Feature News
Year For Priests established
Pope Benedict XVI has declared June 2009 through June 2010 to be a Year For Priests, a call to the universal Church to seek to understand in a deeper way what the mystery of the priesthood is . . . what it means to be a priest, another Christ. It’s a call from Pope Benedict for priests to grow towards spiritual perfection and adherence to the person of Jesus Christ. With this announcement, the Pope has declared St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d’Ars.
As we reflect on this Year For Priests, we are blessed with heroes, or role models, to follow: Jesus Christ, His Mother Mary, and all our saints. Father John Phalen, CSC, President of Holy Cross Family Ministries, challenges us to make this a year of spiritual development. “As we, priests and laity alike, strive to grow spiritually, let us look to our saints as examples of holiness,” he said. “Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, was a humble and saintly man who exhibited holiness throughout his life, and we would do well to follow in his footsteps.”
Father Peyton knew that through Rosary Prayer we can all be living signs of Christ’s presence and infinite mercy. As we commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Father Peyton and celebrate The Year For Priests, we offer the words of a priest committed to his Faith: a world at prayer is a world at peace.
This year is meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world.
"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus," the saintly Curé of Ars would often say. This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with heartfelt gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church, but also for humanity itself.
We think of all those priests who quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can we not pay tribute to their apostolic labors, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity?
And how can we not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as “friends of Christ,” whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?
During this Year For Priests, let us heed the Holy Father’s message to “Entrust all priests to Mary, Mother of the Church,” and join all the faithful around the world in Rosary prayer for our priests, for our families, for our world. “Let us bring to life the words of our founder, a humble and holy priest, that a world at prayer is a world at peace,” said Father Phalen.
“Please pray for our priests that they might always be faithful to their sacred calling and will grow in fidelity to their mission to be living signs of Christ’s presence and infinite mercy.”