Archive for the ‘Homiletic & Pastoral Review’ Category
Full Gospel
Sunday, July 1st, 2007
“Homiletic & Pastoral Review”
JULY 2007
Pages 26-31
“Full Gospel”
By Jeffrey Kirby
It’s a familiar pastoral scene. A priest is called to the hospital to anoint and console the sick. A certain priest, a seasoned pastor in the southeast, was called for such a visit. As he approached the hospital, a large woman, seeing his Roman collar, stopped him at the door and assertively asked him, “Are you a true bible-believing minister?” the priest, well acquainted with the Protestant, religious terminology of his area, simply smiled and responded, “Yes, Ma’am, full Gospel!” the woman was relieved, and asked for his prayers. The priest and woman had an expression in common, but was their understanding of the term the same?
In the popular religious environment of the American southeast, the famed “Bible Belt,” certain expressions are fairly common. Among them we find the term “full Gospel.” While it is common in speech throughout the southeast, the arguments behind this expression are not unique to Dixie. The term frequently underlies an expansive theology of dogma and the Church. These contemporary, sporadic views of the Gospel and of the Church are not restricted to the American southeast. They can be found in Christian circles throughout the United States and in heavily Protestant areas throughout the world. They have become a popular view of Revelation and of the Church in our time. But what do they mean or symbolize? Unfortunately, the buzz word, “full Gospel” is itself difficult to define, especially since those who rally around it have such diverse understandings of its meaning, or no pronounced understanding of it at all.
Where can a discussion begin on this expression? In trying to begin an exploration into the meaning of the term, it would seem best to begin with the Protestant understanding and then move into a Catholic summary of the concept.
Protestant understanding of the Full Gospel
All Christian believers would agree that the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the entire revelation of the Most High God is summed up (2 Cor. 1:20; 3:16 -4:6), commanded his disciples to preach the Gospel and communicate the gifts of God to all humanity, and that this Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline.1 The word “gospel” simply means “good news,” and its basic message for preaching and teaching is known as the kerygma. The elementary points of the kerygma are grounded on the Person of Jesus as Christ and Lord (Acts 8:5; 19:13; 1Cor. 1:23), and they can be summarized as: the time of fulfillment has come through the life, passion, death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus; and salvation is given through faith in Jesus Christ and through baptism, which forgives sins and bestows the Holy Spirit.2
The argument for the full Gospel is certainly grounded in the actual four gospel books of the New Testament and in the Kerygma, but in some sense the Protestant understanding of the full Gospel broadens them by concentrating on certain fundamentals within them.
The use and history of these protected fundamentals is essential to comprehending the concept of the “full Gospel.” In the nineteenth century, the social Gospel, which was heavily influenced by Darwinism, began a secularizing trend in mainstream Protestantism. The movement seemed to call into question the reliability of Scripture.3 In response to this liberalizing current, certain religious leaders assembled and wrote the twelve volume set of books entitled, The Fundamentals. This set of books not only gave the reactionary group its name, but also identified the principal points of the response. The adherents of this group, now known as the “fundamentalists,” would seem to hold to these five assertions: 1) the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture; 2) the deity of Christ, including his Virgin Birth; 3) the substitutionary atonement of his death; 4) his literal resurrection from the dead; and 5) his literal return in the Second Coming. This list of points is debated by some, and others would add a literal heaven and hell, soul winning, and a personal Satan, but these five points are the most accepted summary of the movement.4 When asked if someone is a “true bible-believing minister” or if they have “full Gospel,” these fundamentals seem to be a large portion of the question. Of course, there are some more expansive additions. For example, in some Pentecostal assemblies, the term might also include whether the minister has received certain gifts, such as healing, prophecy, or “speaking in tongues.”
Do these understandings truly summarize a claim to “full Gospel”? Could the full Gospel include something qualitatively more reliable and helpful to the Christian believer?
