By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Q: Why does the Catholic Church make such a distinction between the clergy and laity? Aren’t we all on the same mission?
A: We are certainly on the same mission. We even share in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ by our baptism. Yet, we do make a distinction between the laity and the ordained in terms of calling, sacramental character and function within the body of Christ, the Church.
This distinction has at times been exaggerated and even exploited, as clergy were put up on pedestals and it was thought they could do no wrong. A short study of Church history should have quickly corrected that illusion. At any rate, as a universal Church we have more than once reaped the bitter fruits of this kind of thinking.
In recent times, though, I think we have seen a diminishment of the ordained ministry, not simply in numbers but also in terms of our understanding of the role of the ordained. We have made them business administrators or glorified social workers. Both of these are valuable professions and I am grateful for both, but this is not what bishops, priests and deacons, essentially, are called to be.
It can also happen that clergy are reduced to pastoral functionaries or sacramental vending machines. We wonder why with half as many priests we can’t have twice as many Masses, times for eucharistic adoration, confessions, as well as near universal availability for hospital calls, home visits, pastoral counseling and spiritual direction. Don’t get me wrong, most priests are very happy to do these things and will drop everything to respond to an emergency call. Yet, we are bound by the same limitations of time and space as anyone else.
The fact is, the clergy and the laity desperately need each other. We can truthfully say that there is no Church without the priesthood (which is the one priesthood of Jesus Christ). At the same time, there is no priesthood without the Church. We need to stop seeing these and other realities within the Church as being in “competition” and realize that all members of the body of Christ are meant to work in harmony for our common mission.
The Second Vatican Council in its “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” (Lumen Gentium) notes: “Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated; each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.”
In one of the sessions for priests at the recent Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, I heard perhaps the best definition of “clericalism” that I have come across. Bishop Andrew Cozzens said, “Clericalism is forgetting the connection between ordination and baptism.”
I took this to mean that when the ordained forget that they were called from the priesthood of the baptized in order to serve the priesthood of the baptized, things quickly go awry. A sense of privilege, general superiority and entitlement can creep in and we reverse the roles — expecting the people to serve us and not the other way around.
At the same time, an unhealthy kind of “clericalization” of the laity can arise, in which some feel entitled to the same roles, responsibilities and rights of the clergy in all things. Ironically, this too can be a form a clericalism, as it seeks control for its own sake.
St. Paul had it right when he wrote about the unity of the body of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 12).
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
