Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

30 | GUIDE TO ONGOING FORMATION FOR PRIESTS

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. 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. 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 joy in the exercise of the ministry,” the DMLP states: “a decisive form of support in difficulties, and valuable help for growth in the pastoral charity which the priest must exercise in a particular way toward those confreres in diffi culty and in need of understanding, assistance and support.” 58 This can include simple, unstructured time together; small groups, such as those following the Jesus Caritas model; theological or book discussion groups; 59 or established associations of priests. 60 78. 79.

58

DMLP, no. 37.

59 “Fraternal meetings: some priests organize fraternal meetings for prayer, perhaps by reading the Word of God together in the form of Lectio Divina , developing their understanding of some theological or pastoral theme, sharing a ministerial endeavor, helping one another or simply spending some time together. These meetings in their various forms are the simplest and most common expression of priestly fraternity. In any case, it is strongly desirable to promote them.” Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 88 (emphasis original). 60 “Its diverse modalities are to be encouraged according to possibilities and practical conditions, without necessarily transferring the albeit praiseworthy models proper to the religious life. Worthy of praise in particular are those associations which support priestly fraternity, holiness in the exercise of the ministry, and communion with the Bishop and the entire Church.” DMLP, no. 39. See also CIC, c. 278.