Catholic understanding of the Full Gospel
In Catholic theology, the use of the term “gospel” also goes beyond the actual four gospel books. While the gospel books certainly hold a “central place” in theological studies, the word “gospel” is defined more holistically.5 The “full Gospel” would be seen as synonymous with the “single, sacred deposit of the Word of God.”6 The gospel, or to use the term “full gospel,” would be explained as the whole truth of salvation and rule of conduct which are contained “in written books and in unwritten traditions which were received by the apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, or else have come down to us, handed on as it were from the apostles themselves at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”7
In this context, the full Gospel would contain both the written books, the Sacred Scriptures, and the unwritten traditions, known as Sacred Tradition. Both are seen as coming from the same divine well-spring, being bound closely together, communicating one with the other, forming one thing, and moving towards the same goal.8
How would Catholic theology understand the relationship between Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition? Can tradition be considered a valid portion of the full gospel and the Word of God? Isn’t it offensive to place Tradition on the same level of the scriptures?
Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture
In the early Church, in addition to the experience of the original Apostles, God added another, “one untimely born” (1Cor. 15:8). When St. Paul was called by the Lord Jesus as an apostle, he wanted to faithfully receive and hand on what the Lord Jesus had given to the Twelve: the means for God to encounter and communicate with his people, and his people with him (1Cor. 15:3). St. Paul did not want to invent a new, so-to-speak, “Pauline” Christianity. He desired only to pass on the truth and gifts of the Lord which had been given to the Church through the Apostles. This transmission, or “passing on,” is understood by the word Tradition.
Tradition is often approached with suspicion. It is mistakenly associated with the human traditions and customs dismissed in parts of the New Testament (Matt. 15:3), especially by St. Paul (cf. Col. 2:8). Sacred Tradition, however, is much more universal, and inherent to the Christian message. It is not mere practices or customs. As we see in St. Paul’s own doctrinal and ecclesial practices, Sacred Tradition can be seen as the permanent actualization of the active presence of the Lord Jesus in his People, brought about by the Holy Spirit, and expressed in the Church through the apostolic ministry and fraternal communion (cf. Acts 2:42; Matt. 28:20).
Tradition is not merely a transmission of things and words, a collection of dead things, but a giving of the effective presence of the Crucified and Risen Lord. Jesus continues to accompany the community he has brought together. Tradition assures the connection between the apostolic faith lived in the early Church and the actual experience of Christ in his Church today. Guaranteed by the ministry of the apostles and their successors, Sacred Tradition allows the water of life, which flowed from Christ’s side, and his saving Blood to reach the people of all times and allowing them to become members of the household of faith (Eph. 2:19-22).9
Process of transmission
The transmission of the full Gospel occurred as a process. The freely chosen, public revelation of God to humanity, which was given in its fullness in Jesus Christ, concluded upon the death of the last apostle. The life and teachings of the Lord Jesus, known as the deposit of faith, were initially passed on through oral teaching. In time, some authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit to put into writing certain selections of the many elements which had been handed on, in view of the situations in the churches to which they were writing.10 The writing down of elements contained in Sacred Tradition was marked by the Holy Spirit with the unique gifts of inspiration and inerrancy. These gifts, which assured the accuracy and validity of the Scriptures, singled out these written parts of the Tradition as their own distinct source. Therefore, the written portion of God’s Word, the Sacred Scriptures, are seen as their own tributary coming from the same divine well-spring as the unwritten Word of God. Both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence by the People of God because each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Jesus Christ.11
Doesn’t this view diminish the sacred Scriptures? Can Tradition have any real place in the understanding of the Bible?
Dynamics Between Scripture and tradition
The seventy-three books of the Bible, the forty-six which were inherited from the Old Testament and the twenty-seven which were established by the Church as the New Testament, make up the canon of the Sacred Scriptures. Rather than diminishing the Scriptures, Tradition gives the inspired books their foundation and fullest meaning. The Scriptures cannot be validly isolated from it. Without running the risk of grave misinterpretation, the Scriptures cannot stand alone. Guided by the same Holy Spirit, the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition must accompany one another. The relationship between Scripture and Tradition is not one of tension, but of dynamics. The full Gospel breathes in harmony with itself. The Scriptures themselves come from and call for communion with Sacred Tradition, and sacred Tradition itself turns to the Scriptures for assistance in confirming and giving expression to the truth of faith.12 They collaborate and mutually give witness to Jesus Christ.
If I can see and read the seventy-three books of the Bible, how can I see and know Sacred Tradition? How has it demonstrated itself in the history of the Church?
