Today’s priests must continue to have hope in a secularized world
Thursday, 08 October 2009 (The Catholic Register)
Written by Michael Swan
"A View from the Trenches: Ups & Downs of Today's Parish Priest"
by Msgr. Dennis Murphy
TORONTO - Saving the priesthood in the era of sex scandals, skepticism about church authority and a disengaged laity is going to depend on hope, according to the author of a new book about the spirituality of parish priests. More famous for his writing on Catholic education, Msgr. Dennis Murphy has just launched A View From The Trenches: Ups And Downs Of Today’s Parish Priest — a 140-page examination of how priests are coping.
At the Oct. 5 launch for the new Novalis book in Toronto, Murphy called news of child porn charges against the former bishop of Antigonish “a body blow” to priests who must live in an atmosphere of suspicion cast by yet another sex scandal. “That has put them in a shadow like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. Priests can’t get themselves out from under that shadow without the help of lay people, Murphy told The Catholic Register. “There is a wealth of (lay) people out there and they have to have a word in what we do,” he said. “They have to have a word in the appointment of people to the parishes and to the dioceses.”
Though the book started out as a retreat he gave to the priests of Sault Ste. Marie diocese two years ago, Murphy hopes lay people read it. “It pulls back the veil a little bit on what’s going on in the church and in clerical culture,” said Murphy. Murphy doesn’t buy the often repeated explanation that people are staying away from the church simply because of sex scandals in the priesthood.
People’s inability to find a sense of identity and belonging in the church is mirrored in just about every other institution in modern society. “They don’t belong to anything,” Murphy observed. “They don’t belong to political parties. They don’t belong to the Lion’s Club or the Kiwanis. Life commitment is very tentative at best.” But many are suspended between their phobias over commitment and a profound spiritual hunger, Murphy said. “All the spirituality that’s around, it’s people who are looking for something,” he said. “Whether or not we’re going to respond in adequate fashion with all the problems we’ve had, that’s part of the question.”
Secular priests trying to make sense of their lives in an era of sex scandals and indifference are going to need a spirituality all their own, said Murphy. In the past diocesan priests have tried to get by on spiritualities borrowed from religious orders — particularly from the contemplative Benedictines. “When we were ordained, I remember I was hugely frustrated,” said Murphy. “I was in a real busy parish and things didn’t go that way.” A Resurrectionist priest who was Murphy’s spiritual director back in 1960 told him he would have to find a spirituality that isn’t designed for life in a monastery. The essence of Murphy’s spirituality for secular priests is hope. “It’s clearly not hope as optimism,” he said. “There’s no way that it’s hope for (particular) outcomes. If you’re realistic you realize you’re going to more priests’ funerals than you are to ordinations.”
About the author: Michael Swan is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register. He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.