The Priest and the Third Millennium (Vatican).

Vatican--The publication The Priest and the Third Millenium comes from the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy (July, 1999). It is "designed to lead individual priests ... to an examination of conscience." It is available from Les Editions Paulines (Daughters of St. Paul), 250 Boulevard Saint Francois Nord, Sherbrooke, PQ, J1E 1B9.

The Congregation points out that what is needed is not evangelization but re-evangelization: convert the baptized. "Today, more than ever, the style of pastoral action needs to be such as can address the demands arising in traditionally Christian communities which have become largely secularized."

What does "secularized" mean? It means relativism in morality and not knowing the meaning of religious terms such as Original Sin, redemption, the Cross, chastity, penance, etc.

The Congregation examines the priest in his role as teacher, sanctifier, and community leader. The examination of conscience touches on nearly all the points on which some priests are being criticized today.

The priest as a Teacher of the Word must realize that "there is an essential relationship between personal prayer and preaching."

A priest is also a Minister of the Sacraments. Since "the Sacraments...are at the very core of priestly ministry," there is a "need for credible witness to the faith in all aspects of priestly life and in [the priest's] respect for and celebration of the Sacraments."

The priest must insist on "the observance of the Sunday obligation and on frequent...participation in...Holy Communion." That means that he must also emphasize "the grave obligation of...individual...Confession for those...not in a state of grace."

Confession should be readily available, since "the faithful...willingly approach the Sacrament in places where they know confessors are available." It is important that a priest himself should go to Confession frequently. "If a priest no longer goes to Confession or makes a bad Confession, this will affect his priestly ministry very quickly."

The priest is also a leader of the community. He must take responsibility for this appointed task, but he can err either by being authoritarian or by letting authority slip through his fingers through timidity or fear of what others might think or say. "In close communion with his Bishop and with his faithful, the priest should avoid introducing all forms of...democratic administration which are alien to the profound reality of the ministry, for these lead to a secularization of the priest and a clericalization of the laity."

The importance of clerical dress is underlined as well. "This discipline concerning clerical garb, to which the priest must always conform,...is a public proclamation of his limitless dedication to the brethren and to the faithful in his service to Jesus Christ. The more society is marked by secularization, the greater the need for signs."

The priest is not to pick and choose among the teachings of the Church, or change them, or refuse to teach certain ones which he may consider too difficult for the people to accept. "In Christ and the Holy Spirit, the priest is but an administrator of the gifts entrusted to him by the Church. He has no right to omit or deviate from them or remodel them to his own liking. He has received, for example, no authority to teach. only some of the truths of the Christian faith that have been given to him, so as to obscure or ignore others which he personally considers more difficult to accept or 'less relevant'."

"The attitude of 'not wanting to impose,' etc.," the document says, "may well mask a misconception of the very theological substance of the pastoral ministry, or a lack of character which seeks to escape responsibility."

Priests looking for material for their annual retreat could profitably include this brief publication.