Sacred Tradition continues to discern and explore the depths of the Scriptures and the mysteries of Faith. In these labors, certain monuments are distinguished. Since tradition is fluid and continues to search and interpret the deposit of faith in an overall unwritten way, these things are called monuments because they are not Tradition of themselves, but only a portion of it and a fruit of its exercise in time. Some of the monuments of Sacred Tradition that we can see are the sacred liturgy, creeds, decrees of the ecumenical councils and ex cathedra pronouncements of the popes, the teachings of the ordinary magisterium, the writings and lived testimony of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ancient customs and practices, the speculation of faithful theologians, and the sense of the Faith felt and practiced by devout believers.13 These monuments show the continuous introspection and wrestling of the Church with the truths of Faith, and their consistent resolution in time.
The expressions “full Gospel,” and a “truly Bible-believing minister” demand some attention and reflection. Can a person’s claim to the full Gospel merely include the basic kerygma, of a list of fundamentals, or even the practice of a few charismatic gifts?
The Gospel would seem to have more substance and universality than these simple things, and an assertion to the “full Gospel” should demonstrate this reality. The life and teachings of the Lord Jesus, the sacred deposit of faith, is lived in both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. Sacred Tradition was the birthplace for God’s inspiration of the sacred Scriptures, and is the actualization of God’s enduring presence with his people. The Sacred Scriptures stand as a witness in their own right, and contribute to the reflection and work of Sacred tradition through the generations. The Gospel would not be full, but incomplete, without Sacred Tradition.
Scripture and Tradition are both necessary, and they exist as the two eyes and heart chambers of the full Gospel. When a person is open to the workings of both in their lives and in the life of the Church, then similar to the experience of the priest at the hospital, when they are asked if they are a “true Bible-believer,” they too can smile and respond, “Oh yes, full Gospel!”
End Notes
1 Second Vatican council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), #7.
2 Rene Latourelle, “Kerygma, Catechesis, and Parenesis,” in Dictionary of Fundamental Theology, Ed. Rene Latourelle and Rino Fisichella (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1994), pg 585.
3 Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), p. 15.
4 Ibid., p 17
5 Catechism of the Catholic Church, #139.
6 Dei Verbum, #10.
7 Council of Trent, Session 4, First Decree: acceptance of the sacred books and apostolic traditions.
8 Catechism of the Catholic Church, #83.
9 This section in indebted to Pope Benedict XVI’s Wednesday Audiences of 26 April and 3 May, 2006.
10 Dei Verbum, 19; Catechism of the Catholic Church, #83.
11 Catechism of the Catholic Church, #80, 82.
12 Yves Congar, Tradition and Traditions, Trans. Michael Naseby and Thomas Rainborough (San Diego: Basilica Press, 1966), pgs 293-295.
13 Ibid., pgs. 425-458.
The Rev. Mr. Jeffrey Kirby is a transitional deacon for the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. He received a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Bachelors of Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University. He formerly taught Christian Morality and the New Testament at The Bishop England High School in Charleston. He is currently in studies for the licentiate in moral theology at Holy Cross University in Rome.
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The Ecclesial Priesthood of Jesus Christ
Friday, July 1st, 2005
“Homiletic & Pastoral Review”
JULY 2005
Pages 24-28
By Jeffrey Kirby
In recent shows on “reality television” and in contemporary instructions to aspiring young executives, the counsel is always the same: do more, bigger, and faster. Expressions such as “proactively manage” and “aggressively assert” are buzzwords which mark an environment of extreme activity and busyness. This unchecked spirit of the age, however, can cripple higher thought and more reasoned reflection. But is this drive limited to the business world? Unfortunately, it is not. It is also found in other areas of society and even in the church herself. Where in the Church can this spirit of unreflective activism best be seen? Perhaps it can be recognized in the exclusive focus solely on the humanity of the Church. This overemphasis can be seen in many ways, such as in the too indiscriminate use of the word “ministry,” which is then falsely understood as only actions, programs and projects.1 The church’s divinity is ignored and she is seen as only the “half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate.”2 These views demonstrate an overly heavy focus on what the Church does and should do. It is in opposition to a more balanced view, which also seeks to understand and pay attention to what the Church is in her full expression, “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners,” and what she is called to become.3
But can these two dimensions of the church be separated? No. The Church as human and divine, the reality of being and acting – that of doing and becoming – cannot be divided. Both are inherent in the Church’s life; however, it is possible for one of these dimensions to be problematically emphasized to the point of error. Where then, in this temptation, can the Church find a balanced source of unity? She does not find her identity nor her unity in her human existence alone, nor in “action ministry.” She finds her legitimate self-awareness and
authentic collaboration in her ecclesial priesthood.
