Sir - Anne Thurston (October 8th) says that we should "demythologise" the vocation to the priesthood as accepted by the Catholic Church. She quotes from an Orthodox priest: "The desire to be a priest is not more holy or divinely given than the desire to be a teacher, doctor, agricultural worker or grocer".
"What happens to us in baptism is the essential Christian vocation." She questions the whole concept of clerical celibacy and says that the Catholic Church should open a dialogue with other Christian Churches on this and on related issues.
The theology of the priesthood and "its profound connection" with celibacy has been highlighted by the present Pope and is witnessed by Church tradition down through history. It is a tradition which can never be dialogued away. The position outlined by Anne Thurston is basically that of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, which saw priesthood as a function assigned by the community. The Catholic Church at that time reaffirmed its tradition, that the priest is in a special way sacramentally consecrated as a sacred minister. This special consecration in no way compromises the primary position of baptism.
The eighth Synod of Bishops, held in Rome in October 1990, dealt with the formation of priests and the crisis facing it today. Cardinal Dalys words at that synod are today more relevant than ever: "The crisis of the present decade is not the first in the history of the Church and will not be the last. Crisis in the Chinese language is apparently composed of two words: danger and opportunity. Ignorance of the history of the Church causes us unknowingly to reinvent obsolete heresies and foolishly to repeat past mistakes. Familiarity with the history of the Church nourishes our hope, for it makes us listen to him who speaks above the deluge and the storm and says to the Church: In the world you will find distress, but have confidence, I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33)."
Millstreet,
Co Cork.