Nuncio to the UK .... 'no' to married priests?

The Northern Cross, our local Diocesan newspaper, carried an article quoting the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini. In responding to a question on having married priests posed by a member of the Diocesan Council of Laity, the Nuncio is quoted as saying,

“For young people in our times, compared to twenty years ago, it is more difficult to make a choice to get married or not to get married but this choice depends upon the strength of the encounter young men have with Christ. We have no finer reason to lead a chaste life than to follow the example of Jesus. We are taught to give more than we receive because Jesus acted in this way and I think that this is the case with celibacy”.

In responding to a comment that a town once served by six priests is now being served by one, the Nuncio indicated that:

“In the face of this crisis, which nobody can deny, the churches should be pushed to give to the lay people more tasks surrounding the spiritual life of the parishes”.

Now, while no priest I know would claim he could care for his parish without the collaboration of the people of God, I wonder if there is something else that can be usefully noted. As Redemptionis sacramentum points out:

146: There can be no substitute whatsoever for the ministerial Priesthood.  For if a Priest is lacking in the community, then the community lacks the exercise and sacramental function of Christ the Head and Shepherd, which belongs to the essence of its very life.

I wonder if the crisis in vocations arises not only from young men being attracted by a secular world, but from the fact that many of our pupils leave school with little or no understanding or appreciation of our Faith -isn’t it around a 90% lapsation rate we have directly after leaving school? Vocations come from understanding and appreciation of the Faith, and the dearth in vocations is not likely to be helped by having laity take a step back from their authentic apostolate in the world –so in need of a solid Catholic leaven today- to make a spiritually deficient attempt to fill in for lost vocations to the priesthood.

The Mass celebrated at St Mary’s Catholic School included bidding prayers offered in six different languages (from 40-od mother tongues pupils are said to speak at home), and a liturgical dance to the words of the Hail Mary. In his homily Archbishop Mennini is said to have recalled his time in school; he told the pupils he had wasted a lot of time on many things, and encouraged the pupils to waste a little time each day in prayer. Sound advice, to be sure.

As for the liturgical dance, I will only say that this indicates a shift from seeing liturgy as the worship of God to seeing it as a context for the celebration of the community, in the sense of show-casing the God-given talents of man. Seen in this way, God becomes the secondary focus. I cannot help but wonder if the dance was followed by applause...a human response to a human achievement.