As a kingdom of priests (Rev. 1:16; Rev. 5:9-10; 1 Pet. 2:5,9), the Church exists as a priestly community. She breathes as one mystical person with Christ the Head, participating in his very own priesthood to God the Father.4 As one person, the Church is not a loose society, but instead shares, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the charism of being an organically-structured, priestly people. The one priesthood of Christ the Head is exercised in the baptismal priesthood of the laity and the ministerial priesthood of the clergy. Although essentially different, they are, nevertheless, ordered to one another and an expression of the single priesthood of Jesus Christ, God made man. As St. Augustine wrote: “As we call everyone ‘Christians’ in virtue of a mystical anointing, so we call everyone ‘priests’ because all are members of only one priesthood.”5
What, then, does it mean to be a member of this priestly people? Popular definitions of a Christian include: “A person professing belief in Jesus as the Christ or in the religion based on the teaching of Jesus.”6 Although accurate, this articulation is ontologically incomplete. A Christian is not someone who merely follows, or who merely professes belief, but is rather someone who, by faith and baptism, has received the sacramental character and is sealed as “another Christ,” as a “son in the Son.”7 As Christ the Head was anointed (the very term “Christ” means anointed one), so the members of His body have also been anointed. In Christ, therefore, each member is himself also a “christ,” an “anointed one.”8 By such a consecration, the Christian is incorporated into the Church’s unique, priestly identity and vocation.9
What does this vocation look like? How does it take shape? The baptismal priesthood enables and commits the Christian to a service of God, first and foremost in the Divine Liturgy, and then in the witness of a holy life and in the exercise of practical charity. United to Christ the Head, the anointed Christian is called to exhibit the grace of his Baptism and Confirmation in society: in all the dimensions of his personal, familial, social and ecclesial life.
Unlike the ministerial priesthood, the baptismal priesthood has a specific secular character. The “world,” with its temporal affairs and earthly activities, becomes the place and the means for the laity to fulfill their Christian vocation. Their own field of evangelizing activity is the large and difficult spheres of politics, society and economics, as well as the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also includes the family, education, professional work, and suffering. The baptized should see their daily activities as an occasion to join themselves to God, fulfill his will, serve other people, and lead them to communion with God in Jesus Christ.10
This vocation takes on a concrete expression in the Catholic Christian’s participation in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king. As the Baptismal rite expresses it, “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”
As a royal priest, the layman has the privilege of sharing in Christ’s sacrifice to the Father. Assimilated into Jesus Christ, the Christian is united to Jesus and his sacrifice to God the Father, in the daily offering of his life. He has the capacity to give his efforts, joys, sufferings, triumphs, failures, and the totality of who he is, to God through Jesus Christ. St. Paul admonishes the Christian to offer his body as a spiritual sacrifice, permitting a renewal of the mind (Rom.12:1-2). Through Christ, such a sacrifice becomes acceptable and pleasing to God. These offerings find their perfection in the celebration of the Eucharist, when they are given along with the Lord’s body. As worshippers in spirit and in truth, the lay faithful dedicate the world and its workings to God.11 As St. Leo would exclaim: “What is as priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart?”12
As a sharer in the prophetic mission of Christ, the Christian exists as a witness to Christ and his message in the world. As a member of the Church, he participates in the supernatural sense of faith, which belongs to the People of God. He is summoned to be the salt, light and leaven of the world by working to spread and teach the Gospel and its liberating truths. The Christian as prophet cannot hide the message of Christ nor afford to be ashamed of it. (Matt 5:15). This privilege and responsibility has a natural beginning in the family, where parents teach their
children, but it expands beyond the intimate realm of the private home. The Christian’s witness is a transmission of the faith to others and to the whole of society. It is an act of justice and love, which establishes the truth or makes it known. To the degree that the Catholic Christian is faithful to his baptismal vows, the message becomes authenticated to the modern person who is looking for answers to his deeper questions.13
