is he tending to their specific needs?
- Is he doing that while remaining faithful to the CORE of Catholicism?

If I'm willing to ask those questions, I almost always walk away with a greater appreciation for how large a net we cast.