..."newly ordained priests cope with uncertainty by reverting to....

The diocesan rag just came out. My story and photo from our Corpus Christi celebration made it into the paper intact - they only edited two words because of grammar! Phew! Father and I were both pleased. (The paper usually has a heavy hand with the editing scissors which often means the point of view I am trying to get across is rendered null and void!)

Unfortunately one of the leading libbers in the diocese had a long story (first published in The Tablet) appear in the paper as well.

She speaks about the Church wrestling with the true significance of the common priesthood of the People of God and how V2 "rebalanced" in many fundamental ways the relationship between priests and people.

She wrote about the decline of the confessional and the transfer of pastoral emphasis to less formal settings, wondered if priests were laymen in dog collars doling out food in a soup kitchen or social revolutionaries leading their people out of bondage. Or is theirs a more monastic role as founts of spiritual wisdom?

"In the right circumstances all these answers are valid. There is no one model, though the priest's central place in the Church's Eucharistic life is common to all of them.

It is not surprising that newly ordained priests sometimes cope with this uncertainty by reverting to a more conservative version of their role, at least in dress, manner and liturgy."

As Fr. Z would say, PIFFLE!

What say YOU?!

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