THE LITURGICAL ROLE OF PRIESTS

What role does the priest have in liturgy?

Fifty years ago many Catholics would have said that the priest says (or reads) the Mass for the lay people and their intentions. He instructs the people in the truths of faith and the moral life in his sermon. (My boyhood pastor used the syllabus of topics and the sermon outlines issued by the Diocese of Brooklyn). He offers the holy sacrifice of the Mass for the people. He is God's instrument and the congregation devoutly attends his Mass. When Father diligently carries out his duty, he is an instrument of God's grace for the faithful. The people's holiness depends on how holy the priest is.

Then about twenty-five years ago Catholics started to say that the priest is the celebrant of the liturgy. This meant that he was skilled in animating the congregation and in encouraging the full, conscious, and active participation of the laity. He was supposed to be energetic, dynamic, and friendly. A good talker, too! People expected his sermon or homily (a friend in Florida thought the word was hominy) to be something you could take home with you, something to chew on for the week. He was still God's instrument - but now he shared sanctuary spotlights with lay ministers. ("Did you see who was up there on the altar at the four?") He still said the words of consecration but the liturgical celebration was no longer his. It was ours since we all are the church. Everyone was called to holiness, to be a holy people. Still, the physical layout of churches and language said that the sanctuary ministers are God's instruments of grace. They animate and edify the rest of the faithful.

Recent liturgical literature describes the priest as the presider or the president of the Assembly. The term sounds unfamiliar; it may even seem to de-sacralize the priest and his role. Yet the term is richly traditional. Historically it described the ministry of priests. Like the bishop, whose representative and co-worker the priest is, the presider belongs to that ordained group which leads the church in public prayer. He shepherds the church's public works: baptizing, anointing the sick, reconciling penitents, marrying, burying the dead, and meeting on the Lord's Day to share the holy meal. The discipline of ritual prayer forms and shapes the holiness of the Church, priest and people.

One writer put it this way. "The presider is a baptized person ordained to a pastoral office of service. The ministry of presiding is one of mediating the high priesthood of Jesus Christ in the midst of a priestly people. Thus the presider is charged with the task of animating, overseeing and ordering the gifts of the priestly people in order that the church might be built up in its life of holiness in its ministries, and in its mission to herald the reign of God. Because of this leadership ministry in the midst of God's people, he presides at the eucharistic table where the church is most clearly visible as church and where the assembled body of Christ manifests its various gifts in offering the Eucharist.

The ministry of presiding is not one of quasi-divinity, nor is one of power personally residing in the person of the presider. It is one of service; its model is that of Jesus, shepherd and martyr (The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship, p. 1010)."