Addressing seminarians, Archbishop urges them to leave comfort zone of priesthood and be accessible to people immersed in daily life.
By Anthony Barich
Priests should be visible witnesses to the priesthood and to Christ in the marketplace, Archbishop Barry Hickey said on July 7.
In his homily during a Mass at St Charles’ Seminary where students Michael Cornell and Brennan Sia declared their candidacy for the priesthood to him, the Archbishop spoke of the need to “go out into the marketplace”, as there are “millions of people out there who are like sheep without a shepherd”.
The Archbishop said he wanted the young men present, who included seminarians studying in both Perth and Sydney, to develop a concept of the priesthood that focused on reaching out to people, to “be in the world, but not of it”.
“There are very few priests who go out into the marketplace… they do, but you don’t know they’re there. If you walk through shopping centres and people see your cross or your collar, they approach you, because they recognise you” as a witness to Christ, he said.
“Speak the Good News, invite them to speak their stories. You can’t stay in your presbytery expecting others to come to you,” he said. The Archbishop spoke of a priest friend of his, now deceased, who was in charge of a small parish. Despite having suffered a mental breakdown, and his peers encouraging him to stay at home, the priest still sat in the local mall every week and “did a tremendous amount of good” because he still had a talent to listen to people.
Archbishop Hickey, whowas ordained to the priesthood at age 22, said the candidacy process, non-existent when he was a youth, is crucial today, as most seminarians are older when they enter and have been exposed to other paths of life.
“The Candidacy process is where the Church asks if they’re sure in their minds and hearts that this is God’s call to service of God and His people,” he said. The process also requires the consent of the seminary rector and authorities, and of the bishop.
The Gospel of the day where Jesus spoke of labourers in the vineyard was particularly apt, he said. “The Gospel is Jesus telling us to pray for labourers in the vineyard. You can’t just leave it to God. Prayer is necessary.”
He asked the seminarians to not only pray for themselves but for others, and stressed that candidates for the priesthood need to be “like Jesus, mixing with people where they are in their lives”.