Priests affirm, challenge each other

    For three days last week, nearly 200 priests who serve in the Archdiocese of New Orleans stepped away from their parishes to take a fresh, focused look at their mission and ministry and at the things that are either barriers or springboards to cultivating unity among themselves and with Archbishop Gregory Aymond.
    When they left a Metairie hotel Sept. 22 following the first extended convocation called by Archbishop Aymond, they expressed appreciation for the opportunity to discuss issues that often fly just below the radar – things such as the heavy workload because of fewer priests, the perceived differences in “liberal” or “conservative” ecclesiology between older and younger priests, and differences that can arise based on race, ethnicity and culture.
    They also left knowing each other in a profoundly deeper way, and they thanked Archbishop Aymond for bringing them together. Father Billy O’Riordan, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Belle Chasse and a priest for 26 years, said there were some priests he had never met. Others, he hadn’t seen in 10 or 15 years.
 

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‘Overwhelmed’ by experience
    “I have been very much overwhelmed by your words of support and your words of trust,” the archbishop told a roomful priests at their concluding Mass. “It’s not often that I don’t know what to say, but I don’t. I’ve been overwhelmed.”
    Building fraternity was among the chief goals of the convocation. In his homily at the closing Mass, Auxiliary Bishop Shelton Fabre referred to the Gospel reading of the day (Luke 9:7-9) in which Herod expresses his desire to “see” Jesus.
    “To simply ‘see’ someone and to truly ‘encounter’ someone are two different things,” Bishop Fabre said. “As priests of the archdiocese, we often ‘see’ each other at various times. However, part of the grace of these days is that we have truly ‘encountered’ one another, come to a greater understanding of one another, and thus can be more unified and of greater support to one another as priests of Jesus Christ.”
    Planned for more than a year, the convocation attracted 197 priests – 144 diocesan and 53 religious – and four transitional deacons who will be ordained next July to the priesthood. Archbishop Aymond considered the convocation so important that in most parishes, Communion services were offered instead of Masses while the priests met.
    Led by facilitators from the National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy (NOCERCC), the assembled priests had a chance to examine the results of a clergy survey and listening sessions conducted a few months earlier regarding issues that promoted or challenged unity among priests. The survey and listening sessions also examined the level of unity between the priests and Archbishop Aymond.
 

‘Off the charts’
    Father Stephen Fichter, one of the facilitators who has done “Cultivating Unity” workshops across the country, said the New Orleans Archdiocese was at the top of the list among dioceses when it comes to the warm relationship that exists between the priests and Archbishop Aymond.
    While unity among the priests themselves also is considered high, the convocation uncovered challenges that need to be addressed. Among the biggest challenges to unity, are the increased workload caused by the priest shortage, leaving less time to get together with fellow priests; generational differences between older and younger priests in ecclesiology or theology; and differences based on race, ethnicity and culture.
    Msgr. Earl Gauthreaux, who was ordained in 1956 and is the pastor of St. Maria Goretti in New Orleans East, expressed the generational tensions that have grown out of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and how those teachings have been implemented over the last half-century.
    He painted a narrative of being a young priest under Archbishop John Cody in the early 1960s – “We were known as Boys Town because a lot of us were much younger than the other priests” – and then seeing the changes in the liturgy and the affirmation of the laity under Vatican II.
 

Forward looking
    “I posed the question to all of my classmates when we had a get-together last week and asked if any of them wanted to go back to Latin Masses,” Msgr. Gauthreaux said. “Not a one wants to do that. Not a one. Those of us who have been there pre-Vatican II and went through all of the experiences of Vatican II and then post-Vatican II don’t want to go back to Latin. We feel we have done that and been there and don’t want to go backwards.”
    Msgr. Gauthreaux said “some of the old guys notice a real trend toward conservatism in a lot of the younger priests.”
    During one of the listening sessions that preceded the convocation, a younger priest wrote about how he felt isolated for his more conservative ecclesiology.
    “Newly ordained priests have openly, in deanery meetings and priest personnel meetings, been ridiculed for their desire to follow and live the traditions of the church,” the priest wrote.
    Father Mike Kettenring, pastor of Visitation of Our Lady Parish in Marrero who was ordained at age 57 in 2001 following the death of his wife, said the priests at his table discussion felt it was important “to get labels off the table so we’re not talking about conservative and liberal.”
    “Rather than labels, we need to focus on issues and talk with each other about what the issues are,” Father Kettenring said. “There is a realization that differences can be strengths – there doesn’t need to be tension. But they can become strengths only if we talk to each other.”
 

Racial tension is a factor
    While Caucasian priests generally did not think racial, ethnic or cultural issues were a cause for concern, African-American, African, Asian and Hispanic priests believed – in higher percentages – that they were.
    “There is some racial tension,” said Father Tony Ricard, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in New Orleans. “As a young African-American priest who has been in the diocese for 16 years, I’ve had incidents where people have said some things that have been very hurtful, things that indeed made you wonder whether you belong in this diocese. So, if it’s not articulated or brought out, then it just happens and everyone smiles at each other and we shake hands and sing, ‘Kumbaya.’”
    Father Fichter said it was important for priests “to put all the cards on the table and say everything that needs to be said. That’s when healing can begin.”
    As for priest overload, Father Jimmy Jeanfreau, who is pastor of St. Jerome Parish in Kenner and also director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, said the crowded schedule of most priests has affected fraternity.
    “In the past – 40 or 50 years ago – parishes didn’t have meetings at night, so there was more time for priests to get together,” Father Jeanfreau said. “Associates 40 or 50 years ago weren’t encouraged to form bonding relationships with parishioners. Now, if we don’t have five meetings a week, we’re considered a failure.”
 

No built-in community
    Father Ronald Calkins, pastor of Mary Queen of Peace Church in Mandeville, gave a brief talk as a representative of those who had been ordained in the late 1970s. In five of the six parishes in which he had lived or served, he was in community with other priests. Now he lives by himself in the rectory, although he jokingly said, “I have made that adjustment very well.”
    “Living by myself has caused me to be more intentional in reaching out to my brother priests and really seeking that fraternity,” Father Calkins said. On one Sunday evening a month, several priests from the West St. Tammany Deanery get together for dinner at a restaurant.
    But Father Calkins said two attempts to sustain a priests’ support group have waned. He said priests need to take a personal interest in each other, especially when reaching out to others who are considered “lone rangers.” He also suggested using a priests’ calendar and praying specifically for a priest every day.
 

Morale is high
    Generally, Father Calkins sees priest morale as a strength.
    “I have served under four archbishops, and my experience is that we might gripe and complain sometimes about the archbishops and the things they want us to do, but for the most part we are very supportive,” Father Calkins said.
    He said the fact that 97 percent of priests either agree or strongly agree that Archbishop Aymond understands and supports his priests provides “a wonderful opportunity to really work together and work through some of the things that divide us. We have that window of opportunity.”
    Father Daniel Brouillette, who was ordained in 2009, said he was warmly welcomed by his first pastor, Msgr. Harry Bugler, at St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan. He described himself as coming from “a traditional school of theology, where I really appreciate the older traditions of the church and try to incorporate that into the celebration of the Mass.”
    “Father Harry and I are incredibly different – and not just because of his (Irish) accent,” Father Brouillette said. “But we worked incredibly well together. So much of what he taught me has become a regular practice in my priesthood. We are all pointed to the same Christ. We may be different, but we are unified. We may have different points of view, but we respect each other and love each other because we are brothers. We are priests.”
    Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].