Year V, Number 4

It is especially important that the priest understand the theological motivation of the Church’s law on celibacy. Inasmuch as it is a law, it expresses the Church’s will, even before the will of the subject expressed by his readiness. But the will of the Church finds its ultimate motivation in the link between celibacy and sacred ordination, which configures the priest to Jesus Christ, the head and spouse of the Church. The Church, as the spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her head and spouse loved her. Priestly celibacy, then, is the gift of self in and with Christ to his Church and expresses the priest’s service to the Church in and with the Lord.

For an adequate priestly spiritual life, celibacy ought not to be considered and lived as an isolated or purely negative element, but as one aspect of the positive, specific and characteristic approach to being a priest. Leaving father and mother, the priest follows Jesus the good shepherd in an apostolic communion, in the service of the People of God. Celibacy, then, is to be welcomed and continually renewed with a free and loving decision as a priceless gift from God, as an “incentive to pastoral charity” as a singular sharing in God’s fatherhood and in the fruitfulness of the Church, and as a witness to the world of the eschatological kingdom. To put into practice all the moral, pastoral and spiritual demands of priestly celibacy it is absolutely necessary that the priest pray humbly and trustingly, as the Council points out: “In the world today, many people call perfect continence impossible. The more they do so, the more humbly and perseveringly priests should join with the Church in praying for the grace of fidelity. It is never denied to those who ask. At the same time let priests make use of all the supernatural and natural helps which are now available to all.” Once again it is prayer, together with the Church’s sacraments and ascetical practice, which will provide hope in difficulties, forgiveness in failings, and confidence and courage in resuming the journey.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Hi. This is just a question, but I have just heard of the psychological tests, and that they question EVERYTHING, including personal things like sexuality. Whilst I have nothing to hide, I really don’t like the idea of telling people whether or not I have had a girlfriend, who they have been, what I thought, how I felt, whether or not I am dating at present, whether or not it’s serious, etc. I haven’t contacted VD, because I am young, but have asked about the steps to the priesthood. And heard this. I have been told by a priest that they try to find out about any girlfriends you’ve had, whether or not you’re straight, and all sorts of really private questions. I was straight last time I checked, but to ask somebody questions like this is impertinent. I am sure everybody else feels the same. I am amazed; I thought Jesus picked his apostles - I never read about the time when he put them before a board to be picked at. I want to know what type of questions they ask, not specifically sexuality since that’s not really a big issue, but all the questions, since this just seems unreasonable. Having people breathing down your prayer-life’s neck is bad enough, but dragging up the past, etc, is plain cheek. Also, those people just can’t judge what type of a person somebody is unless they have met them elsewhere (i.e. when they are not being questioned over their virginity and are consequently astounded). Apart from this, I am fine about everything, but what I have just been told is just weird and seems irrelevant to the priesthood; it’s not as if the candidate knows the people. If I have heard right, these are questions which my own family wouldn’t even ask. It’s just plain silly.

- Andrew

A. Dear Andrew,

Your question was very interesting. The reason for the psychological interviews is this: bishops and religious superiors have the duty in conscience of making sure that the candidates they accept are apt, normal all around, and show the signs of a true vocation - this includes spiritually, humanly, intellectually, and psychologically. It is not that they are “breathing down your prayer-life’s neck”; it is just that they have to make sure that you have a workable basis for your spiritual life. They will ask about your studies and you will have to produce documents, because they have to make sure you have the necessary intelligence for the particular calling you wish to follow. They have to ask about your moral life, because they need to see if you are normal and make sure there is nothing in your past that would be a sign you should not pursue the priesthood. They will ask for psychological testing because they have to make sure again that you are in the normal range. You are mistaken in reducing the psychological testing to inquiries into your sex life. That will be covered, of course, but there is more to it than that one area.

Now, you say that Christ picked his apostles without a battery of tests or interviews. Well, yes and no. He knew what there was in the heart of man. He did not need the means we do, but he certainly did not pick “anyone”. You may say that in the past there was no psychological testing for vocations because psychology didn’t exist. Yes and no. Formation personal in seminaries always included men with a deep knowledge of the human person, and a talent for penetrating spiritual direction and the discernment of spirits. These were men who could “feel” if things were not quite as they should be for a vocation; they might not have had the word neurosis in their vocabulary, but they certainly could tell if a man was whole or in need of healing.

