The Priest Is a Shepherd
to the Community
Pope John Paul II, General Audience, May 19, 1993
In the previous catechesis, we explained the presbyters' task as coworkers of the bishops in the area of teaching authority (instructing) and sacramental ministry (sanctifying). Today we will speak of their cooperation in the pastoral governance of the community. For priests, as well as for bishops, this is a sharing in the third aspect of Christ's threefold munus (prophetic, priestly, royal): a reflection of the high priesthood of Christ, the one mediator between God and men, the one teacher, the one shepherd. In an ecclesial perspective, pastoral work consists principally in the service of unity, that is, in ensuring the union of all in the body of Christ which is the church (cf. PVD 16).
In this perspective, the council says: "Exercising the office of Christ, the shepherd and head, and according to their share of his authority, priests, in the name of the bishop, gather the family of God together as a brotherhood enlivened by one spirit. Through Christ, they lead them in the Holy Spirit to God the Father" (PO 6). This is the essential purpose of their activity as pastors and of the authority conferred on them so that they may exercise it at their level of responsibility: leading the community entrusted to them to the full development of its spiritual and ecclesial life. The presbyter-pastor (shepherd) must exercise this authority by modeling himself on Christ the good shepherd, who did not impose it with external coercion but by forming the community through the interior action of his Spirit. He wanted to share his burning love with the group of disciples and with all those who accepted his message, in order to give life to a "community of love," which at the right moment he also established visibly as the church. As coworkers of the bishops, the successors of the apostles, presbyters too fulfill their mission in the visible community by enlivening it with charity so that it may live in the Spirit of Christ.
This is a demand intrinsic to the pastoral mission, whose inspiration is not governed by the priest's desires and personal opinions, but by the teaching of the Gospel, as the council says: "They should act toward men, not as seeking to please them, but in accord with the demands of Christian doctrine and life" (PO 6).
The presbyter is responsible for the organic functioning of the community. To fulfill this task, the bishop gives him a necessary share in his authority. It is his responsibility to ensure that the various services, indispensable for the good of all, are carried out harmoniously; to find appropriate assistance for the liturgy, catechesis, and the spiritual support of married couples; to foster the development of various spiritual and apostolic associations or "movements" in harmony and cooperation; to organize charitable aid for the needy, the sick, and immigrants. At the same time, he must ensure and promote the community's union with the bishop and the pope.
The community dimension of pastoral care, however, cannot overlook the needs of the individual faithful. As we read in the council: "Priests, therefore, as education in the faith, must see to it either by themselves or through others that the faithful are led individually in the Holy Spirit to a development of their own vocation according to the Gospel, to a sincere and practical charity, and to that freedom with which Christ made us free" (PO 6). The council stresses the need to help each member of the faithful to discover his specific vocation, as a proper, characteristic task of the pastor who wants to respect and promote each one's personality. One could say that by his own example Jesus himself, the Good Shepherd who "calls his own sheep by name" (cf. Jn 10:3-4), has set the standard of individual pastoral care: knowledge and a relationship of friendship with individual persons. The presbyter's task is to help each one to utilize well his own gift, and rightly to exercise the freedom that comes from Christ's salvation, as Saint Paul urges (cf. Gal 4:3; 5:1, 13; Jn 8:36).
Everything must be directed toward practicing "a sincere and practical charity." This means that "Christians should be taught that they live not only for themselves, but according to the demands of the new law of charity; as every man has received grace, he must administer the same to others. In this way, all will discharge in a Christian manner their duties in the community of men" (PO 6). Therefore, the priest's mission includes calling to mind the obligations of charity, showing the applications of charity in social life, fostering an atmosphere of unity with respect for differences, encouraging programs and works of charity, by which great opportunities become available to the faithful, especially through the new emphasis on volunteer work, consciously provided as a good use of free time, and in many cases, as a choice of life.
The presbyter is also called to be involved personally in works of charity, sometimes even in extraordinary forms, as has happened in the past and does so today as well. Here, I especially want to underscore that simple, habitual, almost unassuming but constant and generous charity. This is manifested not so much in huge projects, for which many do not have the talent and vocation, but in the daily practice of goodness, which helps, supports, and comforts according to each one's capacity. Clearly the principal concern, and one could say the preference, must be for "the poor and weak entrusted to them, for our Lord himself showed that he was united to them, and their evangelization is mentioned as a sign of messianic activity" (PO 6); for "the sick and dying," to whom the priest should be especially devoted, "visiting them and strengthening them in the Lord" (PO 6); for young people, who must be looked after "with special diligence"; as well as for "married couples and parents" (PO 6). In particular, the priest must devote his time, energy and talents to young people who are the hope of the community, in order to foster their Christian education and their growth in living according to the Gospel.
The council also commends to the presbyter's care "catechumens and the newly-baptized who must be educated gradually to know and to live the Christian life" (PO 6).
Lastly, a too limited vision of the local community and every particularist and "parochial" attitude must be overcome to foster instead the community spirit that is open to the horizons of the universal church. The presbyter must devote his time and concern to the local community entrusted to him, as is the case especially for parish priests and their closest coworkers. But his heart must remain open to the "fields ripe for the harvest" beyond all borders, both as the universal dimension of the spirit and as the personal participation in the Church's missionary tasks, and as zeal in promoting the cooperation of his own community with the necessary spiritual and material aid (cf. RM 67; PDV 32).
"Through the sacrament of holy orders," the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Priests share in the universal dimensions of the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles. The spiritual gift they have received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission, 'but for the fullest, in fact, the universal mission of salvation"' (PO 10), 'prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere' (OT 20)" (CCC 1565).
In any case, everything depends on the Eucharist, which contains the vital principle of pastoral leadership. As the council says: "No Christian community, however, is built up unless it has its basis and center in the celebration of the most Holy Eucharist; from this, therefore, all education to the spirit of community must take its origin" (PO 6). The Eucharist is the source of unity and the most perfect expression of the union of all the Christian community's members. It is the presbyters' task to ensure that this is really so. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that Eucharistic celebrations are not expressions of unity. Each person attends individually, ignoring the others. With great pastoral charity, priests will remind everyone of Saint Paul's teaching: "Because the loaf of bread is one loaf," which is "a participation in the Body of Christ" (1 Cor 10:16-17). Awareness of this union in the body of Christ will encourage a life of charity and effective solidarity.
Therefore, the Eucharist is the vital principle of the church as the community of Christ's members; here pastoral leadership finds its inspiration, strength, and extent.
Reprinted with permission from L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican Newspaper.