Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

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Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

perspectives. All priests share particular brotherhood in Christ and should relate to each other in accord with this familial identity.

77 If we are grappling with challenges in our ministry, for instance, another priest often can offer us the best advice. If our hearts are full of gratitude for the conversion of a parishioner, another priest can share that joy most deeply. If we feel the pain of rejection when we preach the Gospel, a priest can best encourage us. If we are experiencing the ache of celibacy with greater intensity, a brother priest who has walked the same road can offer the most reliable support and guidance. If we need to be corrected, if we are ever treading dangerous ground, if we are slipping in our priestly duties or developing unwholesome habits, or if we are crossing boundaries in our relationships—it is almost always another priest who can best see what is happening and lead us back. Healthy priests are able to both receive and offer fraternal correction; they are also able to offer and accept praise. Other friendships are important, even essential, in our lives, but they are never equivalent to our friendships with priests. 78 Certainly, priestly fraternity has limitations. It is not a panacea for every ill. If we do not make the effort to form and sustain friendships, they will not be there to help us. If we are insincere and hide the reality of our lives from our friends, they will be unable to advise us. Neither are priest friendships, even at their best, an emotional replacement for the sacrifice of marriage and the affections of a family. That is a sacrifice which, at some level, we each must bear—just as, when the sacrifice is well-lived, we each experience its particular joys. 79 When our friendships are deep and genuine, though, they are an incomparable source of happiness and an integral part of our ongoing formation as men and as priests. They are “a source of serenity and

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