I have to grant you that some exercise of psychology is weird, stupid and silly. Others exercising psychology give advice that is simply wrong and morally damaging. Much depends on the psychologist himself and the particular school he was formed in and belongs to, and you can safely say that the psychologist himself brings a lot of “baggage” or prejudice to the table. So the seminary has the obligation of making sure the person they choose to do the psychological testing and interviewing is balanced, possesses a basic moral integrity, and understands the relation between grace and nature. The psychological part of the testing has to be taken only as one element in the testing process; it is an inexact science, the written tests themselves are based on statistics, and a great deal depends on the personal skill of the individual interviewer.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I think I might have a vocation. I started thinking this right after I started reading “Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux and my question is: could this “vocation” be just an illusion, after reading a story about a saint who was a nun? Also, I’m only 13. Do you think I’m too young to know? One more thing: what exactly is a spiritual director? Is it okay not to have one? I wouldn’t really feel comfortable asking anybody, even if I could find someone. I tell everything to my mom, so does she count? I would really appreciate an answer. Thanks.

- Ogla

A. Dear Olga,

God often uses seemingly chance events, like reading the life of a saint, to speak to our souls. So, it is quite possible that he is putting the thought into your mind, preparing your soul for what he wants to ask of you in the future. 13 is not too young to “know” your vocation. I say “know” because obviously you still have a lot ahead of you, and God is the one who confirms our vocation after we have been generous to follow it.

What can you do at 13 about a vocation? One very important thing that you are already doing is to speak to your mom about it. That way the two of you can pray together to Jesus; you can offer yourself to him and tell him that your whole life is going to be to love and serve him in whatever way he wants. Try to be as faithful to him as possible, and try to bring others to him: pray for those who don’t know him; learn your faith so as to be able to share it with others, especially girls your age; get your friends doing a variety of fun and constructive things together, like camps, projects, missions, visiting sick kids, etc... Make sure that as you grow up and some of your friends want to push their faith into the background, you don’t follow them and instead of them influencing you, you influence them.

There are also high schools that are specifically for girls who feel a vocation to particular groups. If you want to look into this possibility more you can write me back and I will get you some information.

A spiritual director is a prudent person with a lot of common sense who knows his spiritual theology and is able to help you detect what God wants you to do, and can help you progress in your spiritual life. Many moms do count, but sometimes they like a second opinion!

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

52. In your book The Integral Formation of Catholic Priests, you really stress human formation. Why so?

I believe the basic reason I stress human formation for priests is that I always keep in mind that a priest is alter Christus. If we take seriously what Catholic dogma tells us – that Christ is perfect God and perfect man – it follows that whoever wants to fully identify with Christ in his vocation and mission cannot but work to be a “perfect man” like his Master. It is absolutely necessary to have an intense prayer life, as we have said, but that is no reason to neglect other aspects that may seem secondary, but which nevertheless shape the “complete priest”. The various components of the human person form a deep unity. If you properly develop your mind, will, feelings, emotions and interpersonal relationships, you are placing the foundation to reflect Christ as perfectly as possible in your life. Nevertheless, there are countless people without this human formation to whom the Holy Spirit gives himself, granting them an experiential knowledge of God as theirs to possess and savor.

Yet it is also obvious that a priest’s human maturity – his psychological and emotional balance, keen intelligence, firm will, emotional composure – will contribute enormously to a much more effective apostolate. When we meet someone who is self-possessed, kind, noble, honest, welcoming and consistent, this array of human values which make him a complete man attracts us to him. Christ certainly drew the crowds because of the strength that radiated from his divine person, but just as certainly his human personality was utterly overwhelming, even for his enemies.

[...]I saw that if these aspects were missing, there would be something in the priest that would not reflect Christ’s image in him, and could even be an occasion for people to withdraw from him. I was overjoyed, therefore, to see this idea confirmed in the post-synodal exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, in which John Paul II calls human formation the foundation of all intellectual formation, acknowledging that without an adequate human formation all of a priest’s formation would be deprived of its necessary foundation (n. 43).

Physical fitness is also part of human formation for us – as the Romans used to say, “mens sana in corpore sano.” [...] We believe that sports and exercise are a way to release energy and relax, and they are also formative. Team sports are especially helpful in developing social virtues: sportsmanship, respect for others, self-control, wholesome competitiveness, discipline, team spirit above personal interests, and so forth. Outings to the countryside, the sea or the mountains are another type of exercise that can soothe your spirit, help you to find yourself and contemplate God’s marvelous creative action in nature.

Gospel: Lk 4:21-30

And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing”. And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’” And he said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. When they heard this all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city. And led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I am a weak creature. I suppose those two words, ‘weak’ and ‘creature’ go together. It is only with your grace that we can do the things that you invite us to and obtain our greatness in you, our Creator. I turn to you now to ask of you the strength I need to fulfill the plan that you have for my life and leave behind in this world the example of fidelity and conviction that we are called to as Christians.

