Whose priesthood?

A reflection by Mark Roberts

If a priest was alone on a desert island he would not be able to function as a priest. This is because Christianity is a corporate faith. The word corporate comes from the Latin corpus meaning body . We are the body of Christ. Through our baptism we become part of the body of Christ on Earth so that he can act and speak through us. As St Teresa of Avila wrote:

“Christ has no body now on earth but ours,

No hands but ours, no feet but ours;

Ours are the eyes through which to look out

Christ's compassion to the world

Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good,

And ours are the hands with which he is to bless men and women now.”

At mass, before the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest says: “Pray, my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.” In saying this he is stressing that it is not just him celebrating the mass but all the baptised together. Without a congregation the priest could not celebrate the mass.

The sacrifice of which we speak is Jesus' death on the cross where he made for the world the final, timeless, out of time, sacrifice; a perpetual sacrifice which puts an end to the need for sacrifice and makes amends for all the past and future sins of the world. If the priest is one who offers sacrifice, then Jesus is the only true priest.

At our baptism, our life of sin dies on the cross with Christ. We too, therefore, have sacrificed ourselves through Jesus' death, and through him we have all become part of his priesthood. We are all called to serve him in our own different ways and we all have a spiritual vocation as directed and indicated by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Saint Peter is able to say in his letter to all Christians: “we are a race chosen by God to be a royal priesthood.” We are all partakers in Jesus' sacrifice at every mass.

If a congregation found itself on a desert island without an ordained priest, it would not be able to celebrate the mass. The congregation could pray, it could worship; the Holy Spirit would be with the people, Jesus could work through them as they sustained and supported each other, but without an ordained priest the congregation could not, unless God willed it, enter into the sacramental mystery of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus through his presence in the bread of life and blood of salvation – the mass. As Jesus said:

“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven.”

At his Last Supper, Our Lord gave the responsibility to perpetuate ‘the New Covenant sealed in his blood' to the Apostles, and, as we are told in the Book of Acts, the Apostles in turn ordained others to carry on this tradition, a tradition which S. Paul also relates. Because of this, all validly ordained priests can trace their ordination back to the apostles through the bishops who ordained them.

What ordination signals is that God is drawing the men he needs from the company of the baptised to lead his people, just as he called the disciples and the Fathers of the Early Church . Priests are not called because they are better Christians or because they are better people, they are just as sinful and fallible as anyone else. They are called because Christ's desire is to act sacramentally and vicariously on earth through men of his choosing, unworthy as they are; men who he sets apart by grace and equips by the Holy Spirit for service with the people of God. This is the role of a Christian priest.

It is humbling to know that the Church has recommended that I should be trained to receive the great office of priesthood through ordination at the hands of a bishop, a successor of the Apostles. But one question that has exercised me is ‘am I worthy of this?' The answer is no. No-one is worthy, because only Jesus is worthy of priesthood.

If perfection existed on the Earth – if we had a world without sin - there would be no need for Jesus' incarnation and crucifixion. If there was no incarnation and crucifixion, ordination would not be necessary because there would be no need for the mass because there would be no need for forgiveness of sins.

But, because of the reality of our corporate human fallenness, we have to keep partaking in the crucifixion. Sin, therefore, is the reason for the priesthood because the sacraments are central to our Christian journey through this world to perfection in the next.

I would like to thank you all, God's royal priesthood at Worksop Priory, for your prayers and support as, after offering myself for selection for training for the priesthood, my vocation has been tested by the Church over the last year.

Over the next two years I will be training at the Lincoln School of Theology & Ministry. My training will not be residential as I am not giving up my full-time job as a fundraiser at Leeds Metropolitan University , therefore, I will be spending some weekends away attending lectures and workshops, and some evenings writing essays and assignments. I hope to be able to continue as PCC Treasurer but, inevitably, I will have less time to do the other things which I currently do at the Priory.

Training for ordination is as much part of the discernment process as selection for training so, during what will be a challenging two years ahead, I am still, perhaps more than ever, in need of your prayers and support.

With you in the service of Christ,

Mark Roberts

Worksop Priory Church of England (Aided) Primary School

The Priory School in Worksop, continues a long tradition of links between the church and schooling in Worksop that dates back to the 1600's, when the first elementary school in England was founded at the Priory Gatehouse.

It is hard to believe that 2011 will be the 21 st “birthday” of Worksop Priory Church of England (Aided) Primary School and at Easter, my personal celebration of 21 years as Head Teacher. Where does the time go? It seems but a blink of the eye when Father Holdridge invited me back to the upper room in Priory Church to meet with the panel of Shadow Governors when I was offered the position as Head Teacher on 11 th December 1989.

We have witnessed so many changes in the intervening years. With the exception of my “right hand” person Mrs. T. and a few other stalwarts, there has been practically a total change of staff, and this does not include those who have come and gone in the meanwhile.

So where are we now?

We have a school building that still looks amazingly “new”. Well looked after, and cared for by everyone, including the children. A great deal of support from the Diocese has enabled us to make much needed alterations, improvements and repairs to our lovely building. ALL visitors (and we have a great many!) comment on the wonderfully welcoming and colourful environment.

I count myself as being most fortunate in having such an “outstanding” team supporting me in the running of Priory School and I include amongst the team our supportive Governing Body, many of whom are members of the Priory Church congregation.

The “Outstanding” result of our Inspection in October 2008 is still reverberating around school, the locality and County. A result has been the request for us to share our “good practice” with other schools. This we do openly and generously, at the same time safeguarding the quality of education at our own establishment.

When I consider the tremendous changes in education over the last 20 years, it seems miraculous that we have survived. Now as we are entering yet another turbulent and challenging era, we continue to put our faith in the Lord and ask for your continued prayerful support for the education of our children, staff and governors of the school and for the continued success of our Christian outreach into the local community

R.Woodhead