I certainly don’t think being a brother is an “easy out” than being a priest…some wanted to be but couldn’t do the academic learning involved, some never felt called to it. Fr. Groechels order had a nice artilce on brothers and how they were the glue in their organization. They fixed things, made things, cooked, met the visitors,ministered to the young etc. Priests helped too, but not having as many, they needed the brothers.
franciscanfriars.com/religious%20brothers/cfrreligousbrother/llaybro.htm
I know how it is thought to have thoughts that way, I sometimes when I see a lot of vocations to a monastary for nuns, I think, what about teaching, being with the poor…but prayer is the “glue” for everything.
That was an excellent link. Thanks for sharing it with us.
What many people don’'t understand about priests who belong to certain religious families is that these priests are Brothers, with a capital B. Therefore, people don’t often understand why they have to run from the parish to community recreation.
They do not understand when the entire community gets up and takes off for a week to a retreat of the Brothers and leaves the parish in the hands of a Permanent Deacon and a borrowed priest from another community or the diocese.
They do not understand why the priest cannot sit and hear confessions at a certain time, unless it is a matter of life and death.
The average lay person does not understand the sacredness of consecrated life, especially the sacredness of Brotherhood to some religious families. This is why some religious families are pulling out of parish ministry. They cannot give the laity the service that we want 24/7 or even eight hours a day. Sometimes the best they can do is several hours a day, depending on the structure of their community schedule and community responsibilities.
We have four lay brothers in our parish, only three work for the parish full-time. The Superior does not work for the parish full time. He is a theologian and teaches at the seminary. The other lay brothers have full-time positions at the parish.
This means that everyone takes turns preparing meals, doing laundry, cleaning house, shopping for groceries, and the other domestic things that have to get done in a family home. When the pastor is not available because it’s his turn to cook, people have to understand and accept that.
Most of us would be very upset if our boss or our clients believed that we owe them more time than what we owe our family. But when it comes to priests who belong to Brotherhoods, we often fail to recall that the Brotherhood is their family. Like every family, they do many things together and like every family you can excuse yourself once in a while, but you can’t excuse yourself regularly. You become an absentee member of the family. You’re an extern. Your home becomes a hotel to which to go when you’re tired and need to rest. That’s not the idea when you join a religious family. This is also a good way to weaken your religious vocation, when you’re too much a parish priest and not a friar or a monk. If you lose that balance, you lose something that makes you very special.
What this article points out about the Franciscans can be said of many other religious families where brotherhood is seen as acting in Persona Christi. The fact that a religious priest leaves the confessional to do his community’s laundry does not make him less of a priest. As a religious brother in vows, he also acts in Persona Christi. He is functioning as Christ our Brother.
I understand what Robert says. When you’ve been on line for more than an hour with a mortal sin to confess and the priest has to run out to be with his brothers it can be very annoying or frustrating.
The priest will probably be equally frustrated. This is the frustration that comes with a consecrated life where obedience is not an option.
The good thing is that you can usually make an appointment to see one of these priests at some other time. The hard part is that you did wait and didnt get to make your confession. The other good point is that you did try your best and God understands these things better than we do, because they are all part of his plan for salvation. You probably won’t go to hell if you die that night. You did not get to confession, but it was Christ’s fault not yours. You didn’t create religious life.
This is another good example and reason why we need more secular priests and priests for clerical orders. For these men, parish ministry is their vocation. For a Brotherhood or a monastic community, parish miinistry is a vocation within a vocation. They have to attend to more than just the parish.
One last thing that has nothing to do with priests. The notion that some religious lay brothers could not handle the studies is not accurate. Most religious communities of Brothers require at least six years of formation and post high school academic education. That would be a Master’s Degree. There are many brothers with MA’s and PhD’s who answer doors or are cooks. That decision is not theirs to make. It is made by the Major Superior after they make perpetual vows. It is usually discussed along the way during the years of formation. Therefore, the decision usually comes as no surprise.
If you wanted to be a priest and your superior denies it, you’re in the commnity for life. You made perpetual vows before you were turned down for Holy Orders. The only way out is through a dispensation from the Holy See.
Let us pray that God will send many vocations for parish priests. This will help out the parishes and take some of the load off of those religious communnities who lend us their priests to run our parishes.
JR
