It had slipped up on me, the designation of October 26 as Priesthood Sunday. Saw it in the article by Rev. Robert J. Silva, from Stockton, California, the president of the Chicago-based National Federation of Priests’ Councils, in the Jesuit weekly, America, October 20, 2003.

In remembrance of the day, Silva tells about St. Benedict’s Parish in Ridgely, Md., where parish groups are sending appreciation cards to every priest who ever served in the parish, as well as to all deacons, seminarians and other religious in the community. In Albuquerque, N.M., children will hold a Rosary rally before a late afternoon Mass, and an evening fiesta to honor priests.

This is sweet. This is lovely. Nice for dessert. But, as the commercial queried years ago: “Where’s the beef?” Where are the courageous questions for the priesthood of the future?

Silva goes on to say that:“The purpose of Priesthood Sunday is to engage every level of the church in the United States in a national conversation about the priesthood ....create a renewed understanding of priesthood and an appreciation of those who are serving as priests.”

An impressive list of supporters for Priesthood Sunday is offered: The Knights of Columbus, the U.S. Council of Serra International, the National Association of Lay Ministers, the National Institute for the Renewal of the Priesthood, the National Association of Hispanic Priests and the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors .

I’m sorry for my lack of enthusiasm for Silva’s project. Not that it is not a worthy one; it is too much so to be left to happenstance. A study of the priesthood by the laity on such a grand scale should have taken at least a year in preparation, if their involvement were to be taken seriously, but that would have meant taking a risk, and risk-taking with the laity is a dangerous line of work..

Would any university professor call for a national study of the works of Shakespeare without sending out questionnaires to at least a sampling of those expected to attend, to ascertain what they would hope to gain from the study?

Instead, what do we find with the proposed study of the priesthood? The same old. The same old. Facts and figures about the decline of the numbers of priests and the increase in Catholic communities, followed by pious phrases offered by Silva and others, good men all, but out of touch with the real world of the Catholic laity, as well as the priesthood.

If the Roman Catholic priesthood is so central to the lives of the faithful, why is not Silva calling for an honest study of the effect of the lack of priests on the laity today, tomorrow, and the tomorrows of the future? Who is charting the decline in the trust of our American Catholics in the compassion and judgment of the Vatican’s moral and dogmatic theologians, who turn a blind eye to our growing priestless parishes in rural areas?

Do our leaders believe their own pronouncements about the importance of the priesthood, or do they hold a greater belief in mandatory celibacy’s power to attract and sustain young men’s calling to the priesthood, respected statistics to the contrary, except in the few seminaries where celibacy and arch-conservatism march in lock step into an uncertain future, where Law appears too often to have replaced Christ’s message of Love.

Catholics love their priests. They value their priests. They wish them well in a million sung and unsung ways. They take their priests and the priesthood seriously. They desperately want to be a part of the solution to the priestless Sundays’ growing threat to their and their children’s spiritual welfare.

Priests are the people’s connection with God. They are not gods, but shepherds leading them over rocky cliffs onto safe paths in search of God.

Risky business. Takes prayer and sacrifice, does this shepherding. It’s a lonely climb, leading the flock in light and darkness. Needn’t be so lonely. A wife could be a helpmate, not a detriment, as Rome forever regards her. Poor theology, there. Disrespectful of God’s creation.

Silva says that priests are “bridge people.” It’s time to renew “bridges” and build new ones, Silva. Human bridges of boundless love and unwavering hope, where priests, celibate and married, are honored and people served as God’s own sons and daughters. Tomorrow has already arrived. Let us not spend the next decade weeping over what might have been, had we had greater faith and courage and love.

A blessed, joyous Priesthood Sunday to all our priests, and hope and love from a grateful People of God!

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