March 12, 2010

What's At Stake

I've been incubating this post for a couple of weeks, and now I realize that it will have to be a series of posts. It has to do with a shift I've been going through in my internal sense of the trajectory of my own vocation within the Order.

Since the time of my perpetual profession four years ago, I have had a certain sense of how the brothers saw my assignments unfolding. I was to finish my licentiate degree, be ordained priest, spend three years working in a parish, and then return to studies to attempt a doctorate. As I begin to come close to completing those three years in the parish, I have come to notice some of my own internal assumptions about this plan and how they now demand revision. I guess I had thought that I would learn the presbyteral trade, file it away among my credentials, and then return to the library to pick up my reading where I had left off. But now I have had to admit to myself, with some difficulty and resistance, that I can't just go back to school as if nothing has happened. My experience here in the parish will have a significant impact on what I want to read and the questions I will want to write on. In other words, I didn't foresee that working as parish priest would have an effect on my life of theological reflection, but it has, and in a big way. Experience has come into the equation for me in a way I have not known before. "Knowledge without mileage equals BS," as Henry Rollins says.

It reminds me of something one of our teachers used to say. In taking up a theological question, she would challenge us to think about 'what's at stake.' What were the 'real world' implications of our reflection, and for whom? I admit that at the time I was resistant to this and sometimes found it annoying. The conceits of my Ivy League upbringing and my native love of purity of concept made it hard for me to want to think this way. (If I had not allowed myself to be distracted from mathematics towards the end of freshman year of college, perhaps none of this would have happened!) I also think that I didn't understand exactly how much is at stake for the Church and the world, and even for belief, or life itself. After three years here in the parish I'm ready to reflect through 'what's at stake.' Even more, I know that I have to if I want to ever achieve even a token level of responsibility as a steward of the mysteries of God.

This is all a little disconcerting, because it means that I have even less of a good idea of how I might approach the opportunity of going back to school. On the other hand, it's not bad because it's the giddy kind of liminality that makes you feel curiously alive because you know it's from God.

So, my thought is to try to write a series of posts on what seems to me to be at stake in my theological reflection. These are subject to change, of course, but right now I think that the topics will "Populations," "Reverence/Life," "Belief/Practice," "Catholicity/Orthodoxy," and something about the meaning and implications of sexual abuse within the Church.

The posts will begin with experiences of my ministry. These are particular to my location and moment in the Church's pilgrimage through history and geography.

9 comments:

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Looking forward to those posts!

Tc said...

I'm looking forward to them as well, Brother!

Qualis Rex said...

Uff! This is a really deep one. And as much as I am tired of hearing about the abuse scandal within the church, if you feel the need to write about your reflections I will absolutely read them, since I know you don't have any agenda or horse in that race per se' other than the sanctity and restoration of Catholicity/Orthodoxy in the priesthood.

ben in denver said...

I too am looking forward to reading them. It is fitting that you are not the same man thay you were three years ago.

For some reason I'm reminded of the story about when St. Francis was trying to decide if he should devote himself to contemplation or preaching, so he went to ask St. Clare for advice.

There does seem to be a tension between contemplation and pastoring souls.

NCSue said...

May God shine light on your path and in your heart as you discern the next step in your journey!

pennyante said...

St. Blogs Parish is awaiting this series...

Anonymous said...

It makes perfect sense that your experience would drive your education. You're not just working a job, you're answering a call, a vocation, and now the time that you've spent at the parish has also been a time of formation, a time of greater discernment, so that you might know more clearly where God is calling you - or at least, what the next step might be.

I'm really looking forward to the posts - in general, I'm just really excited about the work you do and will do for the Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

for narnia said...

me too, Fr. C! i'm looking forward to reading these reflections, too. your reflections and insights into so many great topics are very inspiring and really give us a fresh and new way of understanding. thanks for taking the time to share with us. PEACE! ~tara t~

A Bit of the Blarney said...

I'm another who is looking forward to these reflections. I anticipate a continuation of the work of the Spirit in you life as you share these reflections with us! Thank you, indeed, for sharing! Cathy