In the Absence of a Priest

In the service of the Lord

Jewish society during Jesus’ time was anything but “unity.” It was organized as a pyramid, with those at the top of the pyramid close to God, and therefore “most holy,” and those at the bottom farthest from God, and therefore “least holy.” At the very top was the high priest, the only man who could go into the holiest part of the Temple.  Next came the other religious authorities. All other men who tried to follow the Law were next on the pyramid. Their prosperity was a sign they had earned God’s favor by following the Law. Women were next down in the pyramid. Their worth came from their husbands, fathers, or brothers. Next came foreigners. People who were not Jewish were not considered part of God’s covenant. Next came sinners. Poverty and sickness were seen as evidence of sin. And last came people such as prostitutes and murderers.

 

Those at the top of the pyramid did not associate with those at the bottom.

For the Jewish people who believed he was the Messiah, Jesus turned this pyramid upside down, with those formerly at the top now at the “service” of those at the bottom - for the love of God. As noted in the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, the Lord called Jews to the unity of life in the service of God. “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4; 1-3). Jesus’ very ministry came in terms of “service.” Paul saw his own role as introducing others to this life of service in Christ. Therefore, Paul urged Jews to respond to God’s call to serve as Jesus Christ had served them. The key word here is service.

Christians started as a Jewish sect

Paul Bernier (“Ministry in the Church: A Historical and Pastoral Approach”) calls the first generation of our Church “the foundations of ministry,” and he also demarks the years 27 to 70 as “the apostolic age.” Bernier points out that the year 70 is not arbitrary.

By that time Peter and Paul had been killed, and with the destruction of the Temple came a breaking point with the Jewish religion from which Christianity originally evolved. Catholics often forget that “Christianity” was originally a Jewish sect, a gathering for those Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. While they did not think of themselves as a separate religion, it is from this period that we have the foundational documents of the Church, particularly through the writings of Paul.

This is why I believe that in order to have a better appreciation of the Church’s first beginnings it is crucial to understand how Jewish society worked in those early days, otherwise we would be reading outside their context the many challenges the first generation faced after Pentecost.

The first followers of Christ did not see themselves as an organized group of people, but as a “unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit.” (Ephesians 4; 3-4)

Give parishioners ownership of their parish

Despite this large number of Hispanic Catholics, only 6.3 percent of the nation’s priests are Hispanic. There are about 9,925 Hispanic Catholics per Hispanic priest, while there are 1,230 Catholics per priest in the general Catholic population. This means that the laity is having a greater leadership role in ministering to Hispanic populations in general, although the lack of priests ministering sacraments continues to push many to evangelical Protestant or Pentecostal churches. Spanish-speaking evangelical Protestant communities offer Hispanic newcomers the warm fellowship and emotional worship experience that they often crave but cannot find in Anglo-American Catholic churches.

On November 7, 1989, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops approved Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest: Leader’s Edition, in accordance with the provisions of No. 41 of the Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest, promulgated by the Congregation for Divine Worship on June 2, 1988.

Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest: Leader’s Edition is a bilingual publication, in English and Spanish, for the deacons and the laity who may lead these celebrations. The fact that the Leader’s Edition is published in Spanish facilitates the formation requirements of celebration leaders.

I propose that preparing Hispanic laity for a purpose, that of being leaders for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest, might motivate more participation from the laity and real action from the diocese. Up to now, lay ministers in most Hispanic communities have limit their pastoral training to catechesis for children, but have not received pastoral instruction with a tangible plan for the future. One venue to give these lay ministers ownership of their parish communities is empowering them as celebrants for Sundays in the Absence of a Priest, and let the Holy Spirit work through them toward a Church of the future.

 

Issue of belonging

Hispanic parishioners need more than just a brief training to become catechists. Those who act as leaders of the community in particular should receive all kinds of training. For instance, lessons on liturgical catechism should be mandatory for Eucharistic ministers, Bible studies for readers of the Word, organizational skills for leaders in general, training for those who prepare men and women for matrimony, RCIA leadership training, training for those who train parents and “padrinos” of a child for baptism and so forth.

Because of their short number, priests in general tend to limit their duties to the delivery of sacraments. In the same line of thought, most Catholics limit their Christian living to the reception of sacraments. In the Hispanic community, this is definitely the case, the pastoral care of parishioners left to people who are moved only with the spirit to serve. It is not unusual to find Spanish-speaking Catholics eager to have Bible studies, but finding no one prepared to lead them.

The thirst for “belonging” to a community of Christ that is engaging and vibrant has moved Hispanic Catholics to other Christian denominations. Hispanics are now America’s largest minority, with a population of more than 35 million, according to figures from Census 2000. An estimated 70 percent of them are Catholics, which means that at least one out of every four Catholics in America is of Hispanic origin. The September 2006 issue of U.S. Catholic, presents a bar graphic whereby Hispanics are projected to be almost half of U.S. Catholics in 2025.

