The Priesthood Reimagined

For generations, diocesan priests have received their theological and pastoral preparation in largely the same way. Now a major new report from a group of leading theologians and ministers at Boston College is calling for an overhaul. Priests for too long have been trained in remote and enclosed seminaries, the report argues. “If, however, candidates for ordination study in universities and theological centers with others who are preparing for ministry, the shared learning is likely to contribute to a healthy future for ministry in the Church, a future in which collaboration and co-responsibility are typical.”

The paper was first published in Origins, a media outlet of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. In addition to its emphasis on collaborative leadership, the document advocates for an end to the priesthood’s culture of clericalism, which it admonishes for “forget[ting] that the visibility and sacramentality of the church belong to all the people of God, not only to the few chosen and enlightened.” Writing in America magazine, the theologians Stephen Bevans and Robin Ryan called the report “theologically rich and religiously and pastorally inspiring” and “one of the best reflections on priesthood we have ever read.”

Titled “To Serve the People of God: Renewing the Conversation on Priesthood and Ministry,” the paper is the product of Boston College’s Seminar on Priesthood and Ministry for the Contemporary Church, a two-year project that was sponsored by both the theology department and the School of Theology and Ministry. The seminar, which began meeting in the fall of 2016, was made up of women and men who are lay and of ordained theologians and ministers working in pastoral and academic settings. The document they produced concludes that forming priests in an environment rich with a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and experiences can help strengthen the priesthood, and with it the Church itself: “Although diocesan seminaries have nurtured many skilled and compassionate pastors,” the report finds, “the enclosed settings of the seminary, often insulated from the everyday world of families, budgeting, commuting, and even grocery shopping and laundry, can isolate seminarians.” Notably, the report specifically calls for an acknowledgment of the contributions that women make to the Church. Quoting The Church Women Want, a 2002 book edited by the theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson, the paper’s authors write that “there can be no future for the church which women have not had a pivotal hand in shaping.” (The seminar did not directly address controversial issues such as the ordination of women and of married men.)

STM Professor of Systematic Theology Richard Lennan, who cochaired the seminar and who is himself a diocesan priest, said the group approached its work with the understanding that the priesthood is part of the body that is the Church. “As with any organism, when part of the body is ill or in need of repair, the whole organism is affected,” Fr. Lennan said. “So if you want to fix the priesthood in light of its current scandals and decline, you need to think about it holistically and consider its place in relation to what it’s a part of, not in isolation.”

Richard Gaillardetz, Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology and a seminar cochair, noted that, “Where we proposed reforms in the process of calling forth and forming candidates for the priesthood, those reforms were oriented toward both uprooting the deeply embedded clerical culture that infects our Church, and toward reimagining a ministerial priesthood capable of serving the baptismal priesthood of the people of God.”

Early last year, before the paper was finalized, STM Professor of Theology and Religious Education Thomas Groome—who launched the seminar when he was director of Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center—traveled to the Vatican along with Fr. Liam Bergin, a seminar participant and professor of the practice of theology, to meet with representatives of the Congregation for the Clergy and discuss the project. The report has since been sent to Pope Francis and distributed to bishops throughout the Church. Groome said that the scope of the seminar was limited to diocesan priests in the United States, “but we hope that this will have resonance with the whole Church.” ◽