Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

GOFP 116

Chapter 3: Human Formation

f. A father needs courage to protect his family. The priest must be a good shepherd, not a mercenary who runs at the first sign of a wolf. Can a priest take a stand? Will he be loyal to Christ and to the Gospel? Is he able to teach the truth even when it is hard for his people to hear? Is he willing to be rejected or sidelined for it? g. Finally, a good father is committed . Is a priest able to persevere in his vocation? Can he weather difficult times? Is he committed to becoming a better priest? Healthy Chastity 115 A crucial marker in the human formation of a priest is his capacity to live healthy chastity. Chastity is fundamentally a positive trait, because through it a man gains the self-mastery to love in a sexually mature way. Chastity is “the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.” 91 Though the priest is celibate, he is still a sexual being; chastity ensures that his masculine love is well directed. 92 116 Such a view of chastity presumes that the body is good. The human body enables us to interact, communicate, and love. If God did not want us to love him and others as sexual beings, he would have made us angels. Nevertheless, in Original Sin our passions, and especially our sexual urges, became unmoored from the dominion of reason. It is the virtue of chastity which tempers and channels the powerful sexual drive in a wholesome way. Chastity is not the most important

91

CCC, no. 2337.

92 “It cannot be forgotten that celibacy is vivified by the practice of the virtue of chastity, which can be lived only through the cultivation of purity with supernatural and human maturity insofar as essential for the development of the talent of the vocation. It is not possible to love Christ and others with an impure heart. The virtue of purity makes it possible to live what the Apostle said: ‘Therefore, glorify God in your body!’ (1 Cor 6:20). Then again, when this virtue is lacking, all the other dimensions are damaged.” DMLP, no. 82.

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