Hispanics feel shortage of priests the most

Catholics in the United States have felt the priest shortage in a number of ways. Some parishes around the nation have consolidated, some being closed and merged with others. In those parishes that have not closed there are less frequent celebrations of the Eucharist. Yet in other places, the average Anglo-American Catholic knows very little about this shortage of priests. There is one important reason for this.

The shortage of priests in some parishes is not being noticed by the Anglo-American Catholic population due to a marginalization of the Hispanic Catholic population, a community that is suffering and noticing dearly the shortage. This is because the priests brought from Latin American countries, or Latino immigrants who enter the seminary in the U.S., mainly serve the Anglo-American community.

This shortage of priests has practically resulted in Hispanic lay ministers “running” their church. The Spanish-speaking priest could not do without them. This may be a blessing in disguise, but there is a problem. Lay ministers who serve Hispanic parishioners have little or no training whatsoever.

Worn out priests

Amid the scandals that have tarnished the Catholic Church in the United States in recent years, people often overlook the innumerable priests who go out day by day diligently doing the work of the Lord. Most of them are, in effect, worn out in the parishes they serve due to the decreasing number of vocations.

In the Diocese of Venice of Florida, which includes some 15 counties in the southwest coast, on average, there is one priest per 1,000 Catholics.  This number, however, compares favorably in relation to the rest of the United States, where there are 1,300 Catholics per priest.

According to a special report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate of Georgetown University published in the summer of 2005, over the last decade, the number of parishes in the United States entrusted to lay persons has grown from 268 in 1993 to 566 in 2004. That is about double the number of parishes handed over to someone other than a priest in one decade.

My faith in critical times

Most people turn to God in bad times. And that’s OK. But really, bad and good times are a natural, everyday occurrence. The manifestation of God and his merciful will is in everything that happens to us, all the time, good or bad.

I rediscovered this recently as I’ve been hit with furlough days on my job with the possibility of a permanent layoff, the loss of my retirement savings, a house that I can’t sell, and the prospect of increasing debt. 

This might seem bad, but I’m taking this as a blessing from God because through it all I’m realizing that I had fallen in the same greed and consumerism that is breaking this nation apart, while overlooking in the process the sense of purpose in my life as a Christian.

One day after Sunday Mass a woman approached me to ask how to go about baptizing her 5-month old twins. When I told her that either the sponsors or the parents must be following the sacraments, she said she had never been baptized.

Elizabeth had arrived from Cuba 5 years ago. She didn’t know how to do the sign of the cross but was overcome when I told her she could be baptized if she wanted to.

This turned out to be easier said than done.

I became frustrated with the lack of organization from a “RICA class” at a local church since the one we attended didn’t have the program in Spanish. RICA stands for Rito de Iniciación Cristiana de Adultos. Elizabeth felt uneasy at the meetings because this RICA class involved a large group that included candidates for confirmation, who were more versed on catholicism, and parishioners who wanted to learn more about their religion.

So I decided to do a one-on-one coaching the best I could. I quit after two meetings.

True. I had a lot of pressure on me at work. They were laying off people and I didn’t want to miss any work, just in case, so I worked until late.

True, I was furloughed for a week and budget became tight.

True. I had put my house on sale and had to take the time to show it to interested agents at odd times.

I seemingly didn’t have time for Elizabeth, but the truth is I did not want to face the challenge of preparing a catechumen on my own or for that matter attend the group meetings with her.

Here I was a devoted Catholic, happily involved with my church, yet forgetting the reason why I was so dedicated.

I went to confession and found that the fear of losing what material things I might have was taking precedence over Elizabeth’s initiation in our Church.

Just as I was going to give her a call, she showed up at Mass that Sunday. Isn’t it amazing how God works?

We’ve been attending our Thursday meetings together since then, and I’ve been coming to Elizabeth’s home for some extra catechism. She’s done the Rite of Election and the scrutinies, and we’re looking forward to Easter’s Vigil. She’s named me her sponsor.

So in these “bad” times I have learned to be humble, more generous, understanding and patient. It is only fitting that the season of Lent is a time for introspection and renewal. I thank God for the gift of faith and pray that my faith is always strengthening in troubled times. 

God's saving grace

I just realized that not remembering being baptized (I was an infant) - or for that matter confirmed - now bothers me somewhat. I think that if I had the chance to be baptized again, with what I know about the sacrament, I would be much more conscientious of my life in the Spirit.

God made human beings in his own image: we were made good, we were made to be in relationship with God and with others, and we were made free! But through that freedom we, throughout our life, choose "sin." Sin breaks that relationship "in the image of God." It separates us from our goodness, from God, and from other people. But God's transforming love, ever since the first sin, has worked to restore our goodness through grace. Grace restores our relationship with our goodness, with God and with others. Through grace the Spirit dwells in us. In our baptism we accept to follow God's transforming love.

Following theologian Karl Rahner, through that grace we all, everyone, have the radical capacity to grow in knowledge of God. The sacraments are precisely the visible ways, the signs that show that God is indeed lovingly interested in bestowing his gift of grace upon us. Through the sacraments, the mystery of God is continually "revealed." Baptism enters a human being to the mystery of his redemption.

