Priests focus on St. Paul during retreat

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Bishop Oscar A. Solis (far right) and priests from throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City celebrate Mass during their retreat at the Homestead Resort.

MIDWAY — Priests ministering in the Diocese of Salt Lake City gathered June 6-9 at the Homestead Resort for a retreat at which the Very Rev. Ronald D. Witherup, PSS, was the presenter.

Father Witherup, Superior General of the Society of Saint-Sulpice (Sulpicians), has been researching and writing about St. Paul for more than 20 years. He titled his presentation “Servants of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God.” The title is based on a quotation from 1 Cor 4. The retreat was meant to acquaint or reacquaint the priests with St. Paul’s letters in hopes that “they would make St. Paul a companion in ministry because … Paul provides priests in particular a tremendous model, even using the modern language of what the priesthood is based on our theology post-Vatican II, which, of course, would be foreign to Paul,” he said in an interview.

Modern theology gives a three-fold ministry to presbyters: Word, sacrament and pastoral charity, Fr. Witherup said. “Those are the categories of Vatican II, and what I have done is take those modern categories and apply them to Paul’s letters, with lots of illustrations from Paul’s letters, and say, ‘This is why Paul should become a good companion in your ministry as a presbyter in a parish.’”   

During the priests’ retreat, Fr. Witherup presented four conferences and one question-and-answer session. Each focused on different aspects of St. Paul’s writings and how they can be applied to a priest’s ministry. He also spoke on Pope John Paul II’s 1992 apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis, which addresses the formation of priests.

For example, in his conference titled “Minister of Sacraments,” Fr. Witherup noted that the papal document emphasizes that priests are called to be shepherds. Their ministry is not “of administration and governance and authority and power; it is care for the people, care for the flock. Which begins, of course, with love,” he said. “You have to love them in order to care for them.”

Tying this into Paul’s writing, Fr. Witherup pointed out that the saint never refers to himself as a pastor or a shepherd, “and yet he acts like it.”

Expounding on this, Fr. Witherup discussed 1 Thess 2:5-10.

In that passage, St. Paul says, “we never came with words of flattery ….” Fr. Witherup noted that he warns young priests that “pious platitudes do not work for people. If they make them feel good for a few minutes, that’s all it’s going to last. People are looking for something with more substance: ‘Tell me how to deal with my suffering.’ … People are looking for more than simply words of flattery or a pretext for assuaging their suffering. They are looking for something in depth. They’re looking for empathy, not sympathy, and Paul tries to give them that.”

Also in that passage, Paul describes himself in a pastoral role “without invoking shepherding imagery but rather using parental imagery – that he is like a mother and father to them, they are his spiritual children. And that’s what a good pastor is to the people,” Fr. Witherup said.

Closing that particular discussion, Fr. Witherup said that prayer “is the power that keeps a shepherd on target, that makes pastoral charity possible.” Without a relationship with Christ, “pastoral charity isn’t going to work,” he added.

In his presentations Fr. Witherup challenged the diocesan priests to delve into the depths of the Scriptures with their preaching, “and “not just give theological pabulum or platitudes,” said Father Martin Diaz, chairman of the diocese’s Board for the Ongoing Formation of Priests and rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

Fr. Diaz said he thought Fr. Witherup encouraged the priests to examine their own priesthood and ministry and be challenged by the roles of prophet, priest and shepherd “and to be renewed both in our prayer life and in our work with people.”

The annual clergy retreat is not only meant to provide ongoing formation for the priests but also is a time for the presbyterate to gather in a spirit of prayer as a priest family, Bishop Oscar A. Solis said. “We have a responsibility to ourselves to see to it that our whole life and ministry is rooted or anchored in prayer. This gathering is not only about praying but praying as brother priests. It’s a wonderful witness to the People of God to see priests gathered together to pray. … People always ask us to pray for them, but they should realize that we also need their prayers as well as our own prayer time.”