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FURTHER DEFINITIONS OF PRIESTHOOD
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1. The priest is the catalyst of mutual ministry. Our ordained ministry and mutual ministry are not antithetical. The priest is the one who invites, trains, deploys, fosters and supports mutual ministry and who creates a community where all of that happens.
2. A priest is a person who assumes and shares responsibility. A person who sheds responsibility does not have the discipline required to be a priest. To create the space in your heart to assume responsibility you need to:
a) simplify your life;
b) build a team;
c) live a clean life;
d) avoid unhealthy emotional entanglements;
e) conserve and focus your energy;
f) avoid "civilian pursuits".
3. A priest is a street worker. You can't be a priest without contacting lots of people frequently. That means pounding the beat, knocking on doors, making contacts, asking others for a slice of their life, scaring up action.
4. The priest is the person privileged to stand at the altar where all the dimensions of reality converge. The priest stands at the intersection of the local and the global, sin and grace, the past and the future, the human and the divine.
5. A priest is a person who has a privileged closeness to others. Others allow us to share in their inner life. We are present in the celebration of life's most sacred moments.
6. Priests are people who have the joy of being precipitants in a miracle that dwarfs them!
Item XVIII
©1999 Ronald C. Ferris
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