Petition: Lord, grant me strength to be a more faithful and courageous apostle of your Kingdom.

1. “All spoke well of him.”

Christ loved the people of his hometown synagogue. It could be no other way. He looked at them with love. He taught them with love. They experienced his love and were convinced by it. For this, “all spoke well of him”. They were fascinated with him, with his words, with his attractive personality, with the hope that he gave them. This is the experience of every Christian, isn’t it?

2. “But in truth I tell you.”

Then there comes a time when Christ, the good coach, the mentor, the teacher, manifests his love in another way. He invites these souls that he loves to accept him in a deeper way, to grow in their experience of him leaving behind everything that is not Christ nor his interests. Christ knows how materialistic these people are and how they want signs, miracles, works as were done in Capernaum. Yet, Christ knows that this is not what they need. They need to be free from this and truly cling to Christ’s words alone, words that will never pass away. He challenges them and shows them examples from the times of Elijah and Elisha to help them reflect and accept this challenge. If we believe that Christ loves us, then we should also expect displays of this love in the form of challenges. Nobody would want a coach that left his athletes in mediocrity. Christ, the best coach, challenges us to leave behind our mediocrity. “But in truth I tell you…”

3. “Filled with wrath.”

Unfortunately, the reaction to challenges is not always positive. This was the case with the synagogue full of souls in this gospel passage. They rose up against him. They were “filled with wrath”. Surely none of them even thought they could come to be so angry with the one teaching them such marvels in the synagogue. Maybe Christ’s challenges to us lead us to be angry with him, or think it unjust that we should shoulder such burdens in our lives, or that he could possibly think to call us to carry out this or that mission. What must be remembered here is that Christ loves us and that all he can do is love us and that anything that is asked is asked in love.

Conversation: Lord Jesus, time spent with you is always fruitful. Thank you for the graces of these moments of prayer and for the understanding that you have given to me of my life. Lord, go ahead and challenge me as you will, I know that with your grace and patience I will be able to rise up and reach new heights as I journey through this brief life to be with you forever having fulfilled your plan. I am convinced of your love.

Questionnaire:

1. How often do I marvel at the presence of Christ in my life, in the sacraments, in so many who manifest his love for me? Is this a regular topic of my examination of conscience, in which I put my finger on his love for me and on my love or lack of love in my response? Which are my resolutions?

2. Can I say that I truly want Christ to challenge me? In which areas am I still afraid of God’s will? Why?

3. How much am I convinced that Christ is love? Could I envision becoming angry or changing my own attitude toward Christ if he tells me something I do not like or asks me to do something I do not want to do? What are such occasions, and where are they rooted?

SAUGUS, Mass. Judith Stegman, owner of a tax and accounting firm in Lansing, MI, doesn’t mince words when describing her vocation. “I’m a consecrated virgin,” she says. Even in Catholic circles, the statement doesn’t always go down well. Once, about to speak at a finance seminar for area parish office workers, Stegman was introduced as “a consecrated virgin in the Church.” Someone in the audience responded with a loud guffaw.

“Sometimes it seems that ‘virgin’ is one of the last dirty words left in our society,” Stegman observes.

In a secular culture that treats virginity as an embarrassment, identifying oneself as a virgin invites snickers, even hostility. Still, without. being in-your-face about it , Stegman adamantly uses the word for two reasons. “It confronts people with the reality of something good, whose value needs to be recognized,” she said. “And it describes what I am!”

In 1993 Stegman became one of perhaps only 100 women in the United States to experience the Solemn Rite of Consecration of Virgins for Women Living in the World, an ancient sacramental which Vatican II restored in 1970. Through it, in the words of the rite, a virgin’s chastity is consecrated for the sake of “more fervent love of Christ and greater freedom” for serving others.

A virgin living in the world is rooted in the diocese, so it is the bishop who presides at her consecration; afterwards, he meets regularly with her and may request her help, as appropriate.

Consecration takes place in the context of a Mass, usually on a solemnity or feast of Mary or a virgin martyr. The rite is strikingly nuptial. Some virgins wear a wedding gown; each receives a wedding band signifying that she is a “bride of Christ.”

Immersed in the World

Typically, women called to consecrated virginity feel drawn to lifelong chastity but not to becoming nuns.

Stegman says she realized early on, after hearing a “state in life” talk, that God had given her the gifts for single life. She prayed and searched for years before stumbling on a magazine article about the restored Rite of Consecration. She was immediately attracted.

So was Janet Maestranzi, of Saugus, MA. Right after getting her M.A. in theology, Janet began a serious search for a “form” in which to live out her relationship with God. She looked into religious communities but found nothing that matched her desire for a spousal, consecrated, secular life.

