ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic Spirit – Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
February 12, 2021
By Joe Ruff
Priest, prophet and king. All the baptized share in these qualities, which Christ fully lived and which some, such as ordained priests, are called to live in particular ways, said Sister Esther Mary Nickel of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan.
In a Feb. 9 online presentation on “The Priesthood, (Both Baptized and Ordained),” offered by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Sister Nickel said God intends everyone to cooperate and serve one another as members of the body of Christ, united in a special way by baptism, the Eucharist and other sacraments.
Priests are called to a particular and difficult task: to serve their flocks. “The ordained priesthood is at the service of the priesthood of the baptized,” Sister Nickel said.
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Clericalism, on the other hand, is an abuse of the ministerial priesthood, Sister Nickel said.
“Clericalism comes when the ordained minister usurps his role as servant and expects to be served,” she said. “Whenever a cleric exercises the power of his ministry for his own good and not the good of the Church and the salvation of souls, that is clericalism. The worst abuse of this has been seen in the abuse of children, but it can also be seen in other abuses of power.”
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