A parish priest's mission

A well-known pastoral saying runs: "If the parish priest is a saint, his parish will be holy. If the parish priest is holy, his parish will be good. If the parish priest is good, his parish will be lukewarm. If the parish priest is lukewarm, his parish will burn in hell".

Our parishes must be led by saintly parish priests who burn with the love of God and thirst for the salvation of souls. The patron saint of parish priests, St John Baptist Mary Vianney, who was Curé of Ars, used to say that the greatest and most noble act of charity is to work for the salvation of souls. No other act of mercy is comparable to it.

A great temptation for parish priests is to be just parish organisers, and the more they organise, the more, they think, they are fulfilling their mission. The truth cannot be farther from that. Being a parish priest is not a job but a mission. This mission is mostly manifest by the way parish priests pray, especially during Mass, by the way they speak of God, suffer and look after their parishioners.

Parish priests know the way to sainthood. They must bear in mind that they cannot radiate holiness to their parishioners unless they are saints themselves. Their word is much more effective if it is accompanied by a saintly life.

Saintly parish priests attract people to church because Christ is seen living in them. They will be shepherds and fishers of men indeed.