Finally, having heard about consecrated virginity but feeling stymied about how to pursue it, Janet found an article on the subject; its author, a consecrated virgin, provided the necessary guidance.

Consecrated in July 1994, Janet sees her vocation as “such a good fit” and gratefully views it in terms of being loved by God. “It’s a unique form among all the unique forms of the one vocation to holiness,” she says.

Janet appreciates the secularity of her vocation – the chance to bear quiet witness in the context of “very ordinary” activities that include working in a Boston office. But being immersed in the world, she has discovered, means not only giving but receiving. “In so many ways, God loves me through the world and reveals so much of his beauty in the people I meet.”

Hurdles and Challenges

As Janet’s and Stegman’s stories suggest, lack of information about the vocation is one difficulty facing women who seek to become consecrated virgins in the world. That situation is changing, thanks to efforts of people like Bishop Raymond Burke, of La Crosse, WI, who serves as episcopal moderator for consecrated virgins in the United States. Still, many Catholics remain uninformed.

Another challenge comes from people who fail to see consecration to virginity in the world as a definitive vocation, or even a worthy one. More than one consecrated virgin has been criticized for not pursuing traditional religious life instead.

Still other critics contend that women who see themselves as “brides of Christ” guided by their bishops will inevitably be weak and passive. Consecrated virgins point out that their models, the virgin martyrs, were anything but.

“I feel stronger as a woman in the Church because of this vocation,” Janet affirms. “The Holy Father has said that the vocation to virginity is a way of understanding that women are created good in themselves. That’s a profound insight – something to be taken very seriously and explored.”

Then, too, consecrated virgins face the same objections met by women entering religious life.

Barbara Swieciak, of La Crosse, WI, first ran into these in 1978, when she decided to quit a successful teaching job to enter the Poor Clares. “My family thought it was a cult!” she laughs.

They came to support her decision, but health problems forced Barbara to leave the monastery three happy years after she entered.

Deeply disappointed, but knowing that Christ had another way for her to live as his bride, Barbara eventually heard about consecrated virginity in the world. Reading the Rite for the first time was a revelation, she says. “Bam! I recognized my vocation. I thought, ‘This is it! This describes my life!’”

Again, her family came to that conclusion more slowly. “This time, they really thought I had lost my marbles,” Barbara remembers.

They coped by joking. “If there’s ever a volcano, at least we’ll have a virgin to throw in!” one relative laughed.

Still, they all showed up at the cathedral for Barbara’s consecration ceremony in 1984. “Seeing the bishop there with a dozen or so priests and the way I was supported by my parish family, my family was very proud of me. They could see the importance of a faith life and the power of prayer.”

Finally, as Stegman experienced at that parish finance seminar, consecrated virgins face the challenges inherent in being willing to take a public stand for Christian values that run against the cultural grain. Sometimes, though, they meet with pleasant surprises.

Mary Kay Lacke, dean of evangelization at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio, remembers a plane trip when she found herself sitting among a group of rowdy young men headed for a Florida golf tournament. “One looked over my shoulder, saw I was reading something about consecrated virginity, and started asking questions.”

Mary Kay braced herself for ridicule that never came. Instead, “the guy got pretty interested and started explaining it to his buddies. They didn’t know exactly what to say, but they all listened and got kind of awed. Once again, I was amazed at how the Lord works.”

Louise Perotta writes from St. Paul, Minnesota.

The United States Association of Consecrated Virgins USACV P.O. Box 1212, Oregon City, OR 97045-0091

Upcoming Events & Retreats

(( Listed here are retreats directed by the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members. For a listing of diocesan activities and other events, click here to go to the vocation.com website ))

LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

Rome, Italy. March 18, 2004 - March 25, 2004. Pilgrimage for college-aged men and high school seniors. Price: $399 + airfare. Chaplains are the Legionaries of Christ. Contact Karolee Stauduhar at kstauduhar@msn.com or (407) 869-8263.

"Spring break at the Seminary" Program Take a look at seminary life from the inside and "try it on." Participate in the session taking place during your spring break. The program includes vocation discernment Q&A with a vocation director, conferences on the priesthood, opportunities to meet seminarians already on the path toward the priesthood, a full day retreat and more. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or at (800) 420-5409.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

Spiritual Exercises Rye, New York. February 13 - 15. For women ages 16 to 30. For more information contact Gloria Darbellay

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony MacDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. amacdonnell@arcol.org.

ShoreLines welcomes your questions and comments at questions@shorelines.org. If you do not specify otherwise, your question may be posted in the Vocations Q&A section.

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Copyright 2004, Legion of Christ.

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