Grace abounds at United States Catholic Priests Association meeting

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“My parishioners were livid!

“What are the bishops thinking about? It’s crazy.

“Don’t they realize that Biden coming to mass every Sunday is a good thing?”

“How can they be so opposed to Biden when the alternative threatens democracy and the trafficking of racism and xenophobia?”

These are some of the reactions I have heard and questions asked of me at this week’s meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests of the United States. During meals, in the elevator and in the questions and answers after my speech, the subject was on everyone’s mind.

The subject of my speech – “The Politico-Theological Fusion That Shapes the American Church” – had been chosen 18 months earlier, but last year’s meeting was canceled due to the pandemic. Our bishops made it even more timely with their own meeting last week.

Over a hundred priests gathered in Minneapolis for the meeting, which takes place annually. It is clear that for many of them, especially the older ones, the gathering is a vital boost, a chance to exchange stories and strategies and, given the straight lurch of bishops’ conference , to sympathize.

Many priests wanted to know why the bishops’ conference abandoned the “seamless garment” approach to life issues advocated by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. No argument from me there. If the conference had spent the past 40 years articulating such cohesive ethics, it would have a moral authority that it lacks today, although it is impossible to guess what political impact that moral authority would have.

Some priests had worked with civic leaders over the years and knew it was never a good idea to align too much with one party. They told me about building relationships with politicians whose opinions were very different from theirs, but understood that building relationships is advisable for any religious leader who hires civic leaders.

You never know when something is going to happen, I don’t know, maybe something like a pandemic, in which religious and civic leaders will have to work hand in hand, and it’s easier to do that if there is already an existing relationship to build on. Some have wondered what it would be like to be a member of the bishops’ conference staff who needed to contact the White House for help this week.

I would have liked to have reassuring words for my interlocutors. But the point is, we’re now going to spend five more months focusing on this crazy issue of denying communion to pro-choice politicians.

The Communion controversy was not the only topic the priests discussed. This year, one of the highlights of the meeting was an interfaith service at the site of George Floyd’s murder, led by Reverend Jerry McAfee, a Baptist preacher. Participants said the site visit was like visiting a shrine, with a sense of the sacred overcoming evil permeating the place which, since that horrific day when Floyd was murdered, has been changed by the prayers and solidarity of so many. those who visited it.

There have been many conversations about how the older clergy might help the younger clergy, many of whom come out of seminary thinking they have the answers to all the puzzles of soteriology. I had touched on this theme briefly at the end of my talk, noting that conversations about their own vocation stories would likely yield common notes of hope and human concern.

Many of these older priests are deeply read and know the lore well, not a Disneyfied version of lore. If they find themselves in conversation with a young priest who seems more conservative, they should cite some of the many excellent teachings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and then make the connection with Pope Francis today. . Hint: John Paul II was a complicated character and was never the neocon that his American acolytes described him.

A downside to the meeting? LifeSiteNews sent a “reporter” to confront some of the priests as they tried to make their way to the dining room. In collaboration with the Lepanto Institute, they also organized a sort of vigil outside.

Didn’t see them: When I left for a tour of the great Masqueray-designed churches in the area – St. Mary’s Basilica in Minneapolis, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and St. Thomas University Chapel – I was went to the car by a different route. Like the Magi.

I had never been to one of those United States Catholic Priests Association meetings, but it was a welcoming crowd, at least for someone from the National Catholic Reporter. They were unreconstructed liberals, mostly older clergymen, who lacked the garish Puritanism of so many young liberals these days. And they want to be pushed to think in new ways: when I offered some pretty strong critiques of different facets of contemporary liberalism, many in the room nodded in approval. A speaker never knows in advance if an audience wants you to be a cheerleader or give them something to chew on, but I figured they wouldn’t have invited me if they wanted bromides.

Still, for my first in-person conversation after COVID-19, it was nice to have such a friendly audience. Who doesn’t like to be told by others that they appreciate your work? They caressed my vanity.

They also touched my humility in a tonic way. During a conference, it is necessary to scan the audience every few minutes, to make sure that you don’t lose them. But every time I scanned this audience, once I made sure they were still very attentive, different thoughts would come to my mind. How many dying souls had been comforted in their last hours by the men in this room? How many children had received their First Communion from these hands? How many grieving families had been comforted at a funeral presided over by one of these priests? How many sermons awakened an individual to a time of personal growth or conversion, or awakened an entire congregation?

The brilliant, loving and caring priests gave their lives to the happy task of channeling the grace of God and, what is more difficult, of helping the rest of us to notice the grace that is already present and to find it. ‘artwork. They were the face of Christ in their compassion and solidarity.

They did the work of the church that we journalists write about. To be granted the microphone in front of such an audience was deeply humiliating. It was a great blessing for me.

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