As a priestly king, the baptized Catholic possesses a Cross-earned freedom so that he might overcome the reign of sin in his life. And so that he might also labor for a remedy to the errors and problems of the social order, making justice and the practice of virtue possible in society. As a part of his kingly vocation, the Christian must remain aware that he lives as a member of the Church and of human society. He should strive to harmoniously unite every temporal affair under the direction of a Christian conscience, since nothing can be withdrawn from God’s governance. The baptized person should rule his own life in accordance with the Gospel and seek unity in his soul, working to properly order his passions and desires. As St. Leo preached, “What, indeed, is as royal as a soul to govern the body in obedience to God?”14 The Christian should come to see that his own vocation to rule is also a call to serve, particularly when serving the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder. In selflessly serving, the Catholic fulfills his royal dignity by a life in keeping with his vocation to serve with Christ.15
Faithfulness to this way of life, will help to bring about the great hope of Pope John Paul II who wrote, “The eyes of faith behold a wonderful scene: that of a countless number of lay people, both men and women, busy at their work in their daily life and activity, oftentimes far from view and quite unacclaimed by the world, unknown to the world’s great personages but nonetheless looked upon in love by the Father, untiring laborers who work in the Lord’s vineyard,” and he continues, “Confident and steadfast through the power of God’s grace, these are
the humble yet great builders of the Kingdom of God in history.”16
In living this life as priest, prophet and king, the layman will find the secure path to holiness, as well as his own specific vocation within the Church. For many, it will be the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. For some, it will be a life of religious consecration in one of the many institutes, societies, congregations or orders in the Church. For a select few, it will be a call to the ministerial priesthood.
What is the “ministerial” priesthood? How is it different from the baptismal priesthood? By the ministerial priesthood, we mean the call of a man to Holy Orders. The order of Priest marks the man as capable of standing in the person of Christ the Head and of the Church herself. The baptismal priesthood depends on this ministerial priesthood, and the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood of the lay faithful.
How does the ministerial priesthood express itself? First and foremost, it exists as a means by which Christ continually builds up and leads the Church by continuing the offices of priest, prophet, and king.17 While the baptismal priesthood is exercised in the unfolding of the specific person’s baptismal graces, the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal graces of all Christians.
Without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood, the human ministerial priest makes Christ’s priesthood visible to the community. In the office of priest, he not only offers up his own sacrifices, but the priest also collects the offerings of the Church and represents the sacrifice of the Son to the Father. In the office of prophet, he not only stands as a Christian witness, but also exhorts in the name of the Church and becomes the instrument of God for Christ himself to teach the world. In the office of king, he not only seeks to order his own life and selfless service, but works to order the life and service of the Church, as well as reflect Christ as the humble servant of all. It is true, in the ministerial priesthood, it is Christ still sanctifying “as high priest,” still teaching “as teacher of truth,” and still leading as “shepherd of the flock.”18
How does this understanding of the baptismal and ministerial portions of the priesthood of Jesus Christ help the Church? It gives her unity. Not through a mere common work, nor a common interest or ideology, nor through just a shared worldview or outlook, but through a radical ontological binding. In the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the Christian finds his and the Church’s identity and begins to see Christ as the source of everything in the Church’s life and action. Her unified work at evangelization, her shared acts of charity, her very own humanity, not only
make sense in the common existence, the mutual breathing, of the members of the Body together with her Divine Head. All her efforts and labors, her share in his mission, are done through him, with him and in him.
To the extent that the members of the baptismal and ministerial priesthood live up to their lofty vocations and labor for holiness, the Church will find in Christ the co-fulfillment of her identity and mission in the world. In opposition, therefore, to illusory views and empty day dreams of ecclesial utopias and as a clear, sober tempering of the assertive arrogance of Babel, the Church does not rely solely on naked activism, incomplete programs, or soul-less philanthropy, but instead turns her complete attention to Christ alone and earnestly desires unity with him, in his Spirit and in his mission. For this reason, the Church has always stressed that the focus is not the things of this world, nor even her ministerial priesthood, but the focus is always sainthood.19 As Pope John Paul II has written, “Today, we have the greatest need of saints whom we must assiduously beg God to raise up.”20 This is the source and cause of the Church’s unity and the inspiration and hope behind her every thought and action.
