Editorial

'Do this in memory of Me'

Peter Westmore

Contents - Aug 2003 - Buy a copy now Editorial: 'Do this in memory of Me' - Peter Westmore Documents: Ecclesia in Europa - Pope challenges Christians to re-evangelise Europe - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 Bioethics: End-of-life decisions: the moral issues at stake - David Perrin US research survey: younger priests are generally more orthodox - AD2000 Catalyst for Renewal Address: The legacy of Vatican II - Archbishop George Pell Church architecture: overcoming iconoclasts and cult of ugliness - Larry Henderson Is Pope John Paul II canonising too many saints? - Michael Casanova Priesthood: Clerical celibacy 'for the sake of God's Kingdom': the Church's teaching - John Young Letters: Catholic hymns (letter) - Noel Decker Letters: Beautiful hymn (letter) - Therese F. Sellick Letters: Confession (letter) - Joe Slowiak Letters: Papal infallibility (letter) - Fr Brian Harrison OS Letters: Sex education in SA (letter) - Kevin McBride Letters: Martyrdom ignored - Tom King Letters: Orthodoxy? (letter) - Brian Dethridge Letters: Pantheism (letter) - Fr G.H. Duggan Letters: New Mass (letter) - Kevin Beck Letters: Lourdes appeal (letter) - Jenny Davies Books: Will Catholics be Left Behind, by Carl Olson - Envoy Magazine (reviewer) Books: The Divine Primacy: The Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy - Fr Peter Knowles OP (reviewer) JESUS: According to the Gospel of Luke (CD-ROM and Book) - Roberta Wilson (reviewer) Priests 24/7 : A video documentary - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: Great books at the best prices! Reflection: The Apocalypse: proclaiming the final victory of Christ and His Church - Fr G.H. Duggan SM

During the month of August, the Church celebrates the feast days of St Jean Vianney, the famous 19th Century Frenchman who was made patron saint of priests, as well as St Maximilian Kolbe, the heroic Polish Franciscan who was martyred in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941.

At a time when the priesthood is being assailed from all sides, their witness shines forth as a model of what the priesthood truly is.

The essential function of the priest, in both the Old Testament and the New, is to offer sacrifice to God. In the Catholic tradition, the priest stands "in persona Christi" in offering the sacrifice of the Mass, fulfilling the command which Jesus gave to the Apostles and which they transmitted to their successor priests and bishops, "Do this in memory of Me."

But the priesthood is more than this. Christ gave to the Apostles the certain power to forgive sins, no matter how grave, to preach and baptise in His name, and to dispense the sacraments, so that every person might be prepared in this life for the eternal reward of the next. It is no exaggeration to say that the priesthood is indispensable to salvation, and that without the priesthood, there is no Church.

A key to obtaining holy and inspiring priests is the quality of seminary training. Recognising that the scandalous behaviour of some priests had caused the greatest injury to the Church, St Pius X, whose feast day is also celebrated in August, directed that seminarians must show that their lives will be characterised by firmness of faith and high standards of personal morality.

One reason (among others) for the recent problems afflicting the priesthood is that St Pius X's exhortation seems to have been forgotten, with personal holiness and sound moral judgement no longer regarded by some as indispensable in priestly formation. Recent reforms in seminary training, in Australia at least, will help address these problems.

In the meantime, we must recognise that as priests are subject to the normal range of human weaknesses, they need the continuing prayers and support of lay people, their fellow priests and bishops.

• Peter Westmore is Publisher of AD2000

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 16 No 7 (August 2003), p. 2