Franciscan Evangelization:: Striving to Preach the Gospel

4. The Impact of Clericalization on Franciscan Evangelization

CHAPTER FOUR THE IMPACT OF CLERICALIZATION ON FRANCISCAN EVANGELIZATION Joseph P. chinnici, o.F.M. Three decades ago a friar narrated to me one of the key events of his life, the turning point in his practice of Franciscan ministry in the Church and the world: When I was in my fifties, I went through a real crisis. It was during and immediately after the Council and the identities of the Franciscan friar and the ministerial priest were really up for grabs, at least compared with the certainties that had surrounded education and formation for ministry when I entered seminary. The laity, both men and women, had begun to take over many of the positions that I alone had held in the parish. Decisions were now supposed to be collaborative, and I really had little to say about the pressing issues of the time: the Vietnam war, birth control, ecumenism. Nothing seemed to work for me, and it all made no sense: the priestly vocation, the Franciscan mission, parish life, the sacraments, faith itself. During it all, and this went on for several years, I took refuge in routine. Too committed to leave, too unimaginative to see my way out of the impasse, too afraid to reach out, I simply went about my business day after day. Part of my job was catechizing would-be converts to the Church, and one day a young married woman, in her midthirties , came to the door and asked if I would give her instructions . I hardly believed what I taught, but dutifully I read the new catechism with her, studied the Council documents JoSePh P. chiNNici, o.f.m. 80 and eventually received her into the Church with Baptism and First Communion. Then, on about my business. One day, about six months later, she came to the door again. A different kind of story this time. She had been diagnosed with leukemia and would be dead in six months. Her request of me: Would I please bring her communion as I made my weekly rounds in the parish. “Sure,” I said; “it won’t do much good,” I thought. And so for the next five months I did just that, tucked a visit to her house into my long list of Friday communions, going about my routine and not believing a thing I was doing. Towards the end of that last month she called me up and asked if I would come not just for communion but for a visit. Could I stay a little and chat with her. “Sure,” I said. “What could I possibly say?” I thought. When I arrived at the door that Friday, her three children met me and told me how excited their mother had been that I was coming. They led me into her room. It was the end, I could see that; her shrunken frame disappeared into the bed. “Come over here, Father; sit down.” And then she said to me the words that changed my life forever. “Father, I know you cannot do much for me; and I do not want you to speak; just listen. You have done everything for me: educated me in the faith, talked to me about God, baptized me into Christ’s Body, and now, for five months, given me the Bread of Life. I am so grateful, Father, so, so grateful. This communion with Christ has been my salvation. And I am at peace. I want you to know that from the time I was diagnosed with leukemia, I decided to offer up my sufferings for the continuation and fruitfulness of your priesthood. Thank you, so much.” The priest who told me this story lived for another twenty-five years. He was one of the greatest pastors of our province on the West coast, and he lived those twenty-five years in joy bathed in the light of this experience. If we catch this story, we catch the underlying mission of the Franciscan friar and, I believe, the members of the entire family in the Church and world of our time. We must ask clearly and directly: Who in this story is being priest to whom? Whose body and blood is being expended on a daily basis? When communion is given, is it not also received? How is real presence demonstrated in this situation—in imPAct of clericAlizAtioN oN frANciScAN evANgelizAtioN 81 word, in gesture, in example...