End Notes
1 Cf. John Paul II, The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People, #23.
2 CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1982), 5.
3 Ibid.
4 Pius XII, The Mystical Body of Christ, #67.
5 City of God, XX, 10, as contained in John Paul II, Lay Members, #14; cf Lumen Gentium, #10.
6 Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary.
8 St. Augustine, Commentary on Psalm XXVI, II.2, as contained in John PaulII, Lay Members, #14.
9 Catechism of the Catholic Church, #941; 784; 1272.
10 Paul VI, Evangelization in the Modern World, #70; John Paul II, Lay Members, #17.
11 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 34; CCC, #901; 358.
12 Sermon Four, as contained in CCC, #786.
13 Lumen Gentium, 35.1-2; CCC, #2472; 2495; 2044.
14 Sermon Four, as contained in CCC, #786.
15 Ibid., #36.3; CCC, #786.
16 John Paul II, Lay Faithful, #17.
17 CCC, #1547; cf 1551-1552.
18 CCC, #1548.
19 John Paul II, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, #3.
20 Lay Faithful, #16.
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The Priest as Confessor
Friday, October 1st, 2004
“Homiletic & Pastoral Review”
October 2004
Pages 62-65
By Jeff Kirby
This past year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops printed a new booklet on how to do what Catholics should be well adjusted and accustomed to doing, that of confessing their sins. Msgr. James Moroney, who leads the Bishops’ Liturgy Office and announced the printing of the guide, voiced concern over the growing negligence of the sacrament of Penance. According to recent studies, of the 65 million Catholics in the United States, 26 million of them never go to Confession and only 35 percent go once a year. The increasing decline in confessions has become a serious pastoral issue and the question is asked as to how this has occurred. Among the many reasons, two in particular can be cited, that of both a loss of the sense of sin among the faithful and, more detrimentally, an apathy towards the sacrament among many in the clergy.
While the loss of the sense of sin can be comprehended as a consequence of the secularism of the modern era, the more pressing question is how a priest, as a minister of the sacrament, can become indifferent to its celebration? Perhaps a review of the simple, yet noble, title of “confessor,” which the Church gives to the priest, with its history and symbolism, can renew appreciation and zeal for the exercise and propagation of the sacrament.
In the early church those believers who remained faithful to the Gospel and were persecuted – many being physically scarred or maimed – but not martyred, were given the noted title of “confessor” because they had confessed their faith in the Crucified and Risen Christ, willing to endure all things out of love for him. They stood as marked witnesses to God’s love for humanity and the love humanity should always be willing to give to him. Among the various penitential acts of the apostates seeking reconciliation with the Church, one act in particular was the seeking after one of these confessors, the admission of infidelity and the request for the confessor to “offer up” his own sufferings, with those of Christ, for the betrayal of the Gospel.1
Why would the Church, in her perennial wisdom, give to the priest in the confessional, who maybe has not experienced the historical prerequisite of physical torture, the same title as these early Christians? The understanding is that the priest administering Penance is seen as a spiritual confessor, who gives testimony to the Good News of God’s enduring concern and providence for humanity. Even if historically different, the confessor is called to the same level of abnegation ordered to love of God. He sits as judge and healer, concerned with both the divine honor and the salvation of souls.2 In his ministry, he must be willing to suffer inconveniences, annoyances and interruptions, as well as the possibility of physical affliction, for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the redemption of humanity.
Knowing the activity within the Blessed Trinity and the specific ministry of the Son to humanity, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the confessor, in persona Christi exercises the very office of Jesus Christ, administering both divine justice and mercy. The confessor is the very image of Christ to the penitent, offering Christ’s own absolution, saying, “I absolve you,” as well as giving Christ’s correction and compassion, to the reformed sinner.
