A response to a question ...

St John Vianney, pray for us.

I've finally got around to answering the question posed in the comments to my posting on meetings (see below, 16th May). Here are some of my thoughts on the things that I enjoy most about being a parish priest:

The celebration of the Sacraments (no surprises there then!)

The celebration of the the Mass is at the centre of a priest's life.

The Secretary of the Congregation for Clergy says, "The priest is not an employee, but rather a consecrated person, chosen by God to serve mankind!"

Archbishop Piacenza speaking to L'Osservatore Romano had the following to say which sums up the life and work of a Catholic priest:

"The priest does not belong to himself. He is at the service of the people of God without limits of schedule or calendar. The people are not for the priest, but the priest is for the people, in its totality, without ever restricting his service to a small group." Continuing he said, "The priest cannot choose the post he likes, the work methods he considers easiest, the people he considers most likeable, the schedule that is most comfortable, the diversions - even the most legitimate ones - when they take away time and energy from his own specific pastoral mission." He added, "The priest is above all a man of prayer, of adoration, of worship, of the celebration of the holy mysteries, before man in the name of Christ."

While celebrating Mass for Vocations to the Priesthood on Monday, I was reminded in the Post Communion Prayer, "May many of your people choose to serve you by devoting themselves to the service of their brothers and sisters." This is Number One and the greatest joy of being a priest..........days of joyful 'service' to the parish.

And thanks be to God for all the lay people who make up the various committees that help to run a parish so that the parish priest is free to continue with his primary role of service to the people he has been chosen to serve.