By Rev. Msgr. Prof. Stephen Ntim
My brothers,
I write to all of you as a concerned Brother Priest, in respect of a rather distasteful write-up about one of our Bishops that was recently posted on Facebook by the Bishop’s own Priest.
I rarely go on Facebook. Initially, when a cousin of mine in the U.K called me on Thursday, September 21, on this, she was almost in tears, (good Catholic as she is, born, raised and bred by a strong Catholic family). I did not really pay much attention. I know this cousin of mine is a very strong practising Catholic, and could sometimes, be a bit melodramatic, thinking in my mind, that Priest-Bishop strained relationship was not unusual.
Seven minutes, after I had spoken with my cousin, I received another call, from one of my past postgraduate students from Takoradi. It was on the same issue. It was this student of mine, who actually sent me the entire content of this message through WhatsApp. This has precipitated my writing of this humble letter to all of you Brothers.
If young lay people, who are the future of the Church in Ghana, could be so concerned about such unfortunate write-up on Facebook, and have alerted some of us, Senior Priests in Ghana, could we remain silent?
Cordial Relations
The reality is that by and large, in all Ghanaian Dioceses, relationships between Priests and their Bishops are very cordial. We respect them. We obey them. We are always mindful of our promise of obedience during our Ordination ceremony.
All of us at our Ordinations, knelt before the Ordaining Bishop, putting our two hands into his, and responded to his question for and on behalf of the Church: ‘…do you promise obedience to me, and to my successors?’ and we responded ‘Yes, I do’ and the Bishop concluded: ‘May God, who has begun this work in you, bring it to fruition’. My brothers, it is only a handful of us, who become recalcitrant. It takes few nuts to destroy a whole bowl of nuts. Let us find a way to talk to these few ones, as brothers, in our respective Diocesan Associations. Let us humbly advise them, that the last place to raise issues of sour relationships with our Bishops should be the Facebook.
Formation of Priests
You and I know that Holy Mother the Church, in her wisdom, is very astute in the formation of her Priests. It takes the Catholic Church, many years to form one Priest for the Church. Consequently, inasmuch as we are humans, and we carry with us some fallibilities, nevertheless, by our long years of rigorous formation, those within and outside the Church, rightly expect us to demonstrate nothing, but purity of character.
Even in the midst of seeming ‘provocation’ from within and outside of the Church, we must not allow passion to override reason. I have been a Priest for thirty-three (33) years. I think that I am old enough by ordination, and from Pastoral experience, if not by age, to share with you some thoughts.
I am concerned about the way and manner some of our Brothers treat the relationship that should exist between us and our Bishops and I know, that many of you are equally concerned about this as well. In the Second Vatican Council documents, we (Priests) are referred to as ‘brothers’ and ‘friends’ but, also as ‘sons’ in relation to the Bishop. The Bishop is our shepherd. He is our leader. But above all, he is also our Brother. We know all this.
Balance of relationship
I am of the considered opinion that the balance of Fraternal Relationship, between some of us, and our Bishops, seems to be shifting too far away from seeing them as Brothers. They are one of us. They are Priests. When a brother Priest is raised to the Order of the Episcopacy to become a Bishop, he does not, theologically, cease being a Priest.
In my thirty-three years as a Priest, having worked very closely with Bishops, both in my home Diocese, and serving severally on various National Commissions and Committees with many of them, I can attest, as indeed many of you also know, my Brothers, that most of them try their best to cross the bridge, to become truly Brothers, and indeed, Fathers to their Priests.
You and I know, that many Bishops address us during our Priestly meetings with them as ‘my Brothers’, especially during the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass of renewal of our Priestly commitment.
Holy Clergy men
I know, and you also know, from our lessons in Church History, back in the Major Seminary, that notwithstanding, all the turbulence that we are going through as a Church globally, for example, the deliberate calculated attempt to discredit, and tarnish the image of the Catholic Priesthood, and its cherished discipline of the Celibacy, among others, the contemporary Catholic Church, still can boast of the holiest groups of Popes, Bishops and Priests in the entire history of the Church.
Let us revisit our Church History notes and books, and compare in recent times, Popes like John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis. Their humble gestures are incomparable! I had the honour of meeting Pope John Paul II, and the then Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) as a student in Rome.
No one would tell you, they were both very unassuming and very humble. Even the then Cardinal Ratzinger, who was perceived, by some of the Western Media, as the ‘hard and tough type’ on doctrinal issues, was inwardly, as soft and humble, as he was soft-spoken, and one could not help, but be captivated by his humility!
Avoiding blame game
As Priests, we have a role, indeed a very important one, to play in the relationship between us and our Bishops. We need to avoid the tendency of always putting and apportioning blame on our Bishops, especially, when the relationship goes sour.
We also know too well my Brothers, that relationship is not one-sided. Bishops are truly Brothers. Even, if as a brother, a Bishop errs (since they are also humans) that rather is the time, we as Priests need to give the Bishop, all the love and support that a brother deserves from Brothers. Brothers, we gain nothing, absolutely nothing, to go to the extent to wash our dirty linens with our Bishops on social media- the Facebook!
We might think we are seeking compassion, and calling for attention, by putting our Bishop in the bad light. Think about it! It turns out to backfire, betraying nothing, but callousness and unforgiven attitude, which typically should not come from a Priest.
Some of you, who are on the social media, especially on the Facebook, might have read, this very distasteful write-up. My brothers, you know and I know, that by our formation, namely, the rigorous spiritual, academic, moral and character training for all the many years in the Seminary, we must not bring ourselves so low! Mediocrity should never be part of our vocabulary.
Pre-eminence of pastoral work
The content was less dignified, to say the least, and on Facebook for the whole world to read! This is what has precipitated this humble letter of advice. What is more important than being appointed a Pastor? Does a Bishop who is doing his work, has to be publicly insulted, because he has made us a Pastor of a Parish, instead of a previous promise of another appointment by a previous Bishop?
Have we forgotten my dear brother Priests, that no matter how far we think we have reached, we still remain Pastors? We may have all chains of academic degrees and credentials, these de facto, do not nullify our training as Pastors. We may even be the Vice Chancellor of the most prestigious University in this world, so far as we still remain a Priest, Bishops have the right to re-assign us to where we really belong to, namely, Pastoral work with the faithful.
If we did not want to be assigned to Parish work, then why did we choose to become Priests in the first place? We do not have to be Priests, before we can work in a hospital for example. Every appointment assigned to us: Military Chaplain, Prison Chaplain, School Chaplain, Ordinary teacher in the Secondary School and Colleges of Education. University Chaplain, University Lecturer, Hospital Chaplain etc. begins and ends as far as the Church is concerned, with lenses focused on pastoral work.
The University Priest Lecturer, for example, unlike the ordinary Lecturer, is not just simply interested in imparting academic knowledge in the lecture theatres in the University. The Priest, in so doing, help to mould the spiritual, moral and character formation of the future leadership of this country, namely, these young men and women sitting in front of him.
The hospital Chaplain is to bring Christ’s love and compassion to the sick, especially the terminally ill, etc. Are these essentially different from Parish work, which is an amalgamation of all these different specific ministries? Why should we vent a spleen, because we are assigned a Parish work? Are we implying that Parish work (the mother assignment of all Priests) is subservient to these other ministries? Have we forgotten the promise of obedience?