Does the priest, however, only preside in the Person of Christ? Having the title of confessor also seems to imply an ecclesial office and, indeed, the priest as confessor also sits in persona Ecclesiae, representing the whole Church and doing what she intends.3 The confessor does not merely represent the Church, as if only an empty delegate, but he truly embodies the Church. He personifies not only the local parish or specific community he serves, but also the Church in her full expression; that Church which has “astonishing propagation,” “outstanding holiness,” “inexhaustible fertility in every kind of goodness,” “catholic unity,” and “unconquerable stability.”4 The confessor dialogues with the sanctified in heavenly triumph, intercedes for those in purgatorial fires and he dispenses the mysteries of God and the means of salvation and perseverance to the members of the Church on earth, who still fight the good fight, seeking holiness and eternal beatitude. The priest holds within himself and is exercising the glorious heritage of the Body of Christ, the inheritance of all the saints.5
How does this unique office of in persona Ecclesiae express itself? The priest as confessor does not sit alone but is surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1), which are his and the penitent’s older brothers and sisters in heaven who have stories to tell and advice to give. The confessor, while relying on the gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon him at ordination, also has at his disposal the generational network and vast source of counsel, admonition and instruction of the members of the Church through history’s multiple and various encounters with fallen humanity, the struggles of man and the tension of the social order. He bears within his sacramental identity the bounty of the martyr’s blood and the science of agony’s sweat. He possesses a vicarious victimhood with spiritual scars and sufferings of love, and actively exercises the whispered wealth of wisdom and the earned treasures of tears and torture. This communal sense is clearly verbalized in the optional prayer of the confessor after absolution. “May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, whatever good you do and suffering you endure, heal your sins, help you to grow in holiness, and reward you with eternal life.”
In the exercise of the ministerial priesthood, such as in the confessional, the priest himself becomes the locus, the point of intersection, between Christ and the Church, bearing the personhood of both, and he serves as a breathing reflection of the nuptial union of Christ with the Church. What pastoral benefits and practical implications does this relationship within the priest call for and provide?
On account of this reality and assistance, the priest is able to have a universal charity, being a brother to all and a father for all. He will never meet a stranger or foreigner in the confessional and is able to surpass differences of “Jew and Greek,” “free and slave,” “male and female,” (Gal. 3:28) and to truly be all things to all people (I Cor. 9:22). The confessor, furthermore, is able to be timeless, not drifting with time and its trends, or to be caught up in fashions and prejudices. He is grounded by the Cross, the martyrs, blood, the confessors’ example and the doctors’ teachings, and is able to give sober and clear counsel and direction.
The priest in persona Christi and in persona Ecclesiae is called to discipline himself in the teachings of Christ and his Church, so that in his ministry he may be a well-trained disciple knowing what to retrieve and bring forth from this available store-house of the old and of the new (Matt. 13:52). To the degree that his own fallen humanity is ordered and open to the Holy Spirit, tongue of the prophets and father of the poor, the confessor will be able to allow his ontological identity and established office to function more fruitfully and to be more efficacious for the People of God.
In these ways and realities, the priest is a confessor in word, deed and sacrifice. At times he must remind himself that he is called to be a confessor, a sign of contradiction and herald of hope, in the midst of the world. The priest’s ministry of Penance should not come to be seen as a burdensome chore but rather as a welcomed duty and privilege, in which the priest desires to to hear the confessions of the People of God and to radically confess himself, proclaiming to penitents and to the whole creation, the saving and readily available Good News of redemption.
By the clergy coming to a renewed sense of its lofty service as confessors, can priests overcome their own possible stagnation with the sacrament and begin to address the difficulties of the faithful, providing opportunities and inviting them to regularly avail themselves of the sacrament and its abundant graces.
End Notes
1 H. Daniel-Rops, The Church of the Apostles and Martyrs, Trans. A. Butler (London: L.M. Dent and Sonds, 1960), pg. 197.
2 Code of Canon Law, Trans. Canon Law Society of America, Canon 978.
3 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, October, 1976, #32.
4 First Vatican Council. DeFide, Trans. N. Tanner, Chapter 3, pg. 807.
5 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, Trans. N. Tanner, #7, pp. 852-53
Rev. Mr. Jeffrey Kirby is a seminarian of the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., studying theology at the Gregorian University at the North American College in Rome. He graduated as an Honors Scholar of the Great Books, with a Bachelors Degree in history from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Also from Steubenville, he received a Master of Arts in philosophy, with a concentration in the philosophy of the human person. He has taught New Testament and Christian Morality at the Bishop England High School in Charleston. This is his first article for HPR.
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