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A significant decline in the place of religion has been observed in the last year. The recent debates around the “Quebec Charter of Values” have shown that the religion is no longer as important in the life of people, as it was in the past. Thinking of this, it’s difficult to understand why some people are still involved in the vocation today. Nonetheless, despite the decline in importance, the call to the priesthood is still relevant in 2014 for a number of reason.
The first reason that the call to priesthood is still important today is due to the fact that humanity needs spirituality. Life can’t only be reduced to the material aspect because there is something higher which gives sense to life, which helps people to understand who they are, from where they come and where they are going. It’s the priest who can help people to find answers to those questions through the faith, by leading them to Christ who is everlasting life and who gives the purpose and sense to life. Today people are seeking something higher through different kinds of spirituality: Buddhism, Reiki, Hinduism… This fact shows that humans need to trust and believe in something higher than themselves. This would be God for Christians. Priesthood is then an important part of this process and a response to the call of God through the faith.
Additionally, the call to priesthood is relevant today because of its social concerns. In fact, priests are involved in all areas of life related to humanity. However, some people say that the priesthood is not necessary because many men and women make their career in those similar domains. Priest “who understood that real service requires risk. Some of them risked death; others risked only discomfort. None of them played it safe. Not everyone is called to heroic self-sacrifice, but all Christians are called to solidarity with people who live on the margins” (Emily Stout, A job, not a career, Commonweal – October 24, 2014 -, p. 46). Therefore, the priesthood makes sense in that Christian solidarity. There are many areas where people undergo, where the society does not dare go for helping those who suffer, where “The church is called to what Pope Francis has called the “existential peripheries” of “pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion”” (Emily Stout, A job, not a career, Commonweal – October 24, 2014 -, p. 46). Although the priesthood can be considered a job, its particularity is the fact that it’s a real exposure to the circumstances of the humanity. That is another relevancy of the priesthood today.
Finally, the priesthood is still pertinent in 2014 despite the bad publicity about its place in the society or in people’s life today. It’s a response to God’s call to lead the world to him, to quench humanity for the thirst for spirituality, to give meaning to his life. The priesthood is involved in all the circumstances of the humanity; it goes deep, beyond human abilities, where faith takes over.
© Leander Syrieix.
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