Christian baptism for adults

One Sunday, I was getting ready to lock the church when a young woman approached me to ask how to go about baptizing her 5-month old twins. I said that either the parents or the godparents needed to be baptized Catholic and follow the sacraments. She said she'd never been baptized.

So instead of the twins we turned our attention to Elizabeth, who was born in Cuba and never attended church until she moved to the United States, five years ago. We took her to another parish where they had a group of Spanish speaking adults being prepared for confirmation.

I'm happy to say that she will be baptized during the Easter Vigil, but sad to say that I had little or no support from that parish.

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the normal way for unbaptized persons and those who have been baptized in another Christian tradition to become a Catholic.It's a very cumbersome and difficult process. Sad to say, though, that at least in this diocese, priests don't seem to realize the importance of this event. Yet, 65,000 adults get baptized in the Catholic church every year in this country.

The reason for the long and difficult period of study is to initiate and foster the process of conversion of heart and entry into the mystery of Christ. Something that's not so easy for someone who doesn't know how to do the sign of the cross.

I keep saying I won't be involved next year, because I'm frustrated, but I'm in love with this rite of Christian initiation. It's the way the early church started. Let's keep praying.

Opening to the world

Corn Flakes, Hershey's chocolate and of course baseball welcomed me to the United States in July of 1968 as a Rotary Exchange Student from Bolivia. I arrived in the heat of the presidential elections and a national uneasiness about the Vietnam War. Those who lived those years know those times hardly compare with today’s in effervescence and convulsion. The ghost of drug addiction was making its entrance among the youth. I remember a lecture about Cannabis at the Cooperstown Central School’s auditorium, still not being fluent in English and so understanding little about it. It was only some years later that I would recall that day in Cooperstown - a time when tragedy afflicted my home.

My year in Cooperstown changed me forever. Besides learning all about "America" I also learned first-hand all about the world while sharing with 40 other exchange students living in the same Rotary district. We had periodical meetings in which we exchanged music, food, customs, and taught
each other our languages.

I was changed, yes, but I found my home country changed when I returned. Perhaps I had lost my innocence and I found myself more aware of the challenges facing Bolivia.

I remember back in 1967 the newspaper photographs of Che Guevara after he was executed. But it was only after I came back from Cooperstown in June of 1969 when I placed that event in the perspective of my somewhat global experience: my conversations about May 1968 with my fellow European exchange students, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Vietnam, Cuba, Mao Tse Tung,
Nixon, The Soviet Union.

I entered the (Jesuit) Catholic University in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1970 to study Economics. My stay here lasted only a year and half. I became fully immersed in a student movement that supported socialist president, Juan Jose Torres. Torres was overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Hugo Banzer in
August 1971. I fled to Spain in September.

I stayed in Europe two years, until 1973, the first of which in Spain where I entered the Universidad Complutense de Madrid to continue with Economics. However, I only made it through Microeconomics with passing grades as I devoted most of my time to fighting Francisco Franco¹s dictatorship in the classroom and on the streets of Madrid.

I ended up hanging out with people from the Spanish Communist Party, which wasn¹t my objective but it was the only organized effort against Franco. At one point, I decide against joining the party "officially," which was a good decision not only ideologically but it would have come to haunt me when I decided to become a U.S. citizen.

When I began running out of money, I left for London and worked there as a maid for a while. I saved enough money to hitchhike my way back to Spain through Europe. Those were my hippie days.

In 1973, back in Bolivia, I married Kike, an ex-boyfriend from Spain, at the urge of my father, in the Catholic Church. We moved to Puerto Rico, where my daughter Ana Lucia was born the following year. We moved again to the Dominican Republic in search of opportunities, but our marriage ended in 1975. I finally managed to graduate from INTEC with a BS in Economics.

In 1975 I married Joe, a U.S. diplomat and moved to Washington DC. From there we moved to Bolivia. In 1983, my son Joe was born. In 1985, we moved to Guatemala. I entered the Catholic University Rafael Landivar and received a degree in journalism.

Throughout my travels and studies I never lost sight of my purpose in life; fighting for justice and the common good. My husband used to call me a "professional volunteer." Although my involvement with my church had its ups and downs, my faith never abandoned me. I was able to raise my kids Catholic and in the sacraments, even though both of my husbands were atheists.

We moved back to the United States, to Cape Coral, Florida, in 1990. I went back to school and in 1997 graduated with a BA in English from the University of South Florida. I started the first publication in Spanish and used it to fight for the rights of immigrants and migrant workers. In 1994, I started working for our local paper where I'm still employed.

My life took a drastic change in 1999 when my husband Joe died of lung cancer. But is wasn't until 2003 when I decided to dedicate my entire life to Christ. I went back to school for a Master's in Pastoral Theology at Barry University, which has helped me not only to learn about my religion but to grow in my faith.